Vatican Celebrates Outreach to Jews (Rome's Chief Rabbi Boycotts Event)

Yahoo News ^ | October 27, 2005 | Nicole Winfield

[NYer]

Pope Benedict XVI marked the 40th anniversary of a landmark Vatican document on relations with Jews by calling Thursday for a renewed commitment for Catholics and Jews to deepen their bonds and work for the good of all humanity.

Benedict issued a message that was read out during a commemoration of the "Nostra Aetate" document of the Second Vatican Council, in which the Catholic Church deplored anti-Semitism and repudiated the "deicide" charge that blamed Jews as a people for Christ's death.

Rome's chief rabbi, Riccardo di Segni, told The Associated Press that he had refused to attend the ceremony because of the presence of one of the keynote speakers, Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, a Jewish convert to Catholicism.

"It's not a protest but an invitation to reflect on the meaning of dialogue" between religions, Di Segni said in a telephone interview.

"What is dialogue? If it means losing one's identity and crossing over to the other side, then it's not dialogue," he said.

Cardinal Walter Kasper, who hosted the event, said he did not want to comment on the absence of Di Segni and other European rabbis at the ceremony, saying only that he had received a letter from Di Segni and "he didn't mention Cardinal Lustiger."

The German-born Benedict, who attended the 1962-65 Vatican meeting as a young theologian, praised the document for having laid the foundations for a new relationship between Catholics and Jews.

"On this anniversary ... we need to renew our commitment to the work that yet remains to be done," he said. "The Jewish-Christian dialogue must continue to enrich and deepen the bonds of friendship which have developed, while preaching and catechis must be committed to ensuring that our mutual relations are presented in the light of the principles set forth by the council."

He said that in the future, he hoped that theological dialogue as well as everyday contacts between Christians and Jews would offer a "shared witness" to the promotion of human dignity, the sanctity of life, and the need to build a world of justice and peace.

Rabbi David Rosen, who helped negotiate the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Holy See and Israel, told the commemoration ceremony that "Nostra Aetate," which was issued following the Holocaust, had had "truly revolutionary" implications.

"With the promulgation of this declaration, a people — formerly viewed at best as a fossil but more often as cursed and condemned to wander and suffer — was now officially portrayed as beloved by God and somehow very much still part of the divine plan for humankind," he said.

But he said both Catholics and Jews still needed to fully comprehend its implications, and said there were still key theological issues that remain to be worked out — including whether the Catholic Church will relinquish the "invitation to conversion" to Christianity of the Jews.

"Arguably there is no other issue that remains a bone of theological contention within the church in relation to the Jewish people as this matter," said Rosen, who is president of the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations, which represents world Jewry in relations with other world religions.

Kasper, who is responsible for the Vatican's relations with the Jews, said "Nostra Aetate" was just "the beginning of the beginning of the process of reconciliation and peace."

"Many historic and theological works need to be further encouraged and developed," he said. He said there were only "fragments" of a Christian theology of Judaism, and that he awaited a Jewish theology of Christianity.

[NYer]

AP - Thu Oct 27, 2:45 PM ET

From left: French Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, German Cardinal Walter Kasper, and Rabbi David Rosen, President of the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations, during a commemoration of the 'Nostra Aetate' document of the Second Vatican Council, in the Vasari Hall of the Palazzo della Cancelleria palace, in Rome Thursday, Oct. 27, 2005. Rome's chief rabbi, Riccardo di Segni, said he had refused to attend the ceremony because of the presence of Cardinal Lustiger, one of the keynote speakers, a Jewish convert to Catholicism. In the 'Nostra Aetate', the Catholic Church deplored anti-Semitism and repudiated the 'deicide' charge that blamed Jews as a people for Christ's death. (AP Photo/Pier Paolo Cito)

[NYer]

AP - Thu Oct 27, 2:11 PM ET From left, French Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger, left, German Cardinal Walter Kasper, center, with Rabbi David Rosen, president of the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations, during a a commemoration of the 'Nostra Aetate' document of the Second Vatican Council, in the Vasari Hall of the Palazzo della Cancelleria palace, in Rome Thursday, Oct. 27, 2005.

Some background information on Jean Marie Cardinal Lustiger, compliments of the Washington Times.

France was stunned when Pope John Paul II named Jewish-born Jean-Marie Lustiger as archbishop of Paris. "You are the fruit of the Holy Father's prayer," the pontiff's secretary told him. Could it be that the cardinal-electors will now stun the world by choosing Lustiger as next pope, the first Jew to occupy St. Peter's See since Peter himself?

