Richard Cardinal Cushing, Archbishop of Boston and one of the world leaders among liberals in the Roman Catholic Church, expressed confidence here today that, “eventually,” the Church would adopt the chapter of a schema bypassed at the last Ecumenical Council session at the Vatican, defining closer relationships between the Church and Judaism and condemning anti-Semitism. He coupled that assertion with a resounding call for immediate closer relationships between Catholics and Jews.
Cardinal Cushing made his statement as the principal speaker an the annual Brother hood Week luncheon, conducted here by the Manhattan region of the National Conference of Christians and Jews. More than 1,000 guests were present, with leaders of the Protestant, Jewish and Greek Orthodox faith among the honored personages on the dais and among the official participants, along with many prominent Catholics.
Nearly the entire, lengthy address by the Cardinal, who was among the prelates attending the last session of the Ecumenical Council, was devoted to the schema dealing, among other matters, with religious liberties and Catholic Jewish relations, introduced there by Augustin Cardinal Bea, head of the Vatican’s Secretariat for the Promotion of Christian Unity. Praising Cardinal Bea’s “guiding spirit,” and disclosing in passing that he had worked closely with Cardinal Bea, the Boston Archbishop emphasized that he was speaking “not as a commentator or bystander” but as a Catholic Bishop. He also mentioned as a vital development the visit paid to the Holy Land recently by Pope Paul VI.
Noting that the late Pope John XXIII, who had convened the first session of the Ecumenical Council, had explicitly requested Cardinal Bea “to prepare a chapter on anti-Semitism,” Cardinal Cushing said:
“Cardinal Bea’s statement is more than a condemnation of anti-Semitism. It recalls in magisterial language the debt of Christianity to Judaism. It calls solemnly to mind what the Church of Christ has received through the hands of the chosen people of Israel. The Church is not unmindful that, from this people, the Jews, came Jesus Christ, according to the flesh, came His Virgin Mother, came His Apostles, the foundation and columns of the Christian Church.”
SAYS WORLD EAGER FOR PRO-JEWISH STATEMENT BY ECUMENICAL COUNCIL
He referred to the fact that the proposed Bea draft would absolve the Jews of blame for the death of Christ and that, “furthermore, preachers and catechists and liturgists are warned against anything in their teaching that could offer a basis for anti-Semitism.”
“The whole world,” he affirmed, “is eager for a statement such as this, as well as for the one on freedom of conscience. The voice of the Church on religious liberty and our relations to the Jewish people is awaited in universities, in national and international organizations, in Christian and non-Christian communities, in the press and elsewhere, and it is being awaited with urgent expectancy. I am convinced we shall not be disappointed.”
Expressing his “great personal regret” over the fact that the last session of the Ecumenical Council had only looked at the Bea proposal but had not acted, he stated “but I am confident that eventually it will.” He urged, however, “not to wait for the Council to speak officially before we undertake the dialogue and theological confrontation encouraged in this chapter. On the level of the scholar and of the man in the street, there must be a closer meeting of minds, above all of hearts.”
“As a matter of fact,” he continued, “it was not a setback for the Ecumenical movement when the session of the Council failed to discuss item-by-item the statements about religious liberty and about Catholic-Jewish relations. These items were no more rejected than many other proposals which got only a brief look from the Council and then were tabled for the next session. The delay could be useful.”
He concluded his address by telling the audience: “We live in an atmosphere that is new and good. We have a sense among Christians, and between Christians and Jews, of a common heritage which we share in various ways. We are in the springtime of new discovery of one another, and of wonder at the myriad links which bind us together after centuries of separation.
“Popes John and Paul have been matches by Orthodox and Protestant leaders of tremendous stature among their respective groups in an urge to explore together, to work and pray together. Equally, they extend the hand of love and the expression of debt to the people of God’s first covenant–the Chosen People of Israel. I can say this, for I have helped Cardinal Bea in many ways, material and otherwise, to build a bridge of understanding and love between Christians and Jews. Let us all move forward to new heights and new horizons–together–in God’s name.”
Among the various participants in Portions of the program devoted to invocations and benedictions were Archbishop Iakovos, head of the North and South American Archdiocese of the Greek Orthodox Church; Rabbi Israel Mowshowitz, president of the New York Board of Rabbis; and various other prominent religious leaders. Ambassador Katriel Katz, Israel’s Consul-General in New York, was the only non-dais guest formally introduced to the audience.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
