Ladies and gentlemen dear friends good afternoon season uh 7 will guide us into the cultural theological and editoral background of the ccil Declaration no my name is Yan mikr I am professor of church history at Gregorian University and a priest of the AR Das of Vienna in
Austria one of my research PRI ities is the history of the Second World War national socialism and communism in the central in Eastern Europe in a friendly conversation many years ago Cardinal France Kik former Archbishop Emeritus ofena explained me about his participation at the second Vatican Council and about the difficults he
Faced with the ccil at theis in particular Cardinal kenik pointed out the resistance to Pope John the 23rd’s desire for a special conciliar Declaration on Judaism the opposition came from the Arab countries and their churches the cons commission was of the opinion that uh the issue should not be discussed at
The council but only later but Cardinal beay and Bob John the 23rd insisted on it and the Catholic Church Celebrate exactly today the lurgical commemoration of Pop son John the 23rd thanks largely to Cardinal be that Nostra could be approved in October 1965 Cardinal Kik remind me on this
Occasion that Nostra was one of the shortest document of the council but also one of the most important the the decisive turning point in relation between the Catholic church and Judaism and about Nostra was under it by John pop John Paul thei during his historical visit to the Roman synagogue
On Sunday 13 April 1986 the the Pop’s first ever visit in the synagogue was an extraordinary event where milestones in the reconciliation between Judaism and the Catholic Church the oldest Jewish diaspora communities in Europe was very happy at the Pop’s visit and his historical significance but the 2,000 years of most
Difficult Jewish history cannot be erased from one day to the next it is a continuing process that everyone must work on I now give the floor today first Speaker sister Celia deut the title of your presentation is theological journey of notame the scene from conversion to dialogue Dr chelia T
Is sister of the N Dame theion and research scholar in the religion department at Bernard college Colombia University and teaches at Holy Trinity College harar in Zimbabwe Dr deut writes in the fields of early Judaism and early Christianity she’s a member of the Society of biblical literature the Catholic
Biblical ass ation the theology Committee of the international Council of Christians and Jews and the Council of centers of jsh Christian relations she serves on The ecumenical and interreligious Affairs Commission of the Das of Brooklyn sister Celia Doge please present your topic good afternoon I first want to say thank
You to all of the organizers for um for The Splendid work that has made this conference as very important conference possible and I would also like to say a big thank you for the um gift of an invitation to present my work um a of Nostra most often focus on a small group
Of Catholic and Jewish leaders Shir lisak um Pope John the 23rd Augustine Cardinal baa monor John aiker Dr Joseph lion RAB Rabbi Abraham Joshua hesel however this document was due directly and indirectly to the work of a much broader and larger cast of people working in collaboration over decades
Beginning with the turn of the uh 20th century not was part of that effort this paper will focus especially on the theological evolution of the congregation between 1945 in 1965 the year of the promulgation of Nostra etate this is a story of a journey it lurches it takes wrong turns sometimes it begins
It stops it begins again it’s a story of of in which Roman Catholic priests and sisters and their affiliates prayed for the conversion of the Jews and worked to engage others in this project prism was forbidden um very strictly forbidden but not uh shared the conversionist principles of the Catholic Church before
The second Vatican Council one of the there are two words that have always come to me as I do this work one is ambivalence this process was a pro it held conflicting opinions and conflicting perspectives in tandem lurching along and the other word is friendship it is a work of friendship
People working together in their differences and sometimes in their conflicting differences in respect over the years sometimes risking their lives for one another I will discuss very briefly some five elements that led to that transformation the life of Theodor r B our founder the movement of philosemitism the shaah and finally the
Affair the finale Affair the founder ofam theban was born in stur in 1802 into a wealthy Jewish Family two generations out of the ghetto on its way to a similation yet with strong ties and deep commitments to the Jewish community of stur he himself had a rocky teenage period
And early adult period a chance meeting with a previously unknown colleague at the University jul LEL brought the invitation to join a small study Circle led by the philosopher Louie ban and inspired and guided by Louis zman an educator um as a young adult Theodore’s life became increasingly
Unsettled and yet he was drawn inexorably towards Christianity even though Louise herself had counseled him to become a good Jew meaning go to the synagogue um Theodor was baptized by Louise uman on April the 14th 1827 Holy Saturday evening um events devolved he himself um and and his companions began preparing
For ordination Theodore was ordained in 1830 events devolved and he found himself eventually in Paris working as chaplain at a girl’s orphanage and serving at the church of notam De vict where he acquired a reputation for preaching that spread throughout France and Germany in 1842 his brother alfons
Visited Rome and during that visit stopped briefly in the Church of s Andrea there he had a mystical experience in which he saw Mary he emerged from that experience a convinced Christian and began to encourage Theodore um to work for the conversion of the Jews Theodore
Always said that he waited for the signs of Providence in all matters that were important he asked for a sign and by the day’s end had received an answer a dying Jewish mother asked that her two children be cared for and raised as Christian Chans soon there was a whole
Group of such children this is mid 19th century France okay a place in which the Jewish Community was predominantly very very poor especially in some of the Cities Theodore needed help in caring for these children and so he called on several women in stasbor whom he had served as spiritual director they became
The first sisters of Zion eventually he he wasn’t asking them to be sisters he did not want to found a religious order they wanted to be a religious community their daily life and their daily prayer communal prayer included prayers for the conversion of the Jews um after um
Oops after several years parents of Gentile Christian children began asking Theodore and the women to receive their daughters into the school um for for to be educated um and so that’s how um the we see the beginning of a network an international network of schools of notam these were places and are places
