Christmas Hope for Peace

In India, authorities in Orissa have met with Hindu leaders to get agreements to ban anti-Christian demonstrations during Christmas. (AsiaNews.it) Archbishop Raphael Cheenath asked his parishes in Kandhamal not to have Midnight Mass because of the danger to Christians on their return home.

In Vietnam, political leaders offered Christmas greetings to Christian clergy (Vietnam News), while tensions between church and state remain high. From Fr. Joseph Nguyen: "Please pray for the Church in Vietnam. As Christmas draws near, we are still at the Golgotha on the Good Friday."

In Iraq, Christmas is being celebrated, despite all the trials of Christians there, with a new openness this year:

"The interior ministry organized a celebration," says Louis Sako, archbishop of Kirkuk, "the aim of which was to reward those who have struggled for interreligious dialogue and have carried forward initiatives of peace. It is a gesture of solidarity toward Christians, and an invitation to return to Iraq." The celebration, held on Saturday in the capital, the first public event connected to Christmas, saw the participation of a great number of children (in the photo) accompanied by their families. The celebration was enriched by a tree decorated with Christmas themes, a Santa Claus mingling among the crowd, images of Jesus and of the Virgin Mary, and the flag of Iraq to unite all of the citizens. "Today, all Iraqis are Christians," said Major Abdul Karim Khalaf, spokesman of the interior ministry. "The celebration was a gesture of friendship for Christians," continues Archbishop Sako, "and a symbolic condemnation of the violence that our community has had to endure over the past five years."

In Palestine, thousands of pilgrims are expected to visit the Lord's birthplace, and the area has seen a revival in tourism as hostilities have lessened. The small ancient Christian community there, squeezed between Israelis and Muslim Palestinians, has diminished over the years, but the increase in visitors is helping the local economy.

"The fact that this year so many pilgrims will join us for the Christmas liturgies is a sign that makes us even more sure that we are not the only ones seeking Jesus." Fr. Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Custodian of the Holy Land, comments on the boom of pilgrimages for the Christmas holidays....

"Sustaining hope ... is the biggest task in the situation in which we find ourselves. For this reason as well, the message for Christmas ends with the affirmation: 'There is still hope for everyone!'" The Custodian explains that "this is an appeal above all for the Christians of the Holy Land. In Bethlehem, their numbers continue to drop, and they suffer the frustration and difficulty of the conditions in which they live. With the wishes for Christmas, I want to recall that the miracle that is taking place is an invitation, in spite of everything, to renew ourselves and our zeal. The fact that this year so many pilgrims will join us for the Christmas liturgies is a sign that makes us even more sure that we are not the only ones seeking Jesus."

A New Commitment to Stopping Genocide

President-elect Barack Obama recently announced his choice of Susan E. Rice for Ambassador to the United Nations. She supports U.N. intervention in the worse cases of civil rights violations, such as in the ongoing genocidal war in Sudan.

Rice's personal experience of the Rwanda genocide led her to believe that the international community has the duty to act to protect endangered populations.

[T]he posting will offer Rice a platform from which to decry long-standing global concerns. For instance, she has voiced a commitment to use American muscle to protect human rights in Africa, particularly in Darfur, where she has raised the prospect of a naval blockade and a bombing campaign to compel the Sudanese government to halt mass violence.

Rice has spoken movingly about how she was shaken by the genocide in Rwanda, where as many as 800,000 were killed. Describing a 1994 visit to the country, Rice told Stanford University's alumni magazine that she saw "hundreds if not thousands of decomposing corpses outside and inside a church. Corpses that had been hacked up. It was the most horrible thing I've ever seen. It makes you mad. It makes you determined."

Since then, Rice has said she has been haunted by the United States' failure to intervene or to reinforce a beleaguered U.N. peacekeeping mission in Rwanda on the eve of the genocide.

"Rice has learned a lesson from what happened in Rwanda, and, together with the incoming secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, she cannot turn a blind eye on anything happening in Africa," said James Kimonyo, Rwanda's ambassador to the United States. "We are very optimistic she is going to be effective" in her new post, he said.

Pope Benedict XVI in his address to the United Nations this year affirmed this principle of the international body's responsibility to protect.

Recognition of the unity of the human family, and attention to the innate dignity of every man and woman, today find renewed emphasis in the principle of the responsibility to protect. This has only recently been defined, but it was already present implicitly at the origins of the United Nations, and is now increasingly characteristic of its activity. Every State has the primary duty to protect its own population from grave and sustained violations of human rights, as well as from the consequences of humanitarian crises, whether natural or man-made. If States are unable to guarantee such protection, the international community must intervene with the juridical means provided in the United Nations Charter and in other international instruments. The action of the international community and its institutions, provided that it respects the principles undergirding the international order, should never be interpreted as an unwarranted imposition or a limitation of sovereignty. On the contrary, it is indifference or failure to intervene that do the real damage. What is needed is a deeper search for ways of pre-empting and managing conflicts by exploring every possible diplomatic avenue, and giving attention and encouragement to even the faintest sign of dialogue or desire for reconciliation.

