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POPE JOHN PAUL 11
1
D
ear friends, repre-
sentatives of so many
Jewish organizations
assembled here from across
the United States, my dear
Jewish brothers and
sisters . .
It is fitting, at the begin-
ning of our meeting to em-
phasize our faith in the one
God, who chose Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob, and made
with them a covenant of eter-
nal love, which was never
revoked (cf. Genesis 27:13;
Romans 11:29). It was rather
confirmed by the gift of the
Torah to Moses, opened by the
porphets to the hope of eter-
nal redemption and to the
universal commitment for
justice and peace. The Jewish
people, the church and all
believers in the merciful God
— who is invoked in the
Jewish prayers as Av Ha-
Rakhamim — can find in this
fundamental Covenant with
the Patriarchs a very substan-
tial starting point for our
dialogue and our common
witness -in the world .. .
At the same time, our com-
mon heritage, task and hope
do not eliminate our distinc-
tive identities. Because of her
specific Christian witness,
"The Chruch must preach
Jesus Christ to the world"
(1974 'Guidelines, I). Paul
said: "All this is from God,
who through Christ recon-
ciled us to himself and gave
us the ministry of reconcilia-
tion" (II Corinthians 5:18). At
the same time, we recognize
and appreciate the spiritual
treasures of the Jewish people
and their religious witness to
God. A fraternal theological
dialogue will try to under-
stand, in the light of the
mystery of redemption, how
differences in faith should not
cause enmity but open up the
way of "reconciliation," so
that in the end "God may be
all in all" (I Corinthians
15:28).
In this regard I am pleased
that the National Conference
of Catholic Bishops and the
Synagogue Council of
America are initiating a con-
sultation between Jewish
leaders and bishops which
should carry forward a
dialogue on issues of the
greatest interest to the two
faith communities.
Suffering of the Jews
Considering history in the
light of the principles of faith
in God, we must also reflect
on the catastrophic event of
the Shoah, that ruthless and
inhuman attempt to exter-
minate the Jewish people in
Europe, an attempt that
resulted in millions of victims
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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
13