The European Jewish Congress has endorsed a strengthening of dialogue between Catholics and Jews, particularly at local levels, to resolve the issue of the Carmelite convent at Auschwitz, despite erroneous news reports Monday that said the EJC had called for suspension of formal contacts between Jewish groups and the Catholic Church.
At its annual meeting here Sunday and Monday, the EJC also expressed its full support for the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations, which has been rocked within the past week by the creation of a breakaway Jewish body that seeks to hold independent talks with the Vatican.
The EJC called for IJCIC to be enlarged to include a representative group of European and Latin American Jewish communities.
The European Jewish body, which represents 17 countries, issued a resolution expressing the hope that Catholic-Jewish ties not be damaged by the convent turmoil.
The EJC declared itself “conscious of the necessity of organized relations between the Jewish community and the central organs of the Christian churches, particularly at a time of difficulties and tension.”
The resolution says the European Jewish communities “deplore the failure to comply within the specified time” the Geneva accord, and states the “hope that the hitherto fruitful Jewish-Catholic dialogue, strongly affected by the situation resulting from the non-relocation of the Carmelite convent, will not suffer lasting damage.”
There was brief discord Tuesday over inaccurate news reports that the EJC had called for a cessation of ties with the Vatican until the convent issue was settled.
DENIES NEWS REPORTS
French Jewish leader Theo Klein denied reports that he called for suspension of talks with the Vatican, saying he was referring to a decision taken in February to place on hold a Vatican-Jewish conference on the Shoah until the convent issue is resolved, according to members of IJCIC.
Klein, a former president of the EJC, and Italian Jewish leader Tullia Zevi did call on Pope John Paul II to end his silence on the convent and call for its removal.
Some leaders of American Jewish groups were rankled by the original news reports, At B’nai B’rith International in Washington, President Seymour Reich said he was “deeply disturbed at reported suggestions that the Jewish community cut off relations with the Vatican.” He emphasized “good will and a bit of patience” to resolve the issue.
Rabbi Alexander Schindler, president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, the umbrella body of Reform congregations in America, said the controversy over the convent should not be allowed to disrupt ongoing programs of Catholic-Jewish dialogue. He, too, called on the pope to end his “silence.”
The British Council of Christians and Jews, in a statement Tuesday, said its executive committee had postponed a visit to Rome. It had intended to seek an audience with the pope.
However, the body’s joint honorary treasurer, Sir Sigmund Sternberg, is expected to go to Rome in a private capacity and have an audience with the pope.
(JTA staff writer Susan Birnbaum in New York contributed to this report.)
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.