Lazarus, Come Forth!

Bosnian-American Aleksandar Hemon, in his latest novel The Lazarus Project, offers a double story structure to suit his theme of dual citizenship. The narrator, Brik, is a a Bosnian expatriate and unemployed writer married to an American brain surgeon. To salvage his dignity, he has to publish a book. The pursuit of his subject, the 1908 killing of a Russian immigrant, Lazarus, by a policeman in Chicago, sets him on a journey across Eastern Europe. Brik (like Hemon) missed the Bosnian war, since he was in the U.S. when the shooting began and only heard the "steadily unreal rumors". He packs a load of survivor's guilt which gives rise to incessant questions.

The story lines are woven through alternating chapters. Lazarus was gunned down as a suspected anarchist, while his sister Olga was left to fend for herself against the hysteria and city interests, offering a parallel to the War on Terror. Brik is accompanied on his journey by his childhood friend Rora, a gambler, photographer veteran of the Bosnian war and an epic Old World figure. Rora is a storyteller in need of a scribe; he's also the opportunist, connected with warlords, who once sold "replica" chunks of the Berlin Wall and replaced prayers with native nursery rhymes as he led religious tours through Medjugorje collecting big tips. Rora offers a continual entertaining stream of stories but repels all questions. He has replaced questions with tales, as Brik will come to understand. Rora tells Brik he will never know anything.

Let me tell you what the problem is, Brik. Even if you knew what you want to know, you would still know nothing. You ask questions, you want to know more, but no matter how much more I tell you, you will never know anything. That's the problem.

Brik's wife Mary also resists questions. About death, when Brik asks if she ever gets angry, she answers: "When a patient dies ... I feel that he is dead." Mary won't acknowledge the mistakes America is making in the current war, which causes friction between them. He notes that her "hands are bloodied by love."

For Brik, religious observance has blocked the quest for truth. Mary and her family are Catholic, whereas Brik, when asked about his faith, answers ironically: "I am nothing... God knows God is no friend of mine.. I envy people who believe in that crap. They don't worry about the meaning of life and things, whereas I do."

As for ethics, he knows his own "moral waddling", sleeping late instead of working and with porn residing on his computer. He is "forever stuck in moral mediocrity" between Mary's high ground and Rora's nihilism. A journalist named Miller figures in both stories; as writers they cannot hold onto neutrality; in both cases they become implicated in the crimes.

Brik, seeing himself as a man who escaped with his life from a place of death, wonders why Lazarus would be resurrected only to continue wandering the earth. He wants to know: "Did the biblical Lazarus dream, locked in the clayey cave? Did he remember his life in death--all of it, every moment? ... Did he have to disremember his previous life and start from scratch, like an immigrant?" As he wanders through the graveyard of his grandfather's birthplace in the Ukraine, he chants: "Hoydee-ho, haydee-hi, all I want is not to die."

Brik confirms his unstated suspicion that all are implicated in the violence which recruits supposedly good people. After hiring a driver on their journey, he and Rora are used as an alibi for human trafficking. They rescue the girl involved, and in doing so Brik finds his own good intentions tested. By the end of the story, Brik will have a chance to sort through the events and stories, from his own and Rora's experience. He ends with the beginning, which is the intention to write, and what he will carry forward are these same questions.

"Life Is a Calvary" in Iraq

Yesterday, the Synod in Rome heard from the church of the martyrs through their pastor, Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly, patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans.

The situation in some parts of Iraq is disastrous and tragic. Life is a Calvary: there is no peace or security, just as there is a lack of daily necessities. There are continuing shortages of electricity, water, gasoline, telephone communications are increasingly difficult, entire roads are blocked, schools are closed or always in danger, hospitals are on short staff, the people are afraid for their safety. Everyone is afraid of kidnapping, frightened by the intimidation. And what can be said of the unjustifiable kidnappings that take place on a daily basis, harming entire families and often depriving them of their loved ones, even though they have paid tens of thousands of dollars for a release that never happens? Not to mention the increasing number of deaths caused by car bombs and suicide bombings. (Asia News)

Cardinal Delly offered his contribution to the Synod with the witness of his people:

