Lecture will examine progress, barriers in interfaith bonds

The Second Vatican Council took place four decades ago, but Dr. Philip Cunningham believes that Catholics have just begun to feel at home with the changes in Jewish-Catholic relations it sparked.

He is executive director of the Center for Christian and Jewish Learning at Boston College. On Sept. 19, he'll speak on "Jewish-Catholic Relations: Accomplishments and Challenges" at The College of Saint Rose in Albany.

The talk -- co-sponsored by the Jewish-Catholic Dialogue Committee of the Albany Diocese's Commission for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, and by the Community Relations Council of the United Jewish Federation of Northeastern New York -- is in memory of local clergyman Rabbi Martin Silverman.

'Watershed'

"In terms of the Catholic Church's relation to the Jewish tradition, Vatican II was a watershed moment," Dr. Cunningham told The Evangelist.

"Nostra Aetate," a document released during the Second Vatican Council, condemned anti-Semitism and discrimination because of religion or race. However, he said, "that kind of growth doesn't transform an entire community overnight -- especially when that community had attitudes that lasted for 1,700 years."

That's why ongoing dialogue between Catholics and Jews is important, he said, even though such dialogue is often awkward at first.

Progress and pain

Dr. Cunningham, who is a Catholic, noted that some progress in Jewish-Catholic relations has happened as the result of conflicts or disagreements.

For example, "both Jews and Christians have a concept of 'Messiah,' but have diverged in what they mean by that," he explained. "Within the two traditions, there is also diversity: Not all Jews [or Christians] understand 'Messiah' in the same way. We can 'talk past each other' because we don't understand what our dialogue partner means."

Forging ahead despite such struggles is what leads to more trust between Jews and Catholics, Dr. Cunningham said.

Going deeper

"Once the level of conversation has gotten to a certain depth, to have multiple ways to approach a topic broadens one's way of understanding one's own religious tradition," he noted.

Looking at the way someone of another faith understands a concept like "the Messiah" doesn't water down one's own faith, but enriches it, he said.

"One comes away with a renewed conviction of the essential value of one's tradition," he said. "You may not be the same Christian or Jew as before the conversation, but you will be a deeper Christian or Jew."

Achievements

In his talk, Dr. Cunningham will discuss a host of accomplishments and challenges in Jewish-Catholic relations over the years. He mentioned two "enormous" accomplishments:

* The Church's condemnation of anti-Semitism as sinful has "really permeated the Catholic community worldwide," he stated. Although Dr. Cunningham doesn't believe Catholics necessarily recognize anti-Semitism when they see it -- he cited certain scenes in the film "The Passion of the Christ" as examples -- he noted that when something is deemed anti-Semitic, most Catholics immediately see that anti-Semitism as wrong.

* Official Catholic teaching that the Jewish people remain in an eternal covenant with God contradicted the previous, harmful assumption that because of Jesus' crucifixion, the Jews had lost that covenant.

"Pope John Paul II started to say explicitly in the 1980s that the Jews are in a covenant that has never been revoked, a 'covenant of eternal love,'" said Dr. Cunningham. "That leads to an understanding [among Catholics] that the Jewish way of life is one of walking with God -- valuable for Catholics to understand."

More to do

For all the accomplishments in Jewish-Catholic relations, the speaker said, there are still many challenges to overcome.

For instance, acknowledgement that the Jewish people are in a covenant with God "flies in the face of centuries-old habits" by some Catholics who are determined to blame Jews for the death of Christ.

Another challenge was the Pope's 1998 canonization of St. Edith Stein, a Jew who converted to Catholicism and died in the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1942. Dr. Cunningham said that many Jews saw her sainthood as "baptizing" Judaism, sparking a negative reaction and hurt feelings.

Dialogue between Catholics and Jews that leads to better understanding and respect for one another's traditions "is a process that will take decades to be fully achieved," Dr. Cunningham concluded; "and I'm one person involved in that process."

(Dr. Cunningham's lecture will be held Sept. 19, 7:30 p.m., in CSR's Hubbard Interfaith Sanctuary. Discussion and refreshments follow. For information, call Joan Dunham, 863-6731.)

(9/9/04)