c. 1999 Religion News Service

WASHINGTON _ The nation’s Roman Catholic bishops opened their annual fall meeting Monday (Nov. 15) calling for an end to the economic embargo of Iraq and criticizing plans to build a mosque near a historic Christian church in Nazareth.

In the statement on Iraq, issued over the name of Bishop Joseph Fiorenza of Galveston-Houston, president of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, the prelates said”it is long past time to end the economic embargo against Iraq”and said the sanctions”have long since ceased to be a morally acceptable tool of diplomacy”because of the suffering they have inflicted on the civilian population.”Too many have suffered for too long,”the statement said.”Efforts to mitigate the suffering inflicted by sanctions, namely the oil-for-food program, are important but insufficient.” It said the original grounds for the Gulf War _ reversing and deterring aggression, protecting domestic minorities and preventing the development of weapons of mass destruction _”were and are justifiable.””But even honorable causes may not be defended with immoral means,”it said.”The cumulative effects of the prolonged embargo mean that many of the most vulnerable are, like Rachel’s children, no more.” The statement, however, also said that Iraq is primarily to blame for the inability of that country and the international community to resolve their differences and for the failure of the humanitarian effort within Iraq.

Because of that, it said,”political and military sanctions remain acceptable; comprehensive economic sanctions are not.” The statement also expressed concern about the ongoing U.S. air attacks.”The moral justification of such attacks is, at best, unclear, yet the risks to Iraqi civilians are real,”it said.”It is time for a new approach to Iraq,”the statement concluded.”We cannot turn a deaf ear to the suffering of the Iraqi people or a blind eye to the moral consequences of current U.S. policy”adding that”it is time to … find morally acceptable alternatives to contain the aggressive actions of the Iraqi regime.” And the bishops endorsed an Oct. 29 letter from Fiorenza to President Clinton expressing”great concern”about the Israeli government’s decision to build a mosque”adjacent”to the Basilica of the Annunciation as well as the city of Nazareth’s treatment of Christian citizens.

In a set of”talking points”released Monday, the conference said the demands for the mosque”are part of a wave of anti-Christian activity in recent years on the part of Islamist extremists in the region.”The Christian leaders of the Holy Land view the government’s support for the demands of these extremists … as an act of discrimination against a small and increasingly marginalized Christian community.”It also raises real concerns about the Israeli government’s capacity to provide adequate protection and access to Holy Places and to safeguard the rights of religious minorities in the Holy Land,”the”talking points”said.

The memo noted that in addition to Fiorenza’s letter to Clinton, the conference has also been in touch with the Israeli ambassador, and is working”to educate members of Congress on (the) issue in hope they might express their concern to the appropriate authorities.” The action came as the bishops began four days of deliberations _ their last of the current millennium _ aimed at positioning the church for the turn of the century.”This week we will exercise our leadership in critically important areas, and what we decide will affect the course of the church as did the decisions of our predecessors,”Fiorenza said in his address opening the meeting.”But we have also been given the rare opportunity of leading our people into a new century and a new millennium, following the cross of Jesus lifted high for the new evangelization,”he added.

Among the most closely watched critical areas the approximately 290 bishops will consider this week is a proposed set of rules tightening the control local bishops exercise over Catholic colleges and universities in their dioceses in an effort to ensure the schools maintain their Catholic identity.

A new version of the proposed rules was presented to the bishops on Monday and is expected to be voted on Wednesday. The rules have been debated since 1990, when Pope John Paul II issued an”apostolic constitution”on higher education known as”Ex corde Ecclesia.” The bishops are seeking to implement with specific rules the general principles of”Ex corde,”as the document is called. A previous version was rejected by the Vatican and the bishops have been attempting to fashion a set of rules that will satisfy Rome without causing undue alarm about an erosion of academic freedom. A number of bishops as well as academic leaders and theologians have expressed concern about the latter.

At the heart of the dispute is the proposed new norms’ requirement that Catholic theologians get a mandate _ permission _ from a local bishop to teach and that wherever possible a majority of a Catholic school’s board and faculty be Catholic.

(OPTIONAL TRIM _ STORY MAY END HERE)

In other business on Monday, the bishops were presented with a proposed 10,000-word pastoral message,”In All Things Charity,”which declares that Catholics”cannot remain idle witnesses”in a world of poverty, hunger, violence and human suffering.

It connects the two theological ideas of charity and justice and spells out principles of Christian discipleship as they apply to the Christian concept of love of neighbor to family, neighborhood, parish and the global community.

A second proposed pastoral message,”Blessings of Age,”aims to provide a foundation for future specific actions in ministry with the aged. It is linked to the United Nations’ designation of 1999 as the Year of the Elderly.

DEA END ANDERSON