NCCB Issues Collection of Documents on the Holocaust

 WASHINGTON --"Catholics Remember the Holocaust" has been issued by the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairsof the National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB). The book centers on the Vatican statement last March by the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, "We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah." It contains the full text of that statement, with introduction and commentaries, as well as key statements made during the past four years by conferences of bishops in Europe and the United States.

"The statements collected here represent the attempts of the national hierarchies of many of the nations most deeply involved in the events ofthe Shoah to grapple with the immense complexities of the histories of their own nations and local churches a half century ago," wrote Archbishop Alexander J. Brunett, Chairman of the Bishops' Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs. "The Holy See's (document) 'We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah' is an effort to engage the whole Church in the examination of conscience called for by Pope John Paul II in Tertio Millennio Adviente (On the Coming of the Third Millennium)," the Archbishop stated.

"We believe that these texts should be known and studied by Catholics even in local communities where few Jews reside and in those which were not directly involved in World War II," Archbishop Brunett said.

"Catholics Remember the Holocaust" is available at $5.95 from the UnitedStates Catholic Conference Office of Publishing Services (800) 235-8722or (202) 722-8716). Additional information is available on the U.S. Bishops' internet site at www.usccb.org.