Lustiger, both whose parents died in Auschwitz, has always insisted that, though he had converted to Christianity at age 14, he was and remained a Jew: "I was born a Jew and so I am. For me, the vocation of Israel is to bring light to the goyim. That's my hope, and I believe Christianity is the means for achieving it."

There is a remarkable conversion dialectic in Lustiger's life. He had himself baptized because he was so impressed with the Catholic faith of his foster parents, who brought him up after his real parents had been deported from Paris in 1940. In return, Lustiger has made it his mission to convert -- or, rather, re-evangelize -- France and by extension Europe in an unorthodox way.

While a parish priest, Lustiger wrote a memorandum to archbishop of Paris, Cardinal François Marty. In it he proposed a revolutionary strategy for bringing Christianity back to France, once called the First Daughter of the Church. He insisted the church must abandon any pretense of power and convert culture instead.

As George Weigel, the pope's biographer, commented on this plan: "This meant taking the gospel straight to the molders and shapers of French high culture, the thoroughly secularized French intelligentsia. The hardest cases should be put first and France should be reconverted from the head down."

According to Weigel, Lustiger believes this memorandum must have found its way to the Vatican and contributed to his promotions to bishop of Orleans in 1979, archbishop of Paris in 1981 and cardinal in 1983.

If so, Lustiger's strategy is bearing fruit. No sooner did he ascend to the Paris See than he targeted intellectuals, preaching to them every Sunday evening at his cathedral, Notre Dame de Paris. This year -- more than two decades after he inaugurated this sermon series -- the influential Figaro newspaper ran an eight-part series about Christian intellectuals finally resurfacing in France after a very long internal exile: it simply wasn't considered chic to be a man or woman of faith.

In France, the rest of the country has always followed the intellectuals' path. It is now fashionable again, even for leftwing thinkers such as Regis Debré, Ché Guevara's companion, to speak of the need of religious instruction at school, though the government blocked the mention of God and Christianity in the draft of the new European constitution.

The French church, once an institution of immense power, has become a mission church, and her sisters in other part of the Continent are following her example. Indeed, that mission takes place chiefly in the once almost hopelessly secularized urban centers, where there are now first signs of a tender spiritual renewal.

That, too, was Lustiger's brainchild. Since Europe's conversion has top priority for the Catholic Church, the election of this formidable preacher and thinker is still a possibility, even though, at 77, he is no longer of an ideal age -- and though popular superstition holds the last pope will be of Jewish descent and call himself Peter II.

[Antioch]

This article reminds me of Pope John Paul II's 1994 concert held at the Vatican on Holocaust Commemoration Day. After protestations from the jews, the pope had stricken a piece by Gustav Mahler, the composer who converted to Catholicism from Judaism, from a list of songs compiled for the concert. Perhaps that is a minor point for the greater good of ecumenism, but when John Paul also had a 50-foot crucifix removed from the hall where the concert was held, one wonders when ecumenism will be more than a one-way dialogue.

[Alexander Rubin]

I see this as promising. And though I am personally saddened by Lustiger's choice, as a Jew I feel he would have made a fine Jew, I am glad that he's chosen to lead so noble an example as a Catholic. And frankly, I could hardly be happier with Ratzinger.

The rabbi who boycotted the meeting made the wrong choice. This was an important opportunity, which he missed. And now the onus is on him to make it up to the Catholic church.

[iowamark]

"What is dialogue? If it means losing one's identity and crossing over to the other side, then it's not dialogue," he said."

Does this rabbi deny people the free will to decide their own religion? I gather that he does.

[Antioch]

Di Segni remarks are interesting: "What is dialogue? If it means losing one's identity and crossing over to the other side, then it's not dialogue." I recall this sentiment was the excruciating question which plagued Karl Stern and Bernard Nathanson in their long path to Catholicism. The prospect of losing their fundamental identity was the most difficult thing. It is a profound mystery how God uses each of us in the long view of history, to draw souls to Him in our faith, unfaith, sanctity or worldliness.

[Loyalist]

"What is dialogue? If it means losing one's identity and crossing over to the other side, then it's not dialogue," he said."

Rabbi Di Segni understands the evil that underlies the modern ecumenical movement. Too many Catholics don't, and that's why we find the Church in its current state of post-conciliar ruin.

[Thorin]

As this article makes clear, some of the Jewish partners in "dialogue" want the Church to renounce the idea that Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. If the Church announces that Jews should never convert to Christianity--which is what those who boycott this event want--the Church will have fallen into heresy and repudiated the Gospel.

[kosta50]

Does this rabbi deny people the free will to decide their own religion? I gather that he does

It's not his opinion, it's post Jamnia Judaism. A Jew can be a Jew even if (s)he is an agnostic or an atheist. Judaism believes in "salvation" through works. If a Jew lives a righteous life, (s)he is acceptable to God. Thus, one "earns" his or her "salvation." Faith is not required.

