According to the Times of London, "THE Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Cormac Murphy—O'Connor, used his Christmas sermon to attack the way that Bethlehem has been treated. ...He described it as a town "corralled" and "blocked in" by checkpoints, with the economy decimated by the security measures taken by Israel in its own fight against terror. Pleading for the soul of Bethlehem, the Cardinal said: "The Christ Child is crying for the town of his birth." Well. Last time I looked, towns were inanimate creatures. The Cardinal is giving us a metaphor. But metaphors don't suffer; people do. The reasons for Israeli security measures are pretty clear to those who have watched Israeli buses and pizza places blown up over the years, with human blood and body parts all over the place. Security measures like checkpoints are no fun, but they don't compare to being killed with your kids while sitting in a pizza parlor. I often wonder how clergy can live with themselves, calmly watching...(Read Full Post)