Vatican II at 50 - Relations with the Jews

A new book released last week attempts to portray another perspective on what President Franklin Delano Roosevelt did--or did not do-- in response to the Holocaust.  In “FDR and the Jews,” authors Richard Breitman and Alan J. Lichtman offer a broader picture of a president who many contend did not do enough to prevent further genocide.   

President Roosevelt hasn’t been the only subject of criticism.  Many maintain that the Catholic Church didn’t do enough in response to the murder of nearly six million Jews by Nazi Germany.   This is one reason Pope John XXIII placed the church’s relationship with the Jews on the agenda of the Second Vatican Council.   He wanted the Council to discuss and respond to the anti-Semitism which led to the Holocaust.   It was one of the most hotly debated issues of the Council’s three years.   For one thing, the Church had long held that the Jews were responsible for the crucifixion.  This was partly due to the negative connotations in the New Testament, in particular the gospel of John, which describes “the Jews” as the enemies of Jesus.  For another, creating a positive stance on the Jews could have had  politically-charged implications in the Arab world.  In the end, the Council approved a compromise statement in a document called Nostra Aetate.  In that document, the Council stated that the Jewish people as a whole did not bear responsibility for the death of Jesus and it decried any forms of anti-Semitism.  Though it didn’t go as far as some wanted, the document was a new starting point in the church’s relationship with the Jewish people.   Since then, several developments have strengthened those ties, even up to last Tuesday’s Papal Inauguration, which included for the first time, the chief Rabbi of Rome.

This Holy Week we will continue to strengthen those ties in the Triduum liturgies.  On Holy Thursday, we will commemorate the connection between the Passover (which this year begins at sunset on Monday), and the Paschal sacrifice.  On Good Friday, we will pray for “the Jewish people, to whom the Lord our God spoke first.”   On Holy Saturday, we will hear again the stories of Salvation history, reminding us that we are all children of the same loving God.  Amen!