Page 47 - October 7 - Teresa Pirola

references to ‘the cycle of violence’ (read: ‘more of the same’) do not accurately respond to Jewish and Israeli experience at this time.
Second, the memory of the Holocaust includes the legacy of too many Christians who remained silent as their Jewish neighbours were persecuted and murdered. Will the church again remain silent? By failing to call out the meticulously planned actions of Hamas—a listed terrorist group with a founding charter that calls for the destruction of Israel and for the killing of Jews—the bishops can be seen as treading a well-worn path of Christians turning a blind eye and a deaf ear to antisemitism, and of their having betrayed the trust of their Jewish friends. It can also be felt as a betrayal of the memory of those too few Christians who did stand by their Jewish neighbours during the Holocaust and suffered grievously for their moral courage.
Third, the Australian Catholic bishops’ statement flies in the face of nearly 60 years of concerted efforts by the Catholic Church, since the Second Vatican Council, to acknowledge the errors of the past, to repudiate antisemitism in the present, and to form its people in a robust commitment to right relations with their Jewish brothers and sisters. This involves educating Christians about their own Christian history, which contains the dark chapters of church-sanctioned propagation of anti- Jewish ideas and violence against Jews.
Earlier this year, the Australian Catholic bishops reiterated such a commitment in ‘Walking Together: Catholics with Jews in the Australian Context’ (March 2023). Eight months later, that commitment is being put to the test.
Catholic-Jewish relations have entered a precarious space. In view of the ACBC statement, it is difficult to see how it can be ‘business as usual’ for interfaith relations going forward.
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