Catholic-Jewish Relations

I came across a well written op-ed by Rabbi Elliot Cosgrove of The Jewish Week regarding Catholic-Jewish relations. I thought I would share it with all of you. Here is an excerpt:

Jews will sense an immediate point of identification with Cardinal Dolan’s “in-reach” message to his flock. Jewish leadership also agonizes over those in our midst for whom “secularism has choked the seed of faith.” Jews and Catholics alike believe that religion must serve as a counter-cultural corrective to the prevalent hedonistic and consumeristic mindset offered by secularism. Our turn to ritual, sacred text and God signal an abiding belief that religion should never be reduced to a mere self-help section in a bookstore. Our laws, traditions and beliefs are intended to address the questions embedded within every searching, human soul.

Of course, neither community is immune to the challenge of fundamentalism. At one and the same time we ask that our faith be passionate and authentic but also infused by an abiding humility that God’s Will remains forever beyond the reach of any of us.  “Ever ancient and ever new,” Jews and Catholics share the paradoxical expectation that our faith will both transcend and address our human condition.

You can read the whole op-ed here.