Episcopal Press and News
Bishop Samir Kafity Appeals for Solidarity Visit to Jerusalem
Episcopal News Service. February 14, 1991 [91039]
Samir Kafity, president-bishop of the Episcopal Church of Jerusalem and the Middle East, has issued an urgent appeal for Episcopal and other American church leaders to make a solidarity visit to Jerusalem in early March.
In a February 6 letter to Presiding Bishop Edmond L. Browning, Kafity said, "We need to know we are not alone." Browning's December peace pilgrimage to Baghdad, Beirut, and Jerusalem with heads of other churches made a "tremendous impact on the Diocese of Jerusalem," he said. "We cannot expect any change in the status quo in this land if Christian leaders are not willing to come and stand in holy solidarity with us."
Browning has been planning to be in Jerusalem late in March, not only to observe Holy Week but also to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the founding of the Diocese of Jerusalem. However, Kafity urged that a delegation come much sooner.
"Our hope for a peaceful settlement of the Gulf crisis was shattered on January 17 when the Allied Forces began their unprecedented bombardment of Iraq. Ever. since the start of the war our people have been suffering like I have never experienced throughout the whole intifada," Kafity wrote. "People have no food, they have no medicine, they have no work, they have no money and very little hope. The curfews are horrendous.
"Our people yearn for the presence of their fellow Christians from around the world to come and express solidarity with them," Kafity added. Our Jewish brothers and sisters are coming to Israel by the thousands to be in solidarity with the Israeli people. My people ask, 'Where is the Church? Where are our brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ from around the world to show solidarity with us?'"
The Rev. William Wipfler, the Episcopal Church's partnership officer for the Middle East, said the effort to put together a delegation is now under way. Judith Lidberg, a Volunteer for Mission temporarily home on furlough from her position as warden of St. George's College, Jerusalem, is working on logistics, according to Wipfler.
Anyone interested in participating in a March delegation or organizing another one should contact Wipfler's office at the Episcopal Church Center, 815 Second Ave., New York, NY 10017; telephone 1-800-334-7626.