April 2, 2005 - The Center for Christian-Jewish Understanding (CCJU) of Sacred Heart University, Fairfield, Connecticut, deeply appreciates the extraordinary life and courageous witness of Pope John Paul II to promote interreligious understanding and peace. A visionary leader, a deeply pious Christian, a profound philosopher, and an inspiration to all, John Paul II was a great bridge-builder, in service to Christians, Jews, and all humanity. On April 2, 2005, Pope John Paul II died and we mourn his passing with prayer and undeniable sadness, but also with deepest gratitude for the gifts God bestowed upon us through this incomparable man of wisdom and integrity.
During the Second Vatican Council, the Catholic Church set its sights on a renewed relationship with the world's religions, especially the Jewish people. The 1965 document, Nostra Aetate, affirmed the shared spiritual patrimony between Christians and Jews and acknowledged the ongoing validity of the covenantal relationship between the Jewish people and the God of Israel. This and subsequent documents have paved the way for dialogue with the Jewish people and began a new age in the history of the human family. In 1978, a Polish cardinal named Karol Wojtyla, a man who grew up among many close Jewish friends and who witnessed firsthand their sorrows wreaked by Nazism in the Shoah, was elected to the papacy. He took the name John Paul II, and for twenty-six years as spiritual leader of the Roman Catholic Church he worked tirelessly and joyfully to bring the hopeful message of Nostra Aetate to the world.
Pope John Paul II will be remembered as among the greatest spiritual leaders of our time. Though his contributions are many and diverse, his passing calls the CCJU to specific mindfulness of his achievements in the healing and advancement of relations between Christians and Jews. On several occasions when we met with the pope, we appreciated his warm encouragement for our work and for his efforts to promote Christian-Jewish Understanding in the world. We share his vision, and our work is grounded in the principles he tirelessly upheld. It is our privilege to remember him as a friend and brother. Although he is gone, his message will not be lost.
As a public figure, Pope John Paul II never passed over an opportunity to visibly express his love for the Jewish people. In 1986, he became the first pope in more than nineteen centuries to visit the Jewish community of Rome at its place of worship. The unprecedented visit to the Synagogue of Rome was an unmistakable act of good will, bespeaking the willingness of the Catholic Church to usher the message of Nostra Aetate from ideals into reality.
On numerous occasions during his Pontificate, the pope recalled with a sense of deep sorrow the sufferings of the Jewish people during the Second World War. The crime which has become known as the Shoah remains an indelible stain on history. The pope understood that the Jewish community is still raw from the wounds of the Shoah and in 1998, he commissioned the statement, We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah, which encouraged Christians to purify their hearts and heal the wounds of past misunderstandings and injustices to shape a future of hope.
In 2000, the pope implored the Catholic Church to collectively repent and ask God's forgiveness for the past and present faults of its sons and daughters, especially the atrocities against the People of Israel, events that still cause pain in the Jewish historical memory. In calling the Church to an examination of conscience, John Paul affirmed the validity of this pain, and extended an unprecedented gesture of reconciliation and friendship. It is difficult for religions to admit failures and to correct inherited traditions, but we believe that such prophetic self-criticism is the mark of a great person and great religions.
Also in a 2000 pilgrimage to Israel, Pope John Paul II went to the Western Wall in Jerusalem. We watched as his trembling but fearless hand placed the following prayer in the wall, “God of our fathers, you chose Abraham and his descendants to bring your name to the nations. We are deeply saddened by the behavior of those who, in the course of history, have caused these children of yours to suffer.” These actions and countless others make up a corpus of courageous public witness to the Church's mandate to reach out to the Jewish people.
Our time is one marked by extraordinary achievements in the history of religion. Pope John Paul II has taught that Christianity must relate to Judaism as valid, understood on its own terms, spoken for by self-affirming, independent spokesmen, and treated as an equal in every way. Although he is gone, his efforts to promote dialogue, understanding and reconciliation will not be forgotten. His life and message will be a sign and promise of peace for Christians and Jews and all humanity for years to come.
Anthony J. Cernera, Ph.D.
President, Sacred Heart University
Rabbi Joseph H. Ehrenkranz
Executive Director, CCJU
David L. Coppola, Ph.D.
Associate Executive Director
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