The Catholic Church and the Jewish People: Recent Reflections from Rome

11. The Creation and Work of the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews

11. The Creation and Work of the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews Cardinal Jorge Maria Mejı́a The Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews was established by Paul VI on October 22, 1974.1 One ought to remember that the creation of the Commission is in a certain sense both a point of arrival and also a starting point. It seems to me, therefore, that the present essay could be divided into three parts: (1) the precedents of the Commission and its beginning; (2) its configuration in the context of the Roman Curia; (3) and the chief moments of its work between its creation and the end of my period as its secretary, thus between 1974 and 1986. 1. The Precedents The Commission is not the absolute beginning. Already before 1974, during the Second Vatican Council, the very difficult and frequently discussed topic of the relationship with Judaism had come to the fore when the fathers were preparing the document known today by its first Latin words as Nostra Aetate. This declaration mentions the problem of the relationship with Judaism only in the penultimate paragraph, number 4; earlier on, the text speaks of the other non-Christian religions. It appears, therefore, that Judaism is not considered differently from other religions, with the exception of its presentation in the famous introductory statement where we read: ‘‘As the sacred synod searches into the The Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews / 153 mystery of the Church, it remembers the bond that spiritually ties the people of the New Covenant to Abraham’s stock.’’ In the debate preceding the redaction of the declaration, especially in the various interventions by Cardinal Augustin Bea and other Council fathers, the special character of Judaism and of its relationship with the Catholic Church had also been emphasized. For this reason, when Pope (now Blessed) John XXIII had decided to create the Secretariat for Christian Unity as a preparatory organ for the Council,2 the question of Judaism and of its relations with the Church had been entrusted to its president,3 Cardinal Augustin Bea. This must be noted carefully when we consider subsequent developments. From that moment onward, relations with Judaism were kept distinct and separate from relations with other religions, despite the structure and the thrust of the declaration Nostra Aetate.4 When later the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity became an organ of the Roman Curia, or, in other words, a dicastery , the relations with Judaism remained within the ambit of its competence ,5 even if in the meantime another dicastery—known today as the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue—had been created to handle the relations with all other non-Christian religions.6 This must be kept in mind, since within the Secretariat for Christian Unity almost from the very beginning an office with the specific task of handling the relations with Judaism had been established. This office was entrusted by Cardinal Bea to Professor Father Cornelius A. Rijk, who was, therefore, the first individual at the Holy See to be responsible for relations with Jews. At this time, these relations were an absolute novelty and, therefore, still had to find their own way.7 Father Rijk’s work was pioneering, and I am glad to remember here his name and his achievements, independently of his restrictions. All of us who came later are, in one way or another, in his debt. The task of Father Rijk was twofold. On the one hand, under the supervision of Cardinal Bea, he had in some way to institutionalize within the Holy See the absolutely new relationship with Judaism. On the other hand, he had to prepare guidelines so that the Catholic Church and its central governing bodies, as well as the national Episcopal Conferences, could establish these relations , which were equally new, or in fact, totally alien for the great majority of the world’s episcopate.8 One can easily understand the dif- ficulty of both tasks. In fact, there was yet another difficulty: how to choose the right interlocutors within Judaism, which is a complex and certainly not a monolithic reality. This became easier after 1970,9 after 154 / Cardinal Jorge Maria Mejı́a the creation of the body known as IJCIC, an acronym for the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations, which included representatives of the main Jewish organizations.10 Simultaneously , the...