But a Jew cannot be a Christian and remain a Jew because Judaism rejects the notion that a Man can become God (but it never entertains the notion that perhpas God can become a Man!). Thus, a Jew who accepts Jesus Christ is an apostate.

In 100 AD, rabbis met at Jamnia. One of the results of that meeting was to reject books considered Scripture by the Christians. Another consequence was to command Jews to curse the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

So, while it was wrong of Christians to hold all Jews "responsible" for "deicide," as far as post-Jamnia Judaism goes, we are cursed, and those Jews who join us especially.

Judaism and Christianity will never get any closer. We can and should peacefully co-exist and respect each other. But obviously that mutual acceptance will break down, as was the case with Cardinal Lustinger.

[Thorin]

Unfortunately, the rejection of Jesus Christ is an integral aspect of the identity of post-Temple Judaism.

[Thorin]

Thanks for this informative post. I was aware of this thinking--embracing atheism is not considered a rejection of Judaism, but embracing Christianity is--but I was not aware of its origin.

Unfortunately, the rejection of Jesus Christ is an integral aspect of the identity of post-Temple Judaism.

[NYer]

The rabbi who boycotted the meeting made the wrong choice. This was an important opportunity, which he missed. And now the onus is on him to make it up to the Catholic church.

The confusing aspect to this story is that in April, Rabbi Di Segni praised a message sent by Benedict to Rome's Jewish community, only two days after his election. "I trust God to help me continue the dialogue and strengthen the collaboration with the sons and daughters of the Jewish people," the message said.

‘’Continuity with the previous policy of cooperation with Rome's Jewish community and Jews around the world is a priority and a committment [for the Pope]," Di Segni said.

"This makes for a serene atmosphere and should immediately wipe away the concerns of those who feared a "sharp reversal,’’ he said.

Rome's chief rabbi said he hoped Pope Benedict XVI would in the future be able to vist the Holy Land, as "another sign of his continuity with the work of his predecessor."

In 1986, Pope JPII visited the Synagogue in Rome. He was met with great affection by Rabbi Toaff.

In his last will and testament, JPII mentioned only 2 people; his devoted secretary and Rabbi Toaff.

[Romulus]

as a Jew I feel he would have made a fine Jew

I understand. But you must understand us, that as Catholics we think Cardinal Lustiger does make a fine Jew. Rosalind Moss, a Jewish-Catholic evangelist, is well known for her remark that becoming Catholic is "the most Jewish thing a person can do".

[NYer]

I recall this sentiment was the excruciating question which plagued Karl Stern and Bernard Nathanson in their long path to Catholicism.

For those familiar with his book Salvation is from the Jews, you will recall Roy Schoeman's comments in the preface:

"As a Jew who has entered the Catholic Church, I might be accused by some of being singularly unqualified to speak for Judaism - that I am the worst of all possible Jews, an apostate, a traitor, a turncoat, a Jew who has "switched allegiances" and become Catholic. "

Like others before him, Roy Schoeman clings tenatiously to his Jewish identity and proudly so, for he bears witness to the promise made to his ancestors.

As a conservative and pious Jew, educated by 3 of the most prominent rabbis in the world, the last thing Roy Schoeman had on his mind was conversion to christianity, when he took a stroll one day on a beach in Cape Cod. Like Saul of Tarsus, his conversion was "instantaneous".

Roy Schoeman's story .

[Pyro7480]

I liked the excerpt from the Postulatum from the First Vatican Council, signed by the Fathers of the Council, and endorsed by Blessed Pius IX. It is a proof that Blessed Pius IX wasn't a "Jew hater."

[magisterium]

A very moving conversion story! For anyone in the Boston are, it just happens that Roy Schoeman will be speaking after Mass this Sunday at my parish church, Holy Trinity Church, 140 Shawmut Ave. Boston. We host the indult Tridentine Mass at 12:00, and I imagine Mr. Schoeman will be speaking shortly thereafter, about 1:30.

[sanormal]

Choosing God, Chosen by God: Conversations With Jean-Marie Cardinal Lustiger (Paperback)
by Jean-Louis Missika, Dominique Wolton, Ignatius Press, 1991. ISBN: 0898702305

[kosta50]

In 1986, Pope JPII visited the Synagogue in Rome. He was met with great affection by Rabbi Toaff

Christianity teaches that we should love our adversaries. We ought to thank them from bringing us closer to Christ. So, the Pope did the right thing. But I am sure, he also prayed that Rabbi Toaff should convert in his heart, as I am sure Rabbi Toaff cursed the name of Jesus of Nazareth.

No need to sugarcoat the truth.