Xavier Rynne Descri es Differing Views on Vatican
Declaration on Jews, Calls Opposition `Disgraceful'

While the discussions that took
of Jewish Christian relations was quoted the following from th e
place in Rome, at the last Vatican
one fence that was needed most Catholic magazine The Pilot o f
Ecumenical Council, over the Dec-
of all."
Jan. 9, 1965:
laration on the Jews are now gen-
The task was entrusted to the
"If the great majority of th e
erally known, and the division over Secretariat for Promoting Chris-
Council, and namely the Ameri
the deicide issue is a matter of tian Unity, presided over by Car-
can prelates, voted for the Dec
record, the basic story of what dinal Bea, to draw up a suitable
laration, it is for personal rea
took place is best defined in "The text. One schema was prepared
sons and interests. The persona
Fourth Session—The Debates and but was so altered after its presen-
reasons are dictated by senti
Decrees of Vatican Council II, Sept. tation by Bea, that it was virtually
ments of pity due to the mas
14, to Dec. 8, 1965," by Xavier unrecognizable, according to Arch-
sacre of millions of Jews b Y
Rynne.
bishop Heenan of Westminster.
Nazism, and the interest is du e
The volume, undoubtedly the Other storms began to brew, one
to the fact that the great num
most authoritative on the subject, over the "apparently casual re-
ber of Americans have commer
was published by Farrar, Straus mark," as Rynne explains it in a
cial interests with Jews. Such i s
footnote,
by
Pope
Paul
VI,
in
the
and Giroux. The author has gained
the truth and whoever distort
acclaim for his previous works on course of his Passion Sunday ser-
it promotes demagoguery. In ad
the Vatican sessions. The former mon, April 4, 1965: "That people
dition one cannot defeat Israe 1
editor of Commonwealth, John Cog- (the Jews). predestined to receive
by becoming the enemy of th e
ley, who now edits the religious the Messiah, who had been await-
Holy See because everyon e
news for the New York Times, has ing him for thousands of years ...
knows the strength of the Vati
said of Xavier Rynne — a pseu- when Christ comes . . . not only
can's power in the balance of the
donym for a religious leader close does not fecognize him, but op-
forces of this world."
to the Vatican—that he is "the poses him, slanders him and final-
first of the 'theological journalists' ly kills him."
Thus, Rynne deals frankly with
In his footnote, Rynne proceeds the developments at the Vatican
who emerged with the Vatican
Council" and "is still the best of to state: "The charitable explana- and he deals with the opposition
tion was that owing to a 'slip' the to the declaration on the Jews that
the lot."
Rynne's report on the Declara- Pope had fallen into the centuries- was led by Bishop Carli. He also
tion on Religious Liberty is thor- old habit of attributing the death describes the di s t r i b u t i o-n of
ough. His description of the de- of Jesus to the whole Jewish peo- pamphlets during the Council ses-
bates and the differences of op- ple without making the necessary sions. He states in his explanation
inion is complete. There are ex- distinctions."
of the differing views:
Rynne gives an account of the
cellent - reviews of the attitudes
"The specifically Jewish portion
action approving the statement
of the various prelates and espe-
on the Jews. He points out, as is was objectionable because 'many
cially the Americans who partic-
now well known, that the term Biblical scholars hold that it can
ipated in the sessions. He gives
deicide was omitted, that: "The be proved from Scripture that the
full accounts of the work of Car-
wording of the previous version, Jewish religion is reprobated and
dinal Bea, of Cardinals Spell-
`deplores, indeed condemns' accursed.' One of the most violent
man and Cushing, and refers to
hatred
and persecution of Jews, pamphlets was a four-page affair
the role that was played by the
was changed in the new version signed allegedly by 31 so-called
late Dr. Jules Isaac whose inter-
to 'deplores' but added the `Catholic organizations' which
cessions against anti-Jewish dog-
words, 'displays of anti-Semitism trumpeted: 'No Council, no Pope,
ma influenced Pope John XXIII.
can condemn Jesus, the Catholic
directed against Jews.' "
Rynne's chapter entitled "The
He explains: "The old version Apostolic and Roman Church, its
Council Deplores Anti-Semitism"
contains a number of most inter- warned Christians not to teach any- Popes (naming several from Nich-
esting references to the debates thing that could give rise to hatred olas I to Leo XII) and the most
and to the interest that attached and persecution of Jews, the new illustrious Councils. But the Dec-
to them. He states that because of version less explicitly urged them laration on the Jews explicitly in-
the interest shown by Jewish not to teach 'anything inconsistent volves such a condemnation, there-
groups, notably the American Jew- with the truth of the Gospel and fore it should be rejected .. . ' It
ish Committee, attention focused with the spirit of Christ.' As one of went on to accuse the Jews of try-
almost exclusively on the Jewish the experts involved in the drafting ing to compel the Church to dis-
portion on the "Declaration on Re- of the text put the matter: 'If it grace and disavow itself before
lations with Non-Christians (includ- had not been for the publicity sur- the world and described the Decla-
ing Hindus, Buddhists, Moslems as rounding the previous versions, the ration as being worthy of "an an-
well as Jews)" and that: "As a re- present text offered to the Council tipope or a schismatic council.'
sult of this campaign, the Council in 1965 would probably be regard- Most of the signatories promptly
disavowed any connection with the
found itself in the rather anoma- ed as excellent.' "
The pressure by Arabs against manifesto, which turned out to be
lous position of dealing with a sub-
ject that seemed at times to be of the statement on the Jews is re- largely a hoax concocted by some
greater moment to Jews than to ported as follows:
"The contention of the Arab Hebrew Corner
Christians for whom its statement
was primarily intended. In essence, states that the document tended
the Jewish section tried to do three to favor recognition of the state of
things : stress the close ties that Israel, or the political aspirations
bound Jews and Christians togeth- of Zionism, was denied by a bogey
er; kill the old charge of deicide selectifying that the Council had
With the destruction of European
which intemperate Christians fre- been 'moved not by any political Jewry,
treasures of Jewish art were
quently hurled against the entire considerations, but by the Gospel's destroyed, plundered and disappeared.
Many synagogues containing treasures
Jewish people; and finally extin- spiritual love,' and by a series of of
ritual objects were burned. That was
guish once and for all the flames of diplomatic trips to the Near East also the fate of Jewish museums.
In
order to preserve the remnants of
by members of Bea's staff to as- Jewish
Christian anti-Semitism."
art for future generations, a
Tracing the history of the suage these misgivings and obtain group of Friends of Jewish Art, called
"Ginza," was organized in Tel Aviv in
storm that brewed as a result of suggestions for the text on the 5710
and undertook to save the rem-
the Vatican sessions, Rynne Arab Christians."
nants of creative Jewish native art from
disappearing
and to spread knowledge
points out that it was Pope John
As a footnote, at this point, about it among
the public.
XXIII who, after his talk in 1960 Rynne refers to a statement issued
Thanks to the generosity of one of
the
old
residents
of Tel Aviv, Mr. :,rye
with Jules Isaac, in the spirit of by Patriarch Maximos IV on his Shenkar of blessed
memory. the group
"Pacem in Terris," "expressed return from the Third session received a fine repository for the dis-
of its collection at the home of the
the opinion that since it was high which "showed that considerable play
deceased, which had been handed over
time to mend fences, the subject assuaging was called for" and to the municipality. With this step, the

