Be Not Afraid

By Danielle Bean
Insidecatholic.com

Four years ago, I was in the hospital, laboring to deliver our seventh child. My husband paced the floors, and a television tuned to Fox News blared from a corner of the room.

Terri Schiavo was dying. And the world was watching.

I watched, too. Between contractions, waves of nausea, and breathing exercises, I listened to lawmakers debate the legality of withholding food and water from a dependent human being simply because she hadn't yet had the decency to die on her own.

But Terri Schiavo wasn't the only person whose last days were chronicled on the cable news channels that early spring. Pope John Paul II was dying, too.

It seemed especially fitting that this man, who had spent a lifetime waging battle against the forces of what he called the "culture of death," should offer such a fearless, contrasting example of embracing suffering at the end of his life.

John Paul II was the only pope I ever knew. I was just six years old when white smoke wafted from the chimney in the Sistine Chapel and my mother stood before the television, mesmerized and clutching a dishtowel, as Karol Wojtyla was elected pope decades ago.

Though I paid little attention at the time, the famous opening lines of John Paul II's inaugural sermon came to have more meaning for me as I grew older:

Be not afraid. Open wide the gates to Christ. Open up to his saving power the confines of the state, open up economic and political systems, the vast empires of culture, civilization and development. . . . Be not afraid!

It can be hard not to fear.

In the face of pervasive cultural forces that encourage us to avoid suffering at all costs and to rid ourselves of "burdensome" human beings in the womb, in hospital beds, or at the brink of death, it can be hard to feel brave.

As parents raising the next generation of Catholics in a world that often mocks our values and offers all manner of godlessness presented in seductive packages, it can be very hard not to fear.

And sometimes, just knowing that death and pain are real, and that none of us can control when they come for us or for our loved ones, is the most fearsome fact of all.


That day in the hospital, when my unborn son's heartbeat slowed unexpectedly and became erratic, one nurse ran to the hall and shrieked for the doctor while two others threw me roughly onto my side and forced an oxygen mask onto my face. When my eyes met my pale-faced, stoic husband's, fear pressed hard against my heart.

Hours later, when I held my healthy, pink-faced newborn son, traced my finger along the gentle curve of his dimpled elbows, and felt his sturdy legs kick hard against the swaddling, I thought of our beloved, dying pope. I recalled his abiding love for families and unfailing confidence in the next generation.

John Paul II once said, "As the family goes, so goes the nation and so goes the whole world in which we live."

And that's just what I fear.

We are the families in whom he had such confidence. Ours was the generation he predicted would bring about a "new springtime" in the Catholic Church.

But I am no pope. How can I raise up a new generation to wage war against a culture of death that devalues human life, perverts the priesthood, mocks marriage, and forgets its dependence on God?

John Paul II had no patience for such paralyzing fears. I think this is what he had in mind when he reminded us, "The future starts today, not tomorrow." I think he intended that we should establish a culture of life by forgetting our fears, "opening wide the doors to Christ," and letting Him take care of the more worrisome details.

And I am grateful for the reminder.

Today my son Raphael, born into this world just as John Paul II was leaving it, is a barrel-chested four-year-old boy with soul-searching, chocolate eyes. He spends his days in the springtime sun, collecting worms in buckets, hitting trees with sticks, and dreaming of baseball.

Yesterday he approached me with a hand-hewn wooden sword his older brother whittled for him from a tree branch.

"Can you attach this to my belt?"

As I worked the sword through his belt loops, Raphael wiped his sun-kissed face with a dirty hand and squinted toward the trees.

"Where can I find some bad guys to fight?" he wondered aloud.

I watched Raphael march boldly into our open field with his sword at his side.

If we raise up soldiers for Christ, if we place the future of our Church in such capable hands and hearts as these, we will have nothing to fear.

________________________________________
Danielle Bean, a mother of eight, is senior editor of Faith & Family magazine and author of My Cup of Tea: Musings of a Catholic Mom (Pauline 2005) and Mom to Mom, Day to Day: Advice and Support for Catholic Living (Pauline 2007). Visit her blog at www.daniellebean.com.

4/03/09

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If Christ Has Not Been Raised: The Evidence for the Resurrection

By Mark P. Shea
Insidecatholic.com


"Jesus came to give us moral guidance, and to prove he meant business, he let himself be killed and seen after death, so we would listen and be good." Not being raised in any particular religion myself, it wasn't until later that I discovered that this view of Jesus' death and resurrection (which I heard from my grandmother) had more in common with The Day the Earth Stood Still than it did with the historic faith of Christianity. But this view of Jesus-as-Klaatu, impressing the yokels with spiritualist stunts to wow them into listening to His preachments, is but one of many "alternative" views of the resurrection of Christ. In this view, it isn't particularly important whether Jesus was raised bodily, just so long as His disciples knew He was "really alive" -- more likely as a particularly impressive ghost.

To others, it isn't important whether Jesus is alive even as a ghost so long as He "lives in the hearts of his countrymen." This is more or less the position of alleged "Christian theologians" like John Dominic Crossan, who cheerfully relates this happy news in Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography (1994):

What actually and historically happened to the body of Jesus can best be judged from watching how later Christian accounts slowly but steadily increased the reverential dignity of their burial accounts. But what was there at the beginning that necessitated such an intensive volume of apologetic insistence? If the Romans did not observe the Deuteronomic decree, Jesus' body would have been left on the cross for the wild beasts. And his followers, who had fled, would know that. If the Romans did observe the decree, the soldiers would have made certain Jesus was dead and then buried him themselves as part of their job. In either case, his body left on the cross or in a shallow grave barely covered with dirt and stones, the dogs were waiting. And his followers, who had fled, would know that too. Watch, then, how the horror of that brutal truth is sublimated through hope and imagination into its opposite.

In other words, Jesus' corpse was dog food long ago, but since the idiot-savant apostles were particularly adept at religious psychosis and making lemonade out of lemons, then we can say the Resurrection is full of "hope" in a sense intelligible only to extremely advanced theologians like Crossan.

