Catholics speak out.
Catholics speak out.
Steubenville, Ohio — “The Jewish religion is not ‘extrinsic’ to us, but in a certain way is ‘intrinsic’ to our own religion. With Judaism, therefore, we have a relationship that we do not have with any other religion. You are our dearly beloved brothers, and in a certain way, it could be said that you are our elder brothers.”
A statement from Catholics released at Franciscan University as part of an initiative co-sponsored by the Philos Project echoes the words above, which Pope John Paul II delivered in April 1986 at the Great Synagogue of Rome.
“As Catholics and Christians, we believe that antisemitism is a spiritual evil,” the statement of the Coalition of Catholics against Antisemitism declares.
We condemn antisemitism in humility, mindful of the sins of Catholics and other Christians against the Jewish people throughout history, and aware that these wounds remain real for many Jews today. We denounce antisemitism in a spirit of compassion, aware that education about the evils of this hatred is a moral responsibility for Christians. Antisemitism in our community, even when it is not the action of Catholics or other Christians, demands condemnation.
In many ways, it seems that it should be self-evident by now. Pope Benedict XVI was far from the first to say that it is not Christian to engage in — or be indifferent to — antisemitism. “To be antisemitic also signifies being anti-Christian,” he said. “Once again I feel the duty to pay heartfelt recognition to those who have died unjustly and to those that have dedicated themselves to assure that the names of these victims may always be remembered. God does not forget!”
But it needs to be said, because while hate seems to be everywhere — especially if you are partial to doom-scrolling on social media or watching too much cable news or videos on your phone — the hatred of Jews is a particularly insidious evil. We saw it in the Holocaust, and we do honor to the innocents who were murdered then to take “Never again” seriously. October 7 in Israel was not the Holocaust, although more Jews were murdered on that Saturday than on any day since the Holocaust. But October 7 was driven by the same demonic root evil.
In closing keynote remarks for the Catholics against Antisemitism conference, Mary Eberstadt, author of How the West Really Lost God, among other books, said:
On October 7, the terrorist organization Hamas decided to emulate the Nazi playbook once more. As one observer of World War II put it, the Nazis “ripped the lid off Hell.” That’s what Hamas did. It ripped the lid off Hell. The comparison is inescapable.
“Antisemitism is a unique evil,” she said.
It has nothing to do with actual Jewish people. No, it can insinuate itself, and does, into souls with peculiar, invisible cracks of some kind. These souls needn’t ever have encountered actual Jews. . . . Antisemitism can take root with no visible help in unpromising places. . . . It can grow anywhere. And so it does, as the history of antisemitism across Europe, especially, goes to show.
And to be clear, she gave Catholics a refresher from the Catechism of the Catholic Church: “Hatred of the neighbor is a sin when one deliberately wishes him evil. Hatred of the neighbor is a grave sin when one deliberately desires him grave harm.” Grave sin, she emphasized, means that the unrepentant is choosing perdition. In other words: “There is no ‘get out of Hell free’ card in the Catholic Church for hating Jews. Or anyone else.”
Eberstadt emphasized this because while the conference was in an academic setting, you don’t need a college education to know that hating Jews is evil. And you don’t need to know the history of Zionism to realize that Israel is surrounded by people who don’t want them to exist as a democratic haven for the Jewish people.
For days before, during, and surely long after the conference, Eberstadt was convicted: “We are here to forge, and render visible, a new alliance between Jews and Catholics, the like of which has not existed before.”
The conference was not a response to October 7. It was planned in advance to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the attack on the Tree of Life Synagogue. Many noted that Providence must have had something to do with the timing of the gathering, after so many innocents were killed at a music festival and in their homes in southern Israel. The inhumanity of evil was on barbaric display that day.
For Christians, one of the most humbling aspects of the conversations at the conference was the gratitude that the Jewish participants — all of them — expressed. One rabbi from the New York metropolitan area said he was “elated” by the Catholic leadership on display. And it was not an initiative of bishops or the institutional church, but of convicted Catholics in the public square. (Once released, the statement will be open to all Catholics to sign online.) The rabbi said that his WhatsApp was constantly relaying stories from his synagogue about daily encounters his people have had with Christians who stop them in the grocery store and wherever else to say they are sorry about the attack and are praying. The solidarity, he said, is consoling in the wake of the attacks and the ugly words and deeds we’ve seen in response, especially on some elite university campuses. So it was no small thing to have this Catholic university not only host the conference but to offer an expedited transfer to Franciscan U for any Jewish students in higher education in the U.S. who do not feel safe at school because of antisemitism.
The Philos Project had a day of action while we were here, encouraging people to bring white roses to synagogues in their community. It’s a small thing, but the hotel where I’m staying has by the elevators a famous quote from Mother Teresa about doing small things with great love. That’s not going to eradicate antisemitism — which is our goal, as Kevin Roberts, the president of the Heritage Foundation, speaking as a Catholic, said. But small acts can be a grace-filled contributions to something better. They can bring some light amid perverse, barbaric manifestations of the diabolical evil that is antisemitism.
This column is based on one available through Andrews McMeel Universal’s Newspaper Enterprise Association.