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Don’t let the Holy Land become a museum, cardinal urges Christians

BYANABELINGE

CHRISTIANS must remain in the Holy Land to stop the region’s sacred shrines becoming mere “museums”, the Vatican’s most senior official for relations with Islam said this week. In a wide-ranging interview with The Catholic Herald Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, said the Church has a duty to “save” the Christians of Israel and Palestine. The French cardinal also disclosed that the Church is committed to helping to stem the radicalisation of a new generation of young Muslim men. He said that his interreligious council has a responsibility towards this generation of alienated Muslim youth because “the mission of that office is to promote mutual understanding and respect between Catholics and the followers of other religions... and to promote the formation of persons dedicated to dialogue”. An important part of this effort is the introduction of dialogue to Catholic schools in the Gulf countries, he added, where Christians and Muslims mix freely in a “climate of brotherhood”. Cardinal Tauran said that Christians must maintain a presence in the Holy Land because their exodus is gradually stripping the holy sites of their living Christian tradition. He said: “For us, a holy place like the Holy Sepulchre [in the Old City of Jerusalem] is not only the church, but the church plus the families who

Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, pictured in Rome, says the Church must help to prevent the radicalisation of young Muslim men

Photo: CNS

live around, the Christian families, their shops, their schools and their hospitals. “This holy place is in the midst of a human community and we have to save this human community –we are not interested in museums.”

He added: “We have to convince the Christians to remain, to be testimonies of their faith in this special part of the world where Our Lord lived, died and rose again.” Cardinal Tauran said that the Church must support

Palestinian Christians by encouraging the building of housing and supplying struggling families with employment. His comments follow those of Pope Benedict XVI, who earlier this month urged

Israel to take active steps to preserve the Christian communities of the Holy Land. Others have spoken of the “twilight of Christianity” in Israel and Palestine. Last month Fr Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the provincial of

the Franciscan Friars Minor of the Middle East, the order which maintains most of the biblical sites in the region, said that the religion was in danger of disappearing from the Holy Land within two generations. Palestinian

Christians, above all, are being driven out of their homeland by rising levels of poverty, the political crisis and their separation from Christians in Israel, he said. Fr Pizzaballa added that in 1967 Christians made up 70 per cent of the population of Bethlehem, but now numbered just eight per cent of the city’s residents. Cardinal Tauran was speaking ahead of a historic November meeting with Muslim representatives in which the Pope will receive 24 scholars from each religion. The meeting will be the first of the Catholic-Muslim Forum, established in response to the open letter to Christian leaders signed by 138 Muslim scholars last year in an attempt to heal interfaith wounds since the Pontiff’s controversial Regensburg lecture in 2006. Cardinal Tauran expressed his hope that the talks, centred on the theme of “Love of God, love of neighbour”, would usher in “the beginning of a deeper theological dialogue”. He said he was confident the dialogue would tackle the touchy subject of religious freedom – despite the fact that the open letter neglected to address this point. He said: “The Church must have the schools, hospitals, massmedia, the possibility to express its points of view about questions of society, and so on.” But Cardinal Tauran dismissed any prospect of an immediate negotiation with Saudi Arabia, whose approximately one million Catholics –mostly foreign workers – are banned from worshipping publicly. He disclosed that

the Vatican has received messages from the Kingdom addressing the issue but that talks are being delayed as officials await King Abdullah’s response. Dialogue to build a church in Saudi Arabia will be “a gradual process”, he said. “First of all, we have to create an atmosphere of mutual confidence.” Saudi Arabia has previously responded by pointing out that the Vatican would not allow the construction of mosques in its own territory. The authorities, which advocate the conservative Wahhabi interpretation of Islam, cite a hadith(tradition) of the Prophet Mohammed that orders the expulsion of Christians and Jews from the Arabian Peninsula. The Pontiff merged the interreligious council with the Pontifical Council for Culture in 2006, but his appointment of Cardinal Tauran in 2007 restored the profile of interfaith relations at the Vatican. The cardinal, who replaced the English Archbishop Michael Fitzgerald, boasts a career in the Vatican’s diplomatic service spanning nearly three decades and a reputation as an outspoken expert on international affairs. He criticised the Israeli occupation of East Jerusalem in 1998, calling it illegal, and condemned the 2003 American-led invasion of Iraq as a “crime against peace”. In 2004 Cardinal Tauran spoke out against what he regarded as the “second-class” treatment of Christians in many Muslim countries.

Editorial Comment: Page 11

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Catholics are filling pews in Scotland, says study

Hollywood actor praises Catholic faith

BYJOHNHINTON

FOR THE first time in Scotland’s history there are more Mass-going Catholics than there are active members of the Church of Scotland, it was claimed this week. Figures compiled by the independent survey group Christian Research suggested that in 2005 the number of Catholics who went to Mass surpassed those who attended Kirk services. It found that a total of 215,000 Catholics attended church, compared with 208,400 attending the Church of Scotland. The change is caused not

by native Scots but by the large numbers of Catholic Polish immigrants boosting church attendance –raising numbers by some 50,000 people since the last time figures were published in 2002. A spokesman for the Catholic Church said: “There are now more Masses being said in Polish than in Gaelic in Scotland. At St Mary’s Cathedral in Edinburgh, there are two Polish Masses every Sunday. It has made a significant difference.” And he claimed that the Polish-inspired revival was now boosting the Church in other areas. “In terms of

vocations to the priesthood, we hit rock bottom a few years ago when we had only about four or five men training to become priests. Now there are 15 or 16.” According to the survey, attendances in all Christian denominations are gradually falling away. Christian Research predicts that by 2010 the number of Scots going to church on a Sunday will fall below 10 per cent of the population for the first time – from 751,100 in 1990 to 457,600 in 2015. But a spokesman for the Church of Scotland suggested the predictions should not be taken too literally.

Pope to dine with dozen young people in Sydney

BYSTAFFREPORTER

POPE BENEDICT XVI is to share a private lunch with 12 specially selected young people during his stay in Australia for World Youth Day this year. Two young people will be

chosen to represent each continent plus one from Papua New Guinea and one from New Zealand. They will come from different walks of life, so that the Pope can “connect with them on a personal level”. The Pope will also celebrate a Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral for invited seminarians and young religious. “Who would have thought a young bloke from Walgett would get the chance to have lunch with the Pope one day and repre

sent all young Aussies?” Craig Ashby, a 21-year-old Gamilaroi man who has been chosen to represent Australia’s youth, said. Bishop Anthony Fisher OP, who is the World Youth Day 2008 coordinator, said the Holy Father had specially requested a meeting with some of Sydney’s disadvantaged young people. He said: “This will not be a one-off experience for them, but something that links them into the ongoing healing mission of the Catholic Church.”

OSCAR-WINNINGactor Jon Voight’s Catholic values help him to deal with the “nonsense” of Hollywood, he has said. Speaking in Jerusalem, where he was celebrating Israel’s 60th birthday, the 67-year-old actor said the Catholicism instilled in him by his mother helped him deal with the acting world. He said: “It is a relief in Hollywood to have some spirituality. You are protected from all the nonsense. You keep your spirituality by doing good deeds.” Voight, pictured above, grew up in New York state to a Catholic family of mixed German and Slovakian heritage. He attended the Catholic University of America in Washington DC before becoming an actor and making his break with Midnight Cowboyin 1969. In 2005 he played the late pontiff in Pope John Paul II.

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