Bishops’ meeting will send ‘wrong signals’

by Jane Still

Another senior bishop has signalled his intent to be involved in the controversial Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON) gathering to be held in the Diocese of Jerusalem before the Lambeth Conference this year. This surprising participant is the Bishop of Jerusalem himself, who pleaded with GAFCON organisers last month to hold the event elsewhere.

“It’s happening, they are coming,” said Bishop Suheil Dawani during a visit to Australia in February. “I will be there. I cannot ignore such a gathering. But I’ll give them our message of unity, of how the church must also be united, and of the importance of our ministry in Jerusalem and all over the world.”

Bishop Dawani told TMA that he is nervous about the impact of such a controversial conference in an area which is already beset by violent disputes and hardship. The Diocese of Jerusalem, made up of twenty-nine parishes, covers five countries – Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, and Palestine, all of which are familiar with division and hostility. Thirty-four institutions of the Anglican Church provide vital health care, education, aged care and disability care to the region, as well as care and hope to people who are traumatised by the uncertainty and violence around them, par-ticularly in Palestine.

“We minister through our institutions,” said Bishop Dawani. Through hospitals such as Al Ahli in Gaza and St Luke’s in Nablus, the church is able to witness to all, regardless of their religion. Through the mixed faith schools, Christian and Muslim students are brought together to learn and to make friends and build relationships.

“We are dealing with human beings in need, and we don’t differentiate in our ministry,” he said. “We give our serv-ice to those who need it. That is part of our Lord’s example – when he preached, when he healed, he didn’t differenti-ate, he included everybody in his care.”

One of the most important things that these services bring to the people, Bishop Dawani said, is hope.

“If you lose hope, then you lose everything,” he said. “I know that the situation [in the Middle East] is not always good, with untold violence on both sides. We give the people a message of hope, that they are human beings, that they are dignified. In this, the message of the Gospel is very important, and also how we treat them, how we respect them, and help them. Many people at some time or another are in need of something, and we can show them that we are ready to help them.”

Bishop Dawani’s wife Shafeeqa has also taken advantage of the opportunity of her position to convene women’s conferences and workshops across the Diocese to empower women with communication and leadership skills. The inaugural conference was held in October last year in Amman, Jordan, under the patronage of Her Royal Highness Princess Basma Bint Talal. Around eighty women from the Diocese of Jerusalem as well as women from the Diocese of Tokyo and from The Episcopal Church in the United States, gathered together to worship, pray, take archaeological field trips and learn about communication and leadership. Workshops will continue between the conferences, which will take place every three years.

It is important for the women to spend time together, and also to visit the different church associations so that they can learn about voluntary work in the hospitals and elderly care facilities, Mrs Dawani said. But without a structure in place, it is difficult for women to do these things otherwise.

“Most of our women cannot go to these sites or to these places by themselves, because of the checkpoints. When we organise a trip under the church’s name with permits, they can reach them. If they are left alone, they won’t and they cannot.”

The Diocese also continues to foster relationships abroad, including the church in Australia, ABM and AngliCORD.

Through the Good Friday appeal, the worldwide communion is able to support the widespread ministries of this nu-merically small diocese in the Holy Land. Bishop Dawani was also scheduled to see Australia’s foreign minister Mr Stephen Smith following his interview with TMA, and planned to seek his support in the “ministry of reconciliation” and for humanitarian work in hospitals and schools.

“Australians are very generous people,” he said, and then reflected, “I was very glad to hear the Prime Minister say sorry for the treatment of the indigenous people. I think a great good comes from respecting human dignity, and he sets a standard for other leaders. Other countries need to respect human dignity.”

It will be one year in April since Bishop Dawani was installed in the Diocese that has not only had to deal with the political issues around it, but also controversy over the activities of the previous Bishop Rhia Abu El-Assal, who has been accused of financial misconduct. While the internal conflict continues to divide clergy within the Diocese, Bishop Dawani is proud of the progress he has been able to make in forming a structure to enable transparency in financial management.

“We now have an office for internal auditing,” he said. “This makes our work much better, much more effective and more transparent. Some people don’t want such a change but I feel it is very important. We are also having more gatherings of the clergy, with more retreats every few months. It’s good that we get together.”

“Getting together” is a common theme for the Bishop, who believes that talking together about differences is an important way forward to solving division. He is keen to promote interfaith and ecumenical dialogue in the Holy Land, and the interfaith groups with which he is involved communicate regularly with the political leaders. The GAFCON gathering, he believes, may undermine the Anglican Church’s credibility in setting this example, and he said he was disappointed that the GAFCON organisers did not seem to listen to his concerns, although GAFCON organisers have since split the conference between Jordan and Jerusalem, with the Jerusalem component called a “pilgrimage”.

“In Jerusalem, we face so many problems, we are challenged on a daily basis to be with each other, and that’s why we are so involved in ecumenical and interfaith activities. These things [at GAFCON] will be misunderstood by people, and will give the wrong signals to people in Palestine and Jordan. It is very controversial, it is the wrong time and the wrong place.”

“I hope that at Lambeth we can witness a new era of coming together and put our differences aside,” he said. “If we have differences, we have to discuss it internally in good spirit, because our people are looking to us. If our people see division, and we are not coming with a good spirit, it will affect their spirit, and their lives. We don’t want to be an obstacle for our people. I hope that Lambeth will get a new spirit for Anglicans all over the world.”

The support of international relationships is important to the ministry in Jerusalem to the needy, said Bishop Suheil Dawani (left) with his wife Shafeeqa.     Photo: Bryce Amner.