Standing in Solidarity: Public Prayer and Witness for Gaza at the Senedd
On Wednesday 24th September, the Archbishop of Wales, the Most Revd Cherry Vann, together with members of the Church in Wales and other Christian denominations, took part in a public act of prayer and witness outside the Senedd to call for peace in the Middle East.
The gathering was told that following the devastating escalation of violence in Gaza and the West Bank, Israel’s latest decision to mount a new offensive in Gaza City threatens hundreds of thousands of people with further forced displacement and that Palestinian church leaders had called on the Global Church for solidarity and an end to the conflict.
The plans for the act of witness were developed in close collaboration with a wide group of UK Christian agencies that includes Christian Aid, CAFOD, Tearfund, Embrace the Middle East, Amos Trust, Sabeel-Kairos, Quakers in Britain, All We Can, Reconciling Leaders Network, Difference, Friends of the Holy Land, USPG, and the Centre for Missionaries from the Majority World.
The Most Revd Archbishop Cherry says “We are here to pray for peace. We are here to urge the Welsh Government along with the UK government and governments around the world, to press as hard as they can for a peaceful resolution...War doesn’t solve anything.”
Last Sunday, 21st September, churches across Britain were urged to pray for peace in their morning services, coinciding with UN World Peace Day and the global call to prayer from the World Council of Churches.
Last week the Governing Body of the Church in Wales, meeting in Newport, welcomed Jamie Eyre, CEO of Embrace the Middle East. He stressed the centrality of prayer and that we need to “Stand up and recognise the humanity of Gaza”.
This is not the first time the Church in Wales, alongside its partners, has engaged with the Government regarding the conflict. In July of this year, the Bench of Bishops wrote to the then Foreign Secretary David Lammy The letter said: “we wish to add our voices to those who are appealing to the Government to do everything in its power to bring justice to those who are suffering in this current crisis and to relieve the intolerable suffering of those, of all communities, who are affected by war, hunger, displacement, harassment and fear”.
The Bishops later received a detailed reply from the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office, which stressed, “The situation in the region continues to evolve rapidly. But please rest assured that the Foreign Secretary and his entire Ministerial team will continue to do all they can to push for peace”.
And at the weekend, Archbishop Cherry was a signatory to an open letter initiated by Cardinal Vincent Nichols and Archbishop Steven Cottrell, Archbishop of York and signed by many UK Christian leaders calling for an end to the violence and a release of hostages.