Then again, there are others who solve the problem of the Resurrection by not letting Jesus die. In this view, somebody else was crucified on Good Friday (somebody who really deserved it, like Judas Iscariot), while Jesus went off to a well-earned pension someplace else. Depending on which legend or Shocking Book (e.g., Holy Blood, Holy Grail by Michael Baigent) you choose, "someplace else" could be anywhere from Japan to France. Frequently, "Jesus didn't die" scenarios go for the hearts-and-flowers conclusion favored by Hollywood, in which the retired Son of Man finally gets the girl, like Clark Kent in Superman II, and no longer has to pursue His unrewarding task of proclaiming platitudes. Typically, they pack Him off to some vineyard with Mary Magdalene, there to found a dynasty of Merovingians or something. Instead of having Him escape crucifixion entirely, some scenarios grant that He was crucified but insist that He only swooned (possibly with the help of some drugged wine) and regained consciousness later. But the central claim of all such scenarios is that Jesus didn't really die on the Cross.

Still other theorists, often involved in the New Age movement, solve the problem by allowing Him to be only a spirit (divine or angelic, depending on the preference of the author) appearing as a man, a sort of holy vision. This solves the problem of His death by making it an illusion: a tidy disposal of a messy crucifixion that preserves the happy ending.

Meanwhile, others have much simpler and cruder explanations: Disciples stole the corpse, lied about it, and founded a cult for their own selfish gain and power. Slightly kinder than this is the Hysterical Hallucination Theory, which says the well-meaning apostles hallucinated the Resurrection. Others say it was a later generation of Christians who added the Resurrection to the New Testament. Originally, it was just a collection of apostolic memoirs about the Dead Master and His witty sayings. Many think St. Paul is behind the whole thing (see, for instance, The Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity by Hyam Maccoby). Under the influence of pagan myth, St. Paul allegedly transformed this ordinary Jewish rabbi into a Cosmic Christ figure. The original apostles, according to this school, would be horrified at what Paul did to the teaching of the gentle and witty Y'shua.


One of the obvious difficulties with all these theories is that they don't fit together well. If later generations are to blame for importing Resurrection myths, then earlier ones aren't. If it's all Paul's fault, then it's not Peter's. If the Eleven are body snatchers, then they're not well-meaning hallucinators, and vice versa. Such theories demonstrate what C.S. Lewis once referred to as the "restless fertility of bewilderment" so much in evidence when debunkers try to overturn the mountain of solid evidence for the truth of the Christian claims. This is unsurprising, since these "alternative explanations" are all much harder to believe than the Christian explanation of the Resurrection, which is nicely summarized by St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:1-14:

Now I would remind you, brethren, in what terms I preached to you the gospel, which you received, in which you stand, by which you are saved, if you hold it fast -- unless you believed in vain.

For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. For I am the least of the apostles, unfit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace toward me was not in vain. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God which is with me. Whether then it was I or they, so we preach and so you believed.

Now if Christ is preached as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.


This, the earliest creedal summary of the Faith, gives the lie to my first ignorant notion of the meaning and nature of the Resurrection. For it shows clearly that the real heart and soul of the New Testament teaching about Jesus is not that He was primarily a preacher, wonder-worker, reformer, sage, or deliverer of profound truths and happy thoughts, nor that the Resurrection was a special effect performed to wow us into following good advice.

The first fact of the Christian Gospel, according to the New Testament, is the Passion and Resurrection of Christ. Without the Resurrection, you don't have an "original" Gospel of witty sayings, wise saws, and modern instances. You have no Gospel whatsoever. This is why one-fourth of each of the Gospels focuses on a 72-hour period in the life of Jesus of Nazareth: His Passion and Resurrection. It is why the rest of the New Testament is overwhelmingly focused on the meaning of that death and Resurrection, not on His signs or sayings (almost none of which are preserved outside the Gospels). It is why virtually nobody but the most ignorant TV host these days holds the once-popular notion that the Resurrection was tacked onto the New Testament by later generations of Christians after the death of the apostles. The simple fact is that trying to account for any of the New Testament without placing the Resurrection at the absolute core of it is like saying that the real truth of Abraham Lincoln consists of platitudes about peace and justice and that the "Civil War" was just a myth concocted by later hagiographers that forms no part of the original story. If the "original Gospel" was just a collection of tales about Jesus going around saying "Niceness is nice," the question that arises is what, exactly, was so interesting about Him?

The only answer is found in the actual documents of the New Testament, which began to be composed within 20 years of Jesus' death. These already contain things like the creed previously mentioned and the insistence that the Gospel is about nothing other than Jesus and the Resurrection (Acts 17:18).


Very well, we can't blame "later generations" for coming up with the Resurrection story. So, some say, let's blame Paul. The problem with this theory is that Paul himself and witnesses who know Paul, such as Luke, as well as witnesses uninfluenced by Paul, such as Matthew and John, seem to be under the impression that the basic core of the story Paul has to tell is not Paul's invention.

"I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received" -- or, more prosaically, "I'm handing on to you the Tradition I was taught." Taught by whom? In Paul's case, taught by the apostles (Galatians 1:18-21) and by the normal primitive catechesis given in places like the Church at Antioch where Paul lived for many years before he started any mission at all (Acts 13). Paul says this sort of thing repeatedly and seems to take for granted not only that what he has to say about Jesus is common knowledge to all Christians (not just the ones he's converted) but that none of the other apostles bopping around the Mediterranean -- and none of the churches they founded -- are going to have any quarrel with him when he says that Christ is risen. If Paul alone had come up with this myth about the Risen Christ while the rest of the apostles were just wandering hither and thither, sharing Anecdotes about Their Friend the Martyred Nazarene, you might think somebody would have noticed.


In short, if faith in the Resurrection is as old as Paul, it is as old as the apostles themselves. He preaches it for the same reason they do: He really believes he saw the Risen Christ, just as they say they saw the Risen Christ.

Ah, yes. They say. But why should we believe them? What if the Eleven were just body snatchers, stealing the corpse of Christ in order to portray themselves as the martyr's best buddies and found a cult with Jesus as putative head but themselves as the adored big cheeses?

The difficulties with this are numerous. First of all, they don't act like any cult leaders we know. The records they leave behind do not describe fearless, shiny, happy, faith-filled dynamos of apostolic courage, theological acumen, and intellectual agility. They show us a group of men whose chagrined honesty compelled them to carefully incorporate into the public record the fact that they were snobbish, spiteful, cowardly, factional nitwits who were slow on the uptake, ambitious, blind, selfish, and, when the supreme test came, quite willing to bolt and run in the hour of their Master's terrible trial. Compare this with the adoring exhalations of the North Korean press on the Manifold Virtues of The Fearless Leaders, or the flawless perfection of Stalin according to the Stalinist press of the 1930s, or the Nazi hagiography of Hitler. The apostles make sure that their public preaching and the public record include a faithful recitation of their many, many sins. Moreover, they continue to preach the Resurrection for decades, despite separation, persecution, poverty, threats, torture, and martyrdom (except for John, who had the pleasure of watching his brother James executed for his testimony). In short, they speak and act like honest men, not like men out to make a buck or acquire power.