Where children of all faiths are educated um soon this community went in the 1850s we went to what is now Israel to to Jerusalem um there were children Roman Catholic children were the small minority in a lot of our schools there were orthodox Christians there were Muslims there were Jews and there were
Some Roman Catholics children were always were never obliged to um attend Catholic religious instruction they were also when possible taken to synagogues mosques or appropriate churches for regular services and were possible when it was geographically possible um they uh the sisters sought the aid of rabbis or imams or Protestant ministers to give
Appropriate religious instruction to the children and yet and this is where the the motif of ambivalence shows the schools were seen as ways of introducing students and their parents to praying for the conversion of the Jews a small group of men gathered in 1852 and became the first male religious
Of Our Lady of Zion or the fathers of Canan as they’re sometimes called Theodore and those early women and men of of C were imbued with a sense of Mission to pray for the conversion of the Jews Theodore’s writings bear evidence of the theological anti-judaism SL anti-Semitism so prevalent in
Christian theology until prior to the mid 20th century and yet the sense of relationship of respect for the conscience of persons and the adamant prohibition against prism were I think seeds to the path of dialogue philosemitism I’m I’m using this word not as is usually understood in the
Currently in the United States as um a kind of appreciation of Judaism that can lead to an appropriation of Jewish ritual rather I’m using it in the sense of Olivier who says it it is a spiritual theological and social political perspective that originated towards the end of the 19th century in France partly
In response or reaction to the TR Affair those engaged in philosemitic discourse shared the supersessionist Theology of the classical Christian thinking without however engaging in racial anti-Semitism or discrimination in not 1905 notam de founded the associ or the arch con fraternity of prayer for Israel to seek the Jews conversion through prayer and
To gather people together for lectures prayer and conversations this wean ganization spread throughout Europe Great Britain North America the official publication wasent often abbreviated as anal terent there one finds traditional sub substitution and supersessionist theology characterized by such claims as the church is the new Israel however the discovery and more ambivalence the
Discovery of the jewishness of Jesus and Mary and the first Christians as well as an ongoing reflection on Romans 9-11 created another kind of discourse that of continuity teir duvo father teir dvo was elected Superior general of the fathers of San in 1925 serving in that office until
1937 he was approached soon on in his mandate he says by the end of his first week he was approached um at the headquarters at 68 by a group of people who asked him to help them coordinate their activities special meetings study circles lectures Etc these people included people like
Jacqu and Raa Maran Mark and B shagal and others um the the groups uh met in one another’s homes they met at the house of the fathers of c and they focused on countering the anti-Semitism present in so many Christian circles by developing what they call a Christian
Response to quote unquote the Jewish question that the Jewish question or uh the Jewish problem and that’s not my word it’s that was um common discourse cont was about the continued existence of the Jewish people in the face of what was called Jewish rejection of Jesus as messiah in 1928 D established
AEL another way of framing the problem of Israel a periodical seeking to forge bonds between Jews and Christians in the attempt to combat anti-Semitism it addressed to Christians articles providing information about such matters as the Jewish background of the New Testament and of Jesus and on contemporary Judaism the Judaism of the
1920s and 30s the ambivalence here is startling for the periodical presented anti-Semitism as antithetical to Christian Chris ideals and as destroying hopes of converting Jews to Jews the periodical offered material on various aspects of Catholicism in the hope of attracting conversions this appeared through the um continued through the
1930s in a m of escalating anti-Semitism um people gathered as I said in various venues and became friends became close friends and as important as these meetings were I think it is also necessary to remember that the ambivalence they represented while a clear struggle against anti-Semitism did not allow space for an acknowledgment
That conversion of the Jews in the massive sense would mean aaser of the Jewish people the women and men of San were part of the for format of philosemitism with all its ambivalence and with the possibilities for rethinking the relationships between Christians and Jews and between the two
Traditions the 1920s and 30s also saw the emergence of a new way of thinking about Christian and specifically Roman Catholic Catholicism it was uh what one uh author calls an internally diverse movement for renewal in the mid 20th century Catholic life and the theology people engaged in this
Work literally sought to return to the sources understood as scriptures the Liturgy the church fathers and the other great witnesses to the tradition this return to ancient sour has joined the previous and ongoing turn to history and to Jewish sources for understanding Jesus exemplified by the work of Joseph
Bon a Jesuit who pioneered among Christians in rediscovering the second second temp Judaism and in rethinking the Jewish origins of Christianity as well as in promoting friendship between contemporary Christians and Jews resistance to the shaah the experience of the shaah was Central to the development of new ways of thinking
About Jews and Judaism among Christians including not with the invasions of of the Nazis in 1940 France um Jews engaged in philosemitic circles found themselves in immediate danger some fled others were hidden and still others lost their lives many of the Christians who had been engaged in these circles um and the
Theological and historical work that later became known as became engaged in resistance and rescue involvement in resistance and rescue was not only political it was personal grounded in friendships that had matured over years of con conversation and studies and it was religious within a week of the invasion
The Nazis had shut down Lael and the library of the fathers of Zan tiir devvo turned to organizing a network of people to collaborate in this work of rescue their team in Paris managed to hide approximately 600 children and 400 adults fathers of C in Belgium and Paris
And the more numerous sisters in Paris Leon Mar kenob and other French communities as well as here in Rome and an all were involved in hiding Jews working in broader networks to provide hiding places documents including passports baptismal certificates ration cards and the like rations and the wherewith all necessary for
