Many friends, family members and parishioners ask about the current political atmosphere in Israel and wonder aloud if it is safe. Here is a recent article from TANTUR which addresses the issue of safety.
Dear Friends and Inquiring Applicants to the Tantur Ecumenical Institute,
We at the Tantur Ecumenical Institute regularly and understandably receive inquiries about the current political situation and how it affects our programs. Here we would like to address some of these concerns.
Tantur has never canceled a program because of the local political situation.* Currently (late 2005), we are going forward with our Continuing Education and Scholars’ program, although we know that some adjustments in scheduling may have to be made along the way. We count on all our participants being flexible and able to adjust to the inevitable changes of schedule which happen in the Middle East—even in the best of times. And the people who come to Tantur are such persons. As my predecessor Tom Stransky used to say, the only thing predictable in the Middle East is the unpredictable!
“But,” you might say, “what about all that violence that we see on television?” Yes, the violence is here and, in all honesty, some of it has been not far from Tantur. But we feel that Tantur is a safe place and the violence is usually quite localized, both in time and place. And we are praying for peace, or at least calm in all of the Holy Land, in the near future.
In truth, we—and other Jerusalem institutes—have had cancellations from our programs. One pattern we have noted is that the participant him/herself has wanted and intended to come to the Holy Land and then sought advice from others. Obviously the others are persons who are not coming and so they have counseled the participant not to come, projecting their own legitimate concerns. All we would ask is that, if you are hoping to come to Tantur, you include us in the circle of persons with whom you are consulting and take your own pulse about coming, with the judicious input of others. Of course, if you are going to be very anxious about coming now, then follow your own feelings. We would rather you feel comfortable with your decision than come and not enjoy yourself. At the same time, we speak from our experience and from those who have come to Tantur over the last eleven months…and this is a actually a very enriching time to come to the Holy Land.
Others who have not canceled ask, “But what should I say to my friends who tell me not to come?” I would say a few things. First, if we sincerely felt that your safety would be in jeopardy, we would not be going forward with our programs. We all live here and we feel that it is safe. Second, we depend on the instincts and knowledge of our very faithful staff for a sense of how things are in Bethlehem and Jerusalem on a daily basis. With some prudence, most sites are accessible. In fact, because of the lack of pilgrims and tourists, the holy sites are more accessible than ever. An example: A Catholic sister from Hong Kong on a recent program spent the entire afternoon in quiet prayer at the site of Christ’s birth. Barely a dozen people came through while she was there. And third, concerning violence, statistically, you have a greater chance of being a victim of violence in New York or Chicago than here (I do not know the rates in Australia or Ireland).
Another critical factor which I hope potential Tantur program participants consider is their presence here in the Holy Land as a tangible sign of support for the local Christian community. Beleaguered as they are, local Christians appreciate very much the support which foreign visitors bring. And an important dimension of all Tantur programs is to introduce you to the local Christian community, the “living stones” of the Holy Land, as we say. I was very touched recently by the words of His Grace George Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury (and a good friend of Tantur) who echoed local Christian leadership in urging Christian visitors to the Holy Land not despite the current unrest but precisely in the midst of this unrest. Fellow Anglican Archbishop Riah Abu El-Assal spoke, too, to this issue when he said that Christians need to be near the Cross of Christ during this difficult period.
At greater length, I quote from Jerusalem’s Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah’s “Common Message to Pilgrims” issued a few months ago:
Dear Pilgrims:
Despite the difficult and unsettling times we all are experiencing in the Holy Land, we are nonetheless preparing ourselves to welcome in Bethlehem the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We come to you today to invite you to come back. Your brothers and sisters in faith, as well as all the inhabitants of this land, welcome you. Your presence in our midst, your prayers with us, will altogether shed a new light on the conflict between the two parties. Returning here as pilgrims in these distressing times might well be difficult for you. But in so doing, you will be sharing with us our own difficulties as much as sharing our efforts toward justice and peace. We invite you to visit us as pilgrims…
We believe it is important for you to come to the Holy Land at this crucial moment in our history in order to stand together both with the Christian communities here as much as with the Mystery of God in this land. This is a source of great encouragement to us all. We remain as ever committed to continue our witness of Jesus in this land side by side with all its inhabitants. With you, we will become more faithful, and together we will help bring at long last God’s peace, with His justice, for all.
So consider yourself all the more invited to Tantur and this holy, but troubled, land.
Over the last few months, difficult as they have been, Tantur has been blessed with wonderful scholars and Continuing Education Participants—young and old, men and women, from many parts of the Christian family and from rich countries and poor countries. They have had a wonderful time and have returned to their countries eager to share their experience with others and to work for Christian unity.
We hope that you will come. And let us pray for/with one another!
Rev. Michael McGarry, C.S.P.
Rector, Tantur Ecumenical Institute, Jerusalem
