The American Jewish Committee has announced a year-long program to mark the historic changes in Catholic-Jewish relations initiated by Vatican Council II 20 years ago.
Rabbi A. James Rudin, national interreligious affairs director of the AJCommittee, stressed that the purpose of the program, which began officially last week, was “not to be an exercise in nostalgia but rather to deepen and strengthen mutual understanding between Christians and Jews. ” He called it “the most extensive program of Catholic-Jewish relations ever undertaken in the United States.”
“Vatican II provided the catylist and we must continue to build on it, ” Rudin said. Vatican Council II, convened by the late Pope John XXIII from 196265, is considered a turning point in relations between the Jewish and Catholic faiths.
One of the most important documents issued by the Council, the “Nostra Aetate” (In Our Age) repudiated the idea of collective Jewish guilt for the Crucifixion and stressed the spiritual bond between Catholics and Jews. It called for mutual understanding between the two faiths.
PROGRAM SEEN AS HAVING A MAJOR IMPACT
Mimi Alperin, chairperson of the AJCommittee’s Interreligious Affairs Commission, said, “We believe this program will have a major impact in developing closer relations between Catholics and Jews on a wide range of critical issues. We have been pleased by the positive response from the Catholic community in joining with us to commemorate the positive achievements of Vatican II.”
The first program in the series took place in Philadelphia last week. Programs will be held in Long Island on February 14; Detroit, February 18; Los Angeles, March 21; San Francisco, May 15; Miami, May 23-24; and later in the year in Atlanta, Baltimore, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, Dallas, Kansas City, Mobile, New York City, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Seattle and Washington, D.C.
The programs were developed by the AJCommittee’s Interreligious Affairs Department with Catholic dioceses and Committee chapters nationwide. They include public assemblies, seminars, teacher-training sessions, lay dialogue groups, seminarians’ conferences and audio-visual productions.
The AJCommittee is issuing a comprehensive package of materials titled “Resource Kit: Vatican Council II and Catholic-Jewish Relations, 1965-1985” as a program aid. It was written by Rabbi Alan Mittleman of the Interreligious Affairs Department and contains suggestions for groups planning interreligious programs related to the commemoration of the 20th anniversary of Vatican Council II.
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