Living the word of God, for us means bearing witness even at the cost of our own lives, as has taken place and is still happening with the sacrifice of bishops, priests, and faithful. They remain in Iraq, strong in faith and love of Christ, thanks to the fire of the word of God. For this reason, I beg you to pray for us and with us to the Lord Jesus, the Word of God, and to share our concerns, our hopes, and the pain of our wounds, so that the Word of God made flesh may remain in his Church and with us as good news and as support. Sixteen of our priests and two of our bishops have been kidnapped and released after an extremely high ransom. Some of them belong to the ranks of the new martyrs who today pray for us in heaven: the archbishop of Mosul, Faraj Rahho, Fr. Raghid Ganni, two other priests, and six more young men. (Asia News)

Half of the previous Christian population of Iraq of 1.4 million has fled the country, while those who remain are too poor to leave. The acts of terror include:

• A Catholic and a Syrian Orthodox church in Kirkuk, as well as an Anglican church and the Apostolic Nuncio’s residence in Baghdad, were bombed in January 2006, killing three people.
• In September 2006, two other churches were attacked, in Kirkuk and Baghdad, killing two persons, one a child.
• Fr. Boulos Iskandar Behnam was kidnapped and murdered. His head had been sliced from his body and placed upon his lifeless chest.
• In December 2006, a high ranking member of the Presbyterian Church in Mosul was murdered.
• In May 2007, St. George’s Church Baghdad’s Dora neighborhood was bombed for a second time.
• In June 2007, a Catholic priest and three deacons were murdered outside of their church after saying Mass in Mosul. (NCR Cafe)

In recent days, the attacks against Christians have intensified in Mosul. A church was bombed and partially damaged.

Haitham Haazem, a Christian who fled to Baghdad from Mosul with his wife on Sunday, said Iraqi forces had restricted themselves to fixed checkpoints and had
little control over entire neighborhoods on the east side, where killings and intimidations took place. (New York Times)

Meanwhile, there is no agreement for our continuing military involvement in Iraq after the end of the year. (Washington Post)

As our involvement and interest in Iraq wanes, it remains to be seen how we will fulfill our obligations to this fragile population persecuted and displaced by the war we waged.

The Palin-Biden Debate

Tom Shales of the Washington Post beat me to it when he observed that Sarah Palin may have taken her speech lessons from Tina Fey's parodies.

Sarah Palin looked as though she had prepared for her appearance at the vice presidential debate last night by studying Tina Fey's impressions of her on "Saturday Night Live." She twinkled and winked and piled on the perkiness, a "darn right" here and an "I'll betcha" there.

I cringed when Palin deflected another reference to the Bush administration with this cutsey volley.

Say it ain't so, Joe, there you go again pointing backwards again. You preferenced [sic] your whole comment with the Bush administration. Now doggone it, let's look ahead and tell Americans what we have to plan to do for them in the future.

I was glad to see Palin didn't stumble. She rose above the humiliating (for all of us) interviews and showed more competence, despite the populist cant.

The question of the role of the vice president was perhaps the most important practical point of a debate between two potential vice-presidents. Palin was in favor of the "flexibility" of this position.

Of course, we know what a vice president does. And that's not only to preside over the Senate and will take that position very seriously also. I'm thankful the Constitution would allow a bit more authority given to the vice president if that vice president so chose to exert it in working with the Senate and making sure that we are supportive of the president's policies and making sure too that our president understands what our strengths are.

Joe Biden opposes the expansion of the Vice President's role and the blurring between the executive and legislative branches.

Vice President Cheney has been the most dangerous vice president we've had probably in American history. The idea he doesn't realize that Article I of the Constitution defines the role of the vice president of the United States, that's the Executive Branch. He works in the Executive Branch. He should understand that. Everyone should understand that.

And the primary role of the vice president of the United States of America is to support the president of the United States of America, give that president his or her best judgment when sought, and as vice president, to preside over the Senate, only in a time when in fact there's a tie vote. The Constitution is explicit.

Joe Biden was more impressive to me, both ardent and respectful. He hammered away at his points on the Bush administration's record and Obama's platforms. He corrected Palin several times when she chided Obama for votes which were identical to those of her running-mate. Biden was somewhat defensive about trying to match Palin's regular middle-class mom claim with his own working-class background. He was detailed and convincing on foreign policy matters from Pakistan to Palestine.

I, along with Dick Lugar, before we went to war, said if we were to go to war without our allies, without the kind of support we need, we'd be there for a decade and it'd cost us tens of billions of dollars. John McCain said, no, it was going to be OK.

I don't have the stomach for genocide when it comes to Darfur. We can now impose a no-fly zone. It's within our capacity. We can lead NATO if we're willing to take a hard stand. We can, I've been in those camps in Chad. I've seen the suffering, thousands and tens of thousands have died and are dying. We should rally the world to act and demonstrate it by our own movement to provide the helicopters to get the 21,000 forces of the African Union in there now to stop this genocide.

