Catholic-jewish Friction over Church-state Problems Foreseen

A Catholic priest-editor tonight appealed to his fellow Christians “to dissipate the multitudinous misconceptions and lying fables that Christians have often used in the past to justify their harsh treatment of Jews. The Rev. John Sheerin, editor of the Catholic World, declared that “there is unquestionably a latent anti-Semitism in many Catholic circles in the U.S.,” and called for a “wide-ranging study” of its origin.

Father Sheerin spoke at the opening session of a four-day closed-door Jewish Catholic Colloquy at St. Vincent Benedictine Archabbey, sponsored Jointly by the American Benedictine Academy and the National Conference of Christians and Jews. He declared that, for Catholics, the recent Ecumenical Council’s statement on the Jews “is an act of contrition.”Father Sheerin warned against a “new breeding-ground of anti-Semitism” in the continuing opposition between Catholics and Jews over Church-State matters. “When (the Jew) looks with suspicion on governmental aid to religion,” he explained, “it is not that he fears religion in public life, but that he fears that religion will take the form of Christian religion. He remembers what official Christianity has done to him in the past.”

The Catholic editor conceded that “the argument advanced by many Jews for taking religion out of public life is a cogent one.” He urged Catholics “to keep our eyes fixed on the freedom of the Jewish conscience.” He warned that “the prospect is that there will be constant friction between Catholics and Jews in the future over these Church-State problems.” But he saw hope that “if we have mutual respect for each other’s freedom of conscience, these conflicts can become creative and constructive.”