Jerusalem Committee

A CHRISTOLOGICAL WEEK IN THE SIGN OF ECUMENISM

Graziano Motta

«Jesus Christus, unus mundi Salvator, heri et hodie idem et in saecula» proclaimed the Mother Church in Jerusalem during the course of a Week of christological studies, its first important manifestation of preparation for the year 2000. The meeting was promoted by the Assembly of Ordinary Catholics and organized by the group in charge of cultural activities by the Committee of Jerusalem for the Grand Jubilee. It took place from April 29-May 4 and had an enormous amount of success for the serene and graceful atmosphere which surrounded it, for the mobilization of the institutions and religious communities of various rites, and the participation of illustrious local scholars and those from abroad. Especially though, it was important for the involvement of the Orthodox Churches and Protestants, for which the Week was not only an occasion of an ecumenical nature, but also it offered the first concrete demonstration of their program to celebrate all together the upcoming grand event.

At the last session, dedicated to contemporary christology, there was even the participation of the Armenian-Orthodox Patriarch Torkom Manoogian, the Greek-Orthodox Archbishop Timoteo, the closest collaborator of the Patriarch Diodoros and also represented, the Syro-Orthodox Archbishop Sewerios, members of the other Orthodox and Protestant Churches, as well as the Nuncio in Israel and Apostolic Delegate for Jerusalem and Palestine Archbishop Andrea Cordero Lanza di Montezemolo. After listening to the introductory conference of Father Frans Bouwen PB, the conclusive conference by theologian don Bruno Forte and the closing speech of the Week by Bishop Kamal-Hanna Bathish, the president of the Committee of Jerusalem for the Grand Jubilee, everyone got together to pray Lord Jesus, fullness of time and Lord of history...,written by Pope John Paul II for this first year of preparation of the year 2000. (The prayer characterized the end of every day of work, while the beginning was marked by the singing of the theme Jesus Christus, unus mundi Salvator, especially composed by maestro P. Armando Pierucci OFM).

It is also significant that almost all the work sessions took place in the room of the Seminary of the Armenian- Orthodox Patriarchate, which was brotherly put at the disposition of the Catholics that even today do not have in Jerusalem a conference or congress hall; the auditorium of the Pontifical Center "Notre Dame" is still under construction, feeling the pressure from the closures of the Palestinian territories which have caused delays because of the lack of their workforce. However, the session of the first day, articulated in work groups in different languages, took place at the "Notre Dame Center" whose chapel lent itself to the plenary reunion.

The program of the Week was vast and exhausting, it was articulated in five sessions of as many full days. It began with the messianic texts of the Old and New Testament and with the pauline christology through the relations and speeches of P. Jerome Murphy O'Connor Op, P. Jean-Neol Aletti SJ, don Enzo Cortese, P. Peter Du Brul Sj, P. Paolo Gruti OP, P. Scott Lewis SJ, P. Alviero Niccacci OFM and P. Michael Prior CM. It then went on to the scholastic christology with P. Marcel Dubois OP on Thomas Aquinas and P. Jose Antonio Merino OFM on Duns Scoto; to the Judeo-Christian christology with P. Frederc Manns OFM; to the councils, to the Fathers of the Church and to the litterary and archeological testimonies in the Holy Land with Lorenzo Perrone of the University of Pisa, P. Samir Khalil Samir S, P. Michele Piccirillo OFM; and to conclude on christology and spirituality of today with P. Vincenzo Battaglia OFM and P. Angelo Amato SDB (absent, his relation was read by confrere P. Giovanni Caputa).

There were three round tables: at the one on Judeo-Christian-Islamic dialogue in the Middle Ages and in the current perspectives there was the participation of Abdel Kaim Barghouti of the Palestinian University of Bir Zeit, Bruno Chiesa of the University of Pisa, David Sklare and Avital Wohlman of the Jewish University of Jerusalem, at the discussion on the anthropomorphism in the Jewish Bible and on the divine presence in the traditions of Israel, the speakers were P. Pierre Lenhardt NDS, P. Etienne Nodet OP and Michel Remaud FMI; finally, the Islamic-Christian discussions reunited Mahmoud Abu-Kitteh and Musa Darwish of the Catholic University of Bethlehem, Pau Figueroas of the University of Beer Sheva and Mons. Maround Lahham, who read a speech by P. Christian Van Nispen Tot Sevenaer SJ.

For the success of the christolocial Week there was a commitment by the Biblical schools and the seminaries of Jerusalem: the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum who had the original idea, the Ecole Biblique et Archeologique Francaise dei Demenicani, the Pontifical Institute of the Jesuits, the Latin Patriarchate Seminary, the Studium Theologicum Hierosolymitantum of the Brothers Minor, the Theological Study of Saint Paul of the Salesians, the Theologishces Studienjahr of the Benedictines and the Catholic University of Bethlehem, to which the following attached themselves The Ecumenical Institute of Tantur for theological studies, the Institute of Saint Peter of Sion-Ratsbonne and the cultural section of the Pontifical Center "Notre Dame of Jerusalem". Their directors and rectors where moderators of the work sessions which were presided by members of the Assembly of the Ordinary Catholics of the Holy Land, that is of its president and Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah, by the bishops and by the various patriarchs of the various rites, including the Nuncio and Apostolic Delegate Mons. Andrea di Montezemolo.

The moderator for the concluding session was Mns. Rafiq Khoury, general secretary of the Synod, whose presence was very significant because the christological week was directly linked to the Synodal walk of the Church of Jerusalem, and its synthesis, in a simplified form, will be made available to the parishes and the various institutes and associations "for the general good of the faithful," as Mons. Bathish affirms, underlining that «in this way the christological character of the Jubilee can be deepened, especially in this and which saw the Incarnation of the Son of God». The connection between synodal walk and Jubilee preparation was highlighted by Patriarch Michel Sabbah in the opening speech of the Week and with its conclusion which happened with a solemn Eucharistic celebration in the medieval "hall of the Crossed" in Bethlehem under the Church of Saint Catherine, whose Franciscan custodian of the Holy Land is being renovated in light of the year 2000, in this way amplifying the availability of places of worship for the pilgrims.