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JJunte, - Jtlen - WlyLJ
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Cliff Hunter, Nick Allen, Curtis Myhand
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LaGRANGE, GEORGIA
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friendship. "The Ecumenical spirit,
and not in the least the Biblical
renaissance,” fardinal Gerlieu
writes, “must impress upon all
Christians to revise their position
to Israel’s sm and lead them tow
ard the discovery in Judaism the
very roots whence all Christian
traditions stem.”
The Cardinal who has been one
of the first leaders of the liberal
wing since the beginning states of
Vatican*- II, calls attention to St.
Paul’s belief that the day will
come when Israel and the Church
will form “one people in the eyes
of God,” to which he adds that
grandiose vision was shuttered be
cause of centuries of anti-semi-
tism.”
Some observers believe that
Cardinal Gerlier’s appeal for the
Church’s renewal and “liberaliza
tion” has won over many delegates
of the Ecumenical Council and is
an indication of the Vatican’s rev
olutionary steps takes in that di
rection.
a17 that is very laudatory, es
pecially when the highest echelons
in the Vatican are willing to take
the “bull by the horns” in order
to mend Catholic-Jewish relations.
But we Jews, who have been
more than once disappointed in the
course of our long and torturous
history, must not be lulled into a
false sense of security as a result
of these philo-semitic manifesta
tions, sincere as they might he. For
there still exists a wide difference
of opinion among the two thousand
clerics, whether such a radical step
should ever be taken by the Coun
cil in regard to the Jews.
There are, for instance many
Bishops and Cardinals of the con
servative camp, who bitterly op
pose any notion which may imply
the slightest divergence from the
traditional relationsnip between the
Catholic Church and the Jewish
people.
There are others, whose position
is a more lenient one, but who are,
nevertheless not yet ready for such
a revolutionary change. Their old
anti-Jewish bias has not yet evap
orated. As far as Cardinal Bea’s
Jewish study and recommendations
are concerned, for the time being
they have be^n shoved off and
are at present locked up in the
drawer of the Cardinal’s desk, with
few clerics and no layman ever
having seen them. The Council’s
agenda is long, its internal re
ligious problems are pressing, and
their “Jewish problem” can of
J ^'lowers
MAX FLINK, Owner
Telephone 2-3531 108 Church Street
LaGRANGE, GEORGIA
course wait.
And so the question which arises
in the Jewish camp is, will Car
dinal Bea’s recommendations ever
reach the conference table? Car
dinal Bea hopes they will appear
on the Council’s agenda by 1963,
but is by no means sure of this.
If he himself is not sure, then what
assurance is there that Pope John’s
proclamation to usher in “a new
order of human relations on the
paramount dignity of the HUMAN
person” — will ever find its way
into the hearts of all the clerics,
to be adapted as a standard Cath
olic policy?
Of course there is no assurance
whatsoever. But there are never
theless certain conclusions which
we Jews can and must draw from
the present historical convocation
of Vatican II. First, the Catholic
Church has at long last became
aware of “their Jewish problem.”
This is indeed gratifying, for the
first step to the solution of a prob
lem, is the realization that such
a problem exists. Second, to us
Jews who have been the historic
victim of Christian prejudice and
mistreatment, this alone is of little
comfort. Pious professionals with
out their concrete expression in
deeds, have little value.
It is therefore incumbent upon
the Jewish people to demand from
the Ecumenical Council that at a
time when the Catholic Church is
engaged in making serious theo
logical and political revisions, that
their “Jewish problem” not be
postponed to the next century The
time has come for the Church to
confess its historic sin committed
against Jewish generations, and to
realize that anti-semitism is a
Christian disease that the Church
itself must care for and cure.
The Catholic Church must then
recognize its active role in spread
ing hatred against the Jews. That
hatred was revealed in our own
generation with all its infernos
in Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Li
thuania, Lativia, Rumania, Aus
tria, etc., all Christian nations who
actively helped Hitler in the ex
termination of six million Jews.
Right now, the leader of the Ar
gentina Nazi party “Guardia,” is
the vicious anti-sem;t : c Father Ju
lio Meinvielle, a Roman Catholic
Priest. And is it necessary to men
tion all the suffering that the Cath
olic clergy has caused the Jews
throughout the centuries?
The Jewish people the world
over and Israel in particular will
be awaiting the outcome cf these
deliberations with eagerness and
profound interest. Behind the her
metically closed door; of the Vat
ican Council there will surely be
a great deal of maneuvering
around the “Jewish problem.”
Who will emerge victorious the
conservatives with their reaction
ary blinkers on their eves, cr the
liberals headed by Pope John the
XXIII—who see farther and deep
er—that remains to be seen.
But one thing is sure. From the
Jewish point of view, the Catholic
Church has now a great and un
usual opportunity to rectify t h e
enormous historic wrong done
against the Jewish people. And
until this monumental wrong is
righted, there is little hope for
changed relations between Cath
olics and Jews. May the Vatican
not miss this rare opportunity.
The Southern Israelite