AUSTRALIA’S Catholic bishops have called for calm in the community in responding to terrorism and have stressed the need for everyone to pray and work for peace ‘at a time of great tension in the world’.
The bishops focused on the threat of terrorism and war at their plenary meeting in Sydney from November 25-29.
It was their first meeting since the Bali bombing.
‘As Christmas approaches and we prepare to celebrate the coming of Christ, the Prince of Peace, we call on Australians to work and pray for justice and peace in a world facing the prospect of yet another war in the Middle East,’ said a statement from the bishops.
They said the nation had struggled to come to terms with the Bali tragedy – ‘the kind of tragedy we have seen in other parts of the world, but never known so close to home”.
‘The threat of terrorism is weighing on the minds and hearts of all people,” they said.
‘The events in Bali, a year after the September 11 attacks in the USA, have deepened concern about national security and prompted new consideration of Australia’s role in the Ôwar on terror’.”
The bishops said the international community had increasingly focused on the possibility that the Iraqi leadership was amassing weapons of mass destruction, implying a threat of an imminent attack.
‘With other Church leaders around the world, the Catholic bishops of Australia urge great restraint at this most delicate point and welcome the role of the United Nations Security Council in ensuring that Iraq meets its obligation to disarm,” they said.
