Usually, Christian attitudes towards Jews are displayed in words rather than actions. Here are a lot of words by a group of bishops. They try to appear even-handed by quoting the Pope: "The Israelis have a right to live in peace in their state; the Palestinians have a right to a free and sovereign homeland."

But then they tell us that "The establishment of a viable Palestinian state, which would end the occupation, requires contiguous lands". If the Palestinians have contiguous lands, then Israel will have to be split in two. They can't both have contiguous lands.

We discussed the proposed reduction in the number of checkpoints and the proposed release of Palestinian tax revenues which could be encouraging signs, but emphasised that bold gestures are needed to break the cycle of Israeli fear and Palestinian anger that dominate the current situation.

Bold gestures? They demand bold gestures by the Israelis, but why don't these verbose prelates make some bold gestures themselves? Here's an example they might ponder.

Methodist minister Karen Onesti has donated one of her kidneys to Rabbi Andrew Bossov.

When a New Jersey Methodist minister heard a local rabbi needed a kidney transplant, religious differences did not stop her from stepping forward to offer him one of her own.

Rabbi Andrew Bossov is one of nearly 70,000 Americans currently awaiting a kidney transplant, and is set to receive a kidney from minister Karen Onesti on January 23., at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.

The bishops might also note that the bold gesture was accompanied by words which are few and to the point.

"I asked him how he was, he said he needed a kidney, so I said I would give him one of mine," said Onesti.