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What If ?

25/9/2022

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 There are some events in life that are of such significance that we can’t help asking ‘what if that had not happened?’ How differently would things have turned out. Such an event was a 20-minute meeting that a Jewish historian, Jules Isaac, had with Pope John XXIII in June 1959 that changed forever the relationship of the Catholic Church to the Jewish community. This changing relationship is a story of hope and transformation spelled out last week for the Scottish Catholic Bishops’ Committee for Interreligious Dialogue at their annual seminar, entitled ‘A Tale of Two Sisters: Church and Synagogue’ which was led by Sister Maureen Cusick, a Sister of Our Lady of Sion, a religious congregation that is committed to witnessing to God’s continued and faithful love for the Jewish people through education and dialogue.  

We began by reflecting on a series of illustrations of statues found in many medieval cathedrals around Europe, sometimes carved standing side by side, sometimes standing on either side of the entrance They depict two women. One is weak and drooping, blindfolded and carrying a broken lance with Torah scrolls that are often seen slipping from her hand. The other is strong, often wearing a crown and looking to the future with confidence and open eyes.  The blind woman represents the Synagogue, blind to the truth and now lost to salvation because the Jews rejected and crucified Jesus. The confident woman represents the Christian Church upon whom God has bestowed the promises God originally made to Israel so that Christians now possess the truth of salvation and have become God’s chosen ones, the new People of God.  One particularly horrendous statue is found in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris where the blindfold over the ‘Synagoga’ statue is in fact a snake with the implications that has for Judaism being under the sway of the devil.
 
These statues reflect the attitude of the Christian Church to Jews in medieval Europe and are indicative of a theological approach called supersessionism or replacement theology which is a belief that God has rejected the Jews because they rejected and crucified Jesus. God has now bestowed the promises he made to Israel on the Church that now becomes the New People of God. This theology is very influential. It can affect the way the Christian scriptures are interpreted. For example, in stories such as the wise virgins – the ones who are alert to the coming of the bridegroom are taken as representative of Christianity and the ones who slept and missed his coming taken as representative of Judaism. It influenced the prayer in Catholic churches on Good Friday which prayed for the conversion of the perfidious Jews. It influenced the tradition in the Sisters of Sion who daily prayed that God would forgive the Jews for the death of Jesus for they knew not what they did. It influenced the various pogroms and sermons forced on the Jews over the ages. It influenced the whole history of Christian antisemitism which the Vatican acknowledged was the seed bed in which the hatred that resulted in the Holocaust was able to flourish. It influenced the belief of some Christians that the State of Israel doesn’t have the right to exist. It is, I suspect, something that is deep in the psyche of both Christians and Jews and influences some of our interactions and maybe needs to be addressed at some point. Is there perhaps an incipient suspicion of Christianity on the part of Jews and an incipient superiority on the part of Christians?

Thank God that this attitude to Judaism and this theological approach has been acknowledged, dismissed and disowned by the Catholic Church in the Vatican II document on the Churches Relationship with People of Other Faiths. And it all came about because of that 20-minute interview that Jules Isaac had with Pope John XXIII.  Jules Isaac was a historian and educationalist who sought to understand the roots of antisemitism when he experienced the Nazi occupation of his native France. He wrote a book on Jesus and Israel as well as one on The Teaching of Contempt in which he showed that antisemitic interpretations of the scripture were a wrong understanding of the Gospel. It was the meeting with Pope John XXIII that led the Pope to put the Churches relationship to Judaism on the agenda of the Vatican Council and eventually led to Nostra Aetate, the Declaration on the Churches Attitude to Non-Christian Religions which was promulgated by Pope Paul VI in October 1965, two years after the death of Jules Isaac. Section 4 of the document which declares,” in her rejection of every persecution against any man, the Church, mindful of the patrimony she shares with the Jews and moved not by political reasons but by the Gospel's spiritual love, decries hatred, persecutions, displays of anti-Semitism, directed against Jews at any time and by anyone” brought about a profound change in the Church’s relations with Judaism. Indeed, Rabbi David Rosen says he knows of nothing else in history that has brought about such a profound change.  

