Academics, clergy, and laity discuss Holy Land and religion in society at two St Mary’s events

Society cannot be silent about the crisis in the Holy Land, said Archbishop of Southwark John Wilson at a conference at St Mary’s University, Twickenham on 21 November. In a parallel conference, The Tablet and St Mary’s each reflected on their legacy and mission, to mark their 185th and 175th anniversaries.

In the opening speech of the Weeping in Ramah conference, Archbishop of Southwark John Wilson said that the weeping mother of Ramah in Jeremiah 31:15 “reverberates through the centuries”.

He said, “It’s the cry of every parent who has lost a child to violence. Of every family forced from its home. Of every community torn apart by fear and hatred. It’s the cry that rises again today from the land where our Saviour was born, crucified rose from the dead. This land is scarred by inhumanity and bloodshed.

“And faced with such devastation, silence can never be an option. We must affirm again and again that war destroys lives, that war destroys homes, that war tramples dreams and steals hope.”

Archbishop Wilson spoke about his contact with the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa and with the Catholic parish of the Holy Land in Gaza. Scripture scholar Fr John Deehan delved into the Old Testament passages used to justify the conduct of the Israeli government and Israeli settlers in the West Bank.

Sir Vincent Fean, former Consul General in Jerusalem and Ambassador to Libya, discussed history of the Holy Land since the Balfour Declaration in 1917 and supported the Anglican Archbishop of York’s recent proposal of sanctions on settlement-related enterprises in the West Bank and territorial clauses in trade agreements and church investment strategies.

On the same day, St Mary’s University and The Tablet hosted a joint conference to celebrate their respective 175th and 185th anniversaries, sharing reflections on the evolution of religion’s place in society, both institutions’ continued faithfulness to their founding principles through changing times, and how to respond to the new challenges that face both journalism and education in a digital, post-secular world.

The Tablet curated a display of material from their archive, which is held at St Mary’s, showcasing historic issues including the first ever issue from 1840, an article on peace efforts from 1918, and a famous and controversial editorial on Pope Paul VI’s encyclical Humanae Vitae from 1968.

St Mary’s archivist and curator Mary-Ann McClaran explained the relevance of the history and archive of St Mary’s, which was established as a teacher training college for Catholic teachers after the Irish Famine, for the university’s ongoing mission. Professor Anthony McClaran, Vice-Chancellor of St Mary’s, and Deacon Harry Schnitker reaffirmed the positive roles that Catholic universities can play in the contemporary world.

Brendan Walsh, Editor of The Tablet, said, “A weekly Catholic newspaper and a Catholic university can learn from each other, not only in how we each negotiate that inevitable relationship between our tradition, our present, and our future. A tradition is the guarantee of the future and not a container of the ashes of the past. It’s like the roots of a tree that give us the nutrition to grow. A living tradition is always in movement, a living legacy is a live; it is not an urn of ashes on the mantelpiece.”

In the context of a crisis of truth in contemporary society, Walsh continued, “Journalists and academics share common ground and common alarms and terrors. In a bruised and bleeding world teeming with liars, there’s a desperate need for storytelling that recognises when it makes mistakes, and recognises the distinction between fact and fiction.

“Journalists and academics can both strive to speak the language of grace in an often graceless world. How do we put before the world mercy, holiness, forgiveness, reconciliation, when it is no longer familiar with that kind of language?”

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