They, then, precisely by persevering in the faith of the God of the Covenant, called all, also us Christians, to the fact that we are always waiting, as pilgrims, for the Lord’s return and, therefore, that we must always be open to Him and never take refuge in what we have already attained.”
After the Holocaust many books came out on this subject – not only “How Catholics Look At Jews,” but also “The Diary of Anne Frank,” Eli Wiesel’s writings and stories about “righteous Christians,” to mention a few. However, what is to be noted is that all of these writings are of the moment. Even schools that place Anne Frank’s diary in their reading curriculum are not as powerful as sermons questioning Jews, which youngsters might hear in their church.
In the end, we are products of our own backgrounds. Even those who do not believe at all in religion will tell you, “I came from a Catholic or Jewish or Amish or evangelist background.” We can change, we can have a renaissance but we do not completely escape our backgrounds.
Rabbi Sandmel pointed out that, “The Vatican in Rome maintains a commission for Religious Relations with the Jews. Many dioceses have an office for ecumenical and interfaith relations, as does the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.”
According to the most recent survey done by the Pew Research Center, there are more than a billion Catholics in the world. Even though the Catholic Church has instituted “Nostra Aetate,” and popularized words from popes and other hierarchs in the Church, what is really being done to eradicate completely anti-Semitism from the church? Anti-Semitism still rears its ugly head here and there in remote, individual churches.
Edith Lynn Beer is a freelance author/journalist/lecturer. Her articles have been published both here and abroad including in The Sunday New York Times, The Denver Post, Elle, and Berlin Tagesblatt. She gives seminars on writing at Colorado Mountain College in Steamboat Springs. Edith is our ground reporter from Denver.