" Arab Christians Are a Minority That Matters"
2-Day Interreligious Gathering in London Discusses Holy Land LONDON, JULY
21, 2011 (Zenit.org).- Even though Arab Christians constitute
a minority in the Middle East, they are a minority
that matters, says the president of the Pontifical Council for
Interreligious Dialouge. Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran said this Tuesday at a
two-day conference on Christians in the Holy Land that took
place this week at Lambeth Palace. Jointly hosted by the
Anglican Archbishop Rowan Williams of Canterbury and the Catholic Archbishop
Vincent Nichols of Westminster, the conference examined the challenging situation
in which Christian communities in parts of the Holy Land
find themselves. Speaking as Benedict XVI´s representative to the conference,
Cardinal Tauran said it must be recognized that "the situation
of Christians in the Holy Land, like in other Middle
East countries, is marked by precariousness." "We must remember that
the political evolution of the last 50 years has made
the presence and the leadership of Christians fragile," he said.
"Revolutions and wars have contributed to weaken the Christian communities
and favored the emigration of many families. "What we have
to avoid is that the Holy Land becomes an archaeological
and historical site to be visited like the Coliseum in
Rome." The cardinal continued: "For us Christians the Holy Land
is the land of God’s revelation, the place where Jesus
lived, died and was resurrected. We cannot even think that
Bethlehem or the Holy Sepulcher should become museums with entrance
tickets and guides who explain beautiful legends. "For us the
Holy Places, the shrines, are much more than stones. The
Holy Places are living testimonies which have around them a
population, families with their schools, their cultural patrimony, their languages,
their folklore, their artisans, handicrafts as well as hospitals, etc."
Cardinal Tauran reiterated the fact that Christians in the Holy
Land and in the Arab world constitute a minority, but
that they are "a minority that matters." A certain dignity
"Our Christian brothers and sisters of that part of the
world have to realize that they have a certain peculiarity,
I should say a certain dignity," the cardinal explained. "They
all belong to apostolic churches. "Missionaries from Rome or Constantinople
did not bring the Christian faith there. Those communities have
been built on the faith of the apostles. They are
apostolic communities in the deepest sense of the word. Their
practice comes through the faith of the apostles; this is
their identity. "Their liturgical patrimony is of an exceptional value.
(Let us mention by the way that in many Oriental
Churches the Eucharistic Prayer is said in the language spoken
by Jesus.)" Also, the cardinal noted that Christians in the
Holy Land and in the Middle East are Arabs, and
that they have lived in the region "much before the
Muslims." "They are not asking asylum," he said, "they are
rather at home. Our Christian brothers and sisters speak Arabic
and for example, many Christians have contributed to the rebirth
of Arabic literature at the end of the 19th century."
The president of the interreligious dicastery said that Arab Christians
are "a gift" to the Holy Land "because they bring
cultural openness, a sense of the dignity of the human
person and particularly of women; a conception of freedom which
harmonizes rights and privileges and a conception of political society
which can lead to democracy." "Christians have the vocation to
be a bridge," he added. "Then the question is not
how the Christians are going to survive in the Holy
Land and the Middle East, but how they are ready
to be witnesses to their faith. "I think that many
Muslims are worried about the future of Christians in that
region, because they know that Christians can help them to
understand modernity and how to reconcile diversity and unity." Buzz
words Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal of Jerusalem spoke about the
words most associated with the Holy Land: "occupation, terrorism, settlements,
rocket attacks, home demolitions and security walls." "All these are
powerfully resonant, alarming, hotly debated, and politically-charged," he said. "But
beyond the buzz words, are the people and their lives
in this Land called Holy." "For too long," the patriarch
said, "the people of this land have been mired in
conflict. Many innocent people especially the youth have suffered and
continue to suffer." He briefly recounted why conflict continues to
fester in the region, such as "missed opportunities and a
lack of good political determination," as well as "external influential
forces." "Ultimately," the patriarch continued, "the Israelis and Palestinians who
live in the Holy Land must work out their differences
in a just and righteous manner and in ways that
may require painful compromises." He said that "both sides must
abandon maximalist claims to a life in the land without
the other, and reconcile themselves to the belief, that we
live in a world, where proximate justice is the best
we can hope for." Patriarch Twal also noted that external
intervention would be needed for various reasons, such as a
"lack of trust" among the parties, the imbalances of power,
and the historical nature of the conflict. |
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