Survival the sisters in London received children from the Kinder transport after the war dvo founded Cay San notebooks it’s kind of an awkward I don’t know whether it’s awkward or cute uh title but at any R Caya Paul Deon Father Paul Deon of the fathers of San took over the direction
Of the periodical which remained until its closure in 1955 a premier French language scholarly Journal publishing articles on Judaism the Dead Sea Scrolls the relationship of Jewish and Christian tradition the state of Israel authors included Jews and Christians lay people and clergy members of religious War
Orders and some of the members of the hierarchy as well as some of the leaders of R such as Jean Danel um um some of these articles still manifested a theology supersessionist theology however the journal itself provided access to thinking and en currence that would have advanced
Theological work in the years before and during World War II among the fathers of Canan Paul deon’s influence was greatest both in relation to uh the the Canan family the notam family as well as in the outside world um he was a founding member he was at
Selburg in 1947 where he met Julie Zak the two became close friends and he was a founding member of the in 1948 in the wake of SBG juli Zak and Pa demon would work together for years Deon had been born into an assimilated Hungarian Jewish Family and
Became a Christian as a small child um he became um he went into uh became excuse me he joined the order of notand in Belgium and even during his Seminary years perceived the tendency of anti-judaism to quickly slide into anti-Semitism it would take the Sisters yet more time to take notice of
Christian responsibility for anti-Semitism despite the fact of genocide and their own work and rescue um I would like to say something now about um subsequent developments the currents of fitis and were evident in the chapter report a general chapter is a decision-making meeting held every regularly every sometimes four four
Years every 5 years every six years depending on the congregation um and uh it’s it gathers together elected and ex officio delegates to make decisions um for the next um period of time so in 1946 the not held its first general chapter since the war um its document re um reflects
The um motifs of in its encouraging ing the sisters to spend time studying scripture and contemporary Judaism the influence of is also um uh um uh evident in the ways in which it is insistent on study the report in insists on the respect of the conscience of the
Children in science schools and this will recur in recur and recur the children and their parents are to be respected um teaching sister ERS are to combat any anti-Semitism among the students Jewish and Protestant children are not required to re attend prayer maintaining the a longstanding
Tradition there is one piece in here um in the chapter of 1951 5 years later that I want to highlight because it is important to understand how far we how far the journey was that we had to take um one of the pieces about the mission of the congregation speaks about reparation
Reparation was a theme that came into our thinking in the 1850s and it stayed with us for a very long time reparation which meant making amends for quote Jewish refusal to accept Jesus as Messiah and the perceived Jewish responsibility for Jesus’s death this document however it clarifies the expression a cursed people
P D saying that God has never cursed God’s people it also tackles at least briefly the the the the motif of deide saying the charge of deide is not true because those responsible by biblical Authority did not understand what they were doing the report cites the 1566
Catechism of the Council of Trent that states that the sins of all Humanity are responsible for Jesus’s death however ambivalence it also emphasizes what it deems to be quote the gravity of Israel’s and again quote betrayal and ascribes Israel’s wandering its existence as a separated people to that betrayal the document thus
Reinscribes traditional anti-judaism anti and slash anti-Semitism um a few months later the newly elected Superior General M Mari Felix wrote a circular to all the superiors of the congregation uh she alluded to that report and she has something very important to say it’s but it’s also ambivalent but it is important she says
Let Us show to those outside the congregation that we work rather for a a coming together a coming closer between Jews and Christians rather than for premature conversions a a reputation for proselitismo she urges a path of and of relationship following the influence of Paul Deon and yet her thinking is still
Ambivalent in the manner of earlier philosemitism she does not call into question the sisters work for conversion working with converts or praying for the conversion of Jews that would come later now I’m going to say something about the finale Affair um the developing Outreach to the Jewish Community was interrupted and compromised
Oops I’m I can’t say anything about the final of there thank you very much I’ve run out of time um I I will just say that um yes we got involved in a very controversial and very really tragic series of events called finale we also that also
Provided um a kind of impetus to push forward our transformation as a religious congregation and starting and that started immediately after the resolution of the finale Affair and um is so much so that when it came time to draft in No Sisters of Canan were part of that
Including one of the sisters who had been caught up in the finale Affair and in some ways this also um how shall I say almost embodies the both the ambivalence and the friendship the motif of friendship that um characterized the More Than A Century of development preceding our
Engagement in austr Tate thank you very much The second speaker is the Dr clarim mot the title of his speeches from amich Israel to nor changes in theological understanding and the Jewish people in the Catholic Church Dr Clary mot is the CL mot is a history student and currently high school teacher in France she has written
Her disseration in relations between Catholics and uh non-christians from 1947 to 1965 from theology to diplomacy and activism it has un convert another history of Vatican second based on its non-Christian sources here historical inquire was B on more than uh 90 archal collections spread in eight different
Countries I now invite Dr CL mot to present here topic Um for the sake of time I’ve tended also to limited my um my presentation to the notion of of relations and E Faith relations throughout the pontificate of uh P so the 1961 April report from the secretary to promote Christian Unity reads Cardinal Bia outlines that a few Jews pretend that
Anti-Semitism DRS and Catholic Doctrine which is false and needs to be corrected here with such a declaration that took place eight month after the encounter between uh Julie Zach and John the Twitter 24 the 23rd and the affiliation of the Jewish draft to the secretary to promote Christian Unity as
Well as the beginning of the drafting of several memorandums memoranda by the American Jewish committee by the Anti-Defamation League and by the world Jewish Congress this shows you the discrepancies that in the perceptions of what anti-Semitism was how it has to be defined and what were the role of Christian responsibilities in regard
