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October 14, 2012

Living Stones

First published September 24, 2010

The Holy Land is considered holy because Jesus lived here. It is also holy because most of the prophets lived around here. But it is also important because here is where it all began: Christianity was born here. Today though, 2000 years later, we equate the Middle East with Muslims. We hear about Jews and Muslims in Israel and about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and we never hear about the Christians here.

You may not know that there are Christians in the Holy Land, but there are and there have been for 2000 years (in fact, some still speak Aramaic). It is with the aim of meeting these Christians, that I joined a group of Catholic journalists on a trip to the Holy Land. We traveled here looking forward to meeting some of the people who could be direct descendants of those who heard the Good News from Peter on the very first Pentecost. We traveled to Jordan (that is also part of the Holy Land), to Palestine and Israel and visited many Christian communities of the region. I must say that it’s been a wonderful experience.

I am a people person and, while visiting holy sites holds some meaning for me, it does not beat sharing a meal with someone and so even though it would have been nice for my first trip to the Holy Land to include most of the famous shrines, I am very glad that instead, we took the time to meet people – not the empty buildings, the cold, dead stones – but the living stones, the church of the Holy Land.

In the weeks to come, I hope to write in more detail about our experiences, but for today I’d like to leave you with two thoughts.

First: Christians in the Holy Land are united in ways that we’ll never understand in North America. Even though there are various rites and denominations represented: Chaldeans, Coptics, Syrians, Greek Orthodox and Melkite Greek Catholics, Maronites and Roman Catholics, as well as Lutheran and Anglican, to name a few, they all consider themselves “Christian.” No one cares if you are Orthodox or Latin – in fact in many villages, the communities worship together. For me, this is a lesson. Why focus on our differences (which are minor), when there are so many other things to worry about. We are all followers of Christ and that’s really the only thing that matters.

Second: Many Palestinian are Christian and they are caught in the middle of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Many of them told me that they have a difficulty finding their identity: are they Palestinian? Are they Arabs? Are they Christian? Muslims may not like them because they are Christian. Jews may not like them because they are Arabs. Israelis may not like them because they are Palestinian. Other Palestinians may resent those who have Israeli citizenship. Even those Palestinians who have Israeli citizenship can’t consider themselves completely Israeli because they are not Jews. We can’t continue to assume that all Palestinians are Muslims or that all Arabs are Muslims. We certainly cannot continue to assume that all Arabs are terrorists. They are not. In fact, most of them want a peaceful solution. Many prefer a non-violent response to the situation. But as Christians, we need to be in solidarity with our Christian brothers and sisters in Palestine.

Several weeks ago I had the opportunity to invite two of these Christian-Palestinians to our Perspectives studio for a look at the meaning of peace. Since I am presently in the Holy Land, we felt appropriate to re-broadcast this episode with guests Fr. Samuel Barhoum, of the Anglican Diocese of Jerusalem, and his wife Susan. The question we asked was, “where does the peace process begin?” and we hoped that Fr. Samuel and Susan would be able to give us a different perspectives as Palestinian Christians from the Galilee. They most certainly did and left us with lots to think about. That episode will air tonight at 7 and 11pm ET and will repeat on Sunday and the same times.

Yesterday in Haifa, we met with Archbishop Elias Chacour, Archbishop of Akko, Haifa, Nazareth and Galilee of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church. He became well-known in North America some 20 years ago for his amazing book, Blood Brothers, where he describes how his family was evicted from their little village of Biram in the Galilee in 1948. After speaking with us for almost two hours, Archbishop Chacour asked us to ask of you a favour. He told us that if you have friends who are Jews or supporters of the Jewish settlements or of the establishment of a Jewish state in the Holy Land, do not stop being their friends. Do not stop supporting them. Stand beside them. But do not conclude that this means you have to be enemies of the Palestinians. If, on the other hand, you take the Palestinian side, don’t take their side blindly. Be critical thinkers regarding the issues in the Holy Land. The people here do not need one-sided friendship. They don’t need more cruelty and being one-sided regarding these issues, means being one more enemy. In short he is saying that it is not about taking sides – both sides have valid claims, valid fears and both sides are at fault. In some ways, both sides are victims (and there are more than just two sides). We need to be friends of both, so that we can truly help them remember how they lived in friendship before 1948.

My prayers are with you from this land of holy, living stones.

