Continuing violence shows 'something is profoundly wrong'

A Catholic bishops' summit in Jerusalem ended with a message of support for Christians in the Holy Land and a set of proposals. It also issued a call for renewed international advocacy for peace in the Holy Land.

The event examined in some depth the situation in the Holy Land and included meetings with President Katsav of Israel and President Arafat of the Palestinian Authority.

It was hosted by His Beatitude Michel Sabbah, the Latin Patriarch, and attended by delegates from the Catholic Bishops' Conferences in England and Wales, the US, Germany, Canada, Spain and Italy as well as the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community (COMECE) and the Council of European Bishops' Conferences (CCEE).

Archbishop Patrick Kelly, vice-president of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales, coordinated the event along with Bishop William Skylstad, of the US, Bishop Jacques Berthelet, of Canada, Bishop Joan Enric Vives, of Spain, Bishop Reinhard Marx, of Germany, and Monsignor Piergiuseppe Vachelli of Italy.

In a message to the Christians of the Holy Land, the visiting bishops said: "It is clear that fear and mistrust grip many more besides you, our Christian sisters and brothers. Yet at the same time, we have been assured of widespread longing for justice and peace, and have experienced the lively hope that must, it seems, inspire the continued courage and dedication of so many people, not least your own commitment to reconciliation."

It added: "Until God grants the peace for which we all long, we promise to work without ceasing to help sustain you, our brothers and sisters in faith in Jerusalem, Palestine, Israel and Jordan.

"To you who first witnessed the risen Christ and seek a rightful share in the peace which can be found only in him, we pledge our love and solidarity."

The Bishops recalled that a year ago Christians of the Holy Land shared with them their sufferings and spoke of yearnings for justice and peace. "To our great sorrow, as we return a year later, we have heard not of greater peace and hope, but only of even more violence and deeper despair. Security measures have become more oppressive; unemployment has increased; poverty of body, mind and even spirit is ever greater. We have also witnessed people's dread and dismay at the threat of war in Iraq.

"The continuing violence, in so many different forms, indicates to us: something is profoundly wrong."

The Member Bishop Conferences then set out proposals for strengthening coordination in support of the Church in the Holy Land.

The new proposals agreed by the peace summit called for increased contact between the Bishops' conferences and the Church in the Holy Land.

The final message said that the steering capacity of the facilitating bishop's conference ought to be strengthened. To this end, the coordination facilitator would be responsible for proposing issues for common advocacy, such as matters of humanitarian access, and for identifying "best practices" such as child sponsorship and partnership programmes.

A call was made for regular and expanded communication among Bishops' conferences on Holy Land issues, especially at critical times. Besides, information and proposals for action ought to be extended to a wider circle of conferences and Catholic organisations. Where feasible, additional conferences ought to be invited to participate in our meetings.

The meeting also agreed that while resuming pilgrimages of the faithful on a large scale might not be possible under present circumstances, every effort should be made to encourage pilgrimages by leadership groups in the Church.

The bishops described the material needs of the Holy Land's Christians as being very urgent and called for encouragement of further generosity together with a sharing of information on how donations are used. In this context, they expressed their appreciation of increased collaboration on the part of local international Catholic agencies in the Holy Land and committed themselves to continue to work with such agencies, particularly with Caritas Internationalis.

The Bishops agreed to place the Holy Land on the agendas of the annual continental and inter-continental bishops' meetings and to support ecumenical collaboration in efforts to express solidarity with the Christians of the Holy Land. Particular note was taken of the relevance of 'accompaniment programmes' like that sponsored by the World Council of Churches and endorsed by the Heads of Churches in Jerusalem. Interfaith dialogue with Jews and Muslims should be enhanced. The summit expressed the hope that the fruit of these dialogues would include reconciliation and a shared pursuit of peace.

The Catholic bishops' summit is the result of an initiative taken up in the 1990s when the United States Catholic Conference worked closely with the Holy See and the Church in the Holy Land on issues related to the Holy Land, particularly on the future of Jerusalem. In 1997, the Secretariat of State of the Holy See asked the USCC to coordinate its policies and activities with European conferences. In October 1998, during a meeting of bishops' conferences on Jerusalem, the presidents of American and European conferences agreed to join in an informal coordination.

From 1998 until 2003, the United States Catholic Conference served as facilitator of the Coordination. In mid-2003, the Conference of England and Wales took over primary responsibility for facilitation.

The Coordination is an informal working group focusing primarily on advocacy, communication and education. Because of the urgency of the material needs, however, there has been increased coordination of contributions at the local level under the leadership of the Apostolic Nuncio which includes some agencies connected to national conferences. Other areas of consultation have included pilgrimages and episcopal conference visits.

The crisis provoked by the al Aqsa Intifada made it desirable for bishop presidents and the representatives to meet once again both to express solidarity with the Christians of the Holy Land and to formalise the ties between the conferences at the level of Episcopal leadership. In 2002, the participants decided to meet every year as long as the crisis continued.

This year's meeting agreed that, in the expectation of a continuation of the crisis, another meeting is to be held in January 2004 that would allow them to spend more time with the faithful of the Holy Land.