With it what I want to point out in connection with what we have said during all uh these days of of um being together and discuss is the long-standing Paradigm of the Catholic church when it regards um inter Interstate relations so the long-standing parading for me was partly
Crystallized in the Pilan era and not fully overcome in the early cancel years as we have just seen as we see here it is difficult to draw a direct line from the zburg moment of 1947 up to norstate in 1965 in this paper I will investigate the mindset the habits the practices the
Institutional Church system and the culture that informed the reactions of individual actors of the Roman CA at the Vatican receiving memorandums or correspondence from Jewish individuals or organizations and what I will point out is um the to me underlooked dimensions of canon law and doctrinal matters that actually framed the um Vatican resp
Response my thesis is the following I think that when it comes to buing inter Faith relations of the postwar era pus I 12th pontificate can be summarized to its to its long yearned for yet never occured condemnation of anti-Semitism even in the postwar period but it is also in the cor coherent
Policy on Interfaith relations that what has to be C categorized under mistrust in order to um argument uh to argue about such a big claim I’m going to um present three points the first one is to insist on the role of the Holy office ruling of
1950 the Oly office at that time set the tone for the remaining Pilan pontificate distancing itself from the 1947 moment concerns about the zburg conference were raised from the start on we know that from the um uh maritan personal paper and correspondence when he was um fearing that his position as French
Ambassador uh would be instrumentalized by uh the um by the conference but this is now backed up by a note from the Secretary of State uh advising again maran’s Presence at at uh the zburg um conference because it was seen as an opportune as we know also Mari Beno B
Called in sick at the last minute but again a cries help us to understand better the situation in The Archives of the board of Jewish deputies in Great Britain a question mark was left around Mari marib benoa marib beno’s name as early as late June because his um
Presence was not secured yet last but not least fris sharier the bishop of freeor loan jev in Switzerland declined its participation that he had early agreed on in early 1948 so to the next conference in freeor and instead of coming sent a message a grd in message
Just a couple of uh days after the monum from the hly office was published Kum comp on ecuminical Affairs so my point here is to show you that concerns in the Vatican uh about zburg were happening from the start on furthermore the Pope that had several times actually four
Times received representatives of Jewish question organizations in the uh late 40s had managed to escape and Dodge public endorsement about the zburg um um thesis offering instead personal blessings to his visitors and host but not having that uh vun declaration against anti-Semitism that was asked by the
People as well as the implementation of such thesis what is interesting to see is that public reports of uh Jewish Christian organizations that that met the pope were insisting on these blessings are gestures of approval trying to make the most of what was a more nuanced approach to um the
Audiences when you look into confidential report uh internal confidential report uh to the organizations last but not least the iccj so the international Council of Christian of Jews that had organized the zelix spurg conference actually triggered an holy Office inquiry starting as early as um as well as a
Request for information from the secretary of state of the Vatican as early as July and October 1947 it uh was concluded by a set of cautionary measures in late October 1950 so let me come back to that uh big moment Montini as the substitute of the Secretary of State in late at July
1947 sent a request for information to bernardini so the Nuno in h Switzerland and Sani is the um Apostolic delegate to the United States to have information on the National Conference of Christian Jews and its activities as well as to the um convening of the conference
Banini was was happy to report and proud to report that no clergy Catholic CH clergy that had been contacted by the organization had yet accepted to be part of the conference again from the um from the uh Vatican archives and uh on his own side s Sani tried to instrumentalize
Such a request for information by having uh a more larger inquiry about the activity of the uh National coun National Conference of Christian and Jews that was uh seen Through The Eyes of intercal cooperation so in continuity with the uh wartime ecumenism uh efforts that had already triggered some concerns
In the uh United States so Francis conell wrote also to tardini in October 1947 asking the pope to take action against the National Conference of Christian and Jews this is to show you how how difficult it was to think of vations at that time for the uh early um
Early uh post post period in the within the Catholic church this inquiry then was set up to the oi office reports arrived from freeor the freeor uh conference of 1948 are now quoted in the um uh in the ruling of uh 19 um 50 and the storm was heading up especially on
The uh German uh uh Jewish Christian Movement explaining the visit of G LNA on um uh Cala to to uh laor in uh in Rome my point with the ruling of the confidential ruling of 1950 is to show you that to the Vatican what matters more was doctrinal matter
The doctrinal matter of indifferentism of relativism over the condemnation of anti-Semitism and this was also implemented through a disciplinary measures I will now go to my second Point insisting in order to further refin our narrative that such decision was not just actually a Roman decision byproduct of a Roman system that would
Crush innovation in peripheries what I want to show you here is that it was actually embedded in the church system enacted through Canon lows and endorsed and supported by um local Bishops that were made um and force such decision the first point that needs to be made is to
Show the bishop compliance to such ruling if you go back not here to the Vatican archives but to Dean archives So addision to that um to that mindset was largely Lar the the largely common frame we have seen Sani other compliance in the US we could also quote that from
Other actors that we’re seen are more prone to dialogue more prone to Interfaith relations than um than sikani himself let me take the case of kashing Archbishop kashing who was remembered as a great friend of the Jews due to the um to the uh passing on the of the ruling
Even in a confidential Way by Sani to all um American Bishops he withdrew his personal yone to the Boston Jewish uh Council for uh community relations in the early um uh um January 1951 Griffith in London also filed reports after having left the uh British Council for Christian and Jews filing
