An Article written by Sr Mary Kelly
Call to a new understanding
As I look back to the early days of the study centre for Christian Jewish Relations, I recall the memorial to the martyred Jewish communities of Europe at the Westminster Synagogue.
1564 Torah Scrolls were 'rescued' and broughtto London from Prague, where the Nazis had intended to exhibit them in a permanent collection of works of "an exterminated ethnographical group".
Many of these scrolls have now come to life in worshipping communities all over the world. Others, too badly damaged for synagogue use, were given on permanent loan to appropriate religious and educational centres.
One of these is proudly displayed in our library reminding us of the tragic past but also calling us to make a different future. The remainder of the scrolls form a moving permanent memorial at the Knightsbridge synagogue.
The Study Centre for Christian Jewish Relations was opened in West London in 1962 by the Sisters of Sion under the direction of Charlotte Klein PhD. It was an opportune moment for Pope John XXIII was preparing a statement condemning anti-semitism for Vatican II
This aroused the interest of both the Catholic and jewish communities. It quickly became apparent that a good deal of work had to be done before a true encounter with contemporary Judaism could take place. Catholics were mostly ignorant of the tragic fate of the Jewish people in a Christian society.
The anti Jewish passages in the New Testament, in religious education and theological text books needed to be acknowledged and overcome. More positively the Jewish roots of Christianity, the Jewish background to the Gospels and the liturgy needed to be discovered.
Talks, courses and lectures are given to colleges of education, religious orders, schools and other groups. Visits to synagogues, deonstatation seder services and various programmes are arranged. Short readable pamphlets on the Jewish background to the Gospels and the early Church are published. Meetings between Catholics and Jews are held, meetings between theological and rabbinical students, and an annual Cardinal Bea lecture is held in central London on a topic of interest to Jews and Christians. the centre also cooperates with other dialogue groups like the London Rainbow Group and the Council for Christians and Jews.
There has certainly been a lot of progress since the 1960s. However, much remains to be done. As the Vatican document 'Our Common Bond' points out, Jews and Judaism are not marginal to Christianity, but essential to its correct understanding.