Catholic Sign-on Letter on Israel-Palestine

May 2, 2024

In keeping with our Chapter commitments to address, heal, and be present to wounds and broken relationships and to resist every form of war and violence, we have signed on as a Congregation to a new open Catholic Letter released today and coordinated by Pax Christi USA, the Catholic Advisory Council of Churches for Middle East Peace, the Franciscan Action Network, and the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns.

“As U.S. Catholics,” the letter states, “we recognize our country’s contribution to the present violence and to the ongoing systemic injustices in Israel-Palestine. We call on President Biden, a fellow Catholic, and other U.S. and international leaders to do everything possible to ensure a permanent end to hostilities, including halting additional shipments of U.S.–funded offensive weapons to Israel, a return of all hostages and the immediate distribution of robust humanitarian aid to Gaza.”

The signatories write to express their “grief and dismay over the horrors that have occurred in Israel-Palestine over the last six months” and to “bear witness to and speak out against the decades of injustice that have plagued the Holy Land.” They assert that “the inherent dignity of all persons and their right to life is the basis of our concern for all Palestinian and Israeli lives and our hope for a solution in which systemic injustices are addressed and the rights of both peoples granted and upheld.”

Click here to read the entire letter.

Use this link to add your name to the letter.