Reports that would go through the uh Apostolic delegate uh to Great Britain and then to the holy Sea on the activities of the Jewish Christian organization and Jagger uh uh in pbor expressed some concerns directly to L lner un Tim as was shown by elas fenar the system of of thought that was
Produced by that um by that ruling and crystallized in those key years of 1947 to 1950 would continue on thanks to the stability of the Roman curia and the development of curial careers again let me take the case of Sani as you know the uh the apostolic delegate to the US
Would come back to Rome would become the head of the central preparator Preparatory Commission of Vatican 2 and can largely be considered as the reason why the first draft of a Jewish decree was uh rebuked and put out of the agenda in J in June 1962 we can also um show um tordini
Consistency in terms of anti-jewish prejudices even though we have a slight evolution of monor dequa from what we’ve seen from the wartime era to uh the years at the same time I would insist on the ecclesiological implication that was entailed into the um into the the the
The uh 1950 ruling the issue was who gets to do uh theology because the ruling insisted that no well-known Catholics and this was seen as targeting directly maritan could be part of the uh Jewish Christian organizations or form of dialogue with two organization name organization names so the iccj and the world
Brotherhood you had the issue of being in view being well known but you also had the issue of expertise and Theological expertise so in order to fight back the risk of indifferentism and um and relativism uh Jewish Christian relations would be uh more keenly seen as practiced by theologians
Themselves or clergy rather than the lay people and here to me this is the key of why it was so difficult for Jewish Christian organizations to really um have a sphere of discussion at Vatican 2 in the sense that if we look back at these Jewish question organizations such
As the IJ they were mostly layed with less clergy than uh in other organizations there were Grassroots movement and they tended to be autonomous or to claim autonomy from um ecclesiastical Authority nonetheless they were bilateral so including Protestants Catholics and Jews and here you understand why it was so important
In terms of doctrine that the uh 1950 ruling of the holyy was actually quoting the monum against ecumenism and putting it on the Bishops to actually enact such uh such dispos dispositions continuing what had been defined by the uh 19 uh 17 Cannon law so the long-standing effect uh effects of
In on institutional Norms can be seen throughout the rest of the pontificate we shall not under underestimate the force of such disciplin measures let me uh take two cases the first one is my hometown in France Leon so Leon had um a local Jewish Christian um organization
Since 1949 it was um founded by um a friend of cardal jier a lawyer himself he was close to the faculty of Theology of Leon because he had a doctoral degree in theology but he decided not to declare the um vocal organ iation to Cardinal jier who became aware of the
Presence of such um such an organization only in 1957 when the uh National Conference would uh convene a meeting in Leon so here uh Rod has to to call on uh to call on um on jier to ask for for permission and again jelly would uh be really angry
With his friends saying well you are putting me in a position where I can’t respect and make respect Canon low another uh case that we can take is the London Society for Christian and Jews were uh some Jesuits that uh would take part informally to discussions with Jews in
19 um 58 would say that in order to remain to for the situation to remain as fluid quote unquote as possible they wouldn’t ask for permission to be part of such uh discussions the issue here was to bypass or to dodge the ruling that was reinforced by the holy office
In the case of uh Great Britain in 1954 so the systems goes even Beyond Patell if we look back at Pia’s own stance Bia scolded hinan so the New Westminster um uh Westminster uh Cardinal in late 1961 Jan and also in January 1962 to saying that hean couldn’t use the secretary for um promoting Christian
Unity to ask for the uh suppress suppression of the uh ruling of the O office that was forbidding uh the access to the um British Council of Christian Jews to to Catholics to Bea this was a holy office matter and the council in no way would uh would have to intervene
Within what remained the the O office and here you have to remember how was beautifully shown by both um Mikel Fister and saretta marota the uh the the the own holy off his career of of um of cinel beia as um as a consultor at the holy office it’s only through hinan
Agency in 1964 that because the hly office contacted Again by um hinen didn’t respond to his letter that he took it upon himself to allow and authorize Catholics to come back to the uh British Council of Christian and Jews that we had uh a more uh again a more
Reintegration of Catholics in that specific national case what I want also to add is that you still have a form of weaponization of the 1950 uh ruling uh in at the local level so let me here take the case of Cincinnati in November and December 19 um 55 so just a couple
Of weeks after no TR had been voted on by um by the council the bishop car Al Carl alter um made reference to the uh ruling of the Holy office the previous ruling of the Holy office to forbid two of his priests to be part of inter Interfaith um uh reunions meetings that
Will happen with the uh Jewish Reform movement in Cincinnati one of them taking place in in a church so as you see it was even before uh even after the um Declaration was voted on and it still remained uh enacted or active at a local
Level so this is my uh final remark we have a form of triple track diplomacy and theology we have the local autonomous discussion of trsh Christian organizations we also have the side tracking of Jewish Christian organization at Rome at the time of the council and that is the reason why I
Think that the uh um secretary for promoting Christian Unity tending to rely more on um the efforts of Catholic in institutions rather than on Jewish mandas or on the claims from Jewish Christian organizations in their first drafts of of uh no and here the point is that uh
Appeldorn as well as SN Hall are the two ref refences that you found in the early draft and not zelix BG so uh in order to conclude I think that the point of theological tensions are the difficulty to acknowledge from the Vatican side the Christian Roots of anti-Semitism and
Here we can find back what was uh P the 11th stance in the fact that if anti-Semitism was anti-christian then anti-Semitism was only an individual and moral problem of lapsed Christian but the issue of confronting structural anti-Semitism was still really hard uh for for uh the Vatican circles so uh uh
I also think that it’s because uh the doctrinal and and um Destin prary frame was so strong that it’s actually through the door of lurgical Reform of lurgical translation that reform was able to happen under under uh P the 12th with the uh priers of the Good Friday I thank you for your
