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The
Church and Poverty in Palestine
Historically,
the Church in Palestine and its related charitable organizations have played
an important role on focusing on poverty and undertaking remedial action
whether in terms of health, education, housing and other essential services.
Especially in the middle of the nineteenth century, the various Christian
churches started on activities that aimed at the educational, health and basic
needs of the population. At first these services were addressed to the
indigenous Christians of the country to be later on expanded to the whole
population.
The Church and
Health
In
terms of health, there are a number of hospitals run by the Churches such as
the Augusta Victoria Hospital of the Lutheran World Federation and a variety
of other hospitals by the Catholic and Anglican Churches. The Churches also
run a number of outpatient clinics in various localities of the West Bank and
Gaza Strip. In primary health care, the Middle East Council of Churches
through its program of NECCCRW in Gaza runs primary health clinics for mother
and child in refugee camps or in poorer parts of the Gaza Strip. The
Palestinian Development Plan 1999-2003 calls for universal primary health care
in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The Ministry of Health calls for the
involvement of the private sector in this effort. It is important for the
Church Related Organizations to take note of this and to examine how their
plans in the health sector complement the planning of the governmental sector.
The involvement of the Churches and their related organizations should be done
within a comprehensive vision on the issue of poverty alleviation and
prevention. Such a vision does not exist at present and this paper recommends
that for their Palestinian vision for the twenty first century, at least its
first decade or two, the Churches in Palestine should be assertive in
examining, developing and advocating a vision for poverty alleviation. This
can be done independently but with continuous consultation with the various
governmental and non-governmental bodies preoccupied with the question of
poverty.
The Church and
Education
The
Churches in Palestine led in the establishment of educational institutions
since the middle of the nineteenth century. In fact, the private education
offered by the Churches is responsible, to a certain extent, to the
facilitation of the emergence of an industrious and enterprising Palestinian
middle class. But as education has become universal, the educational system of
the Churches ended up serving mostly the urban middle class, both Moslem and
Christian.
The Churches at present cannot change their educational priorities for a
variety of reasons among that is the fact that their schools in the urban
setting have become part of the social and economic context. More important,
however, is the fact that the PA is doing a good job in extending primary
education universally. There are, however, problem areas such as pre-school
education and the access of the poorest of the poor, the handicapped and those
with special problems to appropriate education. The Churches have been doing
some outreach in these areas such as the Effeta School for deaf children in
Bethlehem and the Mother Theresa and the Daughters of Charity work in the Gaza
Strip. But again there is no consensus vision of what to do with those
children with special needs or how to address helping out with the educational
problems of the poorest children. One area where church related organizations
have pioneered is that of vocational education. Both Catholic and Protestant
church related organizations have established quality programs in vocational
education. NECCCRW Gaza also undertakes intensive quality courses in
vocational education. Given that almost fifty percent of those students
sitting for the general secondary examination in the country fail them, the
importance of strengthening and expanding vocational education becomes even
more pertinent. Vocational education hence is an area that should be included
in a comprehensive vision for church participation in the society.
The Church and
Social Issues
The
Church in Palestine cannot afford to take a side seat on issues pertaining to
the society and its concerns. Up till now the Church has not provided a
systemic input into the societal deliberations, whether formal or informal, on
matters of poverty and social policy. While the religious composition of the
population, with the indigenous Christians numbering less than 2 percent, may
prohibit some in the Church from adopting an assertive policy on social and
economic issues, this cannot be an excuse. The Church, even a minority church
but particularly the "minority church" of the Holy Land, has an
obligation to make its voice heard. Thus beside celebrating the Jubilee in
ecumenical and intra and inter church ceremonies the Church cannot let go of
its responsibility for coming up with a program addressing the social and
economic ills afflicting Palestinians especially the poorest of the poor among
them. Even if the churches cannot implement this program it can be used for
lobbying purposes and also as an important tool for advocacy with local and
international governmental and non-governmental organizations. Church Related
Organizations such as the Department of Service to Palestine Refugees of the
Middle East Council of Churches with NECCCRW in Gaza and the corresponding
NECC/ICC in the West Bank can play an important role in propelling the
creation of such a program of lobbying and advocacy. An initiative has been
launched by Caritas Jerusalem to study the feasibility of starting a Church
Related Organization Round Table at the local level that can meet regularly
and discuss outstanding issues and concerns particularly those that touch on
poverty in Palestine.
