October 20, 2023 at 10:47 a.m.

PRAY FOR PEACE

A statement from Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger on the Israel-Hamas War

The father of Alma Al Majayda, 3, killed in an Israeli airstrike, reacts while carrying her body during the child’s funeral in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip Oct. 19, 2023, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas. (OSV News photo/Mohammed Salem, Reuters) (Courtesy photo of Mohammed Salem)

“We deplore the ruthless terrorist attacks of October 7th and the grief and trauma that has brought to families and the Jewish world.

Our hearts go out to the bereaved families and families of the missing, friends and communities, all suffering from violence and the threat of violence in Israel. We turn to our Father in heaven, as Jesus taught, offering prayer, fasting and sacrifice as we prepare for our Eucharistic Revival this weekend. The way to peace is always through justice. There is no justice where mercy is absent. There is no mercy where the dignity and sacredness of every human life is not respected and protected. We pray for the release of hostages, the children especially, and the swift establishment of humanitarian corridors.

May God free the hearts of all seeking to de-escalate the vicious cycle of violence of any impulse to rage or revenge in the face of the such inhumanity so that respect for the rights and dignity of all, Jew and Palestinian, may become a goal - the only goal - that will lead to peace.”