Urgent appeal from Jerusalem
April 4th, 2025
From: Independent Catholic News
A Jerusalem Voice for Justice - an ecumenical witness for equality and a just peace in Palestine/Israel Jerusalem has sent us the following statement on the situation on Palestine/Israel:
"Out of the depths I cry to you"
(Psalm 130:1)
We are living in a time of deep crisis. We are writing to you today because we believe that our faith is meant to shine out in times like these.
As the war in Gaza continues, Israel has launched a war in the West Bank, hidden from the eyes of the world. The Israeli army is carrying out the largest displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank from their homes since 1967. According to OCHA, already over 40, 000 Palestinians have been displaced, and are currently living without shelter, essential services, and healthcare.
In this context, we call to mind the parable Jesus told. It is one that unfolds in these very lands. A wounded man lay on the side of the road. Jesus describes those who passed him by without stopping. Rev. Martin Luther King proposed that they passed him by, fearing: what will happen to me if I stop? Rev King wrote that the Good Samaritan instead asked the question: what will happen to him if I pass him by? Only the Good Samaritan acted in order to save the wounded man's life. Remembering this parable, we now wish to address three groups of people.
To our brothers and sisters in Gaza, Gaza City, Khan Younis and Rafah, and the West Bank, in Nablus, Jenin and Tulkarm:
We refuse to simply pass you by. We not only do not forget you, but commit ourselves to solidarity with you. We carry you in our prayers. We cry with you. We seek to make your cries heard in a world which needs to be shaken out of its complacency.
To those around the globe who see our wounds but do not speak out:
We recognize your fear and know that the stakes of speaking out now are high. Perhaps you still hope, in your silence, that someone else along the way will stop to help. It should be apparent by now that no one is stopping. Recently, the United States President, Donald Trump, has declared that in a few weeks he will make vital announcements about the future of our homeland. We fear that the annexation of Palestinian territories by Israel may be imminent. Increasing use of the names "Judea and Samaria" (instead of the occupied West Bank), exploiting Biblical terminology to confuse present political realities, manifests a desire to wipe Palestine and the Palestinians off the map, claiming we do not exist. Now is the time to insist that Palestinians have the right to live in their homeland, and to join with those calling all over the world for equality, justice and peace for Palestinians and Israeli alike.
Finally, to those Jews and Christians who have been led to believe that God wants Israel to annex our homeland:
We want to state clearly that you have been misguided. All, Palestinians and Israelis, are created in the image and likeness of God. They are all equal in dignity and rights. Furthermore, our God is a God of love who abhors violence and loves all God's children. The Palestinians are your "neighbour". The inviolable commandment in the word of God we share is this: "Love your neighbour as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18, Matthew 22:39, Mark 12:31, Luke 10:27, Roman 13:9). To expel the Palestinians from their homeland is not only an act of violence; it is sacrilege.
As we approach Easter, we affirm yet again that the light shines in the darkness and darkness does not overcome it. "What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. (John 1:3-5)
A Jerusalem Voice for Justice
LiveSimply
LiveSimply at St.Peter’s
Pope Francis in his encyclical ‘Laudato Si’ invites us to “work with generosity and tenderness in protecting this world which God has entrusted to us”. An important part of our faith is to care for creation and to develop respect for other people in the world. The climate emergency endangers peoples around the world and affects the futures of our children and grandchildren. You will be familiar with the climate crisis, from the regular news coverage of its effects in different parts of the world, from last year’s COP26, and from the pastoral letter for Pentecost from the Bishops Conference that was available in Church in 2021.
In response, the Archdiocese of Birmingham has drawn up its own environmental policy. At the heart of this is the encouragement to all parishes to take up the Livesimply programme. The programme covers three areas:
Living simply /Living in solidarity with people in poverty /Living sustainably with creation.
St. Peter’s is registered as a parish with CAFOD to follow the Livesimply programme and we already as a parish follow actions in these areas. These include:
Living in solidarity with people in poverty
You are no doubt carrying out your own actions to do what you can to protect the natural environment in which we live and on which we depend.
CAFOD has produced a resource list of ideas for living simply, which may contain actions you have not thought of:
cafod.org.uk/content/download/29754/339060/version/6/file/LiveSimply%20-%20A4%20100%20Ideas%20list.pdf
Pope Francis in his encyclical ‘Laudato Si’ invites us to “work with generosity and tenderness in protecting this world which God has entrusted to us”. An important part of our faith is to care for creation and to develop respect for other people in the world. The climate emergency endangers peoples around the world and affects the futures of our children and grandchildren. You will be familiar with the climate crisis, from the regular news coverage of its effects in different parts of the world, from last year’s COP26, and from the pastoral letter for Pentecost from the Bishops Conference that was available in Church in 2021.
In response, the Archdiocese of Birmingham has drawn up its own environmental policy. At the heart of this is the encouragement to all parishes to take up the Livesimply programme. The programme covers three areas:
Living simply /Living in solidarity with people in poverty /Living sustainably with creation.
St. Peter’s is registered as a parish with CAFOD to follow the Livesimply programme and we already as a parish follow actions in these areas. These include:
Living in solidarity with people in poverty
- the parish project that supports the work of the St. Therese Hospital, a medical facility run by the Comboni Missionary Sisters for sick children in the conflict zone of South Sudan
- support for fair trade for farmers around the world through the use of Fairtrade products in the Centre and through the sales of their goods
- support for the work of St. Chad’s Sanctuary in Birmingham for their work with asylum seekers and refugees with donations of food and clothing
- collecting food donations for New Starts in Bromsgrove
- holding collections for CAFOD twice a year
- creating an environmentally-friendly churchyard with wildflower sections, reducing the mowing areas, putting up nesting boxes for birds, recycling wreaths for re-use and collecting all garden waste
- the Finance Committee is in the process of conducting an audit of energy use in all our Church buildings and trying to improve insulation in the Community Centre with replacement windows
- we now use a green energy supplier for all our gas and electricity: Interdiocesan Fuel Management
- 2 new initiatives are recycling printer ink cartridges and blister packs for medicines and there are collection boxes for each of these at the back of Church.
You are no doubt carrying out your own actions to do what you can to protect the natural environment in which we live and on which we depend.
CAFOD has produced a resource list of ideas for living simply, which may contain actions you have not thought of:
cafod.org.uk/content/download/29754/339060/version/6/file/LiveSimply%20-%20A4%20100%20Ideas%20list.pdf