The force of unity

“Our people need concrete steps in the areas of justice, peace and human dignity. They need to be further involved. They stopped believing in pretentious promises”. In his address, which opened the meeting organized by the Co-ordination of Episcopal Conferences in Support of the Church of the Holy Land and the Assembly of Catholic Bishops in the Holy Land (HLC 2011) Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal, gave a snapshot of the situation of the Christian minority in the Holy Land. Between two extremisms. A minority which is worried “for the two extremisms: the Islamic extremism that wages attacks against our churches and faithful, and the Israeli right-wing, whose increasing invasion of Jerusalem is aimed at transforming it into a city for Jews only, excluding other faiths”. Twal also acknowledged: “for a long time we ignored the communication with the institutions in Israeli civil society, which are important to us since they can say what we cannot say and do what we cannot do. Our challenge – the patriarch explained – is to engage in dialogue with left-wing parties and with the Israeli public opinion and its institutions, so as to press the Government to work for peace”. However, for the patriarch it is not a question of “changing the political asset but rather to invest time and resources so as to offer a different life to our people faced with a frustrating situation. This is what exhorts us to set up the synod for the Middle East, namely, to strengthen local Christian communities”. Two options. Strengthening local Christian communities implies ecumenical dialogue, as mentioned by the Lutheran bishop of Jerusalem Msgr. Mounib Younan and Fr. Franz Bowen, chief editor of the review “Proche Orient Chrétien” (Poc) in their addresses. “We must not be imprisoned by our history – said Msgr. Mounib Younan, who is also the president of the Italian Lutheran Federation -. We have two options: to remain separate as we are now or to unite our weaknesses, seeking new ways to cooperate, coexist and jointly witness the faith in Christ. Ecumenism is not a club with different Churches”. “Our dialogue here – the bishop said – is a practice. Mixed marriages and baptisms are accepted without problems, while theological dialogue is rather the strenuous defense of mutual positions”. “Also the Status Quo” (the Ottoman ‘firman’ from 1852, regulating the rights of Christian communities in three sanctuaries of the Holy Land, ed.’s note), “influences the dialogue in the Holy Land. On the one side this is a blessing since it tells us how, when, and what to do in the sanctuaries, but it’s also a curse, as it prevents us from finding new forms and paths for cooperation, namely, to be prophetic in this Land”. However, Msgr. Younan pointed out, “dialogue continues also with the involvement of the clergy and the faithful. In some areas Easter and Christmas are celebrated together with different calendars. These are signs of unity”. Decisive steps for ecumenical dialogue are: “to recover mutual trust and increase Churches’ joint statements. These are true blessings that bring people together”, the Lutheran bishop said, quoting in particular those on the status of Jerusalem. Msgr. Younan dedicated his last remark to Israeli occupation: “in the Holy Land Christians aren’t persecuted, their problems are called occupation, unfulfilled family reunification, unemployment, certain Islamic and Jewish extremism”. “Faced with this state of things – he concluded – it is necessary to strengthen Christian institutions, as they are the only ones that serve the human person regardless of his/her gender, faith, or ethnicity. Unity and reconciliation would grant further strength and representativeness to Christians before Muslims and Jews”. Ready to cooperate. “None of the Churches’ current divisions originates in Jerusalem. They were brought over from previously divided churches, and therefore, almost all world churches are partly responsible for the division. For this reason they are jontly called to work for unity”: thus recalled father Franz Bowen, editor-in-chief of the review “Proche Orient Chrétien” (Poc), for whom “ecumenical dialogue is part and parcel of Christian faithful here. Their daily experience is that solidarity and cooperation are vital for their presence as a minority in the midst of a majority of Muslims and Jews. The Christians of the Holy Land – he added – are ready to cooperate with their Islamic and Muslim brothers to prepare dialogue itineraries and to find a just and long-lasting solution to the conflict. Rather than being a part of the conflict, religion must return to be a part of the solution”. The meeting day of HLC 2011, devoted to ecumenism, takes on a special meaning also to the light of the forthcoming Week of Prayer for Christian unity (18-25 January 2011), whose prayer has been drawn up by Christians in Jerusalem.