Some would ask but is this role of the Church? The answer is very clear: to
fulfill its Christian role, the Church in the Holy Land today cannot but
develop its vision on how it can contribute to deal with poverty and other
social ills in the society. If such a vision is developed then the Church can
be said to be faithful to the teachings of Christ and to the admonitions of
the Holy Writ. If, however, no action is taken on this matter, then the Church
of Palestine would continue to be reactive rather than proactive. At this
stage of the impeding declaration of the Palestinian State, the Church in
Palestine needs to have a clear input and contribution. It needs to play a
part in shaping the future of the Palestinian State to the advantage of all
its citizens and towards an accountable, responsible and responsive society.
It is not enough for the Church to see itself as the guardian of the Holy
Places and to minimize accordingly the role it is expected to play in ensuring
a fair and just society. By combining the two functions, the Church will truly
fulfill its vocation and will promote the kind of society that will best
preserve and guard the holy places in an environment characterized by openness
and religious pluralism.
The Church and
Its Faithful
The
Church of the Holy Land, with its composition of international and local
clergy, has played a historic role in promoting the welfare of the indigenous
Christian population. This witness to the local Christian population spanned a
variety of services and periods from education to health to housing and to the
provision of employment opportunities. The Churches served from the time of
the Ottomans to that of the British, Jordanians, Israelis and now the
Palestinians. At a certain time particularly towards the middle and end of the
nineteenth century, the Christian population of the country was almost
completely dependent on the Church. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli war when over
50,000 Christian Palestinians became overnight refugees, it was the Church
that provided housing and facilitated living conditions through employment and
through other forms of direct and indirect subsidies.
But the times they are a-changing. Or are they? The traditional dependency
that Church charity has created in the local Christian population is now being
challenged by a group of Christians who, because of their social and economic
conditions, have grown independent of the Church. But this independence brings
with it its particular challenge since it involves also the distancing from
the Church and its mission. The language spoken by those independent
Christians and by the Church is not the same language. Hence the ties and
links with a broad range of the faithful that are necessary for the Church to
develop its program and vision in the wider society become restricted and
limited. But another problem encountering the Church of Palestine in its
entirety is that of the emigration of Palestinian Christians because of
political instability and unpromising economic and employment prospects. This
situation puts the Church at a further challenge: in order for the Church to
come up with a program addressing the social and economic ills of the society,
it needs to have the constituency with whom it can coordinate and work out its
program. Accordingly, with the absence of such a constituency, or with its
numbers dwindling, the task for the Church becomes even more formidable.
Hence the Church seems destined to develop a two-pronged program
simultaneously: one that can address the needs and conditions affecting the
Christian faithful and one aimed at addressing the social and economic ills of
the society at large. The challenge for the first program is how to create a
viable Church community that is in communion with itself and with its
Religious and Social environments. The challenge for the second program is how
to develop and activate it together with the faithful and their committed
participation. Accordingly, the Church in Palestine should see the challenge
of confronting the social and economic ills as one of reaffirming its presence
and tradition of witness.
Church Related
NGOs in Palestine
Perhaps
the primary responsibility of all church related NGOs in Palestine is the
elaboration and crystallization of the vision and the program of action that
the Church needs to play in Palestine. There are a variety of church related
organizations operating at present: from those local ones offering outdated
charitable handouts to those that work according to global visions
accommodated to the local scene. And yet a persisting problem is the absence
of a common vision that unites all of them within an agreed upon framework
that sets objectives and proposes methods of intervention, in general. There
is no Palestinian Round Table of Church Related Organizations and Other NGOs
to address together the formulation of a framework. Accordingly, the tens of
local and international church related NGOs appear to be operating each
according to its vantage point. Certainly, no one argues for intervention in
the internal make up and decision making set up of these NGOs but having a
framework which guides and orients all of them in their work in the country is
something that should at least be discussed before writing it off as
impractical. It is the role of the Church Related Organizations to sensitize
church hierarchies to the responsibilities placed on them and on the Church at
this juncture point of Palestinian history.
