An Editorial by Rev Dr Patrick McInerney CMI, Director, Columban Centre for Christian-Muslim Relations
Source: Bridges #108, September 2025 | Columban.org.au | Newsletters
Gaza challenges us all
From the Editor:
No food! No water! No medicines! No shelter! No security! No peace! No justice! No end in sight!
No words to describe the utterly appalling man-made horror unfolding in Gaza.
Silence in the face of this immense suffering is appropriate. It is the pain-filled but respectful recognition of our common humanity.
However, fear and personal inadequacy to challenge this situation produce a compromised silence, rightly construed as complicity, or even worse, consent.
This shame-filled silence is a denial of our common humanity and is unacceptable.
We must speak truth to lies, call out injustice, show mercy to the suffering, and side with the victims.
But to speak is also fraught. Our words are ever inadequate to the immensity of present suffering and its historical roots.
They can easily be misconstrued by one side or the other.
I think of the dilemma of Jean Val Jean in Les Misérables:
If I speak, I am condemned.
If I stay silent, I am damned!”
Many speak of “paralysis”, an inability to respond, affecting individuals, groups, and governments. World leaders seem unable to challenge Israel and Hamas prosecuting the war with such dire consequences and so little regard for civilians.
Moved by compassion for human suffering, many take part in protests and rallies. But inspired by strong convictions and deep loyalties, some are so consumed by partisan concerns that they have no space for the ‘other’.
Jean Val Jean’s dilemma led him to ask, “Who am I?” The iniquities of the Israel-Hamas war confront us with the same question: “Who am I?” Dare I speak? Do I stay silent? What does my choice say about me? We are on trial. Our response to this tragedy reveals our human decency or lack of it!
While most of us cannot change the course of world history in dramatic and decisive ways, there are four things that we can do.
We must do all in our power to uphold international law. It is the only legal standard to expose war crimes. We must defend the common human dignity of all peoples. It is the only ethical/moral standard that can vanquish human enmity. We must preserve peace in our hearts and our neighbourhoods. It is the balm that can calm violent passions. We must practice justice in our circle of influence. It is the cord that binds us to each other and to God.
May God help us to choose and act responsibly.
Rev Dr Patrick McInerney CMI
Director, Columban Centre for Christian-Muslim Relations