Peace Fellowship
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This group’s vision is to help one another to live our baptismal covenant: to strive for justice and peace in the world and to respect the dignity of every human being. The Fellowship joins St. Alban’s Episcopal Church, the Episcopal Peace Fellowship, the larger Episcopal community and others to sponsor lectures, readings and activities that promote peace and justice. Please contact Peter Hildebrand (peacefellowship@columba.org).
Recent Legislation
On January 28, 2012, the Convention of the Diocese of Washington approved two resolutions sponsored by delegates from St. Columba's Episcopal Church. Both resolutions have been forwarded to the General Convention of the Episcopal Church, U.S.A., which will beheld in Indianapolis in early July 2012.
The first resolution, #2—On pursuing a Just Peace in the Palestinian/Israeli Conflict, was drafted by a nationwide group of clergy and laity from the Episcopal Peace Fellowship Palestine/Israel Network (EPF-PIN). It was sponsored by clergy and laity from St. Columba's and St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Washington, D.C. One of the major draftsmen was the Rev. Canon Brian J. Grieves who recently retired from the position of Director of Peace and Justice Ministries for the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, USA. It reiterates the policies of the Episcopal Church and asks the Executive Council to give greater attention to these policies and to develop a high profile and multi-pronged effort throughout the Church to promote a just peace for the people of the Holy Land. So far, nine dioceses have approved this resolution. They are the Dioceses of Hawaii, Pennsylvania, Rochester, Oregon, Western North Carolina, Chicago, Los Angeles, North Carolina (January 21, 2012) and Washington.
The second resolution, # 3—On Endorsing Statehood for the District of Columbia, was drafted and sponsored by clergy and lay delegates from St. Columba's. This resolution asks the General Convention to support the right of the people of the District of Columbia to enjoy the same rights as every other American, including the right to self-determination through statehood, and to urge the Congress to admit the State of New Columbia to the union. Between the time the resolution was submitted and the Convention, the Census Bureau issued July 1, 2011 population figures for the District which showed that in the eighteen months since the census was taken the population had increased from 602,000 to 618,000.
The third resolution the Convention approved was a national one on funding a community college mission initiative. It had previously been approved by the Dioceses of Delaware, Texas and Los Angeles.
Health Care as a Human Right, Nov. 4, 2011
On Fri., Nov. 4, 2011 at 7 pm, the St. Columba's Peace Fellowship welcomed Dr. Ruchama Marton, a practicing psychiatrist and founder of Physicians for Human Rights—Israel (PHR—Israel), and Dr. Allam Jarrar, Director of Community- Based Rehabilitation for the Palestinian Medical Relief Society (PMRS) in the northern West Bank. They discussed health care as a human right and the Israeli and Palestinian civil society organizations that are building cooperation and coexistence between both peoples.
Both PHR—Israel and PMRS are non-profit, non-governmental organizations that are working on the front lines to provide health care.
PHR—Israel operates an open clinic in Tel Aviv for those without access to care within Israel, largely immigrant workers and a mobile clinic in the West Bank and has played a central role in the struggle by human rights organizations against torture in Israeli detention facilities. In 2010, Dr. Marton accepted the Right Livelihood Award in Stockholm, also known as the "alternative Nobel Prize," on behalf of PHR-Israel.
PMRS operates 26 primary health centers in the West Bank and Gaza which emphasize prevention, education, community participation and empowerment. Dr. Jarrar is also a member of the steering committee of the Palestinian Non-Governmental Organizations Network (PNGO), an umbrella organization comprising 132 member organizations working in different developmental fields.
Both doctors have devoted their careers to working for the right to health care for all people in Israel and Palestine.
Speaker, Sept. 27, 2011
Richard Forer, an American Jew and author of Breakthrough: Transforming Fear into Compassion—A New Perspective on the Israel-Palestine Conflict, spoke to the St. Columba's Peace Fellowship on Tues., Sept. 27, at 7 pm in the church nave. Though not a religious Jew, Forer had been a loyal defender of Israeli policy all his life. When friends resisted his views, he began an intensive study of the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict. With an uncompromising commitment to the truth, he went far beyond his original intention, discovering that the true root of conflict is the attachment to a limited identity and the beliefs and images that emanate from that apparent identity. His book is both a gripping account of his intensive search to understand this conflict, culminating in a spiritual transformation in which he recognized the common humanity of all of mankind, and a masterful and comprehensive study of the conflict itself.
Prayer Vigil, May 24, 2011
The Companion Diocese Committee held a prayer vigil in support of Jerusalem Bishop Suheil Dawani on Tues., May 24, at 11 am in Taft Park, opposite the U.S. Capitol (at the Union Station end). Bishop Dawani’s Jerusalem residency permit was not renewed by the Israeli government in September 2010, and he and his family are at risk of being expelled from Jerusalem. The vigil was timed to coincide with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to a joint session of the U.S. Congress.
Speaker, April 28, 2011
On Thurs., April 28, the Peace Fellowship sponsored a presentation and reading by Raja Shehadeh, a human rights lawyer and author of a new book, A Rift in Time: Travels with My Ottoman Uncle. Raj also wrote When the Bulbul Stopped Singing, Strangers in the House, and Palestinian Walks: Forays into a Vanishing Landscape. He trained as a lawyer in London and is a founder of the human rights organization Al-Haq. He lives in Ramallah, on the West Bank. The Orwell Prize, which he won in 2008 for Palestinian Walks, is Britain’s most prestigious prize for political writing. It is awarded annually for the book, journalism and (since 2009) blog which comes closest to George Orwell’s ambition "to make political writing into an art."