And that brings us back to our original question. What if Jules Isaac had not visited Pope John XXIII? Would we still be promoting a replacement theology? What if Jules Isaac had not been for a walk when his wife and two children were taken by the Nazis and sent to Auschwitz? Would the Church have reflected on its teaching of contempt and still be antisemitic? Who knows. But we can be sure that Jules Isaac’s escape from the Nazis and his visit to the Pope were of such significance that they have changed the history  of Catholic – Jewish relations, hopefully forever. 


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A Life Well Lived

11/9/2022

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Britain is caught up in mourning for the death of Queen Elizabeth and has almost forgotten that there could be news elsewhere in the world. The media is sated with news and reflections on both the life of the Queen and the future of the monarchy as King Charles III takes on the role for which he has waited a long, long time. The nation is in a state of shock, partly, I think, because of the suddenness of it. Last weekend the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland was with the Queen in Balmoral and on Tuesday the Queen appointed her fifteenth prime minister. She was frail but still working so no thought of her death as imminent. Her death, in a sense, has added to the sense of insecurity that is around with war in Ukraine, global climate, economic recessions. What will the future hold?
 
I was a child when Elizabeth became Queen. I remember coronation day because the street where I lived went on a trip to the seaside to celebrate. I remember too seeing her when she did a tour of Britain after her coronation, and I have met her a couple of times. For 70 years she has been Head of State and for some people she was a constant and a symbol of unity. Not everyone agreed with monarchy though.  Scotland has often had a mixed relationship with the monarchy even when there is a public appreciation of her personal commitment and devotion to duty. This is not helped by the fact that in all the news bulletins and statements of condolences from public bodies and charities have spoken of Queen Elizabeth II. But she was only Queen Elizabeth II of England. She is the first Queen in Scotland to be called Elizabeth and the first in the United Kingdom. She has been called Queen Elizabeth II of the nation, but Britain is made up of 3 nations and the United Kingdom of 4.
 
However, no-one can doubt the Queen’s personal faith which she professed openly; her great sense and devotion to duty; her fidelity to her vocation. To be Queen was hers to do and she embraced it and was faithful to it. Mary Oliver has a poem When Death Comes and she ends it by saying:
                When it’s over, I don’t want to wonder
                 if I have made of my life something particular, and real.
                 I don’t want to find myself sighing and frightened,
                 or full of argument. 
                                                        I don’t want to end up simply having visited this world.
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Could all of us not echo those words? Death is inevitable and all of us must face it. Do we not want to do so having lived life to the full, having embraced the good and the bad, the joyful and the sorrowful, having grown in human kindness and compassion, having contributed to the future good of humanity?   
 
Queen Elizabeth lived her life well in the glare of publicity, but many people live their life well within their own sphere of influence. It so happened that this summer four great women whom I have had the privilege to know also died. All of them were women of faith, committed to the work of justice and peace. Sally Beaumont was involved in racial justice and gave accommodation to over 20 refugees in her own home. Maureen Reid served young women in the Guide movement and was a Chief Commissioner for the movement in Scotland. She was a Street Pastor, going out on patrol in Glasgow’s West End from 10.00 pm to 2am on Friday and Saturday nights to help and support young people and anyone in difficulty. Cathy McCormick was a campaigner for justice particularly against the dampness in Glasgow’s housing stock which was causing her son to become ill. She talked at demonstrations and campaigned for solar-powered housing. She was invited to the Houses of Parliament to discuss the link between poor housing and health as well as the United Nations. The fourth great woman was Sr Ellen Gielty, a member of my own religious community. Ellen worked in Nigeria before her long years in teacher training in Glasgow. She was also the Superior General of my community which meant travelling the world, caring for the sisters, helping our community face the challenges of a changing world in  the countries in which we all lived.
 
All these great women, including Queen Elizabeth, were conditioned, and limited by the circumstances into which they were born. Within those constraints they lived well and did what was theirs to do. They responded to the opportunities to do the good that came their way with fidelity and dedication.  Who know what happens after death? But one thing, I think, we can be sure of is that, like ripples on a pond, their influence will live on. Their very act of living and being has made the world a better place and can be a source of comfort and strength to those of us who have not yet passed through death’s door. May they rest in peace and their memory be a blessing for us all.


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    I am  a Catholic nun, involved in interfaith relations for many decades.  For me this has been an exciting and sacred journey which I would like to share with others.

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