Indeed, so honest are they that they even make Jesus look rather ungodlike at first blush. Jesus is recorded displaying weakness, showing fear, confessing ignorance, and asking questions. He is described as unable to do certain things. The disciples' official record has Him saying things that sound dangerously like denials of deity, such as "Why do you call me good? There is none good but God alone" (Mark 10:18) or "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46). Yet we are to believe that cunning liars who carefully doctored history to make Jesus appear to be the Risen Lord also managed not to notice such unsettling details in their account?

No. What comes across with terrific force in the New Testament is that the testimony has been given by people who tell the truth, even about awkward facts not instantly advantageous to their claims. They come across as people who genuinely believe Christ risen, not as people who lie about a body that they know perfectly well was stolen or eaten by dogs. For the rest of their lives (right through to their torture and execution), the apostles behaved like men utterly convinced that they had met the Risen Christ. Indeed, so convinced are they that they include numerous details that, frankly, no liar would ever make up. So, for instance, no first-century Jewish liars would call as their first witness Mary Magdalene. For the Magdalene was prima facie incredible to a first-century Jewish audience on two counts: First, she was a woman; second, she was a woman out of whom seven demons were supposed to have been driven -- a rather shady psychological profile (Mark 16:9). The Gospels read like accounts by honest people who are stuck with the facts -- including the fact that one of the first witnesses of the Resurrection was a woman of uncertain reputation.

Of course, some will retort that this proves too much: We would not normally bother with the testimony of a psychotic (i.e., "demoniac"), so why bother with Mary's? Because Mary is among the first, not the last, witnesses. The records point to hundreds of witnesses -- most still alive at the time 1 Corinthians was written -- and give an account of the Resurrection that is, in the main, coherent. An appearance to the women, to the Twelve at various times in and around Jerusalem, and to various others in Galilee, followed by an appearance to Paul some years later (not counting various vision phenomena that are of a different order). Nitpickers are fond of talking about the discrepancies among the Gospel accounts (books written decades apart for different audiences and for differing theological purposes). But what really stands out is how similar the tale is in all of them. If the minor discrepancies that distinguish them really mean they are false, then we must also conclude that JFK was never assassinated since witnesses have as many discrepancies in their testimony.

Indeed, it's often the details that are so persuasive. Thus, another fact nobody would ever make up is the burial place of Christ: the tomb of Joseph of Arimathea, a member of the Sanhedrin. It's exactly the sort of detail that gives the Gospels the ring of truth. If you're making the story up, you put the body in the tomb of some devoted disciple, not in the final resting place of a member of the ruling body that is most bitterly opposed to your message.

The mention of the tomb leads some people to another favorite theory: namely, that the disciples went to the wrong tomb and leapt to the conclusion that Christ was risen. One can only wonder what such theorists think people are made of. For the apostles to conclude that Jesus was the risen and glorious Lord of all on the basis of such a blunder would have required preternatural stupidity not only on their part but on the part of the Jerusalem authorities. Even if all the early Church was too obtuse to find its way back to the final resting place of the Man who was the focus of their devotion, surely somebody in the Jerusalem elite who opposed the growing sect of Nazarenes could have said, "Uh, guys? Here's the corpse. You were looking in the wrong place. Next time ask for directions." Joseph of Arimathea might have been of some help here. So might the women, who saw where He was laid. And such a theory becomes doubly silly when the early Church's fascination with relics and tombs is factored in. Early liturgies tended to be held at grave sites, yet there is no cult that develops around the most important grave of all. Why, it's as if the tomb had been empty or something.

Which takes us, in our taxonomy of Resurrection alternatives, to the various escape-from-death/swoon theories: the notion that Jesus somehow avoided death, either by skipping town and leaving a stooge to take the fall for Him or by enduring crucifixion and then escaping the tomb. It's hard to say which version of this theory is more preposterous. If there's a fact of history that's not disputed even by hard-core atheist historians, it is the fact of His death. If we know nothing else about Him, we know that He died by crucifixion outside the walls of Jerusalem circa 30 A.D.

And yet some insist that He didn't. Like a sort of first-century Elvis, He went into sudden and mysterious retirement, in sharp contradiction to everything He had ever said or done, and founded a dynasty or studied philosophy or something in some far-off land. What is the evidence for this? Well, there is none really, just hints, supposings, surmises, and what-ifs. It's rather like the thinking behind Chariots of the Gods. It's a case of a theory in search of evidence, not of evidence giving rise to a theory. Meanwhile, the people who were there give testimony, not that Jesus left town right after the Last Supper (a supper at which He specifically prophesied His Passion with a strange accuracy that would reduce Peter to tears when it all happened), but that He went to betrayal, trial, and crucifixion. And again, why would lying cult founders make up the story of that prophecy and its very embarrassing fulfillment? Indeed, eyewitnesses like John saw Jesus at both His trial and crucifixion. So there aren't many ways for Jesus to have skipped town and left somebody else holding the bag.

Ah! But John only thought he saw Jesus die. Really, the Nazarene received a drugged wine, passed out, and awoke in a freezing-cold tomb on a chilly morning in April. The perfect setting for a dramatic recovery from scourging, crucifixion, massive blood loss, shock, and a spear wound to the heart, as nine out of ten doctors agree. He then stumbled out (after somehow freeing Himself from the bandages sealed to His torn flesh) and, shoving the zillion-ton stone that sealed the tomb out of the way, limped up to the disciples on His bloody feet, showed them His hands (complete with permanently immovable thumbs due to irreparable nerve damage), and gasped out a greeting between the stabs of agonizing pain from the spear wound. Most people, faced with such a ghastly spectacle, would dial 911. The disciples, naturally, greeted Him as the glorious Conqueror of Death and Lord of the Universe and founded a religion instead.