His latest book was inspired one night while waiting to be arrested by the Palestinian security police. His grandmother told him about a journey taken by his great-uncle to escape the Ottomans. He decided to follow his great-uncle's path and write about the trip. Determining the route was complicated by Israel's erasure from all maps of the Palestinian names for the villages and other places his great-uncle had visited. The trip itself was extremely difficult because the landscape has been distorted by the Israel's demolition of pre-1948 Palestinian villages, many of which are now national forests, and construction of the Wall and checkpoints and the addition of national borders that didn't exist during the Ottoman era. Click here to read an excerpt from the first chapter.
Speaker, March 31, 2011
On Thurs., March 31, from 7–9 pm, Mark Braverman spoke to the Peace Fellowship on the role of Christian churches in bringing peace to the Holy Land. Mark is author of Fatal Embrace: Christian, Jews and the Search for Peace in the Holy Land. He is a Jewish American with deep family roots in Jerusalem. He grew up in the United States and was reared in the Jewish tradition, studying Bible, Hebrew literature, and Jewish history. He traveled to Israel and Palestine in 2006 and was transformed when he saw the occupation and met with Israeli and Palestinian peace activists and civil society leaders. His book is the result of his struggle to reconcile his faith with reality and his search for a way to bring peace with justice to the region. Click for more about Mark and his work.
Speaker, March 14, 2011
On Mon., March 14, at 7:30 pm, the Peace Fellowship sponsored a presentation by John Ross of the American Association for Palestinian Equal Rights. Ross is a human rights advocate and intern at the American Association for Palestinian Equal Rights. From August 2009 to June 2010, he taught English to Palestinian Christian and Muslim students in the Bethlehem area and lived with Palestinian and Jordanian seminarians at the Latin Patriarchal (Catholic) Seminary of Beit Jala, Palestine. While in Bethlehem, he also worked with the Stop the Wall Campaign in its efforts to protect Palestinian farmers from attempts by the Israeli Army to evict them from their land. He accompanied Palestinian farmers, helped them cultivate their fields, and acted as a human rights witness. Prior to his time in Palestine, he studied International Studies and Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago. He spoke about his experiences in Bethlehem and his current work on behalf of Palestinian human rights.
Legislation: Peacemaking in the Holy Land
On Jan. 29, 2011, the 116th Convention of the Diocese of Washington approved a resolution on peacemaking in the Holy Land sponsored by William J. Prather, Chair of the Companion Diocese Committee, and Ken DeCell, a St. Columba's lay delegate, who introduced it on behalf of the St. Columba's Peace Fellowship. The St. Columba's Peace Fellowship drafted the resolution, which was modeled on resolutions approved by other dioceses and the Executive Council of the Episcopal Church.
Because of the Oct. 25, 2009, partnership agreement signed by our bishop, the Rt. Rev. John Chane, and the Rt. Rev. Suheil Dawani, Bishop of Jerusalem, to establish a three-year companion relationship between the Dioceses of Washington and Jerusalem, which was approved by our Diocesan Council on Jan. 12, 2010, the Companion Diocese Committee, Bishop Chane and Bishop Dawani were all consulted for their input on the final resolution. Six St. Columbans accompanied Bishop Chane on his October 2009 pilgrimage to Jerusalem to witness the signing of the Companion Diocese partnership agreement and have participated in the Companion Diocese Committee and its subcommittees.
The Convention, by approving the resolution, encourages the parishes of the Diocese to educate themselves about the broader mission of the Church, in the words of the Executive Council, to "promote peace for all God's people" and that "the creation of peace with justice is a compelling priority for the Church and for the United States of America." The Dioceses of Maine, California and Western North Carolina approved similar resolutions last fall.
The explanation for the resolution notes that silence on world issues affecting peace and justice is an unacceptable phenomenon for a Church that claims that its mission is to promote peace for all God’s people. Jesus did not sit silently on the sidelines when confronted with injustice and conflict. Silence is reinforced by lack of reliable information and by a reluctance to talk about controversial things in church. Speaking without adequate information and discussion is also unacceptable behavior for the Church or any of its congregations. At the heart of the Christian faith are teachings about how to resolve conflict peacefully. Being involved in this issue does not necessarily mean expressing support for one side or another, but rather participating in serious thought and discussion that identifies the relevant issues and seeks to bring understanding that leads to action supporting a just and peaceful resolution of the conflict.
In approving the resolution, the Diocese joins other Dioceses and the Executive Council, as well as other major Christian denominations, in urging the United States government and the President, in keeping with our ideals as a nation, to redouble their efforts to pursue a fair and balanced approach to peacemaking between Israel and Palestine. In the resolution, the Convention also acknowledges that the shared values among the Abrahamic faiths expressed in our Baptismal promise to "strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being" are consistent with American ideals of equality, justice and human rights.
The St. Columba's Peace Fellowship invites interested parishioners to join us in planning a series of educational events to implement this resolution. Together we can learn, pray and act to promote a just peace for the peoples of the Holy Land. For more information, please contact Peter Hildebrand or Ann Loikow at peacefellowship@columba.org.
