Pax Christi USA, the Catholic Advisory Council of Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP), Franciscan Action Network, and the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns are co-sponsoring a new open letter from Catholics expressing our anguish over the ongoing violence in Israel-Palestine.
The letters’ initial signers include Cardinal Robert McElroy, bishop of San Diego; Archbishop John Wester of Santa Fe; Pax Christi USA’s Johnny Zokovitch, executive director, and Charlene Howard, national council chair; Marie Dennis, former co-president of Pax Christi International, leader of the Catholic Nonviolence Initiative, and Pax Christi USA’s 2022 Teacher of Peace; Mary Yelenick and Abigail Abysalh Metzger of the Pax Christi International UN team, among other Pax Christi leaders; theologian Sr. Elizabeth Johnson, CSJ, Fordham University; Br. Lawrence Hayes, Provincial Minister, Franciscan Friars; hundreds of women religious and ordained clergy; and many notable Catholic academics, activists, and lay leaders.
You can also download the letter in PDF format using this link.
“As U.S. Catholics,” the letter states, “we recognize our country’s contribution to the present violence and to the ongoing systemic injustices in Israel-Palestine. We call on President Biden, a fellow Catholic, and other U.S. and international leaders to do everything possible to ensure a permanent end to hostilities, including halting additional shipments of U.S.–funded offensive weapons to Israel, a return of all hostages and the immediate distribution of robust humanitarian aid to Gaza.”
The signatories write to express their “grief and dismay over the horrors that have occurred in Israel-Palestine over the last six months” and to “bear witness to and speak out against the decades of injustice that have plagued the Holy Land.” They assert that “the inherent dignity of all persons and their right to life is the basis of our concern for all Palestinian and Israeli lives and our hope for a solution in which systemic injustices are addressed and the rights of both peoples granted and upheld.”
Going beyond the current crisis, the letter speaks to the longer-term injustices in the Holy Land, including Israel’s military occupation and illegal settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the blockade imposed on Gaza. The letter notes that many of the signers have seen these realities firsthand and express their prayer that “a political solution can be achieved which ensures justice, equality, peace, security, and freedom for two peoples.”
The signers also lament that U.S. Catholics have often overlooked the situation in the Holy Land, specifically the plight of Palestinian Christians. At the same time, they affirm their concern for “Jews, Muslims, and others who suffer in Israel-Palestine.” The signers also commit themselves to “opposing antisemitism, Islamophobia, and anti-Arab discrimination,” acknowledging that “Christians have often failed in this regard.”
“For years, Pax Christi has condemned the U.S. government’s complicity in the Israel-Palestine conflict, its tacit support of the ongoing occupation by frustrating efforts to apply international law, and the unchecked military aid provided to Israel,” said Zokovitch. “Our faith requires us to speak out against weapons that will only lead to greater bloodshed and to demand action on behalf of a ceasefire and the painstaking work to create a just peace rooted in equality, human rights, and dignity for all.”
Many Palestinians resent the expression “Israel-Palesine Conflict”!