Jewish groups: Bishops' statement threatens ties
Major Jewish groups and rabbis from the three largest branches of American Judaism say their relationship with Roman Catholic leaders is at risk because of a recent U.S. bishops' statement on salvation, the Associated Press is reporting.
Jewish groups are interpreting the new document to mean that the bishops see interfaith dialogue as an opportunity to invite Jews to become Catholic, AP religion writer Rachel Zoll writes.
In a letter to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Jewish leaders say they do not object to Christians sharing their faith, but warn dialogue with Jews becomes "untenable" if its goal is to persuade Jews to accept Christ as their savior. The signers were the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee and rabbis representing Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Jews.
"A declaration of this sort is antithetical to the very essence of Jewish-Christian dialogue as we have understood it," they wrote in the letter Thursday.
Their protest is the latest in a series raised by Jewish leaders during the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI. Jews were angered in 2007 when Benedict endorsed a long marginalized version of the Latin Mass that included a prayer for the conversion of the Jews, and again earlier this year when the Vatican rescinded the excommunication of a Holocaust denier.
The latest episode stems from a statement issed by the bishops in June to clarify a 2002 document that they said mistakenly played down the importance of sharing the Gospel and was therefore misleading.
"While the Catholic Church does not proselytize the Jewish people, neither does she fail to witness to them her faith in Christ, nor to welcome them to share in that same faith whenever appropriate," Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., chairman of a bishops' committee on doctrine, told the AP. He had said the revisions affirmed statements from the Holy See.
As Zoll writes, the tensions are rooted in a complex theological debate about salvation for those outside the Catholic Church. Discussion of the issue between Jews and Catholics focuses on the significance of the ancient covenant between God and the Jews.
Pope John Paul II had spoken repeatedly of a covenant "never revoked." Many Jewish groups view the bishops' statement as stepping back from the pope's position.
