The nation's Roman Catholic bishops, looking to clarify their position on interfaith dialogue with Jews, have instead caused an uproar by issuing a recent statement that appears to endorse attempts to convert them.
The bishops' action threatens to further erode Catholic-Jewish ties that have been strained in recent years by other controversies, including a decision by Pope Benedict XVI two years ago to revive a Latin Mass that contained a passage calling for the conversion of Jews.
FOR THE RECORD
Conversion dispute: In a July 7 article in Section A about a dispute between Catholics and Jews over the issue of conversion, Rabbi Gilbert S. Rosenthal, director of the National Council of Synagogues, was quoted as saying, "If you want to covert us, just say so candidly and overtly." He actually said: "If you want to convert us, just say so candidly and overtly."
The heads of several major U.S. Jewish organizations said the bishops' statement in June touched historic sensitivities among Jews about persecution by Christians. And they questioned whether the bishops were retreating from a carefully crafted 2002 document that spoke of dialogue between the two faiths as a "mutually enriching sharing of gifts devoid of any intention whatsoever" to proselytize.
That text was inspired by several decades of warming relations between Catholics and Jews that followed the Second Vatican Council, the landmark conference in the mid-1960s that sought to ease centuries-old tensions between the two religions.
"The whole basis of dialogue has had a major monkey wrench thrown into it," said Rabbi Gary Greenebaum, U.S. director of interreligious affairs for the American Jewish Committee. "What it feels like to Jews is that this is a major breach of trust."
The trouble stems from a recent decision by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to clear up what its members viewed as ambiguities in the 2002 document, "Reflections on Covenant and Mission."
The bishops said they were prompted to review the text because theologians had been citing it as authoritative even though it did not represent the bishops' formal position. Instead, they said, it was meant only to reflect dialogue between members of the two faiths.
The original text, issued in conjunction with the National Council of Synagogues, featured separate Catholic and Jewish sections.
In the Catholic portion, scholars explained that the central mission of the church was to "bear witness in the world to the Good News of Christ so as to prepare the world for the fullness of the kingdom of God." The document also noted that "Jews already dwell in a saving covenant with God" and that "their witness to the kingdom . . . must not be curtailed by seeking the conversion of the Jewish people to Christianity."
