LEICESTER, United Kingdom – In his New Year’s message, England’s top prelate condemned anti-Semitic graffiti in London, and called on all people to “shun all forms and expressions of hatred against others.”
The graffiti was found on a synagogue and several businesses in north London over the weekend, as the Jewish community was celebrating Hanukkah.
Cardinal Vincent Nichols, the Archbishop of Westminster and president of the England and Wales bishops’ conference, said the incident brought “shame to us all.”
“Such hatred can have no place in our way of life. Only when we see the good in each other will every person feel welcomed and unafraid,” he said in his Dec. 31 message.
In his remarks, the cardinal listed several things to strive for in 2020.
Nichols said he hopes the new UK government, elected on Dec. 12, “will strive both to create opportunities and respond to those most in need in effective and lasting ways.”
He added that businesses and financial institutions should act “in awareness of their wider purpose, which is far more than profit and includes the strengthening of bonds with, and within, the societies in which they operate,” and that “the voluntary sector will be renewed in the highest of values of service and, wherever possible, respected for its integrity rather than burdened any further with increasing regulatory requirements.”
Nichols also called on people to “grow in our awareness of our responsibilities towards each other and towards the created world which we share.”
“We look for justice and compassion, for generosity and truth, for faithfulness and love, for a sense of unity and shared well-being. These qualities may well lie at the heart of our New Year resolutions,” the cardinal said.
Follow Charles Collins on Twitter: @CharlesinRome
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