Published: Friday, May 2, 2008
Irish church leaders barred from Jerusalem site
JERUSALEM -- Leaders of Ireland's main Christian churches were barred from praying at Jerusalem's Western Wall on Thursday because they refused to remove the crosses they were wearing.
Roman Catholic Cardinal Sean Brady, Church of Ireland Archbishop Alan Harper and Presbyterian and Methodist Moderators John Finlay and Roy Cooper arrived at the wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site, without giving prior notice to Israeli authorities, Brady told the Irish broadcast network RTE.
"We encountered some difficulty in gaining access. There was a difficulty about us wearing our crosses," he said. "We were under constraints of time ... and we decided to move on."
Shmuel Rabinowitz, the rabbi of the Western Wall, said that while the site is open to all faiths, worshippers are expected not to offend the sensitivities of Jews by displaying symbols of other religions.
"They were asked to remove the crosses, but they refused," he said. "I think it is important that they visit the Western Wall, but they should have covered up the crosses to respect the place, just like Jews wouldn't wear their ritual prayer shawls when entering a Christian holy place."
The Western Wall, in Jerusalem's walled Old City, is a remnant of the Second Temple compound built by King Herod in the 6th century B.C. and destroyed by Roman conquerors in A.D. 70.
Israelis on Thursday were observing an annual day of remembrance and mourning for the 6 million Jews killed in the Nazi Holocaust of World War II.
Roman Catholic Cardinal Sean Brady, Church of Ireland Archbishop Alan Harper and Presbyterian and Methodist Moderators John Finlay and Roy Cooper arrived at the wall, Judaism's holiest prayer site, without giving prior notice to Israeli authorities, Brady told the Irish broadcast network RTE.
"We encountered some difficulty in gaining access. There was a difficulty about us wearing our crosses," he said. "We were under constraints of time ... and we decided to move on."
Shmuel Rabinowitz, the rabbi of the Western Wall, said that while the site is open to all faiths, worshippers are expected not to offend the sensitivities of Jews by displaying symbols of other religions.
"They were asked to remove the crosses, but they refused," he said. "I think it is important that they visit the Western Wall, but they should have covered up the crosses to respect the place, just like Jews wouldn't wear their ritual prayer shawls when entering a Christian holy place."
The Western Wall, in Jerusalem's walled Old City, is a remnant of the Second Temple compound built by King Herod in the 6th century B.C. and destroyed by Roman conquerors in A.D. 70.
Israelis on Thursday were observing an annual day of remembrance and mourning for the 6 million Jews killed in the Nazi Holocaust of World War II.
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