News in Christian-Jewish Relations:  May 2001

This month:
The International Catholic-Jewish Liaison Committee holds its 17th Meeting in New York, May 1-4, 2001. 

The gathering that has served as an official point of contact between the Vatican and the worldwide Jewish community convened in New York City from May 1-4. For the first time in its thirty year history, the agenda of the International Catholic Jewish Liaison Committee (ILC) featured substantive discussion on a theological topic: Repentance and Reconciliation. This topic was considered from scriptural perspectives, from the religious traditions of both the Jewish and Catholic communities, and in the light of the Catholic-Jewish dialogue of the past three decades.

The meeting also had a session on the Vatican document Dominus Iesus, which caused some distress in the Jewish community upon its issuance in September 2000 because of its failure to discuss the special place of the Judaism in current Catholic thought. Time was also be spent reviewing the work of the three Catholic and three Jewish scholars who completed last spring their exploration of published Vatican archival material from the Second World War. The Committee also finalized a document of its own concerning Religious Liberty and Religious Sites.

The Committee took time from its work to honor Catholic and Jewish leaders in the interfaith dialogue. They included: Edward Idris Cardinal Cassidy, recently retired president of the Vatican Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews; Dr. Gerhard Riegner, honorary Vice-President of the World Jewish Congress; John J. Cardinal O'Connor (posthumously), late Cardinal Archbishop of New York; Rabbi Mordecai Waxman, Senior Rabbi Emeritus of Temple Israel, Great Neck, NY; Msgr. George W. Higgins, Professor Emeritus of Social Ethics, Catholic University of America; Rabbi Leon Klenicki, outgoing Director of Interreligious Affairs, The Anti-Defamation League; Dr. Rose Thering, O.P., Professor Emerita of Education, Seton Hall University; Rabbi A. James Rudin, Outgoing Director of Interreligious Affairs, The American Jewish Committee. 

The ILC consists of delegates from the Vatican Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews and the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultation. IJCIC includes representatives from the World Jewish Congress, the American Jewish Committee, the Anti-Defamation League, B'nai B'rith International, the Israel Council on Inter-religious Relations and representatives of the three major Jewish denominations.

 

TOP

John Paul II's latest statement on the Middle East

The pope offered these remarks on Sunday, May 13, 2001 during the Regina Coeli prayer. They might be understood as a response to President Bashar al-Assad's antisemitic statement during the papal visit to Syria that Jews "tried to kill the principles of all religions with the same mentality in which they betrayed Jesus Christ and the same way they tried to betray and kill the Prophet Mohammed." 

 

 REGINA COELI

Sunday, 13 May 2001

 

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

1. Today, with you, I would like to thank God and the Blessed Virgin for the Pilgrimage in the footsteps of St Paul which I recently had the joy of making. Athens, Damascus, Malta:  impressed on my heart are the places which the mission of the Apostle of the Gentiles indissolubly linked to the history of Christianity. Next Wednesday at the General Audience, I will reflect at length on such an unforgettable trip, which was important from the ecumenical and interreligious standpoint.

Unfortunately it was marred by the sad news that continues to arrive from the Holy Land. In fact, we are facing a spiral of absurd violence! Sowing death every day only exasperates hearts and delays the blessed day when we will all be able to look one another in the face and walk together as brothers and sisters! It is the duty of all, and especially the leaders of the international community, to help the parties in conflict to break this immoral chain of provocation and reprisal. It should also be recalled, as I have so many times repeated, that the language and culture of peace must prevail over the incitement to hatred and exclusion.

2. The priestly ordinations which I celebrated this morning in St Peter's Basilica, are a cause of joy and praise. Thirty-four deacons of the Diocese of Rome, who come from various seminaries, became priests, to serve the Church by preaching the Gospel, by celebrating the sacraments and by guiding God's People as their pastors.

To each one of them I renew my embrace of peace, assuring them that I will accompany their new ministry in prayer. I thank all those who have seen to their formation and greet their relatives and friends with affection.

3. I ask the Blessed Virgin Mary to show her motherly protection to these new priests of the Diocese of Rome, on the day on which we commemorate her apparitions in Fátima. I myself experienced her protection on 13 May twenty years ago.

To her I renew my prayers for the Holy Land, that the hearts and intentions of all may be purified so that there will be no more massacres, and that the energies of both sides be engaged in building a real and lasting peace.

TOP