[Applause] attention in the third and the last speaker is Rabbi David Mayan the title of his talk is self understanding and understanding the author not and Theology of dialogue David man is M and Douglas K in jish I’m Institute director of the center of Catholic Jo studies on S Leo
University an orthodox Rabbi he teach about Judaism and other religious and philosophies he’s focused on jish mysticism and hassidism in comparison with Christian Theology and in the context of modernity David man explores the possibilities and challenges of intelligence friendship between Christian and Jews uh rabi David man please present your
Topic thank you and I would like to thank the organizers of the conference modern Catholic Jewish dialogue makes extraordinary demands of its participants this process is one which if fully engaged in with the proper spirit is rooted in deep truths both psych psychological and Theological it has great transformational
Potential I like many Jewish participants and observers am wary of terms such as reconciliation and healing if the latter means closure and resolving an issue rather than an ongoing therapeutic process yet the the religious terminology of metanoia or chuva repentance with all of their theological associations and their respective Traditions may be justly
Invoked these terms are warranted in considering the best aspects of what has already occurred by the processes of study reflection encounter and dialogue that have flourished at least at times for some individuals and some communities since the planting of the seed for a renewed relationship in no
For there is a crucial and hard-earned insight into what makes a true encounter and thus also a genuinely transformational one between Jews and Catholics possible this is the willingness to recognize the alterity of one’s dialogue partner that the other has an inner life and a self- understanding when this is lacking the
Process of understanding the other is in fact an attempt to assimilate the other into the limits of my own understanding when I am aware that the other possesses self- understanding I rather seek to enter the presence of the other and hope for some disclosure and insight from the other this fundamental Insight was
Articulated early and often in Catholic documents of the encounter many persons Catholics Jews and others are my inspiration and teachers here both verbally and through their lived examples nonetheless I feel that there is a need to hold this up and stress its implications since there are many obstacles psychological historical and
Political to its realization in practice after briefly reviewing the principle and Catholic Reflections on the dialogue I will highlight the value of the recognition of alterity by a reflection on the use of Jews and Judaism historically in Christian self- understanding I will argue that the subject of the Holocaust in particular
Demands a conscious emphasis on the recognition of alterity finally I will claim that this process while challenging is not only valuable but also potentially a source of delight that is uniquely nourishing noat 4 largely defines Jews in relation to Christianity this is also reflected in the structure of norstate as a whole
Which appears to proceed through concentric circles noting aspects of unity and connection that the church finds in relation to all human beings and then in relations to great religious Traditions such as Hinduism and Buddhism and then with the more similar tradition of Islam when the text comes
To the Jewish people their closeness to Christianity is reflected in the fact that they appear in the document as a result of internal Christian reflection quote as the sacred Cod searches into the mystery of the church it remembers the bond that spiritually ties the people of the New Covenant to Abraham’s stock unquote
As Pope John Paul II commented in his 1987 addressed to Jewish representatives in Argentina this shows the quote closeness of our respective religions United by what the council calls precisely a spiritual bond unquote the year before in his speech in the great synagogue of Rome and in relation to
These same opening words of nost 4 the pope had stated quote the Jewish religion is not extrinsic to us but in a certain way is intrinsic to our own religion unquote one of the most striking aspects of the Catholic Church’s reorienting relationship to and dialogue with Jews
And Judaism is that it is presented as an essential process for the sake of the church’s own self- understanding this aspect is also reflected in the history of the document which had at one stage been intended as a chapter in the decree onism monor John aiker in his account of
The Genesis of noat records the words of several theologians himself included who Justified this structure here are the words of Bernard Lambert o which I find both felicitous and provocative on Israel as an ecumenical Pro uh problem quote Judaism remains outside the church yet it never ceases to act on and in the
Church it acts in the church through the Jewish origins of Christianity it acts on the church in virtue of a kind of destined Sol solidarity that brings Jews and Christians together at all the great Crossroads of History the Jew cannot lose sight of the Christian the Christian cannot ignore the Jew
Something unique brings us together and yet separates us as if neither of us can quite pass the other the relations between us are governed by an odd alternation of rejection and acceptance the problem of Israel is not extra ecumenical end quote four elements stand out to me in this
Quote firstly Judaism is construed as an actor on and in the church and not merely as a kind of raw material or background secondly this active role is not confined to the matter of the Jewish origins of Christianity an element emphasized in no trate but is seen as unceasing and recurring throughout
History thirdly there is a presumed parallel in the formulation that neither the Jew nor the Christian could nor the other finally there is the double negative phrasing resorted to by many thinkers here the problem of Israel is not extra ecumenical this phrasing highlights the unique Dynamic of the church’s relationship to Jews and
Judaism which is somehow felt to be of the self for it is not not internal and yet also the ultimate other in the sense that it is outside the usual category of outside Jews are other than other whatever the limitations of no Strate its full-throated endorsement of the process of dialogue opened vast
Future possibilities already the 1974 guidelines and suggestions for implementing the conciliar Declaration no for emphasizes the need to seek to engage Jewish self-standing that document expresses the hope quote for a better knowledge on the part of Christians of the essence of the religious traditions of Judaism and of
The manner in which Jews identify themselves end quote also quote Christians must strive to learn by what essential traits the Jews Define themselves in light of their own religious experience end quote modern Catholic Jewish relations engages in the study of and encounter with Jews and Judaism as a source for Christian
