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HOLY LAND: US-EU BISHOPS, TWAL “CHRISTIANS CONCERNED” ABOUT TWO EXTREMISMS
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- Creato: 12 Gennaio 2011
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(Jerusalem - from SIR Europa’s correspondent) - “Our people need effective measures in the areas of justice, peace and dignity, they need to be more involved. By now they no longer believe in the words of so many leaders”. In his speech, which opened in Jerusalem, this morning, the meeting of the US and EU bishops of the Coordination of the Bishops Conferences in support of the Holy Land and the Assembly of Catholic Bishops of the Holy Land (Hlc 2011), the Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal sounded out the Christian minority in the Holy Land. A minority concerned “about the two extremisms, the Islamic one with its attacks against our churches and the faithful, and the one of the Israeli right wing, which is increasingly spreading in Jerusalem, in the attempt to turn it into an all-Jewish city and push the other confessions out”.
Twal also admitted that, “for a long time, we had neglected any communication with the Israeli civilian institutions, that are important to us, because they can say what we cannot say and do what we cannot do. A real challenge for us – the Patriarch explained – is to talk with the leftist parties and with the Israeli public opinion and its institutions, so as to lobby the Government to work for peace”. However, according to the Patriarch, “this is not about changing the political set-up, it is about investing time and resources to offer a different life to our people, faced with a frustrating situation. Which is what the Synod for the Middle East urges us to do, strengthening the local Christian communities”. At the end of his speech, Twal went with the bishops of the Hlc 2011 Coordination to give his Christmas wishes to the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilus. Speaking on behalf of the different Christian confessions there, the Patriarch renewed his solidarity with the Coptic Church for the Alexandria massacre and wished that “may the martyrs’ bloodshed bear fruits of peace and religious tolerance. For all Christians, the challenge is communion and union”.
HOLY LAND: US-EU BISHOPS, “ECUMENISM IS NOT A CIRCLE OF CHURCHES”
(Jerusalem - from SIR Europa’s correspondent) - “Our history must not held us captive. We have two options: either keeping being separate as we are now or joining our weaknesses, finding ways to cooperate and live and testify together to our faith in Christ. Ecumenism is not a circle of different churches”. These are the words of the Lutheran bishop of Jerusalem, mgr. Mounib Younan, who spoke at the session, which today is focussed on ecumenism and that is being attended (in Jerusalem until 13th) by the US and EU Bishops of the Coordination of the Bishops Conferences in support of the Church of the Holy Land and the Assembly of the Catholic Bishops of the Holy Land (Hlc 2011). “Our dialogue here – said the bishop, who is also the president of the World Lutheran Federation – is a practice. Mixed marriages and baptisms are accepted without any problem, what is difficult is theological discussion that looks rather like defending one’s own positions”. Ecumenical dialogue in the Holy Land is also affected, the Lutheran bishop went on, “by the status quo”, (an 1852 Ottoman ‘firman’ which lays down the rules on the rights of the Christian communities in three sanctuaries in the Holy Land, editor’s note), which “on one side is a blessing as it tells us how, when and what to do in the sanctuaries, but is also a curse, since it prevents us finding new ways and forms of cooperation, in other words being prophetical in this Land”.
However, mgr. Younan points out, “dialogue moves on, not least with the involvement of the clergy and the devotees. In some areas, Easter and Christmas are celebrated together, taking them from the different calendars, and these are signs of unity”. The decisive steps to take for ecumenical progress “are recovering mutual trust and increasing joint declarations by the Churches. They are real blessings, which unite”, said the bishop, mentioning in particular those about the status of Jerusalem. Finally, mgr. Younan spoke of the Israeli occupation: “in the Holy Land, Christians are not persecuted, their problems are called occupation, broken families, unemployment, a certain Islamic and Jewish fanaticism”. “Faced with all this – he concluded – the Christian institutions need to be strengthened, because they are the only ones that serve man with no gender, faith or ethnic-based distinction. Unity and reconciliation would give more strength and weight to Christians in front of Muslims and Jews”.
© SIR - 10 gennaio 2011
Twal also admitted that, “for a long time, we had neglected any communication with the Israeli civilian institutions, that are important to us, because they can say what we cannot say and do what we cannot do. A real challenge for us – the Patriarch explained – is to talk with the leftist parties and with the Israeli public opinion and its institutions, so as to lobby the Government to work for peace”. However, according to the Patriarch, “this is not about changing the political set-up, it is about investing time and resources to offer a different life to our people, faced with a frustrating situation. Which is what the Synod for the Middle East urges us to do, strengthening the local Christian communities”. At the end of his speech, Twal went with the bishops of the Hlc 2011 Coordination to give his Christmas wishes to the Greek Orthodox Patriarch Theophilus. Speaking on behalf of the different Christian confessions there, the Patriarch renewed his solidarity with the Coptic Church for the Alexandria massacre and wished that “may the martyrs’ bloodshed bear fruits of peace and religious tolerance. For all Christians, the challenge is communion and union”.
HOLY LAND: US-EU BISHOPS, “ECUMENISM IS NOT A CIRCLE OF CHURCHES”
(Jerusalem - from SIR Europa’s correspondent) - “Our history must not held us captive. We have two options: either keeping being separate as we are now or joining our weaknesses, finding ways to cooperate and live and testify together to our faith in Christ. Ecumenism is not a circle of different churches”. These are the words of the Lutheran bishop of Jerusalem, mgr. Mounib Younan, who spoke at the session, which today is focussed on ecumenism and that is being attended (in Jerusalem until 13th) by the US and EU Bishops of the Coordination of the Bishops Conferences in support of the Church of the Holy Land and the Assembly of the Catholic Bishops of the Holy Land (Hlc 2011). “Our dialogue here – said the bishop, who is also the president of the World Lutheran Federation – is a practice. Mixed marriages and baptisms are accepted without any problem, what is difficult is theological discussion that looks rather like defending one’s own positions”. Ecumenical dialogue in the Holy Land is also affected, the Lutheran bishop went on, “by the status quo”, (an 1852 Ottoman ‘firman’ which lays down the rules on the rights of the Christian communities in three sanctuaries in the Holy Land, editor’s note), which “on one side is a blessing as it tells us how, when and what to do in the sanctuaries, but is also a curse, since it prevents us finding new ways and forms of cooperation, in other words being prophetical in this Land”.
However, mgr. Younan points out, “dialogue moves on, not least with the involvement of the clergy and the devotees. In some areas, Easter and Christmas are celebrated together, taking them from the different calendars, and these are signs of unity”. The decisive steps to take for ecumenical progress “are recovering mutual trust and increasing joint declarations by the Churches. They are real blessings, which unite”, said the bishop, mentioning in particular those about the status of Jerusalem. Finally, mgr. Younan spoke of the Israeli occupation: “in the Holy Land, Christians are not persecuted, their problems are called occupation, broken families, unemployment, a certain Islamic and Jewish fanaticism”. “Faced with all this – he concluded – the Christian institutions need to be strengthened, because they are the only ones that serve man with no gender, faith or ethnic-based distinction. Unity and reconciliation would give more strength and weight to Christians in front of Muslims and Jews”.
© SIR - 10 gennaio 2011