Church Statements
Statement on Catholic-Jewish Relations (1975)
Statement on Catholic-Jewish Relations, National Conference of Catholic Bishops, 1975
7. Recalling past centuries . . . invites a sobering evaluation of our progress and warns against becoming over-confident about an early end to remaining problems. Those were centuries replete with alienation, misunderstanding, and hostility between Jews and Christians. While we rejoice that there are signs that anti-Semitism is declining in our country, conscience compels us to confront with candor the unhappy record of Jewish sufferings, both past and present. We make our own the statement of Nostra Aetate, “. . . for the sake of her common patrimony with the Jews, the Church decries hatred, persecutions, displays of anti-Semitism staged against Jews at whatever time in history and by whomsoever” and we reaffirm with the new Vatican Guidelines that “the spiritual bonds and historical links binding the Church to Judaism condemn (as opposed to the very spirit of Christianity) all forms of anti-Semitism. . . .” We urge all in the Church who work in the area of education, whether in the seminary, the school, or the pulpit, not only to avoid any presentation that might tend to disparage Jews or Judaism but also to emphasize those aspects of our faith which bear witness to our common patrimony and our spiritual ties with Jews.