Clarifying the Catholic view of the Jewish covenant
-
- September
- 4
This is an interesting moment in the long journey that is…Catholic/Jewish relations.
As I’ve noted before, the U.S. Catholic Bishops Conference issued a statement not long ago to clarify the church’s relationship with the Jewish people. The statement noted that while the Catholic Church does not proselytize the Jewish people, it does invite the Jews, like all others, to follow Christ.
Many Jewish leaders did not react well, and talks have been held.
Father James Massa, Executive Director for the USCCB’s Secretariat of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, told the Catholic News Agency: “As Catholics involved in a dialogue of truth, we cannot help but give witness to Christ, who, for us, is synonymous with truth. Without acknowledging our indebtedness to God’s revelation in Christ, we cannot sit at the table and speak as Christians about how we arrive at notions of justice, compassion and building up the common good—the very values our interreligious dialogues seek to foster.”
The Forward’s J.J. Goldberg wrote: “Forty-four years of Catholic-Jewish reconciliation, set in motion by the Second Vatican Council in 1965 and nudged forward by thousands of hours of dialogue and theological review, appear to be in jeopardy right now, threatened by an ideological battle inside the Catholic Church.”
More recently, the Vatican has approved a revision to the Catholic Catechism that further clarifies what Catholics should believe about the Jewish covenant with God.
The first version: “Thus the covenant that God made with the Jewish people through Moses remains eternally valid for them.”
The revision: “To the Jewish people, whom God first chose to hear his Word, ‘belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ.’”
A statement from the Bishops Conference said the teaching is not new: “The clarification reflects the teaching of the Church that all previous covenants that God made with the Jewish people are fulfilled in Jesus Christ through the new covenant established through his sacrificial death on the cross. Catholics believe that the Jewish people continue to live within the truth of the covenant God made with Abraham, and that God continues to be faithful to them.”
More talks, you can bet, will be held.
This entry was posted
on Friday, September 4th, 2009 at 10:24 am by Gary Stern.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
Print
| 
Email
The world of religion, we don't have to tell you, is vast. The purpose of this blog is for Stern to note, flag and comment on some of the more interesting religious developments on the scene – weighty and quirky, somber and laughable, far away and just down the road. He won't interpret Scripture, take sides in conflicts or judge anyone. But he will take advantage of the journalist's license to observe.
Thank you for this post. I come from a long family history of Catholics, and we’ve always been taught by Catholics older than ourselves, that the Jews ARE the chosen people of God, and that God sent his Son Jesus (one with Himself) for the rest of us, who have no Jewish blood in our veins. We were also taught of the terrible human acts in history, caused by those in high positions within our Catholic Church (NEVER Catholic family’s choices), very tragic. In short – it’s been made clear to us that we Catholics can NEVER think ill of the Jews because Jesus Himself is a Jew – of the chosen people of God. All Catholics that I’ve ever known feel this way.