US Catholic group aims to get AJC Jew-hatred guide into ‘hands of every bishop’

Bishop Joseph Bambera, of the Scranton, Pa., diocese, and chairman of the committee on ecumenical and interreligious affairs of the Conference of Catholic Bishops, told JNS that the Catholic edition of the glossary will help fight Jew-hatred in parishes across the country.

By Vita Fellig, JNS

Some five years ago, the American Jewish Committee began publishing a “Translate Hate” glossary of antisemitic terms, themes and online memes.

The initial list of 25 entries has grown to 59 this year, according to the AJC, which is now partnering with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops on an edition with Catholic commentary.

Rabbi Noam Marans, director of interreligious affairs at AJC, told JNS that this is the first time that the group has had “a partner beyond the Jewish community that is using the template of ‘Translate Hate,’ which is a very successful template that can be used within their constituency that has a Catholic flavor.”

“The genius of the ‘Translate Hate’ project is that it has infinite applications in languages, in different faiths and it’s a model that can really make an educational and practical difference in combating antisemitism,” Marans told JNS.

The AJC and USCCB held a panel discussion on Wednesday to mark the release of the Catholic edition of the glossary.

The glossary, for example, defines “deicide” as the “killing of a god,” and says that the term is antisemitic when it refers to “the charge that Jews bear eternal responsibility for the death of Jesus Christ,” which it calls a “misguided interpretation” of Christian scripture.

The new Catholic commentary on the glossary notes that “this trope is a classic anti-Jewish charge leveled against the Jewish people for nearly 17 centuries.”

“They have been labeled as ‘Christ-killers’ and suffered persecution under that name. The allegation stems from an early Christian misreading of the Gospels to blame all Jews for the death of Jesus,” the new commentary states in part.

“The dangers of such a distorted interpretation are particularly heightened in the Lenten and Paschal seasons as the faithful contemplate the mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection.”

Bishop Joseph Bambera, of the Scranton, Pa., diocese, and chairman of the committee on ecumenical and interreligious affairs of the Conference of Catholic Bishops, told JNS that the Catholic edition of the glossary will help fight Jew-hatred in parishes across the country.

“We looked at entries that the church has teaching around, this mainly included entries that have roots in traditional Christian anti-Judaism, such as ‘deicide’ or ‘blood libel,’ or that relate to the church’s relationship to the Jewish people, such as ‘philosemitism,’” he told JNS.

“We fully endorse the AJC’s position that combating antisemitism begins with understanding it, and it is our hope that this resource be used particularly at the grassroots level to spread that awareness,” he added.

“By adding Catholic teaching, we signal that learning about these tropes is not only ancillary but part of being a better Catholic.”

The USCCB plans to get “the document in the hands of every bishop in the United States, as well as ecumenical and interreligious officers in every diocese,” he said.

‘Unimaginable to my grandparents’

The Jewish-Catholic collaboration is the product of decades of communal trust-building between the church and Jewish communities, which dates back to the church’s 1965 declaration of Nostra Aetate (“In our time”) that publicly denounced Christian Jew-hatred, transforming the church’s relationship with Jews, according to Marans.

“It’s easy to lose perspective on the magnitude of an event like this, which was surely unimaginable to my grandparents in Bialystok, Poland,” Marans told attendees at the event.

“We have to understand that this has been a complete transformation in the relationship that has benefited both the Catholic Church, by lifting the burden of a history of enmity that was based upon theological perceptions that were not good, and for the Jewish people, as Christian teaching was life-threatening for our community for centuries,” he added at the event.

The collaboration, he said, is a “shehechiyanu moment,” or a time to make the Jewish blessing on new beginnings.

Marans also allowed that tension remains between Jews and Catholics, particularly given that the pope has called for investigating the Jewish state for alleged genocide.

“An accusation of genocide against the Jewish people lands in a particularly nefarious way,” Marans said.

Bambera told JNS that the Jewish community’s ability to express its frustration with the Vatican represents progress.

“The friendship that has grown in the nearly 60 years since the promulgation of Nostra Aetate allows for difficult times to bring us closer and not tear us apart,” he said.

“It shows great trust that our Jewish brothers and sisters have been able to express their concerns, and we as a church, and I personally, are very grateful for that.”

Bambera believes that the pope has not intended to harm the Jewish community.

“What I hear from Pope Francis is his deep concern for each and every life, born out of the belief in the value of the human person and the obligation to respect human life,” the bishop said, noting the biblical reference in Genesis to people being created in the divine image.

“In 2013, in an address to the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultation, Pope Francis stated, ‘A true Christian cannot be an antisemite,’” the bishop said. “I believe he has not gone back on those words or the teachings of our church that enabled him to proclaim them.”

“We are committed to this relationship and the principles expressed in Nostra Aetate, to walk with our Jewish brothers and sisters, and to combat any and all forms of antisemitism,” he added.

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