I was particularly uncomfortable with Palin's "exceptionalism" speech, at a time when we need to make a sober reassessment of foreign policy and economic decisions. We do have apologies to make for breaches in our ideals of freedom and equal rights. Is our nation the ideal to present to the world or do our true ideals refer to a higher source?

But even more important is that world view that I share with John McCain. That world view that says that America is a nation of exceptionalism. And we are to be that shining city on a hill, as President Reagan so beautifully said, that we are a beacon of hope and that we are unapologetic here. We are not perfect as a nation. But together, we represent a perfect ideal. And that is democracy and tolerance and freedom and equal rights. Those things that we stand for that can be put to good use as a force for good in this world.

The most disappointing moment for me was to hear Joe Biden talk about his change of position in regard to judicial appointments, his reasons for opposing the Judge Bork nomination and his support of Roe v. Wade. Particularly since the time Palin was chosen as running-mate, the Obama camp has made a point of emphasizing their pro-choice commitment.

If, as both candidates said, "God forbid", the elected vice-president were to succeed the president, one wonders whether it is sufficient to be a folksy Washington-outsider as Palin characterizes herself, instead of a seasoned and astute leader making epic decisions affecting world stability.

Odd Holocaust Thriller

The 2006 Dutch film Zwartboek, or The Black Book, directed by Paul Verhoeven, is exciting but disturbing for its amoral plot. The tagline is: "To fight the enemy, she must become one of them," wholly appropriate for a spy movie. As with the best portrayals of human nature, the lines blur between the good guys and the bad. But even given that, the moral faultline never settles. The press was divided on the film in the Netherlands.

The strange depiction of Christians cannot go unnoted. They are, without exception, bigoted and cruel. A Christian resistance fighter will not shoot to save friends, but only when the enemy blasphemes. A family sheltering a young Jewish woman forces her to memorize Gospel verses in order to receive a meal. After the war, a "Christian" mob abuses those who cooperated with the enemy. This is a strange and suspiciously ideological treatment of Christians as violent fundamentalists, given the country's rescue of some 5000 Jews from the Nazis.

More Dutch have been honored by Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority in Israel, as `righteous gentiles' than from any other country" (Survival and Resistance: The Netherlands Under Nazi Assault).

Carice van Houten who plays Rachel is a winning heroine who is quick-witted and able to subdue her natural feelings to take up the task at hand. Sebastian Koch is sympathetic as the German official Ludwig Müntze with a tragic story of his own.

It is no surprise that the Resistance may also be infiltated by spies, and so-called friends may profit from the plight of the Jews. Then too enemies can turn out to be the only true friends. Still, overall the plot is capricious in its contortions as bitter betrayals are counteracted by surprising alliances. No one appears to act from principle, but only for personal motives. In the end, only individual survival and revenge prevail.

Reconciliation after a Father's Loss

See this moving video of a grieving Palestinian father who turns to reconciliation instead of revenge after the killing of his 10-year-old daughter in a border dispute. Combatants for Peace brings together former Israeli soldiers and Palestinian terrorists who give up violence to build something new. This family built a playground in honor of their daughter.

Imprudent Judgments

Jack, I like the way you point out that we gave a binary problem here, with a two-party system. This has become an acute problem for Catholics, because many of us thought we could just be Republicans like rooting for a football team. We're not avid sports fans in our house, but we did have to adjust our loyalties when our daughter started going to USC, since my husband went to UCSF and had always rooted for Cal. At least we have to keep track of the score and have some sympathy for bad games.

The Iraq war has been a wake-up call for Catholics in America, I hope. Some of us even feel that prolife voters have been used for ill purposes. This war was condemned by Pope John Paul II forcefully and for specific reasons. It was a preemptive strike, therefore not defensive as required by just war theory. (Our attack on Afghanistan was not condemned because it was considered defensive.) And it could be foreseen that the outcome would be worse than the previous state. Also it put the fragile Christian population of the Middle East in jeopardy. We also went in on false pretenses. All this has been argued elsewhere, so I'm not going to belabor it. The stance of the next president on war will not only affect Iraq, but also our relationship with Iran, South Korea, Israel/Palestine etc. The repercussions are quite serious for the whole world and I believe as momentous as the life issues we face as a society. Still, as my husband points out, it could be safer to have a more hawkish president if the person was reasonable and if our strength was oriented toward peace.

The Church has a lot to say human matters in the world, and fortunately it is easier to find out these teachings and to educate ourselves than it was in the past. Arguably the pope has the best informed and most disinterested (or non self-interested) diplomatic corps in the world (see How the Vatican Works, my review on John Allen's book All the Pope's Men). But more than that, I believe there's a reason we didn't just get a rulebook in the Bible or a catechism to apply for ourselves, but instead we're given the presence of Christ in teachers guided by the Holy Spirit, because He did not leave us alone.