Commitment of
the Church and Justice and Peace
It
is clear that without an active and assertive input by the Palestinian Church
in combating poverty and inequities within the society, social justice within
the society will be long in coming. But as important the persistence of
poverty in Palestinian society and the growing gaps between rich and poor
raise the question of whether real peace can be established between the
Palestinians and Israelis. If poverty can be defined from a relative
deprivation perspective then having the poor Palestinians side by side with
the relatively wealthy Israelis does not add up to an equation of peaceful
relationships. Hence the duty of the Church and its related organizations is
to join efforts with governmental and non-governmental bodies in Palestine in
order to ensure that the Palestinian Development Plans introduce
poverty-oriented programs and not simply gloss over poverty alleviation
terminology. This is why the church input and intervention on the topic of
poverty has to be entrusted, on the professional side, to experts on the
economy of poverty who can give advice and suggestions as how to proceed. In
fact, if the Palestinian Church starts projecting its commitment to poverty
alleviation and to remedy the social and economic ills publicly, this may do
wonders in maintaining and promoting dialogue and mutual understanding with
the Moslem majority. Likewise, the Church can show its commitment to justice,
peace and reconciliation among Palestinians and Israelis by insisting on and
advocating the rights of the Palestinians to a just and lasting settlement of
their cause.
The Role of
Northern Donors and Partners
Donors
and partners in the north want to feel that their interest and contributions
to Palestinian society make a difference. The more grassroots-oriented and
society-wide the organizations they support in Palestine, the more they feel
that they are justified in supporting them. The APRODEV Policy Paper on
Palestine is an excellent assessment of the current situation and the role of
the five agencies/partners that make up APRODEV. Based on this policy paper
and on our own assessment in DSPR/MECC there is need to study together our
relationship and its various intricacies in order to optimize the priority of
serving the marginalized, the poorest of the poor and those with special needs
and handicaps. Certainly, different perceptions and readings of the different
political, social and economic environments persist. This, however, should be
added reason for northern partners and Palestinian counterparts, including
DSPR/MECC, to come together and examine how these different perceptions can be
understood, and if need be reconciled, to advance our joint ventures of
service and witness.
A Relation of
Inequality
Some
northern agencies have dealt with some of the Church Related Organizations in
Palestine from a basis of inequality. Impatience is often shown to the
organizational incapacity of the local organizations that, according to
northern partners, lack professionalism and the needed know-how. In addition,
Church Related Organizations are often criticized for not having a vision that
can reach the society at large and make sense of the various activities and
projects undertaken by the name of the church. It is simplistic to assume that
a "minority church" with a rather complicated history of religious
status quo, dependence on the North and a crisis-laden context can undertake
the model of some Latin America churches in theology of liberation and in
praxis or, for that matter, that of South Africa. The Church in Palestine, and
this is no excuse, is a dying church in terms of numbers of faithful. This,
unfortunately, gets reflected on the Church Related Organizations,
particularly the local ones. These struggle to witness and to serve but they
have problems that need to be worked out: the passing of the torch from old to
young; the involvement of women on their boards, decision-making and field
work; the activation of different churches' members in their work and the
empowerment of the poor themselves throughout the whole process. There is also
the traditional rift between clergy and lay people that need to be surmounted
in order to arrive at a common vision and to formulate a society-wide program
of action on poverty and on other social and economic ills. These are not easy
processes. Hard work is needed. Northern donors and partners need to
understand that the Palestinian Church is in specific straits and that while
help to upgrade the performance of the Church Related Organizations is a
laudable contribution, the road is neither easy nor quick. Time is needed and,
accordingly, as the Palestinian Church and its Church Related Organizations
are encouraged to elaborate and crystallize the vision and the program of
action for their intervention, the northern donors and partners are advised to
continue to give support and to steadily bolster the efforts of the Christians
of Palestine.
