Episcopal Press and News
Church Observer Team Goes to Middle East
Episcopal News Service. February 25, 1988 [88028]
The team will observe the current Palestinian/Israeli conflict examine ways to support the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East in mediating this conflict, and to explore the role the Episcopal Church might play in terms of material and spiritual support.
Recently, following a week-long stay in the Diocese of Connecticut, the Rt. Rev. Samir Kafity, President-Bishop of the Episcopal Church in Jerusalem and the Middle East and Anglican Bishop of Jerusalem, visited New York, where he was installed as honorary canon in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. On a visit to the Church Center, he met with the Presiding Bishop, with members of the Middle East Team, and with other staff members.
"It is most important," he observed, "that the Church be visible now as we pass through a decisive period in history. We must be seen doing some kind of service, on behalf of the wider Episcopal Church, to bring more understanding." Kafity stressed that this effort also must be meaningful to Moslems and Israelis and further called for Christians to be ministers of reconciliation. "We need a voice of healing and love," he said. Kafity pointed out that the Christian community in Jerusalem was relatively small. Nevertheless, the leadership of the churches there is largely indigenous, a process begun by the Anglicans in 1958 and subsequently followed by the Lutherans and Roman Catholics.
He saw a convergence of the religious bodies. Early in the current crisis they drew up a statement addressing this. In essence the document calls for the Christian community "to pray for justice and peace," "to dedicate...a day of fasting and self-denial," and to observe "a day of prayer and preaching when fervent prayer will be offered...that justice and peace may be realized."
The message concluded:
...we again state unequivocally that all our Christian Churches in this country, standing together, seek real peace based on justice and which will never be established unless every person's rights are fully respected.
The document was read in all churches but was censored by the Israeli authorities.
The bishop delineated some of the problems occurring at the hospitals where casualties, who are generally treated free, sometimes are harassed by the authorities. Often he said, this harassment involves confiscation of their identity papers. When they try to claim them after being discharged from the hospital, they risk arrest, he added
Upon being asked what the Episcopal Church could do, he asked for support, both material and spiritual. Quoting from the resolution on the Palestinian situation developed at ACC-7, which he had also discussed with some rabbis, he asked, "What is the best way to open a dialogue between the American Jewish and Palestinian communities?" He suggested that the Episcopal Church might play a significant role here in encouraging dialogue between the religious factions in the area, in supporting an international conference, and in the education of the American public about the complexities and historic realities of the area.