"Okay, fine," the diehard skeptic says, "Jesus died. And the disciples didn't steal the body and lie about it. They just hallucinated. Together. All 500 of them. For 40 days. No, really…"

Even if we put aside that troublesome matter of the empty tomb (with empty grave clothes in it), there's still a problem concerning the nature of hallucinations. Mass hallucination is extremely rare. So rare, in fact, that it's usually only invoked to explain away things like, oh, the Resurrection. The rest of the time, when 500 people say they saw somebody and spoke with him, we believe them, particularly when they have nothing to gain by saying it -- when they are routinely put to death for saying it.

And we have other problems to deal with if we want to entertain the Mass Hallucination Theory. First and foremost is the curious fact that hallucinations like this are supposed to be the fruition of intense wish-fulfillment fantasies. The witnesses supposedly wanted Jesus to be alive so bad that they freaked out and thought they saw Him. On at least three occasions, however, His disciples failed to recognize Him when they did meet Him. We are told they were so desperate to see Him that they might have tricked themselves into believing they had seen Him, but they walked for half a day with Him and did not notice. Strange. More to the point, what hallucination can be touched and eats fish?

Which leaves us pretty much with the Jesus-was-a-divine-illusion school of Gnostic or New Age thinking. But if the Risen Christ was really a purely spiritual illusion sent by the divine to teach us higher truths about the unimportance of the body and the need to transcend our humanity, what could be more certain to obscure this lesson than a body that Thomas could touch, a body that breathes the air and eats fish? The apostles, at any rate, don't seem to have picked up on these higher truths at all. They teach instead that the Risen Christ is raised bodily and is not only fully God but fully human, albeit glorified.


A resurrected body. Glorified. Fully God and fully man. When the alternatives have all spent themselves in fruitless clamor for our attention, it's the old Christian story that still persuades. It's the story of the Conqueror of Death who has Himself borne the sting of death and raised our dead human nature out of the grave so that we, too, may be resurrected. You can read all about it -- without crackpot alternative explanations -- in the New Testament. A most convincing book, especially when so many skeptics drive you to murmur, "Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian!"

The Resurrection is the factual cornerstone of Christian faith. Without it, you do not get a Gospel purified of superstition. You get a litter of low-rent "real" conclusions to the story of Christ that are vastly harder to buy than the Christian explanation. At the end of the day, the fact remains that "if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain" and "we are of all men most to be pitied" (1 Corinthians 15:14, 19). But that never seemed to worry Paul, for "in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep" (1 Corinthians 15:20).

________________________________________
Mark P. Shea is a senior editor for www.CatholicExchange.com and a columnist for InsideCatholic. Visit his blog at markshea.blogspot.com. This article originally appeared in the February 2003 issue of Crisis Magazine.



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Palm Sunday in Rome

By Irene Lagan
InsideCatholic.com

Posted on April 06, 2009, 3:40 AM

As Deal mentioned, Palm Sunday in Jerusalem is an experience not to be missed if the opportunity arises. That being said, I will always relish the beauty of yesterday's Palm Sunday liturgy in Rome. There's something about praying the highest prayer of the Church with the pope on a sunny but not hot day at St. Peter's in Rome. The choir was masterful, and the sung gospel still resounds in my ears, as does the almost absolute silence during the part of the Gospel where Jesus breathes his last, and again, when the sacred species were lifted. It's a real experience of the Church universal, with old and young, and virtually every nationality represented. (The one thing missing might be our Eastern brothers and sisters.)

I have to say I love Pope Benedict. He inspires such joy, quiet as it might be (especially if you're thinking in comparative mode). But as I've mentioned before, is he is a man whose presence speaks loudly. Thousands upon thousands endure the mosh-pit crowd crush experience to get closer to him. I think he draws people, young and not young, in part because he is so authentic. He draws people in because he reveals something of himself and relies on our prayers. His homily is something I will go back to throughout the week. He is a theologian, teacher and pastor - a rare combination.

Because I now live on the top floor of a building and enjoy a terrace and lots of sun, my flatmate and I were able to host people for an impromptu and all-day brunch.

To top off the day, sometime during the night we had felt the strong aftershocks of a 6.3 magnitude "terremoto" just 53 miles from Rome. That was not so much fun, just freaky. For some thirty seconds, I felt like I was on a ship at sea. It was just a little too close for comfort,especially given a still-rising death toll. It's one thing to report on these things that happen in Indonesia and other far away places, but this made me rethink the advantages of finding a great deal apartment on the top floor of an old Roman building.
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Benedict XVI and the Future of the Holy Land

by Deal W. Hudson


Over dinner at the Ambassador Hotel in East Jerusalem, I talked with Danny Seidemann, a Jewish man from upstate New York who moved to Israel as a youth more than 30 years ago. Danny is recognized worldwide as an expert on the religious and cultural differences that divide, and potentially unite, Jerusalem. "The Christian community of Jerusalem is the canary in the coal mine," he told me. "When it starts dying, we know all of us are going to die."

Seidemann, himself a Zionist, believes preserving the Christian presence in the Holy Land is crucial to its future. That underscores the importance of the upcoming visit of Pope Benedict XVI to the Holy Land in early May. "The Church can have enormous influence here. The pope can address people above the heads of their leaders."

But Seidemann believes that time is running short for any type of two-state solution. After the recent conflict in Gaza, the window of opportunity has closed further: "We have one to three years to get it done, after that there will be nothing left to engage." He is confident the Vatican understands the urgency of the situation.

When I asked him about the impact of the December bombing and invasion of Gaza, Seidemann moved the subject back to Jerusalem. "Jerusalem is the key," he told me. More than a decade ago, Seidemann drew the proposed boundaries for Palestinian-controlled East Jerusalem that would be necessary for the creation of two sovereign states. "The boundaries I drew for the Clinton administration can still be drawn," he said. I asked him about the controversial Israeli settlements in that part of the city. "That dispute can be settled by a one-for-one exchange of land -- it can be resolved."

Seidemann is surprisingly upbeat because he senses that "people are ready for something to happen." Six weeks ago he met in Washington, D.C., with key members of the Obama administration tasked with the Middle East. He believes the Obama team, led by George Mitchell, has the expertise and the will to make progress. One obvious obstacle is that the new Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is dedicated to the settlements and has beenless interested in pursuing the two-state solution agreed upon at the 2007 Annapolis Conference, hosted by President George Bush.

There would be more support from the United States for a two-state solution, according to Seidemann, if those primarily heard on the topic of Israel and the Palestinians were not either Christian Zionists on the one hand, or Israel bashers on the other. He believes there is an untapped resource of people in the middle who are ready to be heard and who want to move forward to stop the escalating conflict.

