A leading Jesuit organ has condemned a textbook containing the anti-Semitic ritual murder libel and has indicated that the book has been withdrawn following disclosure by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that it was being used in Spanish schools.
The JTA revealed that the book, published under a bishop’s imprimatur, had been distributed to Spanish schools by the Ministry of Education. Following appearance of the JTA news report in this country, several readers of America, the Jesuit weekly, made inquiries of that publication. The Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith and the JTA provided further information to Rev. Robert A. Graham, associate editor of America.
An editorial in the current issue of America describes the contents of the chapter on Jews in this textbook and comments: “Pedagogically using this book is a frightful wrong to commit against impressionable young minds; socially it is a hateful encouragement to popular passion; theologically, it is an egregious abuse of Sacred Scripture under the guise of Christian piety.
“This preconciliar scandal, it can be hoped, is now withdrawn from circulation, ” the editorial added. “Yet the very persistence of such printed provocations, in any corner of the Christian world, pants up the need for the Vatican Council to provide authoritative and constructive guidelines. This is the main concern of the draft declaration on the Jews which in a few months will go before the Council Fathers.”
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.