Partnership and Its Relevance
Real
partnership is needed to come up with a comprehensive vision and strategy to
fight poverty and the other social and economic ills afflicting our society
and also the whole of the Middle East region. This can be accomplished in a
number of ways primarily among which is the development of a country wide
Round Table in which church and secular NGOs join together in reflecting on
the developments in the country and in proposing frameworks and means to
intervene. Specific Round Tables can help but these, out of experience, often
degenerate into account taking and lose, with the passage of time, their
original purpose. Northern partners need not to pontificate while Palestinian
church related organizations need to develop their work to the extent that
they are sought out for partnership by Northern and other partners and not the
other way round. Northern partners have to their credit their willingness to
support and to provide material and non-material help in seeing that their
Palestinian church related partners go forward in terms of organizational
efficiency and delivery of services. But Northern partners are impatient and
they feel that things need to get going and be done quickly. We, in Palestine,
are catching up but we still have some more catching up to make. If Northern
partners understand the wisdom of this then we can join hands and continue
working until we can all achieve our objectives of witness and service to the
poor and the poorest among them. We can also then solidify a vision of justice
and peace that works at eroding inequities within the society and across
societies and that promotes a world in which basic human rights are
guaranteed, irrespective of religion and background. The challenge hence is
not simply a Palestinian Christian one but is also a challenge to our northern
partners as well. Accordingly, there is an urgent need to keep consultation
going with the northern partners to look into our relationship and its
intricacies, including that of inequality, and how these can be viewed in a
light that can push our work forward. In a world increasingly becoming
smaller, there is a strong need for an inclusive perspective on witness and
service. This cannot be accomplished without continued consultation and
exchange in which to their credit and ours northern partners are seriously
engaged.
Conclusion
Poverty
in Palestine, as elsewhere, is then not a simple manner. The solution
therefore is not simple either. But it is clear that the Church and its
Related Organizations have a special role to play. This role is also extended
to the Northern partners. As the Church in Palestine looks to affirm its
presence and witness, this cannot be accomplished by simply guarding the holy
ground but by empowering the living stones to become active in combating
poverty and the social and economic ills confronting their society. It is only
through the involvement of Palestinian Christians that their Church will
maintain its viability and keep more of its faithful in the country. It is
only thus that we can perpetuate and make sense of the heritage and communal
traditions and religious links and rituals that stretch back to the early
Church and to Jesus himself.
Jerusalem Journal # 24
Sister
Mary
July
7, 2001
This
past weekend I was invited to accompany a group of concerned Israeli citizens
to the Tel Mond prison which is located in the fertile plain of the Sharon
valley near the town of Kfar Sava. It is in Tel Mond that over 70 Palestinian
children under the age of 16 are imprisoned. About another 50 children
are scattered elsewhere throughout Israel's vast prison system. An Israeli
lawyer informed me that most of these 140 minors had confessions extracted
from them under pressure and without consultation with a lawyer. This is
illegal and these children are unlawfully detained in prisons. Half the
children in the prisons have never had a trial and many of them have been
there since last October. The children from the West Bank who are inprisoned
in Tel Mond have been unlawfully remmoved from the Palestinian territories and
brought there.
What brought about 100 peace activists, ranging from 82 years old to 20 years
of age, to Tel Mond, was to protest the treatment of these children in this
prison. Here the children are placed in cells with adult criminal prisoners,
and these minors, besides being deprived of their freedom, schooling, the help
of social workers and sufficient time outside their small cells, are
experiencing fear of the adult criminals with whom them must live. In protest
to these conditions the children began a hunger strike last week. The
response to this strike by the prison guards was to tear gas the children in
their cells, which have little ventilation to begin with, and then the guards
stormed into the cells in riot gear and beat the children. Nine minors were
injured and due to head injuries sustained during the beating, two of the
children are now in the hospital. Four children are in solitary confinement.
I asked an Arab family about their young boy detained in Tel Mond; what had
this child done to be imprisoned there? I was told that the child had thrown
stones at the police when there was a clash along the main road of their Arab
village. They said that at 3:00 the next morning, five police cars came and
surrounded their house and dragged the child out of bed and away from his
home. This child did have a trial and was found guilty of throwing stones at
the police. The child was sentenced to one year and four months in Tel Mond.
Israelis assured me of the injustice of this sentence. The peace activists,
including two prominent Israeli lawyers, were more concerned about the
illegality of their government in arresting and holding these Palestinian
children in the cells of Tel Mond prison with adult criminal prisoners. They
also wanted an end to the violence that was being perpetrated on these
children by the abusive treatment of prison authorities.