"Jews, Muslims, and Christians have been maintaining their identity in Jerusalem for over 1,300 years." For Seidemann, Jerusalem must maintain its tradition of ecumenism and set an example for Baghdad and Beirut -- otherwise, the habits of those cities will take hold and "pollute" Jerusalem.

Seidemann knows as well as anyone that the Christian presence in East Jerusalem and the occupied territories on the West Bank has been shrinking for years. In the past, the shrinking numbers could be attributed to the harsh realities of Israeli occupation, but more and more it is conflict with Muslims in towns like Bethlehem -- where they once lived peacefully together -- that sends Christians packing. Add to that the attraction of young people to prosperous Palestinian enclaves in Chile, Puerto Rico, Canada, and Australia.

Is the Christian "canary" in Jerusalem already in the process of dying a slow death? Seidemann did not say. But when he said that politicians must realize that "it's five minutes to midnight," the implication is clear. There can be no more delay, no more missed opportunities.

The Obama administration, which is alienating Catholics with its pro-abortion policy, may find itself on the same page with Pope Benedict on this issue if he urges Israelis and Palestinians toward the two-state solution during his May visit.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Deal W. Hudson is the director of InsideCatholic.com and the author of Onward, Christian Soldiers: The Growing Political Power of Catholics and Evangelicals in the United States (Simon and Schuster).

April 6, 2009
source : http://www.insidecatholic.com

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Tuan Ma dan Kota Reinha

Oleh P Alex Beling SVD

KATAKAN saja, di seluruh dunia ada hanya satu Tuan Ma dan ada hanya satu Kota Reinha. Orang Larantuka atau Orang Nagi pasti senang mengakui bahwa ini memang benar. Tidak ada tempat lain kecuali di Larantuka, ibu Kota Flores Timur di mana orang berbicara mengenai Tuan Ma dan Kota Reinha sebagai milik pusaka sendiri. Tentu juga orang-orang Nagi yaitu orang-orang asal Larantuka yang tinggal di mana saja di luar Larantuka pasti berbicara mengenai Tuan Ma dan Kota Reinha sebagai harta puska sendiri.

Pada memasuki masa Puasa Katolik atau masa Prapaska kita bisa merasakan di Larantuka suatu suasana di mana orang mulai berbicara mengenai istilah-istilah, nama-nama dan lain-lain yang diangkat dari tradisi agama menyangkut Semana Santa. Di tengah-tengah seluruh tata Liturgi ( upacara resmi) Gereja Katolik terletak perayaan Paska atau Kebangkitan Yesus Kristus dari alam maut. Itulah puncak atau perayaan inti iman Katolik. Untuk menekankan makna luhur dari perayaan Paska itu disusunlah kerangka perayaan-perayaan, baik sebagai persiapan maupun sebagai penyudahan atau penerapan. Persiapan khusus dilaksanakan selama 40 hari masa Puasa atau Prapaska, dimulai pada Hari Rabu Abu dan berakhir pada Hari Jumat Agung. Sedangkan hari-hari Minggu sesudah Paskah adalah masa mengenang, bersyukur dan menerapkan makna Paska dalam kehidupan. Dengan demikian Paska mendapat tempat sentral dalam kehidupan kristiani.

Dalam Liturgi Gereja Katolik dikenal Minggu Kudus, yang disebut juga Pekan Suci ialah waktu satu minggu menjelang pesta Paska untuk melangsungkan perayaan-perayaan peringatan kejadian-kejadian pada akhir hidup Yesus Kristus terutama penderitaan, wafat-Nya serta kebangkitan-Nya. Di Larantuka, di luar perayaan liturgis sebagaimana berlaku dalam Gereja Katolik di seluruh dunia, ada yang disebuat Semana Santa (bahasa Portugis, artinya Minggu Kudus). Dengan nama Semana Santa dimaksudkan bukan hanya segala perayaan yang berlangsung dalam Minggu Kudus sebelum Paska, melainkan juga mengenai banyak hal lain yang dilaksanakan selama masa Puasa, seperti doa bergilir, latihan-latihan dan pertemuan-pertemuan. Semana Santa dalam arti semput dimulai pada Hari Minggu Palma. Lalu menyusul hari Rabu yang disebut Rabu Trewa.

Selanjutnya pada hari Kamis yaitu Kamis Putih selain upacara liturgis di gereja ada upacara tersendiri di Kapela Tuan Ma : kapela dibuka dan patung Tuan Ma disiapkan. Hari Jumat Agung (disebut juga Sesta Fera) adalah hari besar mengenang wafatnya Yesus Almasih, dan pada malam harinya dilangsungkan perarakan besar memperingati pemakaman Tuhan Yesus. Hal-hal khusus ini dilaksanakan menurut peraturan-peraturan tradisional keagamaan yang ketat dan yang berlaku turun-temurun. Tradisi Semana Santa itu sedemikian tertanam dalam hati orang Nagi (orang Larantuka) sehingga sudah merupakan bagian integral dari suatu kebudayaan religius atau Adat Serani.

Tuan Ma
Dua objek religius dalam kompleks perayaan Semana Santa yang mendapat perhatian istimewa ialah Tuan Ma dan Tuan Ma (Tuan Mama) ialah Santa Bunda Maria, sedangkan Tuan Ana ialah Tuhan Yesus atau Tuhan Anak Alllah. Tuan Ma dan Tuan Ana masing-masing dikenal dalam rupa dua patung khusus yang disimpan dan dihormati dalam masing-masing kapela yang dikenal sebagai Kapela Tuan Ma yang terdapat di Larantuka di Kampung Batu Mea, Kapela Tuan Ana di Kampung Lohayong. (NB. Dalam Kapela Tuan Ma ada lagi satu patung Santa Maria yaitu Maria Reinha Rosari yang disebut juga Maria Alleluya.

Dalam beberapa tahun terakhir dua kapela yang tua sudah diganti dengan bangunan-bangunan kapela-kapela yang indah. Selama masa Puasa dilaksanakan kegiatan-kegiatan Semana Santa sesuai peraturan yang berlaku, yang disebut dengan istilah serewi-serwisu Deo (layan-melayani Tuhan).

