The chairman of the U.S. bishops’ committee on international policy has sent a letter to senators and congressmen calling on them to help end the escalating Mideast violence.

The chairman of the U.S. bishops’ committee on international policy has sent a letter to senators and congressmen calling on them to help end the escalating Mideast violence.

“The horrific cycle of violence in the Middle East is destroying the lives of innocent people on all sides of the conflict,” Bishop Thomas Wenski of Orlando wrote in his July 20 letter. “It is also destroying the hopes for negotiations and accommodations that could lead to a just peace that offers genuine security to Israelis, a viable state for Palestinians and real independence for the Lebanese people.

“The Catholic community is deeply and urgently concerned about the human costs, the moral implications and future consequences of these unfolding events.”

Bishop Wenski, 55, also wrote: “We hope and pray that you will do all that you can do to end this terrible cycle of violence and to protect the lives and dignity of Israelis, Palestinians and Lebanese.

“We stand ready to work with those who work for a just and lasting peace in the Land that three faiths call Holy.”