Last night, Saturday, we met with Father Michael McGarry. Executive director of Tantur Ecumenical Institute. A Paulist Priest, Father McGarry has spent much of his career on Jewish-Christian relations. For the last ten years he has lived and worked in Jerusalem.
Some of Father McGarry's encouragements to us are as follows:
-Listen to many voices and narratives and expect to be confused about the political situation here. If someone thinks they have it all figured out, they are misinformed.
-Some Palestinians are extreme and violent; the vast majority just want to feed their families.
-Israel political situation is intractable. Do not look too quickly for solutions. Listen and learn.
-Many are now thinking that dialogue only cloaks peace - normalizes an abnormal situation. People feel better because they are talking, but the systems are not changing. One of the most active wars is the war of propagandas.
-Optimism is based on evidence. It is hard to be optimistic here. But hope is a gift from God. We are called to live as if the situation is not hopeless. Christians are not called to be "successful", only faithful.
Sent from my iPhone
-Optimism is based on evidence. It is hard to be optimistic here. But hope is a gift from God. We are called to live as if the situation is not hopeless. Christians are not called to be "successful", only faithful.
Sent from my iPhone
No comments:
Post a Comment