 As you suggest that I represented the religious congregations Catholic orders of Canada, but Palestine was not new to me I studied scripture in Palestine and I accompanied pilgrimages to the Holy Land over the years and I'm also very much in touch with the Palestinian community here in Toronto because when I'm in my office every morning I have coffee with Palestinians. So as a result of that I'm aware of the issues confronting Palestine Because the people with whom I have coffee they're in touch via Skype normally with their family members actually living in Palestine Bethlehem and in Jordan and Lebanon and So I'm aware therefore of the issues that we've spoken about the occupation the settlements the torture the jailings and the annexations and of course while we lived in Palestine we found ourselves in a walled ghetto called Bethlehem After a couple of days of our visit. I found myself in a very interesting place I found myself sliding into a bit of a spiritual retreat For the time that I was in Palestine this time. I Was incredibly interested in the folks that I met the folks who traveled with us around and who associated with us in the varied communities that we met. I was interested in them and how they were personally living this human tragedy. The bigger political and demographic issues slid a bit to the back And so I began to call what I was personally experiencing and that which I wanted to bring back to Canada I was calling it a terrible beauty Why did this retreat interest come upon me a? Few years ago when I returned from a similar exposure visit to Brazil a friend of mine commented Paul, why is it when you return from the global South Africa Latin America Middle East? You're always excited full of hope. You're very positive and yet when you leave our middle-class Canadian Conversations you're kind of flat. I Thought about his comment for weeks and then I came to realize and man Did it ever hit me in Palestine? That the folks in the global South and the Middle East Seen to me to be living out of their essence While most of us in the north of the Americas We're living out of our extra and Of course There's never enough extra when you live there So for most of us are experienced in Palestine I listened to observe deeply and what out of my way to seek personal intimate conversations With folks that we encountered for example, I spent a bit of an afternoon with a medical doctor from be at saur The manager of the hotel where we stayed a couple of hours of conversation with him the employees of that hotel Where we stayed people I met when the mayor of Bethlehem gave us a Supper and there were varied folks from varied religious commitments there And then of course when I was with Tyros Palestine, I met with the patriarch a Few years ago on a similar visit to Latin America a young person said to me who was following me around for three days Paul having seen what you've seen and Experienced what you have experienced When you go back home to Toronto and do nothing You're not only not a Christian You're not even a human being that comment haunted me The time I was in Palestine with the delegation and that was the reflection I took away as I journeyed in flight back to Toronto So for me personally because I've seen so many similar kinds of delegations Going to very places throughout our world And it's nice to talk about it. It's very beautiful to say hey, we're in the conversation But it has to happen back here. And so for me the question is I'm a Canadian What am I doing if I say I am truly committed to the struggles in Palestine