News in Christian-Jewish Relations: November 2001
|
|
Joint Statement
to the Media
by the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts and the Jewish Community Relations
Council of Greater Boston
November 7, 2001
Representatives of the Episcopal
Diocese of Massachusetts and the Jewish Community Relations Council met today at
the offices of the diocese at 138 Tremont Street, Boston. The meeting
followed the participation of the Episcopal Bishops M. Thomas Shaw, SSJE,
Barbara C. Harris, and Roy F. Cederholm, Jr., in a demonstration before the
Israeli consulate in Boston.
Attending were Nancy K. Kaufman, executive director of the Jewish Community
Relations Council; Geoffrey H. Lewis, president of the board of the JCRC; Rabbi
Michael Menitoff, vice president of the Massachusetts Board of Rabbis; the Rev.
Robert Tobin, Christ Episcopal Church, Cambridge; the Rt. Rev. M. Thomas Shaw,
bishop
of Massachusetts; and Kenneth Arnold, director of communications for the
diocese.
The participants issued the following statement:
"We had a fruitful discussion that has brought us to a better understanding of where each other stands on the issues that deeply concern our communities. We heard each other's candidly expressed pain and concern about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
"Both sides affirm in the strongest terms the mutual regard each has for the other and the commitment to work together, as we have in the past, on issues of social justice and common concern, locally and globally.
"We know that we will have disagreements about important issues, but our meeting today showed both the depth of our feelings and the urgency of our going forward together. We have lacked a venue in which to hold necessary discussions and agree that we must create an environment in which we can talk. We are in substantial agreement that we live together in this community and need to, indeed must, come to a better understanding of our differing perspectives.
"We intend to move forward to have a more meaningful dialogue about the issues that concern our two communities. It is expected that we will enter the next stage of this dialogue with a broader meeting
of representatives from the leadership of the Boston area Jewish and Christian religious communities before the end of November, to be organized under the auspices of the Massachusetts Council of Churches and the Jewish Community Relations Council. The date and location of the meeting has yet to be determined.
"Both parties also agree that the eventual goal of this dialogue is to engage not only leaders but lay people in our various communities in a constructive educational process. We must know and learn to hear each other better.
"Today's meeting is important in many ways. Most critically, it is a statement to the religious community and the Boston community that Jews and Christians can and will talk together about the issues that matter most to them. We have begun a new dialogue. We look forward to continuing it, knowing that the subject is difficult but trusting in each other's good faith, as this morning's meeting so clearly demonstrated."
The parties to the morning's discussion agreed not to speak separately to the
media.
John Paul II to Invite Global Religious Leaders to Assisi on Jan 24 for Day of Prayer for Peace
Text read before Sunday's
Angelus Prayer for November 18, 2001 follows:
Dearest Brothers and Sisters!
1. The international scene continues to be disturbed by disturbing tensions. We cannot forget the intense sufferings that have afflicted and still afflict so many of our brothers and sisters in the world: thousands of innocent victims in the grave attacks of last Sept. 11;
countless people forced to abandon their homes to face the unknown and, sometimes, a cruel death; women, the elderly and children exposed to the risk of dying of cold and hunger.
In a situation made dramatic by the always-present threat of terrorism, we feel the need to cry out to God. The more insurmountable the difficulties and obscure the prospects, so much the more insistent must our prayer be, to implore God for the gift of mutual understanding, harmony and peace.
2. We know that prayer acquires force if it is coupled with fasting and almsgiving. The Old Testament already taught this and from the earliest centuries, Christians have accepted and applied this lesson, especially at the times of Advent and Lent. For their part, Muslim faithful have just begun Ramadan, a month dedicated to fasting and prayer. Shortly, we Christians will begin Advent, to prepare ourselves in prayer for the celebration of Christmas, the
birthday of the "Prince of Peace."
At this opportune time, I ask Catholics to make next December 14 a day of fasting, during which to
fervently pray to God so that he will grant the world a stable peace, based on justice, and make it possible to find adequate solutions to the many conflicts that trouble the world. May what is saved from fasting be placed at the disposal of the poor,
especially those who at present suffer the consequences of terrorism and war.
I would also like to announce that it is my intention to invite the representatives of the religions of the world to come to Assisi on
January 24, 2002, to pray for the surmounting of oppositions and the promotion of authentic peace. In particular, we wish to have Christians and Muslims come together, to proclaim before the world that religion must never be a reason for conflict, hatred and violence. Whoever really accepts the word of the good and merciful God, cannot but exclude from his heart every form of rancor and enmity. In this historic moment, humanity needs to see gestures of peace and to hear words of hope.
As I said 15 years ago, when announcing the meeting of prayer for peace, which was held in Assisi the following October: "It is urgent that a choral invocation be raised from the earth to heaven, to implore from the Almighty, in whose hands is the destiny of the world, the great gift of peace, the necessary condition for any serious endeavor at the service of
humanity's real progress."
3. From this moment I entrust this initiative to the maternal intercession of Mary Most Holy, asking her to sustain our efforts, and those of the whole of humanity, in the way of peace.
We ask you, Queen of Peace, to help us respond with the force of truth and love to the new and overwhelming challenges of the present time. Help us also to surmount this difficult moment, which disturbs the serenity of so many people, and to work unhesitatingly to build, every day and in every environment, an authentic culture of peace.