The tension between witnessing to Judaism and witnessing with Judaism grew exponentially with Vatican II's  Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religions. The closest statement to a condemnation, in all the 16 documents, is  this:  "The Church repudiates all persecutions against any man.  Moreover, mindful of her common patrimony with the Jews, and motivated by the gospel's spiritual love and by no political considerations, she deplores the hatred, persecutions, and displays of anti-Semitism directed against the Jews at any time and from any source."  Three important footnotes (#'s 26, 27 and 31) in the Abbott edition note that an earlier version had used the word "condemns," and why it was changed to "repudiates."¹

Cardinal Walter Kasper, Emeritus President of the Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, has been the point person for stating "that there should not be in the church any organization dedicated to the conversion of the Jews."²

For ecumenists, especially those who view Mission, Evangelization and Proclamation as a vital dimension of Christian Unity, the question of whether we should witness to Jews is critical.³

Pope Francis weighed into the discussion recently in his letter The Joy of the Gospel.  He put it this way:  "While it is true that certain Christian beliefs are unacceptable to Judaism, and that the Church cannot refrain from proclaiming Jesus as Lord and Messiah, there exists as well a rich complementarity which allows us to read the texts of the Hebrew Scriptures together and to help one another mine the riches of God's word.  We can also share many ethical convictions and a common concern for justice and the development of peoples."⁴

First, a personal experience.   Just as Vatican II was beginning, the Licentiate Course in Theology at the Gregorian University in Rome contained a required course in Mission and Unity, taught by ecumenist Johannes Witte S.J.  He made it very clear that one of the three major components of Ecumenism was Mission, with the World Missionary Conference of 1910, Edinburgh, Scotland as the major step.  (The other two major components were Doctrine [The Faith and Order Movement] and Social Justice [The Life and Work Movement]).

So it was with some dismay that I heard Monsignor Pierre Duprey WF, of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity (later Bishop Duprey) at our General House in Rome, Italy, on Sept. 21,1989, volunteering with some approval that the Vatican would shortly issue a document renouncing all witness to Judaism.  This stunned me, because all my studies and experience in ecumenism and inter-religious dialogue included a strong emphasis on evangelization.  Renounce witnessing to God's Chosen People? Or to any group?  A statement from the PCPCU itself, the promoter of Missionary Ecumenism? It seems contradictory to all that I had been taught or experienced.

So as the first element of our approach, we need to emphasize the overall direction of the reality known as Mission, Evangelization and Proclamation.  Pope Francis expressed strongly: "attention must always be paid to the essential bond between dialogue and proclamation, which leads the Church to maintain and intensify her relationship with non-Christians."⁵

Secondly, we need to admit that often Catholics (and all Christians) forget that it is not either/or, but both/and.  Yes, we need to proclaim Jesus to all, including Jews,  But we also need to ask forgiveness for sins of the past, find "gifts," even "necessities," that the Holy Spirit has planted in these religions and cultures, and work with all for peace and justice in a world where the poor and desperate are becoming more numerous.  The first does not exclude the second; in fact, both are urgently needed and, in their best and true forms, nourish each other.⁶

Thirdly, let us consider most seriously an element given special emphasis by Pope Francis:  friendship.  In an article I recommend most highly, James L. Fredericks described in detail how Francis' relationship with Rabbi Abraham Skorka began "as the basis for dialogue, not its by-product."⁷  Fredericks explains how John Paul II's more theological approach was needed in its time, but now the more urgent need is personal contact.  It is useless to draw up great statements regarding our relationship with other religions unless the authors intimately know members of those religions.

Fredericks concludes with a significant look at Pope Benedict's final words on this tension.  "Christians can afford to be 'supremely confident' that dialogue will not rob them of their identity, because 'we do not possess the truth, the truth possesses us'."⁸

I would add that in forming or receiving these friendships from God, we need to tell our stories.  I was serving as Acting Executive Director of the Texas Conference of Churches, when TCC held its first "Jewish-Christian Envisioning," at the (Episcopalian) Bishop Mason Retreat and Conference Center, Flower Mound, TX., Nov. 27-29, 1977. Our first meeting went very well. The Jewish, Protestant, Eastern Orthodox and Roman Catholic participants had begun to form friendships and worship together.

The second meeting, about a year and a half later, included a new Jewish member, a rabbi who had been raised in Italy.  When the time came for sharing, he attacked roundly and angrily the anti-Semitism he had experienced as a youth, blaming, it seemed to me, the entire Catholic Church.  There was a long and painful silence.  Then his fellow rabbi, Samuel E. Karff, of Congregation Beth Israel, Houston, TX , began to quietly tell a story.  He related how he and several other American rabbis were in an Eastern European country, and late at night boarded a tram.  There was a Turkish guest worker on the tram, obviously drunk, but hurting no one, just singing softly to himself.  All of a sudden, the tram jerked to an unscheduled stop and the conductor threw the worker bodily off the tram.  Rabbi Karff concluded:  "None of us moved, because the conductor was wearing a uniform."