Self-standing not only for this purpose but emphatically also for this purpose what is crucial about the ideal expressed in documents like guidelines is the stated conviction that this process must involve sincere engagement with living Jews self-standing as Philip Cunningham has put it ignorance of Jewish self-understanding will result in a
Distorted understanding of Christianity unquote this contrast with so much history not that this is relegated to the Past in which Jews and Judaism were a source for the construction of Christian self-standing but only rhetorical Jews and Judaism or what Jeremy Cohen has studied as the hermeneutic
Jew in fact the use of the hermeneutic Jew never actually resulted in Christian self- understanding in the sense of providing genuine insight and disclosure of the depths of the self but rather what I would term the construction of a Christian self-image for such purposes the real personhood and inner life and most
Crucially the self- understanding of actual Jews is immaterial in fact it is an obstacle the engagement with Jews and and Judaism for Christian self-standing must be the engagement with Jewish self-standing but the construction of an image for the self as a Christian is served most easily by the construction
Of an image for the Jew this image does not have to be a study in absolute contrast what is important for this process is that the image of the Jew should exist only relative to the central concern the image of the Christian to be constructed and thus should fall into clear categories
Either as a symbol of the self to be claimed assimilated into the self or as a symbol of the self’s opposite to be easily and sharply defined as outside eliminated from the self in either case the goal is to bring into clear definition an image of the self the
Jewish other is thus instrumentalized purely for the sake of construction of a self-image what this instrumentalized use of the hermeneutic Jewish other lacks is the psychological iCal and existential dimension of a kind of protracted pause that is a moment in which one is taken about filled with an awareness of
The otherness of the other I do not simply mean difference difference is constantly evoked in the image process and integral to it but rather the actual alterity of another person we are taken back in encountering alterity not because the other is in fact the opposite of the self but rather
Precisely because the other is just like oneself also a person the other is not an object but also a subject with a self-identifying center who can only be encountered across the gap between two persons by the self-revelation of the other which always also communicates the fact of its
Mystery when one is taken AB by alterity one recognizes in that moment to some extent that the other is not simply raw Mater material for the creation of oneself the other’s real inner life unlike an image I construct of the other is never fully known to me is inexhaustible is a mystery this
Recognition of the other’s self and inner life as mystery creates a moment of potential insight and growth in my own self- understanding a sense of the mystery of the self begins to seep past my fixed self-image perhaps the rigid image of the self was in fact constructed
Precisely to act as a kind of dam preventing a flooding awareness of this mystery and further what I am referring to now as the mystery of self can open onto the mystery of being itself and expanded awareness of being in the presence of God in his influential study of the
Medieval Christian use of the hermeneutic Jew Jeremy Cohen explores a series of ironic and complex consequences that flowed from the construct of the Jew of the Jews as quote Living letters of the law law end quote this was the famous notion that the Jews as a representation of and
Witness to the Old Testament had a role to play in Christendom as verifying the faith and life of the church the Christian discovery of the talmud in the Latin West beginning in Earnest in the 13th century led many Christian thinkers to lament that living Jews seemed in
Fact to have been turned aside from scripture by religious tradition in effect having declared the Jews living letters of the law some Christians were dismayed to discover just how living they were for they were not only reciting the Torah but also continuing to interpret Torah and their own religious and historical experiences in
Ever expanding ways that were quite distinct from those of Christianity it is crucial to recognize that it was not only the differences but also the similarities that Disturbed some Christians Christians frequently imagined the Jewish manner of the interpretation of scripture as limited to the literal for example to discover
Jewish readings that were associative allegorical spiritual and all the rest was disturbing to some precisely because it revealed not the Jew as other but the Jew as an other self who engages in activities that seem parallel to yet also profoundly distinct from those that I and others in my tradition engage
In a great gift of contemporary Jewish Catholic dialogue is that it can promote conditions in which can encounter living letters of the law who can talk back when they feel that you have misinterpreted them if only the letters of scripture could raise objections and ask questions of our interpretations and
Constantly remind us that their depths have not been plumbed while a robust scriptural hermeneutics attempts to enable such an approach to study it is a gift of dialogue that the other is there to insist on their existence as a subject and not merely an object to free us from myopic
Self-centeredness I do not propose that either Jews or Christians should see their dialogue Partners as having the status of scripture or more absurdly of God yet the acknowledgement that there is theological significance to the other and of the potential for dialogue to be a locust of a type of Revelation means
That our study of scripture and even our experience of our relationship with God may be affected and enhanced by such encounters so to my mind all of these Reflections have everything to do with the Holocaust this is because to speak now of how Jews quote Define themselves in
Light of their own religious experience must include in the light or shadow of the Holocaust while it is problematic for the Holocaust or anti-Semitism to Define Jewish identity it also cannot fail to inflect self-standing this is also true theologically this is because the Jewish people and their lived existential
Situations are not only addressed by Jewish theology but are also part of its data now there is no single Jewish self- understanding and there is certainly no single Jewish understanding of the Holocaust even for the same individual Jew it often refuses to exist as a stable category which is also part of
The phenomenon of trauma nonetheless the Holocaust meaning here also the survivors and their descendants memories images all the ongoing effects of the showah inflects every element of Jewish self-standing Central to this is the sense of the Unspeakable or incommunicable a sense of Silence bereft of theological answers as well as an
