More needed from Church on Palestine, religious brother says

Br Peter Bray FSC has returned to Oceania overseeing De La Salle communities and he is trying to make sense of what he witnessed and why he believes the world, and particularly the Church, isn’t paying attention.

The New Zealand bishops invited Br Bray to elaborate on their statement about Palestine in 2022. He gave nine presentations across the country in early 2023. But since October 7, 2023, and the subsequent Israeli assault on Gaza, he’d hoped for more from Church leadership.

“The real danger is that the Church will be considered irrelevant,” he said. “This is a major human rights issue.”

He’s careful about method, though.

“Demonising the proponents of Israel is not the way to go,” he said. “If we are Gospel people, the way we go about things has to come back to love and the power of truth.”

He described hosting Parents Circle, a group of Israelis and Palestinians who had lost family members in the conflict, at the university.

“What impressed me was Israelis who had lost children as a result of Palestinians and Palestinians who had lost family members as a result of Israelis coming together and talking about their pain,” he said.

But he’s frustrated by those who cite complexity as a reason for silence. “The Church needs to come back to the Gospel,” he said, “and like Jesus, focus on the non-violent aspects of bringing a close to this oppression.”

When asked what individuals can do from far away, Br Bray quoted Theodore Roosevelt: “Do what you can with what you have, where you are.”

For him, that has meant raising awareness and writing to bishops and government ministers.

“What I have is an understanding of the plight of the Palestinians,” he said. “I can help raise awareness, living in the hope that if a lot of other people are doing that, there will be a groundswell, as there was about apartheid.”

In the Common TV interview, Br Bray outlined the history behind the Palestine/Israel issue, going back to the 19th century.

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