Conversation started up quickly, and as I reflected on what Rabbi Karff had done, it seemed to me that he had quieted his fellow rabbi but in a dignified and charitable manner. Brothers and sisters can and should differ, but we need to agree to disagree agreeably.

One very important difference should be noted when we speak of witnessing.  Both the Vatican and the World Council of Churches make a careful distinction between proselytism and witness.⁹ The former involves any kind of coercion, and must be rejected.  The latter is a God-given right of any group with a cause.  Unfortunately, the secular media tends to use only proselytism  and reject any witness by religions outside of the church/synagogue/mosque building.¹⁰

A brief look at the major players against witnessing to Judaism, and for witnessing.  Fr. Michael B. McGarry CSP, who was a resource participant in the Nov., 1977 Jewish Christian Envisioning described above, argues persuasively  that such witness is not in our best interest. His presentation in Berlin, Germany, in 1994 "Can Catholics Make an Exception?  Jews and 'The New Evangelization'' is an excellent summary of his reasoning.¹¹

The Presbyterian ecumenist Robert McAfee Brown, in his classic The Ecumenical Revolution, summarizes the hesitancy at Vatican II about "converting" Jews, and presents a concise summary of the World Council of Churches movement against witnessing to Jews.¹²

A very interesting group of women religious, the Sisters of Our Lady of Sion, some of whom are of Jewish ancestry, perhaps best illustrate the movement from converting Jews to witnessing with them.  Community disclosure:  their founders, Fathers  Maria Theodor Ratisbonne, and his brother  Marie-Alphonse Ratisbonne, raised as Jews, were very respected by the founder of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, St. Eugene de Mazenod.  The Ratisbonne brothers spent some time in Marseille, France, where St. Eugene was bishop.  St. Eugene, who traveled with Alphonse at least once from Paris to Marseille in 1859, called him an "experienced priest," when it was a matter of consulting him about the suitability of a Jewish convert entering the Oblate novitiate.¹³                                                                

Emma Green described very thoroughly the change of emphasis of the Sisters of Our Lady of Sion from witnessing to, to working with, Jews:  "Developing Dialogue:  The Congregation of Our Lady of Sion and Nostra Aetate, 1945-69."¹⁴

The Catholic group most effective, in my opinion, in witnessing to Judaism is led by Right Reverend David Neuhaus, SJ.  He serves as  Patriarchal Vicar for St. James Vicariate, the Vatican established group for Hebrew Speaking Catholics in Israel.¹⁵ There is also the  Association of Hebrew Catholics, which has groups scattered throughout the world.¹⁶

 One whom I met back in 1989, when he was still a layman, Father David-Maria A. Jaeger, OFM, recently described  the 20th anniversary of the Fundamental Agreement between Israel and the Vatican.¹⁷  Jaeger had written, in 1989, an article for the SEDOS Research Seminar, held at Villa Cavaletti, Grottaferrata (Rome), March 8-19.  I received his advance copy, as each of us was requested to send one in before the seminar.  His article described  in some detail the rationale for witnessing to Judaism. Unfortunately, the editors decided not to publish his paper (and one other); 42 were published.¹⁸

There are many Protestant groups of Messianic Jews.  Some of the evangelical ones do border on proselytism when they reach out to Jews. Two Protestant authors whom I have found very informative are Susan Perlman, Associate Executive Director, Jews for Jesus, San Francisco, CA¹⁹ and Mark S. Kinzer, president of the Messianic Jewish Theological Institute.²⁰

Then we have the personal witness of Father Matthias Neuman, OSB.  He writes as a Christian Judaizer, meaning that he wants to bring Jewish values back to where they belong in the Catholic Church. He observed:  "let us remember that Jewish spirituality has always found a place for humor.  It has not forgotten that the biblical God is a God of unexpected turns, twists and surprises.  God plays; God teases! Jewish spirituality loves the humor of a laughing insight into religion. Even the classics--the Talmud, the Zohar, the Hassidic stories--revel in the humorous tidbit. 'If one man calls you an ass, ignore it.  If two or three call you an ass, start looking for a saddle.' 'A king visited a prison and talked with the prisoners. Each asserted his innocence, except one who admitted he was a thief. The king threw that one out of the prison, lest he corrupt the innocent.'  A healthy dose of such humor would provide spice (and attentiveness) for many a Christian sermon."²¹

I am convinced that we must work hard to hold both truths in tension:  Catholics should witness to Judaism, and Catholics must work with Judaism, recognizing its integrity.  Perhaps we could agree that no Catholic should impede a Jewish person from accepting Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and no Catholic should hesitate to recognize the need to humble ourselves in working for peace and justice with Judaism.