While standing between the prison and the road and holding signs of
protest for the passing motorists to see, the peace activists were approached
by an Israeli traffic officer in his vehicle, who stopped and blocked
the signs from being seen by the passing traffic. When Officer
Itamar Markovitch was told by an Israeli that the group had a permit
to demonstrate there and was politely asked if he could move his
car, Officer Markovitch responded: "Don't speak with me; I hate
all Arabs." and demanded to see the Israeli man's identity card. When
one of the lawyers tried to speak with the officer, the Israeli lawyer was
struck in the mouth by Officer Markovitch. Other police who were there
watching to see that the group followed all the rules of their permit to
demonstrate in front of the prison, saw the trouble, they quickly moved
into the group to see what the problem was. They then handcuffed the
lawyer so that he could be taken to jail. When the other policeman
realized that they had handcuffed a lawyer who had been struck by the traffic
officer, they released him. But not before Officer Markovitch had grabbed a
small professor of mathematics from Haifa, handcuffed him, and shoved him in
the police car with the help of some of the other policeman. Since I was
standing next to the professor and had heard him speak to Officer Markovitch,
I realized that he was being carted off to jail because of what he said. When
I asked the Israeli woman on the other side of the professor what he said, the
translation was: "All of us have seen what you have done." I went to
the police car and asked if I could or should go along; I was told it wasn't
necessary. The demonstration continued for another hour and since the
professor wasn't back yet, we went to the jail in Kfar Sava so that the lawyer
who was attacked, and the Israeli to whom the police officer made the racist
remark, could make a complaint against Officer Markovitch, and also assure the
police that the professor who was there in jail, had been totally
non-aggressive. Because I was wearing press credentials, I was also asked to
be a witness to the events, especially since I was standing shoulder to
shoulder with the professor when he was accosted by Officer Markovitch. At
first it looked like the professor was going to spend the night in the jail,
but then after three hours of waiting and giving witness about the
events, our friend was released. When I asked the professor about his
experience he told me, "Thank God that Israelis don't simply disappear
when they are arrested". I pondered that thought as we got into cars and
headed back to our homes.
When I meet Israelis like these who speak out for justice and are concerned
for all the peoples of this land it does my heart good and restores my faith
in these people. May their numbers grow, for someone has to take the place of
the 82 years old woman who is retiring from demonstrations that aren't in Tel
Aviv.
Church
Leaders Plea to Prime Minister Sharon and President Arafat
June 2001
We write to both of you today to express our support for the current efforts
to bring a cessation of violence in Israel, the West Bank/ East Jerusalem and
Gaza. We are deeply disturbed by the loss of life and injuries sustained
during these past months. We plead for continuing public statements and
actions from both of you to end the bloodshed and urge you to act and speak in
the spirit of reconciliation.
The end of violence must mean from you, Mr. Prime Minister, the end of
disproportional responses to the violence, especially the use of attack
helicopters and F-16 fighter jets. Further, we call upon you to end the
destruction of Palestinian homes and trees and the restriction of travel
between Palestinian towns. Such practices make life insufferable for the
Palestinian people. Far from preventing violence, these measures incite it. We
further implore you to end the single most provocative behavior of all,
settlement building and expansion, including "natural" expansion and
the building of settler roads. Finally, we urge you to contain provocative
settler behavior. We believe you have the greater number of options allowing
you to do more to end the violence than you have chosen so far. We call upon
you to rise to the mantle of courageous leadership for peace and security that
your current position demands.
The end of violence must mean from you, President Arafat, the strongest
measures within the confines of human rights, to contain those who encourage
and resort to terrorist actions such as suicide bombings and the use of
mortars to attack civilians. While we understand the rage of the Palestinian
people, we are also aware that many Jews live in fear of these terror tactics
as well as the inflammatory rhetoric that comes from some Arab sources. These
heinous acts of violence are counter productive to any hope for a just peace.
We understand the right of the Palestinians to resist the Occupation, but
implore you to emulate other great leaders who used nonviolent action to bring
about change. We know such leadership requires great courage and statesmanship
and see in you the qualities necessary to succeed. We are preparing to join
those who will accompany the Palestinian people during the months ahead,
including Israeli Jews, physically and spiritually, people from many places
who stand for an end to the Occupation but who also embrace the principle of
non-violence.
Our plea to stop the violence is but a cry to stop the suffering and end the
siege of fear and anger that now grips both of your communities. No good
purpose is served by continuing this vicious cycle that dehumanizes your
people as well as the other. We look to you both to take courageous steps
forward to negotiations that can promptly establish a sovereign Palestine free
from Occupation and an Israel at peace and security with her neighbors.
