This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Catholic Church’s “Nostra Aetate,” a document declaring the church’s relationship to other religions. All of us, on occasion, wonder how other people view the religion we were born into. Thus, “Nostra Aetate” is of great interest to non-Catholics, including the Jews. Greatly influenced by the moral complexities of the Holocaust, the document forswears, in part four, the centuries-old "deicide" allegation against all Jews. It affirms the religious bond shared by Jews and Catholics, acknowledges the eternal covenant between God and the People of Israel, and dismisses Church interest in trying to baptize Jews.
Encouraging words, but has it really advanced the Catholic clergy’s outlooks in every corner of the world?
My misgivings were piqued when Samuel J. Aquila, Archbishop of Denver, came last year to Steamboat Springs, Colo., a Western U.S. ski resort, to consecrate Holy Name Catholic Church. Proudly rebuilt from a modest church into a considerably tall edifice in a town that has prided itself in keeping its original, low-key western buildings, Holy Name invited the whole town to hear the Archbishop, who had traveled from Denver.
In his homily Archbishop Aquila included, “The Jewish people and the Romans thought, for sure, we are done with this guy [Jesus]. It’ s over. They put him down by the most heinous means of capital punishment. They crucified him to the cross. All of us know the shock and horror that is present in our hearts as we see and watch the video of men being beheaded in our own time. That’s over in an instant. Crucifixion was not over in an instant. And he did that all for love of you. And the midst of that, we see why his name is exulted. The Jewish people did not believe his promise that in three days I will rise.”
This homily can be observed from many different points of view. The smooth-spoken comment, “men being beheaded in our own time. That’s over in an instant,” is frightening. Being a prisoner/hostage for months at a time in the Middle East, and each day not knowing if this is the day you are going to be beheaded with a knife – perhaps a blunt knife – are extreme forms of physical and psychological torments. If Jesus died for our sins, he would doubtlessly have compassion for those being beheaded in the Middle East.
I did not attend the consecration but, without my asking, a Jewish friend of mine who was present related full of dismay that the Archbishop’s homily had dampened the celebration. Some people actually walked out. Curious, I obtained a video of the homily and as I listened to his historical interpretation of the Jews, an image of my Aunt Henny, who was gassed to death in Auschwitz, flashed in front of my eyes. I could name more relatives, but a list is not the point of this article.
THE CONNECTOR’S REGIONAL REPORTS
From Denver
‘Nostra Aetate,’
50 Years Later
By Edith Lynn Beer