Awareness of Doubt trauma and Brokenness among Jews of all types it is one of the ironies of the modern developments in Jewish Catholic relations that the Catholic church in part in response to the Holocaust began to issue forth an increasing Clarion call about the irrevocable divine gifts ongoing Eternal
Covenant and belovedness of the Jews to God in a manner that is foreign to most Jews in part in the shadow of the Holocaust as Alan bril has put it in the post Holocaust context quote few Jews evoke the Eternal covenants as a comfort end quote certainly plenty of
Contemporary Jews affirm the principle of an eternal Covenant and Jewish chosenness but there are a few Jews whose affirmation of Israel as beloved and part taking in a special relationship with God is Not also deeply informed by pathos even a certain irony I am speaking of a gap here not of
The knowledge of facts but of existential stance perhaps the Gap here is most poignantly encountered in christological interpretations of Jewish suffering in the Holocaust as karma bin yohanan notes for some Christian authors quote the similarity between aitz and the crucifixion was conceived as almost self-evident end quote this was perhaps
Particularly true of Christians who in fact had warm feelings about Israel she proceeds to quote Clemens tomma quote a believing Christians should not find it so very difficult to interpret the sacrifice of the Jews during the Nazi Terror his thoughts should be turned toward Christ to whom these Jewish
Masses became alike in sorrow and death aitz is the most Monumental sign of our time for the intimate Bond and unity between the Jewish Martyrs who stand for all Jews and the crucified Christ even though the Jews in question could not be aware of it unquote note the author’s Declaration of
The lack of difficulty in this interpretation but notice too the explicit remark that this clear interpretation is true even though the Jews in question could not be aware of it this not so difficult interpretation is indeed must be uded from Jews own self-awareness I would highlight the
Link here between the ease of this interpretation and the irrelevance of Jewish self- understanding for it such christological interpretations of the Holocaust particularly of Jewish suffering as Redemptive or revelatory are generally abhorred by Jews as part of the dialogue such objections must and reactions must be shared and listened to
At the same time as a Jewish participant in the dialogue I need to practice listening generously here and experiencing alterity a christological interpretation of the Holocaust may be a sincere attempt to contemplate it and by bringing Jews and their experiences Into the Heart of One’s Own devotional imagination a way of making
Room for the other in the very heart of one’s Faith listening closely and sincerely to such Christian Reflections may make possible an increased understanding both of the other end of oneself the fruits of the process of Catholic Jewish encounter have convinced me that the process of being taken a
Back by the other of pausing before the reality of the other is a crucial ongoing component of of true dialogue to some extent this practice is a discipline and there is no doubt that at times it can feel both unnatural and frankly uncomfortable however there is also a
Very real dimension of joy and Delight in this practice of recognizing alterity recognizing the other is uncomfortable because the other’s lived reality may not fit into one’s world but for just that reason it presents an invaluable opportunity to be freed from the narrowness and indeed distortions of
One’s own self- world to truly touch a reality beyond the self’s constructions this is in the literal sense of the word an ecstatic experience the self is freed from an artificially imposed static State and can potentially be both surprised and delighted by the genuinely new there is a necessary
Moment of stumbling in this constant walk approaching the other when the smoothness of my step is interrupted this is the result of repeated acts of realization that the reality of the other continually surpasses my preconceived image in thinking of stumbling it is only natural to worry about the
Possibility of injury but we also speak about having stumbled across something of remarkable Beauty a source of surprising Delight that we could not by definition have pre-planned because its existence was not in our awareness before in closing I would like to make a brief remark on Paul’s Reflections on
Israel in Romans 9 to1 this is the central New Testament text for many of the most important affirmations of norstate 4 in particular following Paul’s description in Romans 11 the sin declared of the church quote nor can she forget that she draws sustenance from the root of that well cultivated olive
Tree onto which have been grafted the wild chuts the Gentiles end quote seeing that the branch is thus able to be nourished by the tree some have commented that this shows that the tree of Israel is is not other than the grafted Branch no’s construal of Israel as a source of
Nourishment for the church is ambiguous which Judaism which Jews could be a part of this process Noti ex aesus perhaps wisely does not mention the broken off branches in Paul’s discussion many who have gone deeply into the Catholic Jewish dialogue are convinced that the mystery of Israel Paul speaks of need
Not be relegated only to eschatology but can also provide an opening onto the mysterious ways that nourishment can be found in the process of encounter in the here and now the assumption that nourishment comes only from the same or the similar must be challenged it is possible to be positively nurtured
Nourished by alterity and I believe that Paul in his emphasis on the need to avoid arrogance in his exhortation to tremble is invoking the power of the realization of alterity as a source of correct Christian self- understanding a final thought drawing on Rabin tradition proverbs 31 sings the Praises of the
Woman of Valor sometimes read in rinic ex aesus as a type of the people of Israel verse 14 states she brings her nourishment from afar RAB neia is quoted in the Palestinian talmud as interpreting she brings her nourishment from afar words of Torah are poor in their place and rich in another
Place this means sometimes the apparent headquarters for a topic in Torah is in fact lacking in many or important details about that very topic The Interpreter must be willing to go afar elsewhere in the Bible to find the riches which will illuminate that original Place re nemia’s intention was
To comment on the Torah and perhaps also on patterns of rabbinic thought in engaging with Torah yet the same exploratory hermeneutic recognizing that nourishment may not come only from the near at hand or the close but also from afar should also by analogy inform our interreligious engagements particularly in the infinitely promising always
Challenging process of Catholic Jewish relations thank you very [Applause] much
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