- Bishop Dimitrios of XanthosEcumenical Officer
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
- The Very Rev. Brother Stephen Glodek, S.M.
President Catholic Conference of Major Superiors of Mens' Institutes
and Provincial, Marianist Province of New York
- The Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold
Presiding Bishop and Primate The Episcopal Church
- Bishop Donald J. McCoid
Southwestern Pennsylvania Synod/ Chair, Conference of Bishops of the
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
- The Rev. John L. McCullough
Executive Director Church World Service
- Bishop William Oden
Immediate Past President /The Council of Bishops/ The United Methodist
Church
Letter
from PB Griswold to Powell
EPISCOPAL NEWS SERVICE, June 21, 2001
The Honorable Colin Powell
Secretary Of State
Department of State
Washington, DC 20520, DC
Dear
Mr. Secretary:
I write with
my deep thanks and to convey to you the gratitude of my colleagues for the
opportunity of our recent meeting with you. We are grateful for your
hospitality, candor and willingness to listen to our concerns. The
representation of Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Anglican and Protestant voices in
the meeting, as well as those who signed the letter, was an extraordinary
demonstration of a deep common concern. We hope we have established the
beginning of a helpful conversation with you.
As a consequence of our meeting and in response to your request, we will
shortly issue a statement in support of an end to the violence from both
sides. We want to support your careful efforts on this agonizing issue while
carefully articulating what we believe our faith requires of us. We hope we
might be able to continue to share with you the perspectives informed by our
faith as we work to promote an Israel at peace with security and a Palestinian
state free from Occupation.
There are particular moments when we are acutely aware that our current
actions will later have to stand the judgment of history. Our government's
largely uncritical support for Israel will mark this as one of those moments.
While we adamantly support Israel's right to exist and to be accepted by its
neighboring states, we support with equal vigor a just outcome for the
Palestinians who are now the victims of Israeli Occupation. Our government's
role in rectifying the Occupation will test its resolve to end this conflict
that cripples the region's development and threatens its future.
I would like here to offer some reflections on our conversation. You noted
that peace was almost achieved with the offer of 95 percent of the territories
to be given over to the Palestinians, including parts of Jerusalem. I share
the disappointment in the outcome of the negotiations. However, we know that
had Mr. Arafat accepted the terms offered by President Clinton and P.M. Barak,
there would have been a violent rejection by the Palestinian people. Many of
us familiar with the peace effort felt that the Camp David summit was convened
prematurely and without adequate preparation of either the Israeli or
Palestinian publics. There was a belief among a number of Middle East watchers
that Israel and the United States thought the Palestinians would be more ready
to agree to deep compromises to UN resolution 242 than was just or fair to
expect.
You observed quite rightly that some Israelis point to the collapse of the
negotiations to "prove" that the Palestinians really only want to
"push Israel into the sea." Our careful listening gives us
confidence that the majority of Palestinians have recognized the state of
Israel as established by UNSC resolutions 181 and 242. We have also heard many
Palestinians say they believe Oslo was an attempt by Israel and the United
States to gain additional Palestinian land, and straitjacket the Palestinians
into a surrogate, second-class state totally dependent on Israel. We hope both
sides can set aside blame and motive for the collapse of the peace talks.
Neither side was prepared to compromise as much as the other expected, and
therefore the process needs to continue.
We are heartened by your expression of support for the Mitchell Report and the
emerging cease-fire. We urge your full support of the committee's caution that
this security cooperation cannot for long co-exist with settlement activity.
I must add a note of disappointment that President Bush will receive Prime
Minister Sharon but not extend an invitation to President Arafat to visit. I
fear this decision will be interpreted as confirmation of a further shifting
U.S. bias in favor of Israel which can only undermine U.S. credibility in the
peace process. I urge the Administration to invite President Arafat for a
meeting as soon as possible in order to demonstrate U.S. resolve to treat both
sides fairly.
Mr. Secretary, I am most particularly grateful for your comment that none of
us can give in to discouragement and despair but rather, we must hold up hope.
We give thanks that you, given the burdens you carry, are imbued with this
quality of mind and heart. I am also grateful for your own faithfulness which
has been made manifest over many years of public service. Please know that we
are pledged to walk this difficult road of peacemaking to which Christ calls
us. I look forward to our continuing conversation.
Sincerely yours,
Frank T. Griswold
Presiding Bishop and Primate
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