Pedro
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Photos:  From top to bottom — Pedro with the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary who work with Iraqi refugees in Amman, Jordan; Pedro with Fr. Bendelaymoun Al-Khouri, Greek Orthodox Pastor of St. George’s Parish in Madaba, Jordan and Ra’ed Bahou, Regional Coordinator for Pontifical Missions for Jordan and Iraq; Sister Lara and her students at the Ephpheta Institute for the Hearing Impaired in Bethlehem;  Archbishop Elias Chacour speaks with us.

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October 14, 2012

Friendship = Peace

First published September 2, 2010

A couple of weeks ago I went back to camp.

I was reminded of my first job in Canada: I was a counsellor at Camp Wahanowin in Orillia. Camp Wahanowin is a Jewish camp and before every meal we used to say the blessing of the bread: Barukh attah Adonai eloheinu melekh ha-olam, ha-motzi lechem min ha-aretz. That was some of the first Hebrew I learned. The reason why I was reminded of Camp Wahanowin was not because it was camp, but because this camp that I just participated in is a camp that brings Jews, Muslims and Christians from Israel and Palestine together with Jews, Muslims and Christians in Canada – and all the kids are 11/12-years-old.

K4PKids4Peace was founded by the Episcopal (Anglican) Church of Jerusalem, at St. George’s College, when, during the last intifada, the college was empty. The administration decided to use their time and space to bring whole families together: Jews, Muslims and Christians, so that they would get to know each other. In Israel, even though there are “mixed” cities and towns, there aren’t many opportunities for Jews to meet Arabs.

I was reminded of another experience. When I was 16, I had the wonderful opportunity to come to Canada to attend Lester. B. Pearson College of the Pacific, a school that promotes peace and international understanding by bringing young people from around the world together. It was our Nobel Peace Laureate Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson who said “how can there be peace in the world if people don’t understand each other? And how can this be if they don’t know each other?” It’s a simple formula: bring young people from different countries together so they can live, study and work together, make friends and when they grow up, they won’t have silly prejudices, but can help bring peace to the world. And I believe it works.

There were 200 students, ages 16-19, living together for two years – learning about each other, getting to know about each other. Politics and international affairs for us would never be the same. We had students from Ireland and from Northern Ireland; Pakistanis and Indians, refugee students from Iran, Iraq and Ethiopia; South Africans and Swazis, Latin Americans, Europeans, Africans, Asians and yes, Israelis and Palestinians.

I remember countless nights that I stayed up listening to the Israelis and the Palestinians talking – they all spoke both Hebrew and Arabic – and they didn’t always agree, but they had a forum where they could speak and be friends. More importantly, they could get to know each other and see that we are all more alike than different. Jews and Arabs are the same and even in the differences… sometimes it’s those differences that bring us closer together.

Several years later I became involved with another organization: the Children’s International Summer Villages. The goal of CISV is to promote cross-cultural understanding by bringing young people together through camps and interchanges. CISV has existed for over 60 years and every Summer there are hundreds of programs worldwide. They start with Villages for 11-year-olds, because at that age, kids are still quite impressionable and they haven’t quite formed prejudices and biases. Sometimes the kids don’t even speak the same language, but no matter – you don’t need to speak the same language to kick a soccer ball around.

And at Kids4Peace, there was a lot of soccer ball kicking. Twelve kids came from the Galilee: four Jews, four Muslims and four Christians. The program is a faith-based program and so the goal is specifically for the kids to learn about each other’s faiths, so they travelled with three adults: A Muslim advisor, a Christian advisor and a Jewish advisor. The camp director, Fr. Samuel Barhoum, also travelled from Palestine. They were welcomed here by 12 Canadians, also a mix of Christians, Jews and Muslims. They spent 10 days at Cedar Glenn YMCA Camp north of Toronto learning about each other, playing games, participating in cooperative and team-building activities, learning about the three Abrahamic faiths and playing soccer. Part of the program included a trip to a Mosque, a Synagogue and a Catholic Church, for prayer services and Mass, a trip to Niagara Falls and the CN Tower.

Israel is a land in desperate need for peace, but how can there be peace if Jews and Arabs don’t get to know each other? How can there be peace if people continue to hold onto silly prejudices? Now, in its fifth year, Kids4Peace has allowed sixty kids to have the opportunity to break that cycle – and through the kids, their families too. And sixty Canadian kids are part of the movement too.

