A three-and-a-half day meeting to advance the ongoing Christian-Jewish dialogue and assess the progress made since it was initiated at the Second Ecumenical Council in 1965, closed at the Vatican yesterday.
Pope John Paul II, addressing the 40 church and laymen from 15 countries, including Israel, who participated in the convocation, stressed that Christians and Jews must continue to exchange ideas “in depth and on the basis of their own identities.”
His remarks affirmed the abandonment of any and all attempts to convert the Jews. The Church’s “special relationship” with Jews exempt them from being subject to the Gospel commandment to “evangelize” the world, the Pontiff noted.
While this is firmly based on declarations made in the past, from the “Nostra Aetate” (In Our Time) promulgated at Vatican II to the “Catholic Guidelines” of 1978, yesterday was the first time the Pope personally addressed the delicate issue at an international gathering.
He spoke not only to Roman Catholics but to representatives of the Orthodox churches the Anglican Communion, the World Lutheran Federation and the World Council of Churches who attended the meeting.
TIME FOR ‘RECIPROCAL ESTEEM’
“Incomprehensions and resentments” have marked the 2000-year relations “between the two communities,” the Pope said. “And if there have been, since the day of the separation, misunderstandings, errors, we must now be concerned with transforming them into comprehension, peace and reciprocal esteem.”
The meeting at the Vatican, described as a “Reunion” of experts on the Christian-Jewish dialogue, was organized by Msgr. Jorge Mejia, Secretary of the Vatican’s Commission on Religious Relations with the Jews. The Commission was established eight years ago by Pope Paul VI to aid in the practical implementation of “Nostre Aetate, ” the charter for understanding between Catholics and Jews that emerged from Vatican II.
As Mejia declared, in his opening statement broadcast by the Vatican Radio, “The moment has arrived for us to see where we are at, what has been our progress, what our difficulties, and what the prospectives of this relationship are.”
For more than three days, the delegates discussed such subjects as “how the Bible helps us to understand contemporary and ancient Judaism,” the inalienable ties in Judaism between the land of Israel and the Jewish people, the problems posed by theological differences, and the image of Jews and Judaism in Catholic and other Christian teachings.
A full day study group was headed by Rev Marcel DuBois, a French Dominican priest who is chairman of the philosophy department at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem and long-time Resident of the St. Isaiah House of the Dominican Order there. DuBois, who has taken Israeli citizenship, observed that a theological dialogue between Catholics and Jews can be furthered only if three points are accepted.
THREE POINTS TO FURTHER DIALOGUE
One is that both faiths must, according to their respective religious views, “disagree” on Jesus. The agreement to disagree or the mutual acceptance of the other’s difference in this respect, is essential to dialogue, he said. The second principle is that “Both Christians and Jews must accept the Jewishness of Jesus” and the third is that since the Jews and Christians are the only two religions to have the enormous conflict as a basic aspect of their respective beliefs, “the idea of Jesus unites us at the very moment it divides us.”
The Pope’s speech, delivered in a tone of great warmth, highlighted “the ties between the Church and the Jewish people — based on the design of the God of the alliance.” He emphasized that mutual esteem and mutual maintenance of the separate identities of Judaism and Christianity were essential aspect of the Divine Mystery.
The Pope also referred to “The terrible persecutions” inflicted on Jews by Christians in different periods of history which have “finally opened our eyes and transformed our hearts. Christians are on the good path, that of justice and fraternity, in endeavoring, with respect and perseverance, to find themselves again with their Semitic brothers around a common heritage so rich for all,” he said.
He then asked: “Is it necessary to specify, above all for those who remain skeptical, even hostile, that this rapprochement will not be confused with a certain religious relativism and still less with a loss of identity?”
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