Tentang patung Tuan Ma yang disebut juga patung Mater Dolorosa (Bunda Berdukacita) ada cerita, bahwa patung yang kira-kira satu setengah meter tingginya adalah patung Bunda Maria yang konon 500 tahun lalu terhayut dari laut dan diketemukan terdampar di Pante Ae Kongga Pante Besar Larantuka. Setelah dikenal bahwa itu adalah patung Bunda Maria, maka umat Katolik telah mengambil dan menempatkannya dalam sebuah kapela di mana orang berdoa dan memuji Allah dan Bunda Maria. Patung itu biasa kelihatan terbungkus dengan sebuah mantol indah yang besar berwarna biru tua, dan yang nampak hanya wajah dan tangan kanan yang terbuka. Sejak ratusan tahun sudah ada kegiatan devosi rakyat turun-temurun dan berada di bawah perlindungan dan pimpinan penguasa setempat yakni Raja Larantuka yang mempunyai juga fungsi dan kewajiban tertentu dalam upacaya-upacara menyangkut Tuan Ma. Sebagai seorang raja yang beragama Katolik, Raja Servus I, dia telah menyatakan kesetiaan pada tugasnya itu dengan menyerahkan tongkat kerajaan secara resmi kepada Santa Bunda Maria. Dengan demikian secara simbolis dia mempercayakan keselamatan dan kesejahteraan rakyat kerajaannya dalam tangan Santa Bunda Allah yang dilantik menjadi Reinha (Ratu) kota dan kerajaan Larantuka.

Untuk mengungkapkan cinta kepada Santa Maria istilah Tuan Ma terasa lebih manis dan mesra, sedangkan Reinha (bahasa Latin Regina) atau Ratu lebih bernuansa penguasa.
Penghormatan terhadap Tuan Ma sudah mantap sebagai suatu tradisi terhormat dan terbukti oleh kesetiaan umat dan oleh siapa saja yang menunjukkan respek terhadap milik rohani ini. Kesetiaan hormat dan cinta kepada Santa Bunda Maria ini berdasarkan ajaran Gereja Katolik tentang Santa Maria dalam peranannya yang sangat erat berkaitan dengan hidup serta karya Yesus Kristus. Santa Maria adalah Bunda yang melahirkan Yesus Kristus, dan dia adalah juga Bunda Gereja yaitu umat yang percaya kepada Yesus Kristus. Kesetiaan menghormati dan mencintai Santa Bunda Maria (Tuan Ma) mempunyai dasar dalam pengalaman-pengalaman, baik yang nyata dan dapat dibuktikan maupun yang tidak nampak dan bersifat spiritual.

Ambil sebagai contoh, sudah jutaan jumlah orang yang berziarah ke Lourdes di Perancis, di antaranya sangat banyak yang pergi sebagai pasien dan penderita macam-macam penyakit, untuk berdoa memohon penyembuhan. Jumlah mereka yang benar-benar secara ajaib sembuh dengan perantaraan Bunda Maria, tidak seberapa kalau dibanding dengan jumlah yang jauh lebih besar dari mereka yang pulang dengan hati dan jiwa yang disembuhkan oleh rahmat pertobatan dan belaskasihan ilahi serta kegembiraan batin. Kita patut percaya bahwa tak terhitung pengalaman-pengalaman kesembuhan dalam hati dan jiwa dalam arti ini telah terjadi dengan perantaraan Tuan Ma.

Hal itu dibuktikan oleh semangat devosi ini yang menyebar sangat luas dan menarik minat para pencinta Santa Maria khusus dalam perayaan Semana Santa. Di samping itu dalam pelbagai peristiwa di kawasan ini seperti bencana alam, wabah penyakit dan lain-lain, baik pengalaman umum maupun privat, orang dapat membaca tanda-tanda yang mencolik dari intervensi Bunda Allah yang tak pernah meninggalkan siapa pun yang berseru meminta pertolongannya.

Tuan Ma patut di anggap sebagai anugerah Allah untuk menjadi sarana identifikasi iman serta cinta yang hendaknya disebarluaskan guna menyembuhkan banyak penyakit jasmani dan penyakit rohani dalam masyarakat kita. Semua orang yang dating dari mana saja untuk memberi hormat kepada Tuan Ma dalam perayaan Semana Santa hendaknya kembali sebagai pelaksana cinta, persaudaraan dan damai. Dengan demikian nilai dan makna yang benar dari devosi kepada Tuan Ma tetap dijunjung tinggi dan dibersihkan dari setiap unusr yang menodainya.

Kota Reinha
Ibu Kota Kabupaten Flores Timur, Larantuka, dengan suatu rasa bangga menggelar dirinya sebagai Kota Reinha atau Kota Santa Maria Ratu. Dalam dokumen-dokumen sejarah dapat ditelusuri tahap-tahap tumbuhnya tempat pemukiman di mana sekarang terdapat Kota Larantuka yang menunjukkan variasi-variasi ekologis yang indah dan menarik. Gunung Ilemandiri dengan tinggi 1502 meter nampak bagaikan sebuah tugu pelindung dan merupakan lantar belakang alami dari panorama sebuah kota yang hanya menempati wilayah pesisir yang sempit.

Di situlah Larantuka telah bertumbuh menjadi sebuah kota di pantai. Selat Larantuka di depannya yang memberi kesan sebagai sebuah danau besar karena di semua sisi tertutup, juga oleh pulau Adonara dan Solor. Sebenarnya Larantuka hanyalah sebuah kota kecil dengan fasilitas umum terbatas. Namun justru sebagai kota yang kecil dapat dipelihara sedemikian sehingga menjadi “kecil tapi indah”.

Dokumen-dokumen sejarah menyimpan amat banyak kisah peristiwa dan pengalaman Kota Larantuka, di antaranya yang berkaitan dengan penyebaran agama Katolik oleh para misionaris dari Portugal. Dari merekalah orang-orang pribumi yang dipermandikan menyimpan pelbagai peninggalan berharga yakni iman akan Yesus Kristus dan Injil-Nya, serta devosi kepada Santa Bunda Maria di samping kebiasaan-kebiasaan kehidupan Kristiani yang terpelihara dalam tradisi turun-temurun, hingga hari ini. Semuanya ini menjadikan Kota Larantuka sebuah kotra tradisi Kristiani. Devosi yang khusus kepada Santa Maria merupakan kekayaan rohani tersendiri sehingga Santa Perawan Maria mendapat tempat istimewa dalam kehidupan masyarakat Kota Larantuka dengan gelar Reinha atau Ratu dan kota Larantuka mendapat kehormatan disebut Kota Reinha alias Kota Santa Maria.

