50 Years since the Church embraced Jews
BY SR MARIE ANDRÉ MITCHELL SND
On October 28 the Church will mark the 50th anniversary of the document that broke new ground in interfaith relations: Nostra Aetate.
The history of the Second Vatican Council’s “Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religions” was long and complex.
It began with Pope John XXIII who had wanted the Council to make a statement to clarify the Church’s stand with regard to Judaism. Various drafts of the document met with difficulties and eventually its scope was enlarged so as also to include the attitude of the Church not only to Judaism, but also to Islam and all world religions.
Referring to Acts 17:26, Nostra Aetate noted: “For all peoples form a single community; their origin is one for God made the whole human race to dwell over the entire face of the earth.”
The document expresses great respect and sympathy for the religions of the world whose authentic values it expounds, but at the same time it shows the finality of Christ’s revelation which the Church is commissioned to proclaim.
Article 4 relates specifically to the Jews and reinforces the relationship of the Church with Abraham’s stock and recounts many basic elements the Church has in common with the Jews.
“Since the spiritual patrimony common to Christian and Jews is thus so great, this Sacred Synod wishes to foster and recommend that mutual understanding and respect which is the fruit above all of biblical and theological studies and of brotherly dialogue,” the document says. It also condemns all forms of anti-Semitism.
Nostra Aetate defined and set in writing an historic and wide-ranging transformation in the Catholic Church’s thinking about and relating to Judaism and the Jewish people. It marked the beginning of a new age of dialogue between the two ancient communities.
Nostra Aetate also provided the inspiration and direction for many other significant documents and events which have helped significantly to reshape Jewish-Catholic relations.
It paved the way for acknowledgment by Pope John Paul II that God’s covenant with the Jews had never been revoked (Mainz, Germany 1980). Pope Benedict XVI in his message for the 40th anniversary of Nostra Aetate said: “The Jewish- Christian dialogue must continue to enrich and deepen the bonds of friendship which have developed while preaching, and catechesis must be committed to ensuring that our mutual relations are presented in the light of the principles set forth by the Council.”
During an unscheduled stop at the Jesuit St Joseph’s University in Philadelphia last month, Pope Francis viewed the university’s new statue, “Synagoga and Ecclesia in Our Time”, which was recently unveiled to mark the 50th anniversary of the promulgation of Nostra Aetate.
The statue reflects the teaching of the Catholic Church today. It depicts synagogue and church as both proud crowned women, living in covenant with God side-by-side and learning from one another’s sacred texts and traditions.
It is so different from medieval presentations that showed that Jews were blind enemies of God whose spiritual life was obsolete.
On this 50th anniversary, as we thank God for what has been achieved, we need to renew our commitment to continue the work that yet remains to be done. Nostra Aetate was a beginning not an end.
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