[The purpose of the Digest is informative: Preference is given to papers not generally accessible to our readers. Quotation does indicate approval-Editor.]
Satisfaction at the warm welcome given the Catholic dignitaries who came here to participate in the Eucharistic Congress in Chicago, is expressed by the Jewish press.
The attitude of the Jews to the Catholics, declares the “Jewish Morning Journal,” (June 21) is one of forgiving the past offenses of the Catholics against the Jews and of extending a friendly hand on the basis of present amity.”It would be unfair,” the paper says, “to hold a grudge against the present Cardinal of Spain because of something that happened in 1492. We are no more inimical to Spain than the average American, in whose heart the wrath of 1898 has long ago subsided.”
Pointing out that the time when the Catholic Church, as an organization and the Popes in their capacity of official representatives of Christendom. persecuted the Jews, is past, the paper emphasizes that here in America, especially, there are many mutual interests between the Jews and the Catholics,” both of whom are subjected to persecution at the hands of a fanaticism which is characteristically Protestant.”
That is why, the paper remarks in conclusion, “we are not inclined to complain against the president of a Jewish congregation in Chicago who is entertaining as his guests the Catholic digniatries who are attending the Eucharistic Congress. It is good to show an example of amity which gives evidence to those participating as well as to the outside world that relations which were impossible once have become natural under the influence of America.”
The “Day” (June 20), writing in a similar spirit, takes occasion to suggest that the bonds of Catholic-Jewish friendship could be further cemented if the Eucharistic Congress would declare itself against race hatred everywhere, particularly in those countries of Eastern and Central Europe where the Jews are still severely persecuted.
“There are present at the Eucharistic Congress delegates from Poland, the Cacholic part of Roumania, Austria, Hungary and Sothern Germany-if they were but to apply in their own countries the tactics of the American Catholics to the Jews. the result would be not only an improvement in the countries of Europe but even a better understanding between Catholics and Jews in America.” the paper urges. saying further:
“If the Eucharistic Congress, representing millions of Catholics in all countries, would declare itself loudly and definitely against race hatred and religious oppression, not only in America, but throughout the world, it would remove perhaps the greatest obstacle that still remains in the path of Catholic-Jewish cooperation in the United States.”
The “Chicago Chronicle ” in its issue of June 19, made the following remarks:
“The Eucharistic Congress has more than a passing interest for us as Jews and as Chicagoans. The Jews and the Catholics, at least in this country, have had in recent years many things in common, were obliged to fight a common enemy-the Kluxers- and the ‘Nordic’ theory which is an anti-alien project pure and simple.
“The Eucharistic Congress, while strictly a religious affair, may be welcomed even by Jews who are a part of this great commonwealth and it was laudable on the part of Mayor Dever who appointed Alderman Jacob M.Arvey to represent the Jews of Chicago in his official capacity and to bid the visitors welcome. the Jews have always been tolerant to others and are ready at all times to continue in that spirit.”
The New York “Evening World” (June 21), dwelling on the warm reception accorded the Catholic representatives by America’s public officials, finds that even “more gratifying to the spirit of religious toleration in America is the participation in this generous welcome of the representatives of welcome of the representatives of Protestant churches and the Jewish faith.”
CITE ALLEGED ORDER BY PETLURA AGAINST POGROMS
An order, alleged to have been issued to his army by Petlura on Aug. 26, 1919, against pogroms under his regime in the Ukraine, was published in “Svoboda,” a Jersey City Ukrainian paper, and reproduced in the New York “Times.”
Some of the statements in the order, as given in “Svoboda,” read:
“The sinister men of the ‘Black Hundreds’ and the ‘Red Hundreds’ are but one band. They are assiduously weaving the spider’s web, provoking pogroms of the Jewish population, and on many occasions they have incited certain backward elements of our army to commit abominable acts. They thus succeeded in defiling our struggle for liberty in the eyes of the world and in compromising our national cause.
“Officers and Cossacks! It is time to know that the Jews have, like the greater part of our Ukrainian population, suffered from the horrors of the Bolshevist-Communist invasion and follow the way to the truth. The best Jewish groups, such as the ‘Bund,’ the ‘Unified,’ the ‘Poale-Zion,’ and the ‘Volks-Party,’ have willingly placed themselves at the disposal of the sovereign and independent Ukraine and cooperate with us.
“It is time to learn that the peaceful Jewish population, its women and children, have been oppressed in the same way as ours and deprived of national liberty. This population has lived with us for centuries and shared our pleasures and our sorrows”
M.J. Stroock was appointed chairman of the new Board of Higher Education, which was established by a state law effective last April, it was announced.
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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.
