Published: 24 March 2023
Last updated: 5 March 2024
A new position paper from the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference acknowledges the Church’s strong connection with Judaism but fails to recognise the centrality of the State of Israel.
Australia’s Catholic bishops are encouraging their congregations to deepen their understanding of the Church’s relationship with Judaism, including recognising Jesus as “a faithful Jew”.
The Bishops Conference has released Walking Together, Catholics with Jews in the Australian Context, a statement which addresses longstanding issues including antisemitism and proselytism.
The statement addresses the controversial theology of supersessionism, the belief that Christianity supersedes or replaces Judaism, describing it as “a theological expression of antisemitism”.
“The Catholic Church no longer teaches or even suggests that Israel has been superseded by the Church; it acknowledges the continuation of the vibrant life of Judaism today and recognises that God’s covenant with Israel continues to be strong and life-giving.”
While affirming the Church’s practice of evangelisation, “proclamation of the good news about Jesus,” the statement also rejects any attempt to impose, induce or coerce Jews to become Christian.
“Such activities, sometimes described as “proselytising”, have marred Christian history in the past and we reject them.”
The bishops call on Catholics to be involved in interreligious relations, joint social action and joint scripture study, and to deal with interreligious couples with respect for both traditions.
The bishops note that the history of relations between Jews and Catholics in Australia has mostly been a positive one.
“In this document we seek to continue that history of cooperation, mutual support and deepening religious engagement and dialogue,” they said.
“How is it that, in 2023, we Catholics can readily affirm the belonging that First Nations Australians experience for Land, yet ignore the Jewish sense of belonging to Land which is every bit as spiritual and historical, and millennia-long?”
Catholic community respondent Dr Teresa Pirola
The President of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, Jillian Segal, said there was much in Walking Together that is admirable and timely.
She welcomed the acknowledgement of the intimate connection between Judaism and Christianity, the explicit recognition of the Jewishness of Jesus and the irrevocable nature of the covenant between God and the Jewish people.
She also welcomed the paper’s repudiation of antisemitism, including its rejection of the negative portrayal of the Pharisees, which has often been used against Jews.
But she said the document did not go far enough in addressing Christian responsibility for antisemitism.
“The document does not take the logical next step, as we had hoped it would, by recognising that contemporary antisemitism has borrowed anti-Jewish tropes with supposedly Christian religious motifs, and deployed these against Jews in new ways, sometimes with equally lethal consequences.
“One of the examples provided by the IHRA Working Definition is, “Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterise Israel or Israelis”. A writer who has done precisely that was publicly feted and applauded during Adelaide Writers Week earlier this month. We have welcomed Catholics and other people of conscience who have joined the Jewish community in decrying polemics of that nature.
She said it was also problematic that the document fails to acknowledge the State of Israel, despite formal recognition by the Vatican 30 years ago.
“Walking Together uses the word 'Israel' only in the sense of a reference to the Jewish people ... [it] acknowledges the ongoing validity of God’s covenant with the Jewish people but seems to elide the fact that that covenant binds together the God of Israel, the Land of Israel and the people of Israel.”
Catholic respondent Dr Teresa Pirola also noted the failure of the document to address the land of Israel.
“The absence of any mention of Jewish links to the land of their ancestors, a theological factor that is intrinsic to Jewish identity and covenant, is a concern. How is it that, in 2023, we Catholics can readily affirm the belonging that First Nations Australians experience for Land, yet ignore the Jewish sense of belonging to Land which is every bit as spiritual and historical, and millennia-long?” she asked.
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Walking Together: Statement from Australian Catholics Bishops Conference
Photo: Pope Francis prays at the Western Wall on the last papal visit to Israel in 2014 (Wikipedia)
