Clergy and Educators

"I Am Joseph Your Brother"

On Thursday, February 7, 2002, the Institute for Christian & Jewish Studies, in conjunction with the American Jewish Committee, Baltimore Chapter, and
the Baltimore Hebrew Congregation, hosted the presentation of a film entitled "I Am Joseph Your Brother." This documentary chronicles the visit of Pope John Paul II to Israel in March 2000 and tells the story
of the revolutionary changes in Roman Catholic-Jewish relations in the past forty years. Dr. Ron Kronish, Director of the Interreligious Coordinating Council in Israel, coordinated the production of this film and was
in attendance for the discussion that followed its presentation.

The history of relations between the Roman Catholic Church and the Jewish people has been a turbulent one. "I Am Joseph Your Brother" outlines the journey begun by the Church toward recognition of and reconciliation with Israel, a movement from persecution to partnership, from confrontation to cooperation.

The first steps in this journey were taken by Pope John XXIII during the Second Vatican Council when he wel-comed a Jewish delegation with the words, "I am Joseph, your brother." Since Pope John's name -- Giuseppe (Roncalli) -- actually was the Italian equivalent of "Joseph," his utterance of these simple words from
the book of Genesis (Gen. 45:3-4) took on a special meaning. With one humbly spoken sentence, Pope John succeeded in establishing a familial bond between himself and the members of the Jewish delegation and thereby created an atmosphere that opened the door to dialogue. In 1994, after decades of dialogue between Catholics and Jews, the Vatican at last established official diplomatic relations with the State of Israel.
Pope John Paul II's prayer at the Western Wall in 2000 represented not only a public repudiation of the history of the Church's "teaching of contempt" but also a symbolic recognition of the rebirth of Israel.

The film "I Am Joseph Your Brother" also examines the Vatican statement We Remember: Reflections on the Shoah, which was issued in 1998. In this document the Church began to look very seriously at its role in the Shoah and to recognize the moral issues surrounding its negative teachings about Jews and Judaism. Highlighted in the film as well is the publication of the statement Dabru Emet: A Jewish Statement on Christians and Christianity, whose publication in September 2000 was coordinated by the Institute for Christian & Jewish Studies. This Jewish response to the work being done by Christian theologians, clergy, and laypeople has done much to help forge a new basis for relationship between Christians and Jews.

At the conclusion of the film, Dr. Kronish and ICJS staff scholars offered their own reflections. Dr. Kronish spoke with feeling about the impact of the Pope's visit in Israel and the strong desire to make a film about it.

Dr. Rosann Catalano, ICJS Roman Catholic Scholar, was struck by the fact that the changes that were set in motion during the Second Vatican Council began with two personal encounters: a meeting between Pope John XXIII and Jules Isaac, who listed for the Pope the Church's "teachings of contempt" for Jews and Judaism; and the meeting with the Jewish delegation in which the Pope spoke the words, "I am Joseph, your brother." Part of the challenge for Christians, Dr. Catalano said, is to learn our history, painful though that may be. We can do that, of course, by reading books, but we can also do it through personal encounter, by looking into the eyes of those who are not like us and asking them to tell us who they are and who we are in their eyes.

Dr. Catalano went on to speak frankly about the emotions she felt as a Roman Catholic laywoman while she watched the film. She said that the film enrages her: she is outraged at the Church for its history of a hatred towards Jews and Judaism that passed as a superior piety, and she is outraged by the moral failure of the Church. Admitting that we can't know what we might have done ourselves in a different time and place, Dr. Catalano expressed a hope that our religious communities can now stand up and say that something is wrong and that Christians have a need for self-examination. Finally, she said with a twinkle in her eye that "if the Roman Catholic Church can change, then any bureaucratic organization in the world can change."

Following Dr. Catalano's remarks, Rabbi Charles Arian, ICJS Jewish Scholar, offered his reactions to the film. He said that, even though he loves the film, he is put off by its title because the dynamics of Roman Catholic-Jewish relations are not the same as the dynamics of the biblical story. In the biblical story, Joseph is the victim; in the story of Catholic-Jewish relations, it is the Jews who are the victim. Pope John XXIII's saying "I am Joseph" thus stands the dynamic of the biblical story on its head. Rabbi Arian also spoke about a segment of the film that explains how the Roman Catholic Church removed a reference to praying for the "perfidious Jews" from its Good Friday liturgy and changed the prayer in such a way that it urges Jews to be good, even better, Jews. Calling that a "magnanimous gesture," Rabbi Arian wondered whether such a gesture lays open the question of whether Jews can reciprocate by acknowl-edging that "what God has in mind for Christians is to be better Christians because we [Jews] think that is God's will." He pointed out that Dabru Emet makes a start in dealing with that question. Rabbi Arian concluded his remarks by calling attention, as Dr. Catalano had done, to the significance of interpersonal issues: when he was a boy, Pope John Paul's best friend was a Jew; he used to go to shul in Poland to hear the cantor, and he grew up with positive attitudes toward Jews.

The final speaker was Dr. Christopher Leighton, Executive Director of the ICJS. He stated that the recent events in the Mideast are cause for despair, and that some people think that antagonisms between Arabs and Jews are "hard-wired." But, he asked, if Roman Catholics and Protestants can rethink their relations with Judaism and the Jewish community, isn't it possible for any groups to do something similar? He acknowledged, however, that improvements in Roman Catholic-Jewish relations have not progressed in a straight line from Pope John XXIII to Pope John Paul II. Warning that we cannot assume that the next pope will continue the work of John Paul II, Dr. Leighton emphasized that we must take steps to move the process forward in the Christian community by continuing to train educators, clergy, and congregants. Finally, Dr. Leighton admitted that the title of the film -- "I Am Joseph Your Brother" -- is problem-atic, but he suggested wryly that perhaps Pope John simply wanted to say, "Ey, call me Joe."

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