The Synod for the Middle East, a historic gathering of the region's
bishops, concluded October 24, amid controversy over alleged bias in its
concluding message.
One expert on the region told CNA that the document
reflected pastoral needs, not a political agenda.
The bishops' concluding “Message to the People of God” criticized
Israel in detail, but omitted most of the criticisms made against
Islamic governments during the synod. Some observers took remarks about
using religion to “justify injustices” as a blanket rebuke of Israel, a
charge participants denied.
Shortly after his return from Rome, synod participant Monsignor
Robert Stern, secretary general of the Catholic Near East Welfare
Association. He spoke with CNA about some of the considerations that
shaped the synod's concluding message.
“The synod really didn't have a political focus at all,” Msgr. Stern
said, recalling that its main purposes were to strengthen bonds between
diverse groups of Catholics, and to ensure a continuing Middle Eastern
Christian presence and witness.
As such, he said, the synod's final message did not contain “the same
degree of detail about every situation where Christians have
difficulties in the Middle East.”
Rather, he said, the message reflected
“two major concerns” that took priority as “the more compelling
matters,” Palestine and Iraq. Migration has greatly diminished both
regions' Christian populations in recent years.
In this context, he said, the bishops' choices of emphasis and
restraint --which could appear to focus on Israel's treatment of
Palestine, while treading lightly with Islamic regimes-- should not be
interpreted as political statements, but as expressions of their
pastoral priorities, and suggestions toward peace.
“They did list out several of the issues that are raised by (Muslim
and Christian) Palestinians,” the monsignor said, noting that all of the
specific criticisms of Israel were ongoing “issues of concern for the
Christians who live in Palestine.”
The synod fathers, he recalled, “also
mentioned being conscious of the suffering and insecurity in which
Israelis live” because of violence from some Palestinians.
Monsignor Stern also acknowledged that fear for the safety of
Christians in some Muslim countries may have prompted the synod fathers
to moderate their comments. This was, he said, a “prudential judgment,”
since Christians throughout the region can suffer consequences of their
leaders' remarks.
“Most of these bishops come from ... places where they're a very
small minority, they're bishops of a very small community, and they feel
a lot of social pressure living in an Islamic world,” he observed.
“A
lot of them are in politically very uncertain circumstances-- where
they're at risk, and their people are at risk. So, they don't have quite
so open and expansive of a way of talking about the situation.”
“Just the experience for them to come to Rome, and talk to one
another, and experience a kind of free ambiance where anything can be
said ... was a very powerful experience for them-- to have solidarity,
to be gathered around the Pope, and to be able to reflect.”
He said that the Middle Eastern bishops' “Message to the People of
God,” whatever its possible limitations might be, was a historic and
crucial statement-- giving guidance to communities whose decisions in
the near future could make the difference between their survival or
disappearance.
“The whole thrust of it is saying, 'What's our ... situation in the
Middle East, and what do we want to say to our people here, or our
people abroad? How do we stick together as Catholics? ... How do we deal
with our brothers and fellow citizens, the Muslims and Jews?'”
SIC: CNA/INT'L