'Vatican to stop missionizing Jews'

[Bubba_Switzler]

After meeting the grand mufti of Jerusalem, Muhammad Ahmad Hussein, and praying at the Western Wall on Tuesday, Pope Benedict XVI arrived for a historic meeting with the chief rabbis at Heichal Shlomo, next to the capital’s Great Synagogue, and agreed that the Catholic Church will cease all missionary activity among Jews.

jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1242029507154&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

 

[irishpatrick]

I feel this has Biblical and prophetic importance.

 

[JKirkLVNV]

I don’t see the Holy Father saying this anywhere…ANYWHERE! Can anyone cite a reliable source, with direct attribution and quotations?

 

[Eucharisted]

Full text of the Pope’s words:

COURTESY VISIT
TO THE TWO CHIEF RABBIS OF JERUSALEM

ADDRESS OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI

Hechal Shlomo Centre - Jerusalem
Tuesday, 12 May 2009

Distinguished Rabbis,
Dear Friends,

I am grateful for the invitation to visit Heichal Shlomo and to meet with you during this trip of mine to the Holy Land as Bishop of Rome. I thank Sephardi Rabbi Shlomo Amar and Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger for their warm words of welcome and the desire they have expressed to continue strengthening the bonds of friendship which the Catholic Church and the Chief Rabbinate have labored so diligently to forge over the past decades. Your visits to the Vatican in 2003 and 2005 are a sign of the good will which characterizes our developing relations.

Distinguished Rabbis, I reciprocate by expressing my own respect and esteem for you and your communities. I assure you of my desire to deepen mutual understanding and cooperation between the Holy See, the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and Jewish people throughout the world.

A great source of satisfaction for me since the beginning of my pontificate has been the fruit yielded by the ongoing dialogue between the Delegation of the Holy See’s Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews and the Chief Rabbinate of Israel’s Delegation for Relations with the Catholic Church. I wish to thank the members of both delegations for their dedication and hard work in implementing this initiative, so earnestly desired by my esteemed predecessor Pope John Paul II, as he said during the Great Jubilee Year of 2000.

Our encounter today is a most fitting occasion to give thanks to the Almighty for the many blessings which have accompanied the dialogue conducted by the Bilateral Commission, and to look forward with expectation to its future sessions. The willingness of the delegates to discuss openly and patiently not only points of agreement, but also points of difference, has already paved the way to more effective collaboration in public life. Jews and Christians alike are concerned to ensure respect for the sacredness of human life, the centrality of the family, a sound education for the young, and the freedom of religion and conscience for a healthy society. These themes of dialogue represent only the initial phases of what we trust will be a steady, progressive journey towards an enhanced mutual understanding.

An indication of the potential of this series of meetings is readily seen in our shared concern in the face of moral relativism and the offences it spawns against the dignity of the human person. In approaching the most urgent ethical questions of our day, our two communities are challenged to engage people of good will at the level of reason, while simultaneously pointing to the religious foundations which best sustain lasting moral values. May the dialogue that has begun continue to generate ideas on how Christians and Jews can work together to heighten society’s appreciation of the distinctive contribution of our religious and ethical traditions. Here in Israel, given that Christians constitute only a small portion of the total population, they particularly value opportunities for dialogue with their Jewish neighbors.

Trust is undeniably an essential element of effective dialogue. Today I have the opportunity to repeat that the Catholic Church is irrevocably committed to the path chosen at the Second Vatican Council for a genuine and lasting reconciliation between Christians and Jews. As the Declaration Nostra Aetate makes clear, the Church continues to value the spiritual patrimony common to Christians and Jews and desires an ever deeper mutual understanding and respect through biblical and theological studies as well as fraternal dialogues. May the seven Bilateral Commission meetings which have already taken place between the Holy See and the Chief Rabbinate stand as evidence! I am thus grateful for your reciprocal assurance that the relationship between the Catholic Church and the Chief Rabbinate will continue to grow in respect and understanding in the future.

My friends, I express again my deep appreciation for the welcome you have extended to me today. I am confident that our friendship will continue to set an example of trust in dialogue for Jews and Christians throughout the world. Looking at the accomplishments achieved thus far, and drawing our inspiration from the Holy Scriptures, we can confidently look forward to even stronger cooperation between our communities – together with all people of good will – in decrying hatred and oppression throughout the world. I pray that God, who searches our hearts and knows our thoughts (Ps 139:23), will continue to enlighten us with his wisdom, so that we may follow his commandments to love him with all our heart, soul and strength (cf. Dt 6:5), and to love our neighbor as ourselves (Lev 19:18). Thank you.

