Bishops of Holy Land Coordination call for peace after killings in Gaza's Holy Family parish

Holy Family Church, Gaza last summer. Image by Dan Palraz - CC BY-SA 4.0. Wikimedia

Source: CBCEW

Bishops of the Holy Land Coordination have issued the following statement after two Christian women were killed in a sniper attack on the Holy Family Church compound in Gaza on 16 December 2023.

The Bishops of the Holy Land Coordination were profoundly shocked and distressed at the killing by snipers on 16 December of two Christian women sheltering in the compound of the Holy Family church, Gaza. Messages were sent immediately to the Patriarch, His Eminence Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, and to the Parish Priest, Fr Gabriel Romanelli.

The Holy Land Coordination has been warmly welcomed by priests and parishioners on numerous occasions.

We have witnessed first-hand the faith and commitment of the few parishioners who remain; and the dedicated care by the Missionaries of Charity of some fifty profoundly disabled people who live in the convent alongside the church.

The desecration of this compound and the destruction of the Sisters' convent, "signalled," according to the Patriarch, "as a place of worship since before the beginning of the war," is profoundly disturbing. The shooting in cold blood of Nahida Anton and Samar Antoun, a mother and daughter seeking to enter the convent is unfathomable.

The Holy Land Coordination bishops represent a broad sweep of countries, each bishop committed to a just peace for all and to holding the plight of Christians of the Holy Land at the forefront of their governments' concerns. We visit the Holy Land regularly to reassure these Christians that they are not forgotten. We seek also to understand better, and at first hand, the realities experienced by the people of three Abrahamic faiths sharing this Land; to fathom the possibility of hope in a two-state solution.

The atrocities perpetrated against Israeli Jews on 7 October and the subsequent killing by the Israeli Defence Force of nearly 20,000 Gazans, of whom 70% were women and children, would appear profoundly to jeopardise the prospects of any such resolution of this deep-seated conflict. Yet, the approaching celebration of Our Saviour's birth two thousand years ago in the heart of the West Bank should serve as an incentive to people of faith, across the globe, to call down the Holy Spirit ever more fervently to move the hearts of all who can bring influence to bear on these lands and to find a way to cease the hostilities from all sides.

Bishop Nicholas Hudson (Chair of the Holy Land Coordination)
Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster
England and Wales

Bishop Nicolo Anselmi
Bishop of Rimini
Italy

Archbishop Udo Bentz
Archbishop-elect of Paderborn
Germany

Bishop Pierre Burcher
Bishop Emeritus of Reykjavik
Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden

Bishop Christopher Chessun
Anglican Bishop of Southwark
Church of England

Bishop Michel Dubost
Bishop Emeritus of Evry-Corbeil-Essonnes
France

Archbishop Richard Gagnon
Archbishop of Winnipeg
Canada

Bishop William Kenney
Auxiliary Bishop Emeritus of Birmingham
England and Wales

Bishop Declan Lang
Bishop of Clifton
England and Wales

Bishop Donal McKeown
Bishop of Derry
Ireland

Archbishop William Nolan
Archbishop of Glasgow
Scotland

Archbishop Joan Enric Vives i Sicilia
Bishop of Urgell and Co-Prince of Andorra
Spain

Bishop Sithembele Sipuka
Bishop of Mthatha
South Africa

Bishop Paul Terrio
Bishop Emeritus of St Paul
Canada

Since 1998, the Bishops' Conference's Department for International Affairs has organised the annual meeting of the Coordination of Episcopal Conferences in Support of the Church of the Holy Land. The Holy Land Coordination focuses on the three Ps: Prayer, Pilgrimage and Persuasion. Prayer is the framework of the meeting, with daily celebration of the Eucharist, often in different rites. Pilgrimage to the local Catholic communities and holy sites is always a key component of the visit. The 'Persuasion' element usually occurs when the bishops and other delegates return to their home countries and share their views with parliamentarians, diplomats and the media on a wide range of issues affecting the lives of Christians in the Holy Land.