Thursday of the Fourteenth Week in Ordinary Time

“I am your brother Joseph”

When Blessed Pope John XXIII met with a delegation of Jews in Rome he introduced himself saying, “I am your brother Joseph.” His warm affection for the Jewish people and the new policies of the Church after the Second Vatican Council marked a new chapter in the long history of Jewish-Catholic relations.

I am not even vaguely familiar with that history, except to know that it has been marked by much tragedy and great sadness. Although the Church worships Jesus the son of a Jewish virgin, and claims descent from his Jewish apostles many Christians have openly despised, mistreated and murdered Jews, with the support of their clergy.  

We can blame no one but ourselves for this history of crime. Until 1948 and the founding of Israel, the Jews have never been a dominant majority in a city or nation. If they served as bankers to medieval Europe because the church banned loaning money at interests, the resentment that falls on bankers does not convict them of crime.

More often they have been hounded from city to country and nation to nation. Many Americans remember 1492 as the year Columbus discovered America, do they also remembered that the Catholic kings of Spain drove the Jews off that peninsula, scattering them throughout Europe? And that many Jews remained in Spain but went into hiding? They maintained their faith in the strictest silence in their homes, while outwardly conforming to the religion of their Catholic neighbors. They had no choice for to defy the Inquisition meant deportation or death for their families and children.

Even in America, where European immigrants hoped to find relief from religious wars, Jews have been regarded with suspicion and mistrust. Even in the past few months a noted conservative commentator, in an effort to shore up his failing ratings, resorted to anti-Semitism. Fortunately he was canned shortly after that.

Nor can we suppose that the Church was not implicit in the violence against Jews. If their very presence has aroused hatred, that can only indicate a malingering corruption in our own tradition. There is no other religious tradition to carry the memory of bigotry throughout the centuries. It appears in stories and legends, in conspiracy theories and monuments.

To forget the crimes against Jews would be like forgetting the crucifixion. If we cannot know the saving works of Jesus without remembering the crucifixion, neither can we appreciate the gift of Judah unless we remember the Holocaust.

 “I am your brother Joseph” should signal a new era in religious history. Just as the family of Jacob was healed of its criminal past by the patriarch’s forgiveness, we hope that God and his Jewish people will forgive our past crimes. Their presence among us is a great blessing, for God said to Abraham: “I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you. All the communities of the earth will find blessing in you.” Genesis 12:3