Source: vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2009/may/documents/hf_ben-xvi_spe_20090512_rabbini_en.html

It dosen’t say the Vatican will stop missionizing Jews. Know why? Because that is a lie.

 

[mark_a]

After meeting the grand mufti of Jerusalem, Muhammad Ahmad Hussein, and praying at the Western Wall on Tuesday, Pope Benedict XVI arrived for a historic meeting with the chief rabbis at Heichal Shlomo, next to the capital’s Great Synagogue, and agreed that the Catholic Church will cease all missionary activity among Jews.
jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1242029507154&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Sure works for me. I know I just cringe when I hear of Protestants doing missions in Catholic countries such as the Phillipines or Brazil.

 

[Benedict108]

I think I will take this with a grain of salt until I can see it on some other sources.

 

[JReducation]

I have no idea where the statement came from. But the fact is that the policy of the Vatican since Pius V has been that Catholic missionaries to Palestine were not there to convert the Jews, but to serve the Christians living there. The first missionaries that were given passage to Palestine by Muslims and Jews were our Franciscan Friars. They have always been told that they are not to try to convert the Jews or the Muslims.

However, this being said, there is no prohibition against admitting a Muslim or Jew into the Church who freely seeks it.

The Franciscan Commiseriate of the Holy Land was setup to ensure that the Holy Land Christians be served and to work with Muslims and Jews for the well-being of the people. Together they run many humanitarian projects and share in corporal works of mercy, but do not engage in preaching Christianity to either Muslims or Jews, except by their presence.

The Eastern Rite Catholic Church of Jerusalem is the main Church of Israel. Those bishops too are very careful never to preach to the Jews or Muslims with the intention of converting them. Their message is always a moral message, which obviously has common roots for all three faiths, as moral law is rooted in the commandments.

None of this is new. This dates back for hundreds of years since the arrival of the first Franciscan Friars in the 1300s. They were martyred for trying to convert the local people. Finally, Pope Pius V, ordered the Franciscans to limit their activity to serving the Christians and promoting the faith through their presence, especially their charity.

The people of Israel and the Palestinian region are not eligible to become Roman Catholics. If they choose to become Catholic they must join the Church of Jerusalem, which is Eastern Rite. The Latin Church does not try to invade the jurisdiction of the Eastern Churches.

Fraternally,

Br. JR, OSF

 

[Caveman]

The Latin Church does not try to invade the jurisdiction of the Eastern Churches.

Then why is there a Latin Patriarch in Jerusalem?

 

[Caveman]

It dosen’t say the Vatican will stop missionizing Jews. Know why? Because that is a lie.

Exactly right. Only in the fevered imagination of the writer from The Jerusalem Post, did The Holy Father say this.

The claim is pure claptrap.

 

[Father_of_9]

While we must always respect other religions and not coerce anyone into accepting our faith, we have been commanded by our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to share the Good News to the ends of the earth until He returns. We must be His witnesses today just as the Apostles were after His death and resurrection. But He remains a stumbling block for many who refuse to believe in Him.

 

[JReducation]

Then why is there a Latin Patriarch in Jerusalem?

The Latin Patriarch in Jerusalem has been there for the benefit of the European Catholics who had come with the English when the region was an English colony.

Hope this helps.

Fraternally,

JR

 

[JReducation]

Then why is there a Latin Patriarch in Jerusalem?

The Latin Patriarch in Jerusalem has been there for the benefit of the European Catholics who had come with the English when the region was an English colony. Today, the Latin Rite in Israel and the West Bank is very small. Most members of the Latin Rite are foreigners.

Pope John Paul II made it clear that he wanted to protect the Eastern Churches from dying of attrition. Therefore, in regions of the world where Eastern Catholicism is part of the culture, such as the Middle Eastern countries, it must be allowed to grow by giving it primacy in acquiring new members. John Paul II believed that the loss of the Eastern Churches would be detrimental to the Catholic Church, because they have been part of the Church since the time of the apostles.

Hope this helps.

Fraternally,

JR

 

[irenaeus1]

This is not true. The Catholic Church is to evangelize everyone - Gentiles and Jews. Even in Nostra Aetate, it states in part, “as the Church has always held and holds now, Christ underwent His passion and death freely, because of the sins of men and out of infinite love, in order that all may reach salvation. It is, therefore, the burden of the Church’s preaching to proclaim the cross of Christ as the sign of God’s all-embracing love and as the fountain from which every grace flows.”

