More than 1,000 Catholics from Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico gathered in Little Rock Oct. 18-20 for the annual meeting of the Southwestern USA Lieutenancy of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem.
The mission of the 900-year-old organization is to preserve Christianity in the Holy Land. The lay order, under the protection of the Holy See, supports the archbishop of Jerusalem with prayers, donations and encouraging members to make pilgrimages to Jerusalem.
The history of the EOHSJ stretches back to 1099 during the First Crusade, when Jerusalem was reopened and pilgrims were allowed to enter. The order’s mission shifted to preserving Christianity in Jerusalem in 1847 when the Latin Patriarch was re-established in Jerusalem. Since then, the order has sought to strengthen in its members the practice of Christian life, to sustain and aid the Church in the Holy Land and to support the preservation and propagation of the faith in those areas.
Connie Brown Phillips, a section representative for the Southwestern Lieutenancy and parishioner at Christ the King Church in Little Rock, told Arkansas Catholic in an email that the charitable efforts of the EOHSJ in the Holy Land range from supporting refugees to aiding students.
The order provides 81 percent of the budget for the archbishop of Jerusalem, has supported 40 schools with 19,000 students, has built new churches and convents, renovated parishes and has aided refugees, the elderly and the sick.
The EOHSJ has more than 24,000 members worldwide.
Over the weekend, knights and dames attended Masses, decided on promotions, discussed the state of the order, honored deceased members and invested new members.
Marilyn Saranie, a member of Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Slovak, has been a dame since 2006.
Saranie and her husband, Raymond, took a trip to the Vatican in 2005 to see St. Pope John Paul II. While there, the two decided to dig into their Catholic history, researching knights and religious orders and touring the original Subiaco in Italy. The two befriended a priest from the Holy Land while visiting, who taught them about the EOHSJ.
“Everywhere we went, he kept popping up,” Marilyn said. “At the end of our trip, he gave us a card, and he said, ‘You’ll be coming to the Holy Land.’ And I thought, ‘Well, that wasn’t in the plan,’ but I held on to that card. … He said, ‘When you get to the Holy Land, I’ll come find you.’ … We came back home and that feeling was still there. There was something and I just can’t explain it. … Then we got a letter in the mail from Bishop Sartain, and it was inviting us into the Order.”
Saranie researched the EOHSJ, and she and her husband decided to accept the offer.
“It was amazing when I found out what these people did,” she said. “And they keep a very low profile. … We’ve been members for 18 years and we’ve worked with the prder a lot, and knowing that we’re actually in a papal order that supports the Holy Land is just amazing to me.”
Jan Greenway and her husband, Deacon Don Greenway, are members of Christ the King Church in Little Rock and have been members of the EOHSJ since 1997.
“It coincided with a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with Msgr. Gaston Hebert, who was our pastor at that time,” Jan said. “And during that pilgrimage, there were fellow travelers who were members of that order. And when we left the Holy Land on an extremely meaningful pilgrimage, we had an audience with the Latin Patriarch when we got to Rome from that leg of our journey. … We’d been introduced to the order and asked if our name could be put forward to our pastor. … Looking back, it was part of that overall pilgrimage experience that opened our eyes to what a great blessing it was to have these sites preserved in the Holy Land … for Christians to be able to visit those and not be hindered in any way… There’s an overwhelming feeling that you want to do your part to preserve our Catholic faith in those areas.”
Peggy and John Brandebura, parishioners at Immaculate Conception Church in Fort Smith, have been members of the EOHSJ since 2007.
“I had seen people at our church during special holidays in attire … and I wondered about them, but I knew that they were a papal order and that they were there mostly during Easter Vigil and Midnight Mass, but I didn’t really know anything more about them,” Peggy told Arkansas Catholic. “(One of the order members) called and asked if she could nominate me for the Order. She had seen me and thought this was something I’d be interested in. …”
The EOHSJ reminded Peggy of the values that her parents instilled in her growing up.
