An Associated Press dispatch from Rome reports that the Society “Friends of Israel” (Amici d’Israel), an organization to bring about the conversion of Jews to Catholicism, has been dissolved by a decree of the Congregation of the Holy Office.
The Society was founded in March 1926 by a group of Catholic prelates with the purpose “of developing in the Catholic world a friendly attitude toward Jews and to arouse sympathies for Jews.” Dr. Van Asseldonk, a Dutch Catholic prelate, the initiator of the Society. stated that the movement would not have a missionary character.
It was later brought out that the activities of the society were of a missionary character. At the convention of the Central Conference of American Rabbis held in June 1926, at the suggestion of Rabbi Louis Wolsey, the president, an investigation of the aims of the newly formed Catholic society was urged.
Additional pledges amounting to $3,500 have been received by Samuel Rothstein, chairman of the committee in charge of the campaign for a Jewish Community Centre in Long Branch, N.J. This brings the total subscription to more than $37,000. The goal is $100,000 to cover the cost of the building and maintenance for a period of three years.
The latest contributors are the Young Men’s Hebrew Association. Henry Werner and the Blue Bird Club.
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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.