Kehormatan Menuntut Kewajiban
Gelar Ratu untuk Santa Maria sebagai Pelindung Khusus kota Larantuka buka hanya hiasan mulia dan indah. Tuan Ma juga bukan hanya sebuah patung atau gambar kudus. Menjalankan devosi kepada Santa Maria yang bergelar Reinha atau Ratu harus menghasilkan nilai-nilai kultural terhormat dalam tata kehidupan Kota Larantuka yang pantas dan cocok dengan gelar kehormatan itu. Artinya, ada tuntutan dan kewajiban untuk memberi suatu wajah yang indah terpelihara, ayu dan manis kepada kota yang disebut dengan nama khusus Kota Reinha.

Kalau berbicara tentang kota ini sebagai tempat pemukiman manusia pada saat ini, dengan amat menyesal harus diakui bahwa banyak sector dari tempat diam ini nampak menjengkelkan : sangat jorok, kotor, dan berbau busuk. Di tengah kota, di antara rumah-rumah kediaman terdapat sampah-sampah berhamburan dan tidak pernah ada usaha untuk menertibkan. Tempat-tempat yang penuh dengan sampah adalah selokan-sekolah (got) di mana air tak pernah mengalir. Selanjutnya, satu tindakan yang harus disebut sebagai kejahatan ialah coret-mencoret pada tembok-tembok, dinding-dinding rumah, pada jalan-jalan, ya pada apa saja. Satu tanda jelas bahwa tidak ada suatu disiplin dan peraturan hidup bersama, sepertinya ada suatu budaya kotor yang mengandung ancaman penyakit-penyakit bagi kehidupan di Kota Reinha. Kita tidak minta suatu Dinas Pemerintah untuk membersihkan dan membasmi kejahatan ini. Yang wajib dan dituntut adalah warga penduduk sendiri untuk memelihara Kota Larantuka, Kota Reinha yang bernuansa bersih, indah, segar, dan sehat.

Kota Larantuka dan lingkungannya yang indah memesona bersama kekayaan ritual keagamaannya dapat memikat hati lebih banyak orang dari luar yang suka dating mengambil bagian dalam perayaan Semana Santa. Sebagai tuan rumah yang baik dan ramah Orang Nagi boleh saja mengundang, tapi harus memperlihatkan wajah kota ziarah ini selalu sebagai tempat yang sangat layak bergelar Kota Reinha.*
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For Pope John Paul II, beatification process may be on final lap

By John Thavis
Catholic News Service

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- They brought flowers and messages to his grave. They sang songs evoking his memory. And they prayed for his beatification.

The fourth anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II April 2 was marked by a sense of anticipation following reports that the late pontiff would be beatified on the fifth anniversary next year.

The Vatican has played down those rumors. But among the thousands who flocked to his tomb and gathered in St. Peter's Basilica for a memorial Mass, the feeling was strongly hopeful.

"There's all kinds of talk about him being beatified. It's only a matter of time before it happens. He's heading so fast toward sainthood that they're only waiting to give him a little bit more legitimacy, I guess," said Samantha Coveleski, 22, of Lewes, Del.

Coveleski was among hundreds of people who jammed the crypt area of St. Peter's Basilica April 2 to pay their respects at Pope John Paul II's tomb. They left candles, photos and letters, and murmured prayers in many languages. On the white marble tombstone lay three red roses.

"So many people loved this guy so much. When you're at the tomb you can really see what the big deal is," Coveleski said. "He was so accessible during his papacy, and here you can really see and feel how much he was loved."

Pope Benedict XVI celebrated the commemorative Mass and said he was praying for "the gift of beatification" for his predecessor. In 2005, Pope Benedict set Pope John Paul on the fast track to beatification by waiving the normal five-year waiting period for the introduction of his sainthood cause.

That seemed to respond to the "Santo subito!" ("Sainthood now!") banners that were held aloft at Pope John Paul's funeral.

The initial diocesan phase of the cause was completed in April 2007. Last November a team of theological consultors to the Congregation for Saints' Causes began studying the 2,000-page "positio," the document that makes the case for beatification, according to Archbishop Angelo Amato, head of the congregation.

Archbishop Amato told Vatican Radio that once the theological study of the "positio" is completed, the cause will be considered by the cardinal and bishop members of the congregation. If approved, it will then go to the pope for a final decision on a decree of "venerability," which means the person lived the Christian virtues heroically.

Meanwhile, a presumed miracle through the intercession of the late pope -- involving a French nun said to have been cured of Parkinson's disease -- is being studied in a five-step process that involves medical experts, a medical board, theological consultors, the members of the congregation and, finally, the pope.

With the decree of venerability and a confirmed miracle, beatification can take place.

Archbishop Amato emphasized that the Vatican could not promise a timetable for all this. The fact that the Vatican is expediting the cause doesn't mean "haste or superficiality," but on the contrary demands methodical attention to detail, he said.

Five years from death to beatification may not strike people as "subito," but it would be a modern record in the church; even for Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who was described by many as a "living saint" and for whom the waiting period was also waived, it took six years to complete the process.

Still, the Vatican loves anniversaries, and no one has ruled out next April 2 as the big day. Polish Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz of Krakow, personal secretary to the late pope and one of his biggest beatification boosters, said in March that the process would be completed in a few months.

Cardinal Dziwisz, in Rome for the fourth anniversary, told reporters that a presumed miracle had recently occurred at Pope John Paul II's tomb in St. Peter's Basilica.

A nine year-old Polish boy from Gdansk, suffering from cancer of the kidneys and unable to walk, was brought to the tomb by his parents, Cardinal Dziwisz said. When they left St. Peter's, the boy told them, "I want to walk," and began walking in good health, he said.

Vatican officials are not publicizing what are said to be 251 "inexplicable" healings or other events attributed to Pope John Paul II's intercession, and which have been filed away. Like Archbishop Amato, the officials emphasize the seriousness of the study being undertaken and insist there are no foregone conclusions.

The Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano, has marked this year's anniversary with the same serious tone, saying sainthood was more than the elevation of a popular personality.

"The cry of 'Santo subito!' after the death of John Paul II had strong meaning. But its repetition by the media is mistaken: The official recognition of sainthood must be connected to the church's process of sanctification," said a front-page article April 2.

The same article related an interesting anecdote about the relationship between Pope John Paul and Pope Benedict who, as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, served more than 23 years under the late pope as head of the doctrinal congregation.