Kids4Peace is a wonderful initiative that was completely free to the participants. In Toronto there are a group of directors who tirelessly raise the funds necessary for this experience to happen. And they are always looking for kids – if your son or daughter is going to be eleven next Summer, check out www.kids4peace.ca and find out how you can participate – but they need Jewish and Muslim kids too, so pass it on to your Muslim and Jewish friends. And to inspire you, you can also visit our facebook page to see some of the photos from the camp.

Be sure to tune in on Friday, September 9th, for an all-new Perspectives: The Weekly Edition, as we ask the question, what would you do to bring about peace? I speak with Fr. Samuel Barhoum and his wife Susan — two Christians living in the Galilee. They share their own experience of living in Israel and helping bring about peace.

And keep your eyes and ears open for a new documentary, Abraham’s Tent, which tells the story of this wonderful camp experience, coming in soon (you don’t think I was just at the camp having fun, do you?)

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October 14, 2012

Called to Serve

First published August 30, 2010

Last Saturday night, in Calgary, Catholic artists from across North America gathered for the 10th annual United Catholic Music and Video Awards and Conference, under the theme “Called to Serve”.

PGM-UnityAwardsThe UCMVA was founded with the aim of bringing together Catholic presenters from around the world who celebrate their faith through various forms of media, including music, art, radio and television.

This year it’s the first time that the event took place outside of the United States and the first time that the event included a conference. Anyone can be a member of the UCMVA and their membership is increasing yearly. There is excitement among the Catholic industry that finally our Catholic presenters have a unity that gives them hope and encouragement in the ministry work that the Lord has called them to do.

The Awards are not so much of an “awards” ceremony that encourages competition or jealousy. The goal is to celebrate the achievements and to encourage a higher standard of work. There are no winners, but “recepients” and they are not the ones who are “better,” but rather the ones whom their peers judge to have been the most effective in their goals in a particular category that year.

And so, Saturday night we gathered to celebrate our gifts and to recognize the wonderful work that many are doing. The ceremony included performances of every single musical style, from Gospel to Classical, from Praise and Worship to Heavy Rock, from Rap to Country. Performances included Ceili Rain, Jerry Aull, Critical Mass, Denis Grady and the Stone Rejected Band, Tom Booth, MashetiMoses, Chris Bray and Tony Melendez. It was an inspipred evening.

There were many Canadian (and S+L friends) nominated in many categories and congratulations to our Canadian recipients: David MacDonald for Music Video/DVD of the Year, Love is the Only Choice, and Chris Bray for New Artist of the Year-2010 and Praise and Worship Album of the Year, for The Worship Album.

Visit the photo section on our Facebook page for more pics from the Awards show.

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October 14, 2012

Summer is here!

First published July 2, 2010

Today I’m thinking about summer… ahh summer… I remember very clearly, as if it was yesterday, the last day of school before the summer break – not sure why we even went to school that day, ’cause it was one big party. We would celebrate the end of the school year and then… hello freedom!

Pedrito in treeI remember spending hours on my bike – riding around my neighbourhood – sometimes playing with or hanging out with my friends, from school or the neighbourhood. I remember spending days at my grandmother’s house – we spent a lot of time there anyway, but in the summer, sometimes we would go for a week or two – and she’d take us to the lake and to the neighbourhood restaurant for fried chicken.

At some point in the summer we’d go to the beach – now, I grew up in Panama, so going to the beach is part of day to day living, but the beach in the summer means long days, and no schedules – looking for hermit crabs and admiring the sunset…

Summer for us also meant a bit of structure: there was swimming lessons or tennis – a couple summers I went to art school, so it wasn’t all play, but a good mix of organized activities and unstructured play.  I learned a lot from both and remember both fondly.

Now I have kids of my own and they’ve never had too much of a structure in the summer. It just hasn’t worked that way. But we live in a place where they can spend all day on their bikes, or they can go into the forest, or down to the river. They can spend all day kicking a soccer ball or throwing a basket ball. They do spend sometime playing video games, but in our case, most of the time is spent outside.

Summer for us means taking it outside. Our back deck becomes our living and dining room. Our BBQ becomes our kitchen and the breeze blowing through the trees gives us dinnertime music.

I don’t know if you’re reading this thinking that I am nuts ’cause your summers are not at all what I am describing, but no matter what your summers were or are like, I hope that they mean a change of pace. I hope that they mean that you can look at the world from behind your bicycle’s handlebars and not from behind your desk; that you can process the world by sitting under a tree with a good book and not through the voice of your teacher or boss. So here’s to change of pace, to slowing down. Here’s to summer!

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