www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Hebrew-Speaking Israeli Catholics to Get an Auxiliary Bishop

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy, AUG. 19, 2003 (Zenit.org).- News of John Paul II's appointment of an auxiliary bishop of the Latin patriarch for Hebrew-speaking Catholics has stirred considerable public interest in the Holy Land.

The unprecedented assignment was announced by the Vatican press office last Thursday and entrusted to Father Jean-Baptiste Gourion, abbot of St. Mary of the Resurrection Monastery, of the Olivetan Benedictine Congregation in Abu Gosh, a peaceful Israeli village where a Hebrew-speaking Christian community resides.

Born in 1934 in Oran, Algeria, and baptized at age 23, Gourion entered the Abbey of Bec in France and in 1976 was sent with two men religious to Abu Gosh to found the monastery.

In 1990, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Michel Sabbah, named him episcopal vicar and president of St. James' Work of Jerusalem, for the pastoral care of the Hebrew-speaking Christian community.

"Our community is small, born from the creation of the state of Israel, made up of Christians who were not of Arab formation or culture, and who stayed in Israel," Father Gourion explained. "There were, for example, mixed marriages, persons who had converted to Christianity, persons who worked in the Israeli environment."

The future bishop told Vatican Radio that the Pope made this decision because "there is a need to offer an ecclesial structure" for these Catholics, who are not of Arab culture or tradition, as is the case of the majority of the faithful who belong to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

According to Father Gourion, in some countries the press has referred to a conflict between Arab and Hebrew-speaking Catholics which, in fact, does not exist.

"It is an artificial creation," he said. "It has related events which in reality are not related in themselves. Thus, they have placed me in opposition to the patriarch, giving this assignment a political interpretation."

"It is, however, a pastoral measure of the Holy Father," he clarified. "It is obvious that the Arab and Hebrew culture are two different worlds, but all remains here."

Father Gourion explained that with this appointment the Pope also hopes to promote good relations with the Jewish world.
ZE03081906

I wonder where one could get a copy of the text of the Mass in Hebrew?

David Ignatius DTBrown@aol.com

I wonder what the Latin Rite Patriarch is saying to all this, since he was opposed to them getting their own bishop...

I am glad the Vatican went ahead over his objections...the Patriarch has shown himself to be a bit too pro-Arab in the past and his opposition to the appointment of a separate Bishop didn't seem very fair to me.

Vie

Shlomo Ladyhawke,
What News article were you reading? Were does it say that Mar Michel was opposed to having a Bishop for the Hebrew speaking Catholics?

Further, of course Mar Michel would be Pro-Arab since he and the majority of his flock ARE Arabs, and he like them has had to face the same discrimination from the Israeli government as have the Muslim Arabs.

Poosh BaShlomo,
Yuhannon

I've heard about Patriarch Michael before, but really never paid much attention. Is he truly a Patriarch? How can he be, if he is Roman Catholic? Is it just a title and doesn't carry with it the traditional connotation of "patriarch?"

Logos Teen

Shlomo Logos Teen,
You are correct! He is kind of a in between Patriarch. That is he is given the full dignity of a Patriarch, but is appointed by the Pope instead of being electecd by a Holy Synod.

Poosh BaShlomo,
Yuhannon

I will try to track down the article for you...I just read it a few days ago, so it shouldn't be a problem to find it again.

As for the Patriarch...I'm not going to get into the politics of this here.

Yuhannon,
I found the original article that I had read, but in searching for that one, I came across another that quoted the new Bishop for the Hebrew Catholics as saying that the media was creating the idea that there was any dissension between he and the Patriarch. Since you seem to be more familiar with the situation than I am, I am going to have to apologize, since I am very aware of how the media can create a firestorm where none exists.

Here is the original article as well as the link to the site I found it on:

http://www.wfn.org/2003/05/msg00315.html
(ENI) Roman Catholic clerics and academics have come out
strongly against reported plans to divide the Latin Patriarchate
in Jerusalem and to establish a new church jurisdiction of
Hebrew-speaking Catholics distinct from Arabic-speaking
dioceses.

Under the proposed change, the new jurisdiction in the Holy Land
would answer directly to Rome and be independent of the local
Latin Patriarch, Michel Sabbah. Archbishop Sabbah is a Christian
Arab who supports the Palestinian national cause. Supporters of
Sabbah have denounced any move that could isolate him from a
portion of the Catholic community.

"I am a strong supporter of Michel Sabbah and [the plan] is an
attempt to undermine the authority of the Latin Patriarch," the
Rev. Don Moore of the Pontifical Biblical Institute in Jerusalem
told ENI.

