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Thursday, October 26, 2000 Christian-Jewish (Continued from page 4) live and to prosper. While there are times when Catholics and other Christians fail to see in the Jewish people “our elder brothers and sisters in faith,” as Pope John Paul II has called them, there is generally a much better relationship among us than existed just 50 years ago. It is hoped that this series will engender further understanding and appreciation of what has been accomplished in the last five decades by the work of the Holy Spirit between the Jewish peo ple and the Church. Dr. Boys refers in her book to ten theses for understanding the Jews that were developed at a conference of Christians and Jews in Switzerland in 1947, just two years following World War II. Using these theses as a starting point, Ms. Boys notes the importance of “rethinking traditional The Southern Cross, Page 11 Christian theology” regarding the Jewish people. The task is neither simple nor comfortable, but one in which we must become engaged if we take the words of Nostra Aetate seriously. Father Michael J. Kavanaugh is diocesan director of Ecumenism. This is the first in a series of articles on Jewish-Christian relations Letters (Continued from page 4) we Catholics believe in Tradition. We believe in the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ, not because it is written in the Gospels but because the early Christian com munity believed in the resurrection. The resurrection explains why [the] Gospels were written. So the Catholic Church (= early Christian community) and its Tradition came first and then the Gospels! “No church is necessary for sal vation”: The Church is the body of Christ, the Head. Jesus founded his Church and identified himself with the Church: “[Saul, Saul,] why do you persecute me?” So, to say, “no church is necessary” is the same as to say, “Jesus is not necessary.” Cut off from the Church, we wither like branches cut off from the vine tree. “We are saved by faith alone and without works”: “What does it profit, my brethren, though a man say he has faith and have not works? Can faith save him? Even so faith, if it has not works, is dead, being alone” {James 2:14-17). So, faith or works? The answer is: both. Catholics believe that true faith in Jesus generates love ex pressed in deeds and without good deeds faith is fake. Jesus is very clear on this point. But faith and love of course is impossible with out the grace of God. Background to the Vatican state ment: objective study of history without prejudice will show that the Catholic Church is the Church founded by Jesus, as the current pope can be linked all the way back to Peter, on whom Jesus founded What better way to Celebrate the Great Jubilee than by the Pope’s own newspaper, UOsservatore Romano. The Southern Cross offers an easy way to order at a discounted price. UOsservatore Romano is the official publication of the Vatican printed each week in English. By subscribing today, you’ll save $42 off the regular price and you’ll enjoy a full year of exclusive reports about the Holy Father and Jubilee 2000 events, like the Pope’s planned visit to the Holy Land. Receive UOsservatore Romano weekly for $109/yr. This special offer is for readers of Southern Cross and is only valid for orders placed before 3/31/00, so order today. Make your check payable to the Cathedral Foundation and we’ll start your subscription right away. Name: Address: City: St: Zip: Check enclosed Visa Card No.: MasterCard Discover Exp. date: Signature: L’OSSERVATORE ROMANO It’s here It’s time Send this order to: Cathedral Foundation, PO. Box 777, Baltimore, MD 21203 Voice: (410) 547-5324*E-mail: pmedinger@catholicreview.org his Church. The very fact that no other churches existed until much later is further proof. All other churches came into existence through humans rebelling against or defecting from the original Catholic Church. While the Orthodox churches have no union with the pope, the Protestant churches differ from the Catholic Church also in doctrine. The Catholic Church, as the Mother of all the other churches, does want union with all the other churches but not at the cost of truths of our faith. The Catholic Church pro motes in every possible way, espe cially through dialogue [and] ecu menism. But some Catholics have taken ecumenism to mean union by all means, even by ignoring doctri nal difference. In Asian countries like India, some zealous ecumenists not only say “all religions are true and salvific” (like all rivers flow into the sea, so all religions lead humans to Heaven!) but even want to use readings at Mass from Hindu or Islamic scriptures! If all reli gions are true, the thousands of martyrs and missionaries in the his tory of the Church were fools. Why should one preach the Gospel if all religions are true? Why did Jesus come into the world and command his disciples to preach the Gospel to every creature? Did not Jesus say, “I am the way, the truth and the life” and “No one comes to the Father except through me”? It is in this context one must look at this statement. Indeed the Catholic Church wants to co-operate with all other churches and other religions and concentrate on what unites us [rather] than [on what] divides. But the declaration is neither pre- Vatican II nor insulting. On the contrary, it is a timely warning to all Catholics not to dilute the truths of their faith for the sake of fake unity with non-Catholics or non- Christians. Father Xavier Kumbalaparampil Port Chaplain Savannah Editor s note: The letters on the declaration seem to have exhausted the topic. “One Faith... One Family: The Diocese of Savannah 1850-2000” A 350-page commemorative book Name: Order form Address: City: State: Zip: Phone: Parish: Please send me copies of One Faith... One Family @ $30 per copy. Check one payment option: Enclosed is my check for $ for copies, plus for home delivery (@ $8.00 per copy, if desired) Please charge my VISA/MASTERCARD # Expiration date: Signature: Return form to: Signature Publications 1600 James Street Syracuse, NY 13203