wfn.org | CANADA : GATHERING ON NAZI WAR CRIMINALS

[a.whitefield@quest.org.uk]

May 13, 1997 
ANGLICAN COMMUNION NEWS SERVICE
Canon Jim Rosenthal, Director of Communications
Anglican Communion Office
London, England

[97.5.2.2]

TITLE:CANADA: CHURCH HOSTS INTERFAITH GATHERING ON NAZI WAR CRIMINALS
 
(Anglican News Service, Canada) The Anglican Church's national office
hosted an historic meeting of Canadian religious leaders with the Hon. 
Allan Rock, Minister of Justice, to discuss the issue of Nazi war
criminals in Canada.

The meeting was organized by the Canadian Jewish Congress. Rabbi Reuven
Bulka, chair of the Congress' Interreligious Affairs committee, said
"This is the first time since the end of World War II that many of
Canada's major religious leaders will be meeting with the minister of
justice to discuss the moral imperative of bringing Nazi war criminals
in Canada to justice."

The delegation included leaders from the Anglican, Evangelical Lutheran,
Roman Catholic and United Churches, and the World Sikh Organisation,
stressing that the war crimes issue is of concern to all faith groups.

The Anglican Church was represented by the Revd Eric Beresford,
consultant on ethics and interfaith relations. The Primate, Archbishop
Michael Peers, issued the following statement:

"In the light of the holocaust, Christians of all denominations have
been involved in a reexamination of our relationship to Judaism and the
Jewish people. For  Canadian Anglicans, this is expressed concretely in
our participation in the Canadian Christian Jewish Consultation. In that
context we seek to assure members of the Jewish Community that we, 'will
persist in fighting anti-Semitism wherever it exists'.

For some years Anglicans, along with other Christians, have sought to
express liturgically their penitence for those failures of the Christian
community which have contributed to anti-Semitism, and for the fact that
elements of the Christian community actively supported the holocaust. We
have sought to express our common commitment to ensuring that the
holocaust will never happen again."

In previous statements, with reference to the genocide in Rwanda, and
war crimes in the former Yugoslavia, we have expressed our horror at war
crimes and genocide and have called upon, "the government and
international community to ensure that those responsible for organizing
and/or implementing genocide, and for gross violations of human rights
be justly tried and, where guilty, be punished.

In the light of this background we wish to add our voice in solidarity
with that of the Jewish community to request that every effort be made
to pursue proceedings against war criminals in Canada in a manner that
is both just and expeditious.