crank. Father DePau, for exam-
ple, publicly stated in Rome that
his Traditionalist Movement in the
United States had had nothing to
do with it and that their name had
been used without authorization.
Several French organizations is-
sued similar statements."
There was much tension, and
Rynne reports that there were
unanimous threats to blow up the
basilica and the whole Council
"if the Jewish document were
voted." But except for a crash
when a workmen's scaffold col-
lapsed, the vote proceeded on
Oct. 14-15, 1965, with the over-
whelming decision, 1,763 to 250,
in favor of the declaration, and
Pope Paul VI promptly promul-
gated it on Oct. 28.
Xavier Rynne's complete. story
of the work of the entire Fourth
Council is a -remarkable historical
document by a man who obviously
is an authority best qualified
to report on the important oc-
currences. He calls the adverse
vote on the Declaration on the
Jews "disgraceful" and he makes
these observations:
"World opinion, on the whole,
hailed the passage of the Declara-
tion as marking an important turn-
ing point in the relations of the
Catholic Church with other re-
ligions, though regret was freely
expressed about its shortcomings.
"Few would have concurred in
the judgment of one Rabbi who is
supposed to have said, 'If the doc-
ument is approved in its final
form, any real dialogue between
Catholics and Jews will be im-
possible for decades.' And those
writers and commentators who
mistakenly seized on the words
like 'pardon' and 'forgive' in ex-

