Catholics Against Antisemitism: Now More Than Ever

A historic conference unfolds this week, Oct. 24 – 26, on the Franciscan University campus in Steubenville, Ohio, called “Nostra Aetate and the Future of Catholic-Jewish Relations at a Time of Rising Antisemitism.” It was first scheduled to coincide with the fifth anniversary of the Tree of Life shooting in nearby Pittsburgh, where an antisemitic murderer took the lives of 11 people, and injured six more, as they worshipped God on Oct. 27, 2018, in their synagogue. 

Co-sponsored by Franciscan University and the Philos Project, the gathering, which will be livestreamed and recorded, aims to take relations between Jews and Catholics to a new plane of solidarity in a moment newly urgent. The conference gives Catholics everywhere a goal to unite at a critical moment in history.

I must admit that several months ago, upon first being approached to give the closing address, my initial reaction was puzzlement. Catholics against antisemitism? Wasn’t that already a thing? It seemed likely that Catholics know something about the landmark Nostra Aetate — the official declaration of the Second Vatican Council, reiterating that the Catholic faith begins with the patriarchs and prophets of ancient Israel, and condemning the notion that Jews share collective guilt for the death of Jesus. Many must also know of Pope John Paul II’s, and other popes’ personal devotion to the people of the Covenant. What, I wondered, could need adding to the ledger after all that?