Catholics & Jews

There is a spiritual bond of brotherhood between two religious groups in the U.S.--Roman Catholics and Jews. This is the contention of Father Thurston N. Davis, editor of the Jesuit weekly America. Catholics and Jews, "immersed in a pervading Protestant culture here in the U.S., have at least some inkling that we share, in divergent yet strangely cognate ways, a common inheritance from the centuries."

Spiritual Semites. Pope Pius XI once referred to Catholics as "spiritual Semites". "The stronger his faith and the more profound his appreciation of it," says Jesuit Davis, "the more 'Semitic' a Catholic realizes himself to be. For he comes to know how intimately his roots are laced with those of the Jew." The U.S. Protestant, on the other hand, does not share the same long-range perspective. "Everything that took place, religiously speaking, before Jamestown, the Mayflower, William Penn or Mary Baker Eddy, appears to him to be something which happened to 'foreigners.' "

Catholics and Jews, as Father Davis sees it, are involved in human history through centuries of what he calls "coexistence" in Spain, back to the Dark Ages, the Roman arenas, "and on to Abraham." And in the modern world both share many common characteristics: dietary rules, a sense of the sacredness of ritual and the transcendence of God, respect for learning and human reason. Both have been discriminated against and, "in some circles, are still regarded as aliens."

Burning Thirst. Jesuit Davis is distressed at what he feels is a Jewish tendency to put Jewish interests before those of the rest of society. As examples of this he cites Jewish opposition to inclusion of a question about religion on the U.S. census and the lack of public Jewish support for the Catholic position in the Hildy McCoy adoption case (TIME, April 1 et seq.). "Too often . . . the question Is es gut far Iden? (How will it affect the Jews?) seems to determine official Jewish action on public issues."

Though such incidents "puzzle and at times provoke Catholics," Father Davis says, "we shall continue to look with understanding and even fondness at our historic brother, the Jew." And Catholics would do well to imitate more closely the Jews' "burning thirst for justice." He quotes Jewish Writer Israel Zangwill: "Take from me the hope that I can change the future, and you will send me mad." Catholics view the future from a different perspective, writes Davis, "but it would be well if we could view it as intensely and hopefully."

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