Bishop's Statements

Bishop McGrath’s Address at Temple Emanu-El, San Jose
To Acknowledge Actions Which “Have Harmed Jewish Community”
February 18, 2000

Shabbat shalom.

I am grateful, very grateful, to my friend, Rabbi Dana, for his invitation to be here this evening, but on a more personal note, I am grateful for his welcome, for his hugs, and for his friendship.

Some weeks ago, I had the pleasure and distinct honor to meet Rabbi Emeritus Gitten. He was in the hospital. Tonight, I send him my fond regards and my prayers for a speedy recovery. He is your Rabbi Emeritus, but he is Patriarch to all of us in this Valley.

As I am sure you are aware, for Christians, this year 2000 is a special year. It is our year of Jubilee. For you, this is the year 5760—we’re just a few millennia behind!

Since the year 1300, the beginning of a new century has been declared by Christians as a year of jubilee. We got the idea from you, our elder brothers and sisters, and of course, from the Torah, in Leviticus 25:8–19.

This Jubilee is special for us. It is the beginning of a new millennium. It is a time for starting over, a time for forgiveness, a time to ask for pardon.

As part of our Jubilee 2000 celebration, Catholics and other Christians have asked this country, the other First World countries, as well as international lending organizations such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to forgive the debts of the poorest third world countries.

We have been asked, also, to forgive one another and to ask forgiveness of one another: to express repentance, teshuva.

That is also why I am so pleased to be here with you tonight.

At the start of this Jubilee year, we Catholics must confront the past honestly in order to have an honorable future.

Therefore, as the appointed leader of the Catholic community in San Jose, I want to take this occasion to acknowledge before my fellow Jewish citizen of San Jose the wrongs we Catholics have done. Specifically:

• I acknowledge that we Catholics have at times acted in a fashion contrary to God’s law toward our Jewish sisters and brothers.
• I acknowledge that such actions have harmed the Jewish community both physically and psychologically.
• I acknowledge that Catholics have at times preached that Jewish people were God-killers and in that way, created attitudes that led to reprisals against them. By so doing, I confess that we Catholics contributed to attitudes that made the Holocaust possible.

Now, I am fully aware that only the victims can forgive, but I still feel a need to publicly ask God for forgiveness at the beginning of our Jubilee year. I do so personally and in the name of the Catholic community that I represent. Specifically:

• I ask God’s forgiveness for all the hurtful and harmful statements by Catholics against the Jewish people.
• I ask God’s forgiveness for all the statements that implied that the Jewish people were guilty of Deicide or had been rejected by God.
• I ask God’s forgiveness if any Catholics in the Diocese of San Jose in the past or in the present have denigrated or discriminated against the Jewish people or threatened their well-being in our community.

Some years ago, I visited Dachau concentration camp. I recall that there is a wall there on which it is written in Hebrew, German, and English (maybe other languages) the words, “Never again. Never again.”

This evening I say to you, “Never again. In God’s name, never again.”

I also realize that my teshuva will have no force if it remains just a statement between you and me here in this temple. These affirmations then must lead to actions. This is what I propose to do.

The Holy Father has declared the First Sunday in Lent, March 12, to be a special Day of Forgiveness and Repentance for the Jubilee Year.

I will ask all the parishes of the Diocese of San Jose to be mindful of this and to reflect upon the pain inflicted on Jewish people by many of our members throughout our history and, in particular, over the last millennium.

March 12 is also the day when we welcome, at a special ceremony in our cathedral, those people who are preparing to join the Catholic Church at Easter.

To these new Christians, I will affirm our Catholic faith that all of God’s covenants are irrevocable and that his covenant with the Jewish people has not been rejected.

I will emphasize that Christians should recognize that our own religion was shaped by Jewish traditions, ranging from monotheism to a strong sense of justice, and that because of this we owe our Jewish sisters and brothers gratitude and, most certainly, respect.

My friends, we still need one another and are responsible for one another. Evil that harms one of us harms all of us.

When one temple or synagogue is defaced, every church is defaced. Violence toward one of us is violence against all of us. We are all brothers and sisters. We have one Father, one God. We are family.

But this still is not enough. We need to work together, and we need to get to know one another on a personal basis. Ignorance of the other is our worst enemy. Knowing one another on a personal basis, becoming friends, is our best hope for the future.

As I was growing up in Ireland, my best friend was Jewish. I learned many things from him. I learned about the importance of family and friendship and how religion need not be divisive as long as there is respect. My relationship with him has influenced my entire life.

Knowing Rabbi Dana, and becoming friends, has been enriching beyond words.

What can Catholics and Jews do to get to know each other better? On Dec. 6 of last year, the National Council of Synagogues, which represents Reformed and Conservative rabbis, and the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, announced a joint effort to abolish the death penalty.

Realizing that two-thirds of U.S. Catholics support the death penalty and that Jewish support, though not as high, is growing, the two groups called on Catholics and Jews to work together toward ending the death penalty.

Can we do this here in San Jose? Would some of you be willing to work with a group of Catholics on educating our own two communities on this issue?

This could have many results: a group of Catholics and Jews would get to know each other while working on an important issue. They would come to respect each other. They would form friendships. They would provide a valuable witness to the rest of the community.

This is just one suggestion on how we could work together. Perhaps you have others. What is important is that we begin to work together and learn to take risks together.

A Jubilee is a chance for a fresh start. You have a new rabbi; Catholics have a new bishop. We can make a fresh start, neither forgetting the past nor ignoring it, but remembering it, learning from it and building on it; building a new future, building trust, building respect, building friendships, building love, building peace.

God bless us all, and thank you.