British Cardinal Preaches in Synagogue, Hails Rome Action on Jews

John Cardinal Heenan, the Catholic Primate of Britain, told the congregation of the Reform Synagogues of Manchester yesterday that the Vatican Declaration on Catholic-Jewish relations was “not perfect” from the Jewish standpoint, but that it was “a great advance from Christian documents of the past referring to Jews.” His appearance was the first by a Cardinal in a British synagogue. The Cardinal said that “to many it seems strange that a Cardinal of the Catholic Church should be in a synagogue on the Jewish Sabbath.” He told the congregants that it was really not strange because they all believed in God. He added that his visit was “not for me a social exercise. This is a religious action, a spiritual pilgrimage to the people who represent the old religion from which my faith has sprung.”

Cardinal Heenan, who is Archbishop of Westminster, was a staunch supporters the original strong declaration presented to the Second Vatican Council. The final version which was adopted and formally promulgated by Pope Paul VI, was diluted, but it contemned anti-Semitism, rejected the charge of collective decide against the Jewish people in the crucifixion of Jesus, and urged “fraternal dialogues” between Catholics and Jews.

A mixed synagogue choir hailed the entrance of the Cardinal with the Hebrew hywn, “Blessed Be He Who Cometh in the Name of the Lord.” Rabbi Selwyn Goldberg welcomed the Cardinal “with deep joy on an historic occasion.” The Primate responded by addressing the congregants as “my dear friends and brothers.” He told the congregation that “you and I are privileged to be making history and perhaps to be giving a new direction to the whole movement for religious unity.”