[edow] Church House News -- statement from Bishop Chane

[Church House News]

Bishop John Bryson Chane has released the following statement on
Wednesday's fatal shooting at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum:

 

The tragic shooting at the Holocaust Museum in downtown Washington
should remind us that murderous prejudice, racism and anti-Semitism
simmers beneath the surface in this country and abroad, inspiring
embittered individuals to violent acts. 

 

The Christian Church bears a special responsibility for the scourge of
anti-Semitism. And while it is true that James von Brunn, the alleged
murderer who opened fire in the museum is not sympathetic to our faith,
Christians must nonetheless acknowledge the shameful role our Church has
played in developing this hateful ideology down through the centuries,
and work always for mutual understanding, for reconciliation and for
peace. 

 

Stephen Tyrone Johns, the steadfast security guard who died at the
museum, laid down his life to protect visitors to that sacred space. I
ask that all of our churches commemorate his heroic self-sacrifice by
including a special prayer for Mr. Johns, his family and friends in
their Eucharistic celebrations this Sunday. 

 

I extend my deepest sympathies to the Jewish community here in the
nation's capitol and beyond. They have witnessed an act of murderous
anti-Semitic violence in a place dedicated to ending such violence and
honoring its millions of victims. I can only imagine the pain this
incident will cause Holocaust survivors, their descendants and their
friends, and the fear,  anxiety and profound frustration  it must
provoke in members of the Jewish faith who must live with the knowledge
that ancient hatreds survive in our modern world. 

 

Let each of us through prayer, acts of kindness and demonstrations of
solidarity do what is in our power to help heal the wounds opened by
this murderous act. 

 

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