Address to the Neighborhood Interfaith Dinner
Beth Tzedec Synagogue, Toronto

April 5, 2006

An address by

The Most Reverend Andrew S. Hutchison, Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada

I begin with a word of sincere thanks for the opportunity to be with you this evening. I honour those who have sponsored this event, those whose efforts have brought it to realization, and all of you who support it by your presence. Together we are doing something here that is of great and growing importance.

Senator John Danforth, recently United States Ambassador to the United Nations, is an Anglican Priest. Last fall, in an article in the New York Times, he expressed the view that most of the world’s major conflicts, if not caused by religion, have a significant religious component. Therefore, he argued, if world peace is to be achieved it will be important to have religious leadership at the negotiating table. The difficulty, of course, is that the appropriate religious leadership is not as easy to identify as is political leadership. Nor is it clear to what extent members of faith communities will be bound by the commitments of their spiritual leaders. I believe it is here at the local level that our faith communities have the best opportunity to meet one another in ways that promote the deep shalom that is the divine hope for us all.

My earliest experience of Jewish-Christian Dialogue was in the early 1960’s as a young man at Grace Church on-the-hill. Under the leadership of Fr. Roland deCorneille, who later became a Member of Parliament, we entered into dialogue with members of Beth Tzedec Synagogue. So tonight is something of a recherche du temps perdu. The template for our encounter was Ruel Howe’s little book The Miracle of Dialogue. For some of us, the title described the experience. Remarkably, we had grown up side-by-side here in Forest Hill Village as two solitudes – Christian and Jew.  For the first time we met together in each other’s worship spaces, and learned from one another what makes us Christian and Jew, the rich tradition we share, and wherein we differ. For some it was the beginning of facing our inherited prejudice, and our fear of one another. I say beginning, because we did not then have the courage to address the legacy of Christian anti-Semitism and its horrendous results.

In my undergraduate studies I sought out a classmate who was preparing himself for life as a rabbi, and ultimately a hermit. At the end of our classes we would spend an hour studying the Scriptures together. I was introduced to the wonders of the Talmud, and the mysteries of Midrash.

Years later I was appointed to establish a new parish in Mississauga, Close by Rabbi Larry Englander was on a similar mission for his people. A friendship developed, and a rich dialogue between our congregations. The night our new Church was officially dedicated, the flowers on the altar were the gift of the synagogue.

Ten years later we moved to Montreal, where I was appointed Dean and Rector of our Cathedral. It was my privilege to preach at a Shoah service in the Cathedral. In the address I admitted to the anti-Semitism in my own family. As a Christian leader I apologized for the legacy of anti-Semitic teaching and preaching that led to the horror of the pogroms, and gave the Nazis theological justification for the Holocaust. For that, we Christians carry a dreadful responsibility into eternity. Dr. Victor Goldbloom was present and asked if he could publish the address in Canadian Jewish News. And so began a long friendship, that I still treasure. When I was ordained Bishop in 1990 it was Victor who read the Scripture for the liturgy from the Older Testament in Hebrew. A warm and appreciative letter from Charles Bronfman arrived in response to the published address, resulting in a lunch with him and Dr. Goldbloom. I am particularly pleased to see the Bronfman name among the sponsors for tonight’s dinner, because Charles, that day I paid for the lunch!

Through 20 years in Montreal I was happily involved with the Jewish community – and even acquired a Jewish daughter-in-law. I am sure there are many among you who have experienced as we did, the difficulty that arises when the prospect of a mixed marriage is before you. Two young people of different faiths each seek the blessing of their community on their life together, and at least officially that cannot be given unless one adopts the faith of the other. I fear that too often the result is the loss of both of them to their respective communities. The marriage lasted only eight years. But it was not a religious issue that ended it.

With the late Alan Rose at the Canadian Jewish Congress I was involved in the refusnik program that freed Mr. Sherantsky among others. I worked closely with the Raoul Wallenberg Foundation in Montreal. Many of you will know that he was a young Swedish diplomat in Budapest during the war, who, although not himself a Jew worked tirelessly to save, some say 100,000 Jews and other political prisoners from certain extermination. His statue, crafted by Paul Lantz, a Budapest survivor, now stands in our cathedral courtyard, which is re-named Raoul Wallenberg Square, and under it is the verse well known to most of us, “He who saves the life of one man, it is as if he had saved the whole world.” On the wall of the cathedral above the statue is the Star of David in stone, and the words, “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem; may they prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls, and happiness within thy palaces.”

That brings me to a difficult subject, and one that I must not avoid – peace in Jerusalem. It has been widely reported that the Anglican Church, following the lead of the Presbyterian Church in the United States, has voted to disinvest in Israel. May I say right away, on the authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury himself, the reports are not correct. Then let me speak briefly to how that news may have come to be reported as it was. Palestinian Christians are a small minority in the presence of their Muslim and Jewish neighbours. They are not directly involved in the present conflict, nor in acts of terror against Israeli citizens. Nonetheless they feel the impact of retribution against alleged terrorists, particularly the destruction of their neighbours’ homes by heavy equipment manufactured by Caterpillar. They are not alone in wanting to bring that practice to an end. Rabbis for Human Rights, for example, have joined the resistance on more than a few occasions.