¹.  Walter A. Abbott, SJ, gen. ed., "Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to Non-Christian Religions," The Documents of Vatican II (New York: Herder, 1989), #4, pp. 666-68.

².  Cardinal Edward Idris Cassidy, Kasper's predecessor, quotes him in "Reflections on Covenant and Mission," Ecumenism and Interreligious Dialogue (New York/Mahwah: Paulist Press, 2005), 252-56; these pages available on the internet:  www.bc.edu/dam/files/research_sites/cjl/texts/cjrelations/resources/articles/cassidy_...

³.  For their relationship, see Harry E. Winter , OMI, "Marcello Zago, OMI:  Bonding Proclamation, Ecumenism and Dialogue," Ecumenical Trends 41 (June, 2012, #6):12/92-15/95; and "Pope Francis Letter 'The Joy of the Gospel,' and Ecumenism," Ecumenical Trends 43 (Sept. 2014, #8): 9/121, 12/124-14/126.

⁴. Pope Francis, The Joy of the Gospel (Washington, DC:  US Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2013), #249, pp. 119-120

⁵.  Ibid, #251, p. 120.

⁶.  For more on the group of Christians who are best able to live with two almost contradictory truths, see Harry E. Winter OMI, "Chapter Three: Neo-Orthodox Protestantism and Vatican II Catholicism:  The Reformed," Dividing or Strengthening?  Five Ways of Christianity, pp. 59-83, www.harrywinter.org, click on five ways page.

⁷.  James L. Fredericks, "Francis's Interreligious Friendships,"  Commonweal 141 (Aug. 15, 2014, #13): 14.

⁸.  Ibid, 16.

⁹.  Joint Working Group, Roman Catholic Church and World Council of Churches, "Common Witness and Proselytism," 1971.

¹⁰.  J. Paul Martin and Harry Winter OMI, "Religious Proselytization,"  Proselytization and Communal Self-Determination in Africa, ed. Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im, (Maryknoll, NY:  Orbis Books, 1999, pp. 29-50), especially pp. 38-43 for the Jewish question.

¹¹.  Rev. Michael McGarry, CSP, "Can Catholics Make an Exception?  Jews and 'The New Evangelization'," Remembering for the Future II, Berlin, Germany, March 13-17, 1994: www.bc.edu/dam/files/research_sites/cjl/texts/cjrelations/resources/articles/mcgarry...See his earlier book Christology After Auschwitz (NY:  Paulist, 1977).

¹².  Robert McAfee Brown, The Ecumenical Revolution (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1969), pp. 289-95.

¹³. The trip was on April 13, 1859 and is simply mentioned in Jean Leflon, Eugene de Mazenod (NY:  Fordham U. Press, 1968) 3:392. A search in the writings of each man is ongoing for their reflections on the trip. De Mazenod's praise is in Letters to the Oblates of France, 1843-1849, vol. 10 of his writings, edited by Lionel Desjardins OMI and George Capen OMI (Rome:  General Postulation, 1986), p. 255, Letter 1008.

¹⁴.  Emma Green, "Developing Dialogue: The Congregation of Our Lady of Sion and Nostra Aetate, 1945-69," Ecumenical Trends 41 (Feb. 2012, #2): 8/24-15/31. See also the website www.sistersofourladyofsion.org; and wikepedia, Congregation of Our Lady of Sion.

¹⁵.  Neuhaus has a Facebook page, and googling him brings up several articles.

¹⁶.  See www.hebrewcatholic.net.

¹⁷.  Father Elias D. Mallon, SA, PhD,  "The Fundamental Agreement 20 Years Later, an interview with David-Maria A. Jaeger, OFM, JCD," ONEMAGAZINEHOME.ORG (hard copy) 39 (Winter 2013, #4): 12-15.

¹⁸.  Mary Motte, FJJ, and Joseph Lang, MM, editors, Mission in Dialogue (Maryknoll, NY: Orbis, 1982;  see p. 629, n. 13 and p. 669 for Jaeger.

¹⁹.  Susan Perlman, "Eschatology and Mission:  A Jewish Missions Perspective," International Bulletin of  Missionary Research  33 (July, 2009, #3):124- 28.

²⁰.  Mark S. Kinzer/Matthew Levering, "Messianic  Gentiles & Messianic Jews," First Things #189 (Jan. 2009): 43-49, with many letters in the May issue (#193).

²¹.  Matthias Neuman, OSB, "Confessions of a 20th-Century Christian Judaizer," America, Nov. 3, 1990, p. 326.

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