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Education on Palestine PALESTINIAN LUTHERAN BISHOP IN JERUSALEM SUPPORTS
CATHOLIC CALL FOR A DAY OF FASTING AND PRAYER FOR PEACE DEC 22 Twenty-five Catholic bishops through-out
the Middle East and Africa have called for a day of fasting and prayer for
peace in Israel and Palestine on Dec. 22 and for urgent action by the
Christian world to do more to make peace.
Bishop Dr. Munib Younan
of the ELCJ, serving in Palestine, Jordan and Israel, has written his
colleague His Beatitude Patriarch Michael Sabbah of
the Roman Catholic Church in Jerusalem in gratitude and support, and is
asking the Lutheran world and all partners to join in solidarity with
them. "The situation has dragged on many
years now, and requires, today more than ever, action to put an end to the
sufferings of all inhabitants of this land, Jews, Christians and Moslems, who
have become equally incapable of ending the conflict, fettered as they are in
a spiral of cruel and irrational violence.
Both peoples, Palestinian and Israeli, are on the verge of perishing,
the strong as well as the weak, those who use violence as well as those who
wait patiently for a peaceful solution,"
the statement says. Bishop Younan
states, "We believe that churches should stand together at this time
for the sake of humanity and justice in Israel and Palestine and to save them
from every kind of fear or oppression, in order that the two nations may live
together in their own viable states, side by side in justice, peace and
reconciliation." Bishop Younan
also states that this call must also extend to all people of faith and
courage who seek just peace in the Middle East for the sake of our
children. He also strongly agrees with the Catholic bishop's
call for urgent action in the Christian churches because it represents the
mind of the grassroots when it says: "We believe that the churches can
do still more. If all the Churches of
the world recognize their duty towards the Holy Land, and if they all join
together in common and concerted action to sensitive their governments, their
people and the international community, their intervention will become a
decisive factor in the attainment of justice, peace and reconciliation in the
Holy Land". Both the Statement and Bishop Younan stress the need for relieving suffering on all
sides of the conflict. "We do not call you to take one
side against the other. On the contrary, we want you to help both sides find
the way to reconciliation. We are
calling for an awakening in the Churches of the world, for a strong voice to
be raised to promote peace in this Holy Land, where both peoples are in need
of outside help in order to find peace and reconciliation," the statement said. Bishop Younan
asks all the world to join the initiative of the Catholic bishops for a day
of fasting, and prayer on Wednesday, Dec. 22, 2004 because "we believe that the babe
of the manger in Bethlehem will hear the yearnings of every suffering person
and will transform the hearts and minds of peoples and politicians toward
justice, peace, forgiveness and reconciliation for Christ is our only hope
in our troubled Middle East." For more
information about the ELCA/Metro Chicago Synod Working Group on the Middle
East email: mideastwgchgo@aol.com |
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