Our Bishop in Jerusalem is a Palestinian. He has called upon his sister churches in the Anglican Communion to disinvest from Caterpillar, the manufacturer of the equipment. It is a call that was given serious attention by a network of Justice & Peace Coordinators in the Anglican Communion, meeting about a year ago. More recently it came before a meeting of the Synod of the Church of England. I want to read to you from the resolution adopted by that Synod.

That this Synod heed the call of our sister church, the Episcopal Church In Jerusalem and the Middle East, for morally responsible investment in the Palestinian occupied territories and, in particular, to disinvest fromco mpanies profiting from the illegal occupation, such as Caterpillar Inc, until they change their policies.

The action that flows from that “heeding the call” was a resolve to continue to deliberate on the issue, including direct conversations with Caterpillar, and a visit to the area to explore the concern first hand. Following those consultations, the Ethical Investment Advisory Group of the English Synod was to report again to Synod with an update of its recommendations. While none of this will be pleasing to some of you, it is a long way from a decision to disinvest either from Caterpillar, or from the State of Israel.

Particularly important for you to hear is that the Anglican Church is not a monolithic institution. It is a family of 38 independent Churches in communion with each other, one of which is the Anglican Church of Canada. To date, no proposal for disinvestment has come before us in Canada, nor is such a proposal on the agenda for consideration.

Christians are learning to value the ties that bind us with Judaism through Scripture, tradition and our shared longing for justice and peace in the shalom of the one Lord. In our commitment to that longing we have always maintained the freedom to criticize government policies we perceive to be unjust. That in so doing we risk not always getting it right is clear. But we must be clear in saying that criticism of a policy or action of the State of Israel is not a criticism of Judaism, or of the Jewish people. It is criticism of a political decision, and only that. Having said that, given the legacy of Christian anti-Semitism, Churches must be particularly sensitive about the perception of their stances. Too often our pronouncements and actions are one-sided and allow for an interpretation that is far beyond what is intended, as is clearly the case in this instance.

Since I prepared this address there have been further developments in England. The Ethical Investment Advisory Group has been in direct conversation with Israeli, Palestinian and Caterpillar authorities, and as a result has reaffirmed its recommendations of September 2005 not to disinvest in Caterpillar. I was also pleased to receive information that the Presbyterian Church in the United States, where this movement seems to have originated, is stepping back from its position. In June its General Assembly will receive a motion to suspend the offending resolution.

Chief Rabbi Sir Jonathan Sacks of Great Britain has offered advice that might serve us equally here in Canada.

I have called on religious groups in Britain to send a message

Of friendship and co-existence to conflict zones throughout

The world, instead of importing those conflicts into Britain itself.

There are those who would say that Christians should stay clear of politics, citing the separation of Church and State legislation in the United States. There is in fact no such provision in Canada. But in any case the law was put in place in the United States not to muffle the voice of faith communities in the face of injustice or the abuse of human rights. It is there to protect faith communities from interference by the State. Christians are bound by a baptismal commitment to “strive for justice and peace among all people, and (to) respect the dignity of every human being”. But with that obligation comes a great responsibility. That is the responsibility to assure that we are well informed, and act appropriately, lest we transgress the very good we strive to uphold. History is replete with examples of our having failed in that responsibility.

You have heard O man, what is good,

And what does the Lord require of you

But to do justice, to love mercy, and

To walk humbly with your God?

I would hope that everyone in this room could say AMEN to that. Giving effect to it in a very broken, complex and needy world is where we find difficulty. As people of faith, we must do all in our power to find common voice to speak to the powers of this world in the name of the Holy One who calls us to justice and peace.

Following the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center there was a gathering on Parliament Hill that drew 100,000 people for an act of remembrance. Ours was the only civilized nation of earth whose memorial on that occasion included no mention of the Almighty, no appeal to religious faith, and no invitation to prayer. In an effort to be politically correct, and to offend no one our political leadership offended us all. Apart from the Canadian Forces, which has a fully interfaith chaplaincy, in Canada religion has been all but banished from public life and expression. Surely there is a better way to deal with religious pluralism than to retreat behind the walls of our private convictions.

Shema Isroel. Adonai elohenu. Adonai ehod!

If that is true, then what we do here can only draw us closer to the one truth that binds us together in the divine love, and give us courage to witness to that love in the world. I have recently returned from the 9th Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Brazil. It drew together nearly 4,000 Christians from more than 350 member churches, along with observers from other faith traditions, including both Jewish and Muslim. The theme for our 10 days together was, “God, by your Grace, transform the world”, recognizing that the world’s transformation must begin with us, living into God’s justice and peace. And that, I believe is what we are about here this evening.