Moore was reacting to an article published earlier in May in the
weekly Jesuit journal America by Drew Christiansen, who is
counselor for international affairs to the United States'
Conference of Catholic Bishops, with special responsibility for
the Middle East.

It was, said Moore, unfair to target the Latin Patriarch.
"Sabbah has been a great advocate of peace, reconciliation, of
love between the peoples in the land," he contended. "He has
been a voice of peace, understanding and I think that it is the
type of voice the church needs."

Moore noted that few Christians in the Holy Land were
Hebrew-speakers, and maintained that therefore any change was
unjustified. "As I understand it, this is a proposal for another
Patriarch," he said.

In Moore's view, the Latin Patriarch expressed a balanced view
of the current conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. "He
[Sabbah] is not anti-Israel," Moore said. "He has met with
Jewish groups, with rabbis."

Dr. Bernard Sabella of Bethlehem University, a Catholic and an
expert on the local Christian community, suggested that the
proposal might be politically motivated: "It could be the fact
that some people are sensitive to having an Arab head of
church," he said, but stressed the importance of having a single
umbrella jurisdiction under which Catholics from both sides of
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict might meet, in the interest of
promoting peace.

"It could provide the ground for possible prospects of working
together, of talking together, reflecting together, rather than
living in two separate worlds," said Sabella. "And if they do it
[create a new jurisdiction], it's a disaster, it will go against
reconciliation."

"there is a need to offer an ecclesial structure" for these Catholics, who are not of Arab culture or tradition, as is the case of the majority of the faithful who belong to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think this is not correct. The Latin Church in the Holy Land and Palestine is made up of those Christians who were formerly Eastern but adopted the Latin tradition after the Cruzades. When Islam arrived, they were absorbed in the Arabic speaking population along with those who stayed Eastern Rite and do not differenciate so much from the rest of the Palestinian christians.

Christians in the Holy land are mostly Arabs. Even the protestant congregations are Arabic speaking.

Dear LT:

HB Michael (Michel) Sabbah is the only one remaining, and active, out of then 4 Latin Patriarchs of the East.

The election/appointment of the respective Latin Patriarchs for Alexandria, Antioch, and Constantinople has been suppressed by the Holy See since 1964. (At any rate, the Catholic Church has in communion the 6 Eastern Patriarchs for the Armenians, Chaldeans, Copts, Maronites, Melkites, and Syrians.)

We, Romans, still do have the "Titular Patriarchs" for the East Indies, Lisbon (Portugal), Venice (Italy), and the West Indies (vacant since 1962 or 1963?)

Pope Paul VI was the reigning Patriarch of Venice when he was elected Pope.

Consider this: HB Michel Sabbah, the Patriarch of Jerusalem for the Latins, was "elected" (presumably by a Synod of Bishops within the Jerusalen Patriarchate?) Patriarch in 1987 while still a priest. He was consecrated a Bishop later in January of 1988.

He is addressed officially as "His Beatitude" and, therefore, he must be a "Patriarch!"

Amado

As was the Great Pope Saint Pius X (no relation to the Society of the same name)

LatinTrad

Shlomo Ladyhawke,
Please also forgive me, for my strident language. The issue of the Holy Land, is very close and personal for me. As my above article stated:
Therefore, I had assumed that you had not read that line, and was tring to cause such a dissention. Again I am sorry.

Poosh BaShlomo (Stay in Peace),
Yuhannon

Yuhannon,
though I was not born in the Holy Land, my great-grandparents and my grandfather were, and so, it is dear to my heart also...there is no need to apologize...I have been known in the past to jump very quickly to the defensive when it comes to the Land of my Heart and so I never take offense when someone else also does so in love. I have been doing some reading about Patriarch Michel in the past few days and now see that many of the media stories I have read in the past were only giving one side of the issue...and for this I thank you, since it was in response to your post to me that I went searching for evidence to prove what I thought was the truth. Now I have the truth indeed...

Originally posted by Amado Guerrero:

"Pope Paul VI was the reigning Patriarch of Venice when he was elected Pope."

Apologies, but this is incorrect.

Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli (Blessed John XXIII) was Patriarch of Venice when he was elected pope.

Giovanni Battista Montini (Paul VI) was Archbishop and Metropolitan of Milan when he was elected pope. He was head of the province which uses the Ambrosian "Rite" for celebration of the Eucharist, Divine Office, and Sacraments.

(Prof.) J. Michael Thompson
Byzantine Catholic Seminary
Pittsburgh, PA

John Paul I, of blessed memory, was the Patriarch of Venice at the time of his election.

Michael