News in Christian-Jewish Relations:  December 2003

This month:

 

Canadian Church Leaders Speak Out Against Antisemitism

 

A Church Leaders’ Letter Against Anti-Semitism

to the Churches of Canada, the Jewish Community in Canada, 

and to All People of Good Will. . .

[courtesy of jcrelations.net]

We, the leaders of nine Christian churches in Canada, speak to you together through the facilitation of the Canadian Council of Churches, of which we all are members.  In this letter, we are addressing one situation only, which is a Canadian one.  While we recognize that there are other serious situations here in Canada and throughout the world, which demand the faithful attention of all people of good will, we have become profoundly concerned and deeply dismayed by the alarming increase of anti-Semitism in Canada.  This anti-Semitism has taken many forms, including violence against Jewish persons - simply because of their ethnic or religious background, and the desecration of Holy places and cemeteries.  We have become alerted to this resurgent evil through our own witness, through the media, and through the concern of others, including members of the Court of Appeal for Ontario and the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.

We, the undersigned, representing many of the Christian churches in Canada, are fully aware of and deeply grateful for the Jewish roots of our faith traditions.  In the Epistle to the Romans, Chapter 11, verses 17 and 18, St. Paul wrote,

You Gentiles are like a branches of a wild olive tree that
were made to be a part of a cultivated olive tree . . .
you enjoy the blessings that come from being part
of that cultivated tree . . . Just remember that you
are not supporting the roots of that tree.
Its roots are supporting you.”
(Contemporary English Version)

Therefore we would declare our unqualified gratitude for the gifts of the Jewish people to world civilization in general and Canadian society in particular.

We acknowledge with sadness and regret, and with no little shame, the historic burden of persecution, which Jews have borne throughout western history; a burden all too often inflicted by Christians, who have maligned Jesus’ own people in Jesus’ name.

We challenge all churches, parishes, congregations and people of good will to find ways and means to expose and eradicate anti-Semitism within and from Canadian society.

We must not be silent.

We urge all within our church communities and indeed, all Canadians, to exercise the greatest diligence on behalf of our Jewish friends and neighbours, that when they come under attack, and their sacred places desecrated, that they find true solidarity in establishing security and in redressing wrong.

We invite all our people, where the opportunity exists, to become acquainted with our Jewish brothers and sisters and with their places of worship in communities from coast to coast to coast, celebrating all that we share with our Jewish friends and neighbours, and respecting our differences.

We commit ourselves to demonstrating not only through words but through united action, our determination to confront anti-Semitism on every front.

This we pledge in the unwavering conviction of the eternal love of Almighty God for all peoples and nations, in the unwavering conviction that we are, Jews and Christians alike, brothers and sisters, children of one God, heirs in faith of Abraham and Sarah.

Signed by:

The Most Rev. Michael G. Peers
The Primate
Anglican Church of Canada

The Rev. Dr. Kenneth Bellous
Executive Minister
Baptist Convention of Ontario and Quebec

The Rev. F. Thomas Rutherford
Regional Minister
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Canada

The Most Rev. Brendan M. O'Brien
Archbishop of St. John's
President
Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops

The Rev. Raymond Schultz
National Bishop
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada

The Rev. P.A. (Sandy) McDonald
Moderator
The Presbyterian Church in Canada

The Rev. Siebrand Wilts
Stated Clerk
Regional Synod of Canada
Reformed Church in America

M. Christine MacMillan
Commissioner
Territorial Commander
The Salvation Army
Canada & Bermuda Territory

The Right Rev. Peter Short
Moderator
The United Church of Canada

 

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U.S. National Catholic-Jewish Dialogue Meets

releases new video series; condemns hate sites and antisemitism; BCEIA to issue Lenten collection of documents on crucifixion

 

PRESS COMMUNIQUÉ                           December 11, 2003                              Baltimore , Maryland

Delegates of The National Council of Synagogues and The U.S. Catholic Bishops’ Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs [BCEIA] met on December 11, 2003 , at St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore , MD.   Topics discussed ranged from our respective historical and theological understandings of Martyrdom to our mutual concern for a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  Although we have different perspectives on the specifics, we commend The National Interreligious Leadership Delegation of Jewish, Christian and Muslim leaders which met in Washington on December 2 to announce its historic initiative urging the greater involvement of the United States in forging a just and secure peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and the mobilization of its own constituencies in educational and social activities to this end.   

For the past several years our committee has discussed questions regarding the role of the media in shaping public opinion concerning religious and moral issues in this country, a discussion intensified by the growing influence of videos, DVDs and the Internet.  While there are websites dedicated to improving Jewish-Christian relations, we note with concern and join in condemning the creation of many “hate sites” that propagate anti-Semitism and anti-Catholicism.

One of the outcomes of these discussions is the issuance, which we are pleased to announce together today, of a video series we have sponsored entitled Walking God’s Paths – Christians and Jews in Candid Conversation.  It is our fervent hope that this series will not only help to correct misinformation and dispel stereotypes that have for so long poisoned Christian-Jewish relations, but will also enrich the religious lives and self-understanding of Jews and Christians alike. An online user’s guide can be found on the website of Boston College’s Center for Christian-Jewish Learning (www.bc.edu/wgp).  We are grateful to the Center for its outstanding work on this project.

