This is the right decision. If everything about this story and the plight of the family is true, perhaps this will bring these types of situations to light (link).
From the story:
Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Roman Catholic Church's custodian of holy sites in Israel and the Palestinian territories, met Monday afternoon with Haim and Violet Habibi and their adult daughter Odelia.
Pizzaballa, who is the Vatican's representative responsible for holy sites in Israel, said "it is the intention of the Church to forgive. This hurt us but we are not holding a grudge. As religious Christians, we must deliver a message of peace. There is no peace without justice and there is no peace without forgiveness. Nothing can justify what they did. They are unfortunate individuals.
"It's necessary to give also an important message of justice to the Christians and all the society in the country," Pizzaballa said in response to a question about whether charges should be pressed against the family.
The lawyer for the Habibi family, Pninat Yanai, said her clients embraced and kissed Pizzaballa and requested his forgiveness. Yanai also said her clients asked Batista for assistance in regaining custody of their children from state welfare authorities.
I for one hope Fr. Pizzaballa does help them get their child back if he was taken for no good reason. I hope that if there was a reason, these parents get help so they might be able to have their child again. There is no justification for what they did, but I'm not sure they were in their right minds or trying to hurt anyone. This seems to be an act of confusion, not malice.
"This is a most complex and difficult personal case," Yanai argued, "in which every ear was evidently closed to the silent 'cry of the impoverished,' and every door was locked at the sight of their distress. On the broken backs of the appellants was loaded a difficult and tragic personal story, which entails trials and tribulations, unfolding across years, and which reaches the existential root of the the way the establishment operates in the face of the weak individual with little means."
The appeal detailed the family's troubled saga up to last week, when, Yanai claimed, the welfare authorities decided "without any acceptable reason" to take the couple's youngest son. "In this arbitrary, radical and intolerable move, which was done by force, as the baby was torn from its mother, in the course of breast-feeding, the appellants reached a state of emotional chaos, profound distress, or what they have termed 'the height of the abuse against them.'"
The appeal also claimed that the Habibis came to the church with no intention of harming anyone and that the materials in their possession do not pose a danger to people.
Again, there is no justification for this action. But there can be mercy.
If this is true, maybe they went to the church in confusion, seeking comfort. Maybe they broke under their sorrow and pain. I don't know. But if this line is true:
welfare authorities decided "without any acceptable reason" to take the couple's youngest son. "In this arbitrary, radical and intolerable move, which was done by force, as the baby was torn from its mother, in the course of breast-feeding, the appellants reached a state of emotional chaos, profound distress, or what they have termed 'the height of the abuse against them."
If this is the case and proves to be true then:
May the tragic event that took place at the site of Mary's joy at accepting God's plan and receiving her own beloved Son be an event turned to good that heals this family and brings light to these situations in Israel and around the world.
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