A prominent Roman Catholic priest who is author of several books on the Middle East, has supported Israel’s creation of a united Jerusalem and expressed confidence that “Israel would be a faithful guardian of all holy places” there.
Rev. Edward H. Flannery, of Seton Hall University, referred to the recent Israeli law promising protection for and free access to the sanctuaries of all faiths in Jerusalem. In an address before 150 clergymen meeting at the Baltimore Hebrew Congregation, he contrasted this with the “contempt shown to Jews by the Jordanian Government” which barred them from their holy places during Jordan’s occupation of East Jerusalem. He also noted the past sins of Christendom against the Jews and remarked, “one can appreciate the spirit of reconciliation embodied in this law.”
Rev. Flannery is executive director of the recently established Secretariat for Catholic-Jewish Relations of the American Bishops Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs. He is co-director of the Institute of Judaeo-Christian Studies at the Catholic university. He said that Israel was not the aggressor in last June’s Six-Day War but that the Arabs had been provocative in their actions during Israel’s entire tenure as an independent state. Israel, Rev. Flannery said, deserved the support of his “fellow Christians.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