When meeting to review the drafts of important documents with his top collaborators, it said, Pope John Paul would sometimes sit back at the end of the conversation and say: "We need to go back to this topic again. From his expression, I can see that Cardinal Ratzinger is not fully convinced. We need to reflect some more."

At the memorial Mass, Pope Benedict underlined the thematic continuity between the late pope and his own pontificate. Then, like many before him, he went down to the pope's tomb and knelt in prayer.

- - -

Contributing to this story was Nicole Coia in Rome.

END

VATICAN LETTER Apr-3-2009 (940 words)

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Perasaan Bercampur Aduk atas Peran Tony Blair dalam Proses Perdamaian

MANILA (UCAN) -- Setelah kunjungan mantan Perdana Menteri Inggris Tony Blair, reaksi orang-orang Gereja bercampur aduk atas perannya sebagai penasehat pemerintah dan negosiasi-negosiasi perdamaian dengan Front Pembebasan Islam Moro (MILF, Moro Islamic Liberation Front).

Blair, yang mengunjungi negeri itu pada 22-23 Maret, berbicara di Ateneo de Manila University di Quezon City tentang "The Leader as Nation Builder in a Time of Globalization" (Pemimpin sebagai Pembangun Bangsa di Masa Globalisasi) sebagai bagian dari kegiatan peringatan 150 tahun yayasan sekolah Yesuit itu.

Dia juga berbicara dalam Second Leadership Conference Series di Sofitel Philippine Plaza Hotel di Pasay City, yang disponsori bersama oleh De La Salle University yang dikelola oleh Frater-Frater De La Salle

Di selang pembicaraan-pembicaraan itu, dia makan siang bersama dengan Presiden Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Menteri Penerangan Cerge Remonde mengatakan dalam sebuah wawancara radio bahwa Arroyo harus meminta bantuan Blair dalam proses perdamaian dengan MILF.

Namun, pada 24 Maret, Remonde mengatakan kepada para wartawan di Manila bahwa tidak ada undangan resmi, tetapi Blair telah memberi advis kepada Arroyo tentang bagaimana menangani negosiasi-negosiasi untuk perdamaian di Mindanao, Filipina selatan.

MILF, yang diciptakan tahun 1970-an untuk membentuk pemerintahan Islam di wilayah-wilayah yang secara tradisional diklaim sebagai milik Moro (Muslim Filipina) di Mindanao dan di Pulau Palawan, telah terlibat dalam pembicaraan-pembicaraan damai dengan pemerintah sejak 1997.

Pembicaraan-pembicaraan terhenti pada Agustus setelah para politisi dan para tokoh masyarakat mengajukan petisi kepada Mahkamah Agung untuk tidak menandatangani kesepakatan tanah-tanah adat yang diklaim sebagai milik Moro.

Pastor Albert Alejo SJ dari Ateneo de Davao mengkoordinasikan tim perencana dari Konferensi Uskup-Ulama (BUC, Bishops-Ulama Conference) yang diminta ketika terhentinya pembicaraan itu untuk mengkoordinasi konsultasi damai di antara para pemegang saham.

Ulama adalah cendekiawan Islam yang diakui sebagai pemimpin agama, dan BUC yang telah berumur 13 tahun itu dibentuk untuk memberdayakan para pemimpin agama untuk bekerja sama dalam menciptakan perdamaian dan pembangunan di Mindanao.

Pastor Alejo mengatakan bahwa Blair, yang menjadi Katolik setelah berhenti dari posisinya sebagai perdana menteri, mungkin bisa dikonsultasi “menyangkut beberapa hal. Namun, dia menambahkan, dia “tidak tahu persis” seberapa jauh politikus Inggris itu dapat diterima oleh kaum Muslim di Mindanao.

Pensiunan Uskup Protestan Hilario Gomez dari United Church of Christ (Gereja Kristus yang Bersatu) di Filipina mengatakan, prestise Blair mungkin bisa mendorong pemerintah dan MILF untuk kembali ke meja perundingan. Namun, nasionalisme orang Filipina harus diperhatikan, kata anggota Protestan dalam BUC itu.

"Ini adalah persoalan orang Filipina dan orang Mindanao dan justru kita sendirilah yang harus menyelesaikannya,” kata Uskup Gomez. "Kita harus menjadikannya sebagai tugas utama kita untuk menyelesaikan persoalan ini."

Dia juga heran, apa maksudnya menggunakan Blair sebagai penasehat. Arroyo telah memintanya dan anggota-anggota BUC – Uskup Agung Davao Mgr Fernando Capalla dari pihak Katolik dan Hamid Barra dari Liga Ulama Filipina – untuk menjadi penasehat-penasehat perdamaian. "Hingga kini, kami tidak pernah dimintai pendapat," kata Gomez.

Dalam sebuah wawancara terpisah pada hari yang sama, Barra mengatakan bahwa secara pribadi dia akan menerima siapa saja yang bisa membantu mempertemukan kembali kedua pihak ke meja perundingan.

"Jika Blair dapat menciptakan pengertian di antara masyarakat kita, maka saya tidak keberatan,” kata representatif untuk ulama dalam BUC itu.

Pastor Romeo Intengan SJ mengatakan, dia menyambut Blair sebagai penasehat karena Blair berpengalaman sebagai seorang perunding antara nasionalis Katolik dan unionis Protestan di Irlandia Utara tahun 1998, serta berperan dalam menciptakan perdamaian antara pemerintah Indonesia dengan Gerakan Aceh Merdeka.

"Bagi saya, ini masuk akal," kata Pastor Intengan, salah satu pendiri Partai Sosialis Demokratik Filipina. Penasehat Keamanan Nasional dari Arroyo adalah anggota partai itu.

“Karya Blair dan stafnya” dalam kebijakan pelucutan senjata, penghancuran, dan integrasi kembali (DDR, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration) diterima pemerintah dalam berbagai negosiasi damai dengan para pemberontak. "Mereka (Blair dan timnya) dipercaya dan berpengalaman dengan DDR," kata Pastor Intengan. Salah satu staf Blair memberi masukan kepada badan keamanan pemerintah tentang DDR akhir tahun lalu dan tim itu telah mengadakan pembicaraan-pembicaraan di belakang layar dengan MILF hingga Februari tahun ini, kata Pastor Intengan.
2009-3-26 | PR06931.635b | 637 kata
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