 

[irenaeus1]

Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews issued a document in 1985 entitled “**Notes **on the correct way to present the Jews and Judaism
in preaching and catechesis in the Roman Catholic Church”

In Part 7 it states the following:

“In virtue of her divine mission, the Church” which is to be “the all-embracing means of salvation” in which alone “the fulness of the means of salvation can be obtained” (*Unit. Red. *

3); “must of her nature proclaim Jesus Christ to the world” (cf. Guidelines and Suggestions, I). Indeed we believe that is is through him that we go to the Father (cf. *Jn. *14:6) “and this is eternal life, that they know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent” (*Jn *17:33).

Jesus affirms (*ibid. *10:16) that “there shall be one flock and one shepherd”. Church and Judaism cannot then be seen as two parallel ways of salvation and the Church must witness to Christ as the Redeemer for all, “while maintaining the strictest respect for religious liberty in line with the teaching of the Second Vatican Council (Declaration Dignitatis Humanae)”

 

[mja2]

isn’t it obvious to anybody with a brain vatican 2 was the victory of syncretists and the disgraceful acts of John Paul 2 and this present Pope are in concert with the Bnai Brith agenda of the end of Catholic exclusivity to the ultimate truth, we can never reconcile with the most hateful force on the planet Talmudism and the wretched filth that eminates from it.

 

[Soutane]

isn’t it obvious to anybody with a brain vatican 2 was the victory of syncretists and the disgraceful acts of John Paul 2 and this present Pope are in concert with the Bnai Brith agenda of the end of Catholic exclusivity to the ultimate truth, we can never reconcile with the most hateful force on the planet Talmudism and the wretched filth that eminates from it.

Oy.

 

[Steeltemplar]

I really do not think that we should have an artificial boundry between “Eastern” and “Latin” Catholics. Especially when it comes to evangalization. If one is Catholic, then they are Catholic. There is no true division in the Holy Catholic Church. We all follow the same God, guided by the same Pope and the same Magisterium

Are we to cease to speak the truth because we happen to be in the Middle East? Are Eastern Catholics to cease to speak the truth because they happen to be in Europe? Of course not. And the truth of Christ is the same from a member of either Rite.

For someone to convert and enter the Eastern Rite is the same as entering the Latin Rite in every essential way. And for the sake of the unity of the entire Church, we must see it in that way.

 

[JReducation]

I really do not think that we should have an artificial boundry between “Eastern” and “Latin” Catholics. Especially when it comes to evangalization. If one is Catholic, then they are Catholic. There is no true division in the Holy Catholic Church. We all follow the same God, guided by the same Pope and the same Magisterium

Are we to cease to speak the truth because we happen to be in the Middle East? Are Eastern Catholics to cease to speak the truth because they happen to be in Europe? Of course not. And the truth of Christ is the same from a member of either Rite.

For someone to convert and enter the Eastern Rite is the same as entering the Latin Rite in every essential way. And for the sake of the unity of the entire Church, we must see it in that way.

We have to look a several points that seem to be blending here.

1. There is only one Catholic Church made up of many apostolic Churches: Roman, Melchite, Croatian, etc. Each of them is a Church with its own history, laws, rites, culture and spirituality. The unity is in faith, sacraments and the primacy of Peter.
2. The Holy See does not want the Eastern Churches to lose their identity, because they will cease to exist. Their existence is part of the history of the Church and continues to contribute to the whole Church. Also, they serve as a bridge between Eastern and Western Christianity.
3. When one enters the Church, either Eastern or Western, the one is entering the same Catholic faith. There is only one Catholic faith with different expressions called rites.
4. No Catholic, Eastern or Western, is forbidden from preaching Christ or encouraged to hide their Catholicism. If one looks at the Middle East, we see Catholicism in the open. The agreement between the Catholic Church and the Muslims and Jews is not to proselytize these populations. If a Muslim or Jew comes to the Church seeking the Catholic faith he will not be turned away. This is why Pope Benedict is so invested in the dialgue between Catholics and Jews and Catholics and Muslims. Because the conversion of both faiths has to come through a process of dialogue where they will discover the Messiahship of Jesus Christ. The Church believes that in some mysterious or unknown way, God will find a way to save the Jews and Muslims. They will reach faith in Jesus Christ. We just do not now how this is going to happen.

However, the fact that they are rooted in the patriarchs is the beginning of some presence of the Catholic faith in their own, without them realizing it.

We have to be patient, charitable, prayerful and actively involved in presenting Catholicism in its best light to these brothers and sisters.

Fraternally,

JR