“My parents led by example and taught us to have a love for people and a love for our faith,” Peggy said. “ … My parents faithfully tithed, even when they didn’t have the money, and tried to help other people without other people knowing. … That’s just the way I live my life and I try hard to emulate my parents. … So when I looked into the Order, it was kind of the same thing, supporting different sites in the Holy Land, giving monetarily, supporting schools and churches.”
Jeffrey Heeter, a member of Christ the King Church in Little Rock, joined EOHSJ in 2017.
“… I had an awareness that we have a very deep spiritual connection to (the Holy Land), but I never really felt like a part of it,” he said. “I think being part of the order with the various institutions we support and the various services we provide, we’re reminded that we’re providing direct material sustenance to those things, to orphanages and schools and seminarians and parishes and humanitarian aid. … It’s very ecumenical.”
During the memorial Mass at Christ the King Church Oct. 19, members who passed away in the past year were recognized, and promotions were given to knights and dames, while future members to be invested took their first oath.
“We can change our external behavior in order to obey the commandments, but how do we change our inner attitudes to become a different person on the outside?” Bishop Anthony B. Taylor asked during his homily. “… It is only when we begin to love like Jesus loves that we truly start to live the beatitudes because the inner content of the beatitudes is sacrificial love — death to self for the benefit of others. It is only then that we truly begin to love God with all of our heart, mind and soul and love our neighbor as ourselves.”
Many members said being in the order helped them grow in their faith.
“I didn’t know what we had until our trip to Jerusalem and to Rome,” Marilyn Saranie said through tears. “… We just got so close to God and I can see how he’s been working in our lives. … It has just opened my faith up … It has been a tremendous journey.”
“Just because the emphasis of the order is on the Holy Land and all that it entails and keeping that focused, it makes the Scriptures come alive,” Jan Greenway said. “It makes it more meaningful knowing that the order’s main mission is to keep that preserved so the sites don’t lose that history, that tradition, that significance that plays in our worship as Catholics. Anytime you’re surrounded by like-minded people who are also seeking a deeper growth in their own faith … that’s encouraging on anyone’s journey.”
“It’s made me to see that God is worldwide. He’s universal,” Peggy Brandebura said. “… When you’re at the Masses and you see the number of people, it’s just so impressive when you see all of these black and white capes in one church, and the church is packed full. You see all of the clergy that are there, you see the deacons and priests and bishops and archbishoips and the cardinal, and we’re all celebrating Mass together, and we all have the same ideas and the same way to help other people, and it makes you feel proud and humble. That there’s someone out there that sees things the same way. You’re not alone in a lot of this. That to me is just so special.”
During the investiture Mass at Christ the King Church Oct. 20, new knights and dames gathered to be invested. One new knight, Neal Reeves, a parishioner at Christ the King Church, said becoming a knight in the EOHSJ is representative of his faith as a whole.
“For me, this symbolizes a deeper commitment to our faith by standing firm in that faith and supporting the Catholic Church’s mission of charity, especially to those in the Holy Land that so desperately need our help,” he told Arkansas Catholic. “It was inspiring to see so many Catholics come together for that same purpose.”
During the investiture Mass, more than 1,000 Catholics filled every single seat to hear from Cardinal Daniel DiNardo of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston.
“You have been proposed by your pastors and approved by your bishops, and you’re here today,” Cardinal DiNardo told the newly invested knights and dames. “We thank you for coming into the order. It has been a beautiful experience, with the beauty of today and the displays. But days will come when there will not be displays — but you will still need to hold up the Jerusalem cross. The cross is red with the blood of the Lord, moist with his agony, and yet, there’s something splendid about it, for this cross is a glorious cross — it is the risen Jesus.”
Reeves’ wife, Robyn, who was also invested as a dame, said hearing Cardinal DiNardo was one of her favorite parts of the weekend.
“I found particularly moving hearing Cardinal DiNardo joined in unison with all the present bishops praying over the Eucharist, praying the same words Jesus said to his apostles,” she said. “It reminded me of how we are all a part of the same universal mission.”