Another ongoing concern of our consultation, indeed of all Catholic-Jewish relations since the Second Vatican Council, has been the fostering of a proper understanding of Church teaching on the meaning of Jesus’ death for Christians. The Passion narratives of the Gospels, the Council declared, must not be presented in a way that brands all Jews of the time of Jesus or of subsequent ages guilty of the death of Jesus.  For many centuries, the charge of “deicide” served as a toxic agent deforming Christian attitudes toward Jews and Judaism.

Beginning in the Middle Ages, passion plays, by blaming “the Jews,” often oversimplified and distorted the complex historical realities of the first century and obscured a central teaching of the Christian faith that Jesus died for the sins of all humanity, as has been affirmed by Ecumenical Councils of the Church over the centuries. Contemporary historical research indicates that Jesus died was executed through collaboration between the Roman prefect, Pontius Pilate, and the Roman-dominated high priesthood of Jerusalem .

For the Lenten season of 2004, the Catholic co-chair, Cardinal Keeler announced to us at the meeting, the BCEIA will publish a collection of official Catholic documents from the Pontifical Biblical Commission, the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, Pope John Paul II, and the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, such as the 1988 Criteria for the Evaluation of Dramatizations of the Passion.  These documents make it clear that there must be, in the words of the 1974 Vatican Guidelines for Implementing Nostra Aetate no. 4, the Second Vatican Council’s declaration on the Jews, an “overriding preoccupation” on the part of Catholic preachers and teachers to avoid representations of the life and death of Jesus that might give rise to anti-Jewish sentiments.

The Jewish delegation welcomes this new publication and pledges, in turn, to cooperate in joint parish-synagogue dialogues around the country to inform both Jewish and Catholic congregations of its significant and healing contents. 

Also raised at the meeting was the ominous rise of antisemitism in Europe , the U.S. , and in some sectors of the Arab and Muslim worlds, a phenomenon which makes it even more imperative to implement these teachings and guidelines.

This is a vital teaching moment. The forthcoming Catholic resource book and our new video series, together with other efforts such as the Union for Reform Judaism’s Open Doors, Open Minds, will be valuable tools, we believe, in the campaign to stamp out once and for all misunderstandings that have for too long poisoned Jewish-Christian relations, and to replace them with more honest, mutual respect between our two ancient communities of faith. We fervently hope and pray that our efforts in producing Walking God’s Paths – Christians and Jews in Candid Conversation will bear fruits of respect, understanding and love in the coming years.  

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ADL Honors Fr. John Pawlikowski

The Anti-Defamation League presented its Bernard Nath Award to Reverend John T. Pawlikowski during the Annual Meeting of the League’s Greater Chicago/Upper Midwest Region on December 8th at the Standard Club in Chicago.  The award, named after an ADL pioneer, is bestowed upon individuals who have demonstrated in their own lives a commitment to equality and justice.

“This Annual Meeting provides ADL the opportunity to salute an extraordinary individual who has been a pioneer in Christian-Jewish relations for nearly three decades.  As one of the Catholic theologians who studied the early screenplay of Mel Gibson’s The Passion of Christ, Rev. Pawlikowski also has been a voice of honesty and integrity in speaking out about the problematic aspects of this production,” said Richard S. Hirschhaut, the League’s Greater Chicago/Upper Midwest Regional Director.

Rev. Pawlikowski is a Priest of the Servite Order and Professor of Social Ethics at the Catholic Theological Union and serves as Director of the Catholic-Jewish Studies Program in the Catholic Theological Union’s Cardinal Joseph Bernardin Center.  He has worked tirelessly in the academic and religious communities to foster Christian understanding of the Shoah (Holocaust), Judaism, the State of Israel, and the Jewish people. Currently president of the International Conference of Christians and Jews, he is also a member of the Christian Scholars Group on Christian-Jewish Relations.

Rev. Pawlikowski is the author or editor of more than fifteen books, including The Challenge of the Holocaust for Christian Theology and Ethics in the Shadow of the Holocaust.  His writings have been translated into nine languages, and he is currently at work on a book on the non-Jewish victims of the Nazis. 

 

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Report on Antisemitism in Europe Released

A study commissioned by the European Monitoring Center of Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC), connected with the European Union, is now available online. The report, "Manifestations of Anti-Semitism," was composed by sociologist Prof. Werner Bergmann and historian Dr. Juliane Wetzel of the Center for Research on Anti-Semitism (ZFA) at Berlin's Technical University. The authors examined thousands of newspaper articles and documents from the 15 EU member states, although there apparently was inconsistency in the comprehensiveness of the information from the various countries. The report caused considerable controversy when presented to the EUMC, resulting in its being tabled for nine months until its release onto the Internet this week. Hatred of Jews is flourishing in Europe, it states, manifest in both the extreme left and the extreme right and fueled by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL TEXT OF THE STUDY

 

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