THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
The American Catholic Press
Focuses on Jewish Statehood
By ALLEN A. WARSEN
The American Catholic
Press and the Jewish State
1917-1959" (Ktav) by
Esther Yolles Feldblum
examines the American
Catholic reactions toward
re-establishing a Jewish
homeland in Palestine.
The study covers the
period from 1917 when the
Balfour Declaration was
proclaimed to "the eve of the
Second Vatican Council in
1960."
Amazingly, the Balfour
Declaration, regarded as
the political charter
guaranteeing the rebuild-
ing of the Jewish homeland
in Palestine, was, as if by
design, ignored by the en-
tire American Catholic
press.
However, it enthusias-
tically reported General
Allenby's victorious
entry into Jerusalem on
Dec. 10, 1917. It consi-
dered this victory "as a
triumph for Christian-
ity." It, moreover, printed
"visions of restored
Christian rule in the Holy
Land and the Allied
troops, as the so-called
Christian armies, were
compared to the Crusad-
ers, who had been able to
wrest this truly Christian
inheritance from the
dominion of the Mos-
lems." It even declared
with certainty "that this
time the Holy Land
would remain under a
lasting Christian rule."
After the proclamation of
the Balfour Declaration, the
American Catholic press in-
tensified its opposition to-
ward recreating a Jewish
state in Palestine. The
Catholic weekly "America"
asserted "that the Holy
Land is Christ's land and it
is in the Catholic interest to
maintain this identity."
The "Catholic Worker"
declared "that following the
advent of Christ, Jews were
no longer a nation and so
could have no legitimate
national aspirations." Simi-
lar views were expressed by
other Catholic periodicals.
Some even blamed the
Palestine riots of 1929 on
Jewish arrogance "in de-
manding supremacy."
Nevertheless, the jour-
nals "Commonweal" and
"America" responded with
indignation towards the
Arab anti-Jewish riots.
"America" editorialized:
"We hope that our Jewish
brethren will secure ample
protection for their rights.
We trust we do not intrude
when we express our sincere
sympathy with the families
and friends of the
slaughtered men."
As World War H came
to an end, and the extent
of the Jewish catas-
trophe became evident,
the problem of the DPs
became a burning issue.
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The American Catholic
press resisted relocation of
Jewish refugees in Pales-
tine. The "Catholic World"
warned that "efforts to relo-
cate Jewish refugees in
Palestine would precipitate
another major war." "Sign"
urged "to separate the
humanitarian issue from
the political."
Later, the opponents of
Jewish immigration to
Palestine fought against
the proposal to partition the
Holy Land. "Sign" in an
April 1948 editorial de-
nounced partition and
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hoped for a United Nations
decision that would not
"exile Jesus." It also warned
of a Communist takeover.
The restoration of Israel
created a new reality for the
Catholic press for which it
had not been prepared.
Dr. Feldblum sum-
marizes the responses of
the American Catholic
papers to Israel's rebirth
as follows: "To sum up
Catholic press reactions
to the state of Israel, one
may say that there are
few discordant notes in
what seemed to be an or-
chestrated response. The
majority of the papers
prudently adopted a
'wait and see' attitude.
Only those papers with
well-known anti-Zionist
biases were outspoken in
opposition to the state,
while the papers repu-
tedly sympathetic to
Zionism were less than
enthusiastic."
Nevertheless, as Israel
became an historic reality, a
change of opinion gradually
occurred.
Illustrative of this new
trend was Msgr. John Oes-
terreicher's essay "Justice
for Israel" published in the
New York Times, May 26,
1971. He wrote: "Christians
who have not yet under-
stood the signs of the time,
and thus the meaning of Is-
rael's rejuvenation, will
have to reconcile them-
selves to the fact that
Jerusalem is a Jewish city,
in origin, destiny and sig-
nificance . . ."
The author of "The
American Catholic Press
and the Jewish State 1917-
1959," the late Dr. Esther
Yolles Feldblum, was assis-
tant professor of Judaic
Studies at Brooklyn College
in New York.
Hebrew U. Gives
Award to Agency
JERUSALEM — "A
Home for Every Child" —
the Bayit Lekhol Yeled Soc-
iety — received the first
grant from the Ruth Ellen
Lachman Davis Fund at the
Hebrew University's Paul
Baerwald School of Social
Work.
The fund for supporting
child welfare in Israel was
created by Mrs: Valerie
Lachman in memory of her
daughter, a U.S. trained so-
cial worker who pioneered
foster care for children in Is-
rael. She died in 1964 while
still active in developing
innovative child care ser-
vices.
Friday, Judy 28, 1918 23
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