pressing their outrage over the
Church's 'absolving and forgiving'
the Jews, were guilty of misplaced
indignation, for these words do not
occur in the text of the Declara-
tion. The document is addressed
not to Jews but to Christians,
teaching them that anti-Semitism
is wrong. One writer has called
the Declaration "the most aston-
ishing bureaucratic impertine
of all times." It is, of course::
actly the opposite — the fruit - yr
Pope John's love for all men, and
of his determination to do what
Jules Isaac had asked, that is, re-
verse past Catholic teaching that
approved of anti-Semitism. To la-
bel as an 'impertinence' the years
of effort on the part of Cardinal
Bea and his Secretariat, and the
Council's final endorsement of this
historic Declaration, is mischiev-
ously to misread history. Many of
the bishops who wanted a stronger
text nevertheless voted for this
one for fear that if there were too
large a negative vote the docu-
ment might be withdrawn. The
adverse vote on the schema as a
whole, though disgraceful, was
offset by 1,763 affirmative votes.
All attempts by either side to force
last minute modifications failed,
and thus the document was at long
last scheduled for promulgation."
The complete text of the Decla-
ration is an appendix to this vol-
ume. The total coverage marks
this volume among the most sig-
nificant on the questions of Vati-
can relations in our time. In its

totality the Rynne volume enriches
Catholic literature and provides
basic historic information that will

make "The Fourth Session" a
most significant part of the his-
tory of religions.

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America-Israel Cultural Foundation
Absorbs 8-Year-Old Interfaith Group

NEW YORK (JTA)—The Ameri-
ca-Israel C u l t u r al Foundation,
headed by violinist Isaac Stern,
has taken over the activities of the
former America-Israel Society and
will continue the society's activi-
ties as part of its own cultural ex-
change program between the
United States and Israel.
The president of the society and
one of its founders, Theodore R.
McKeldin, at the time governor
of Maryland and now mayor of
Baltimore, joined the board of the
America - Israel Cultural Founda-
tion, together with other leaders
of the society.
The decision to take over these
activities was made to avoid an

32 Friday, July 15, 1966

—

unnecessary duplication of efforts.
The American-Israel Society, an
interfaith organization, was found-
ed in 1954. Its purpose was "to
foster greater understanding be-
tween the people of the United
States and the people of Israel."
The fifth annual study tour to
Israel sponsored by the America-
Israel Cultural Foundation's Inter-
University Committee on Israel,
departed Tuesday. The group,
consisting of 41 educators and
Christian clergymen, was address-
ed by Consul Basil Herman repre-
senting the Consulate of Israel in
New York and by the Rev. Karl
Baehr, director of the study tour
program.

THE

!DETROIT IIENTISH NiEWS

foundation was laid for the first Museum
of Jewish Art in Tel Aviv. In 1963, the
group's collection was transferred to its
new building in the Museum Area.
This collection, together with the
collection of native costumes of the
various communities, today comprises
the nucleus of an Ethnological and
Folklore Museum in Tel Aviv.
The main hall of the Museum is de-
voted to Jewish holidays, illustrated
here by ritual objects and their use.
There are Shofarot (ram's horns), Kid-
dush beakers, old prayer books, memo-
rial candles; decorations for a Sukkah
and Etrog boxes; Hanuka tops and
lamps, old and new; scrolls of the Book
of Esther, rattlers, and dishes for send-
ing gifts (on Purim); Haggadot for
Passover, Passover Seder Plates, beak-
ers for Eliyahu; all the beautiful dishes
which decorate the Sabbath table.
A special room -is devoted to the rem-
nants of the Kaifang-Foo Community
in China, which flourished for a period
of about 1,000 years until it disappear-
ed about three generations ago. Other
rooms are devoted to the folklore of
the various communities. The Museum
also contains a rich library in the
field of the native Jewish art or the
various communities and groups of our
people.
(Translation of Hebrew column, Pub-
lished by the Brit Ivrit Olamit, with the
assistance of the Memorial Foundation
for Jewish Culture.)
Material in vowelized. easy Hebrew
can be obtained by writing to the Brit
lark ()lazuli, P.O. Box nil, Jerusalem.
Israel.
4111111111111111011111111.111114111111111&

—

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