Academic Council for Post-Holocaust

Christian & Jewish Studies

University of Southern Maine / Portland, Maine

Aurora University Center for Faith and Action

Aurora,Illinois

Bernardin Center for Theology and Ministry

Catholic Theological Union / Chicago, Illinois

Edward B. Brueggeman Center for Dialogue

Xavier University / Cincinnati, Ohio

Catholic-Jewish Dialogue Committee

Stonehill College / Easton, Massachusetts

Center for Catholic-Jewish Studies

Saint Leo University / St. Leo, Florida

Center for Christian-Jewish Learning 

Boston College / Chestnut Hill , Massachusetts

Center for Christian-Jewish Understanding

Sacred Heart University / Fairfield, Connecticut

Center for Holocaust and Humanity Education

Hebrew Union College / Cincinnati, Ohio

Center for Interreligious Understanding

Secaucus, New Jersey

Center for Jewish-Christian Studies and Relations

General Theological Seminary / New York City, New York

Center for the Study of Jewish-Christian Relations

Merrimack College / North Andover, Massachusetts

Christian Jewish Relation and Encounter

Sisters of Sion / Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Driscoll Professorship in Jewish-Catholic Studies

Iona College / New Rochelle, New York

Ecumenical Institute for Jewish-Christian Studies

Southfield, Michigan

Graymoor Ecumenical & Interreligious Institute

New York City, New York

Hayyim Kieval Institute for Jewish-Christian Studies

Siena College / Loudonville, New York

Institute for Christian & Jewish Studies

Baltimore, Maryland

Institute for Jewish-Christian Understanding

Muhlenberg College / Allentown, Pennsylvania

Institute of Judaeo-Christian Studies

Seton Hall University/ South Orange, New Jersey

Jay Phillips Center for Jewish-Christian Learning

University of St. Thomas - St. Paul, Minnesota

St. John’s University – Collegeville, Minnesota

Jewish-Catholic Institute

St. Joseph University/ Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education

Seton Hill University / Greensburg, Pennsylvania

Notre Dame Holocaust Project

University of Notre Dame / South Bend, Indiana

Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding

New York City, New York

Council of Centers on Jewish-Christian Relations

Statement on the Controversies 

Surrounding Mel Gibson’s 

The Passion of Christ

There has been growing discussion in the media and among the general public concerning Mel Gibson’s film, The Passion of Christ, scheduled for release in February. We, directors or personnel of the twenty-five member organizations of the Council of Centers on Jewish-Christian Relations, have been monitoring this developing conversation for many months. We wish to offer assistance to our communities as they struggle with the difficult questions that this film is raising.

These questions arise because, while the events of the Passion are central to Christian faith, elements of their portrayal, particularly in popular Passion Plays, have often been theologically and morally problematic. Specifically, their portrayal of Jews collectively as killers of Christ has historically fomented hatred and violence toward Jews. In the wake of the Holocaust, the Roman Catholic Church and all major Protestant denominations have officially rejected the claim of deicide and collective Jewish guilt for the death of Jesus. In a world where antisemitism is on the rise, these teachings take on new urgency.

We call on Christian leaders, in the United States and throughout the world, publicly to affirm their churches’ teachings on appropriate portrayals and interpretations of the Passion and to make these teachings readily available to the general public. And we ask that all people seek to model the behaviors of justice, honesty, and compassion that have led to the enormous progress in Christian-Jewish relations in the past forty years.

January 3, 2004

For printable .pdf version click here.