Jesuit Theologian Declares Christians Must Cease to Seek Conversion of Jews

A prominent Roman Catholic theologian has declared in an article published by a Jesuit magazine here that Judaism must be regarded as a salvational faith and Christians should cease trying to convert Jews. The article, by Rev. Gregory Baum, associate professor of religious knowledge at St. Michel’s College, was greeted by Toronto rabbis as a "major breakthrough" in Catholic thought, provided that Father Baum’s thesis was accepted by the Catholic hierarchy.

"The Church’s mission among the Jews," Rev. Baum wrote in the magazine, "Month," "is not to proselytize, to persuade Jews to leave their religion and join another. The Church’s mission is to engage in dialogue with the Jews, to discover the common patrimony, to deepen brotherhood and to be open to the transformation which God produces in us through true conversion."

Commenting on the article, Rabbi Emanuel Forman of Shaarei Shomayim Synagogue, an Orthodox congregation, said "it is encouraging to see him admit that before dialogue with any hope of results can begin, we need to respect the validity of each other’s theologies." Rabbi Abraham Feinberg, rabbi emeritus of the Reform Holy Blossom Temple here, said that Father Baum’s declaration "provides the only basis upon which any cooperative kind of a dialogue can be undertaken by the synagogue. But I am wondering to what extent this reflects the thinking of the Curia and the Vatican." He added that if Father Baum’s article did represent the Church’s views, "it would involve a tremendous revolutionary turn in the direction the Church has taken for centuries."

Rev. Baum was born in Germany of Jewish parents but converted to Catholicism in Canada in 1947. He is known as a leader and spokesman of the liberal wing of the Catholic Church. Past pronouncements of his on birth control, celibacy and other questions did not, reflect traditional church views.