Reflections on Covenant and Mission: A Response

by Martin K. Barrack
Originally published in Homiletic & Pastoral Review, June 2003

Delegates from the Bishops Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) published Reflections on Covenant and Mission, asserting that “...campaigns that target Jews for conversion to Christianity are no longer theologically acceptable in the Catholic Church.” This statement raised so many questions that Cardinal Keeler quickly explained that it was not an authoritative statement. Its purpose was to encourage serious reflection on these matters by Jews and Catholics in the United States.

It has been removed from the USCCB web site, but Jews and liberal Catholics continue to cite it as Catholic teaching. Here then, are some observations on Reflections.

First and foremost, Jesus of Nazareth spent His entire public ministry evangelizing Jews. “Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Mt 10:5) “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Mt 15:24) On that alone, no Christian can hold that Jews dwell in their own saving covenant and do not need Him.

The Catholic Church today supports evangelizing everyone. Vatican II’s Ad Gentes, the Decree of the Missionary Activity of the Church, begins, “Divinely sent to the nations of the world to be unto them a universal sacrament of salvation, the Church, driven by the inner necessity of her own catholicity, and obeying the mandate of her Founder (cf. Mark 16:16), strives ever to proclaim the Gospel to all men.” Note: all men. Pope Paul VI’s apostolic exhortation Evangelii Nuntiandi, December 8, 1975, 14, says: “We wish to confirm once more that the task of evangelizing all people constitutes the essential mission of the Church.” Note again: all people.

Let’s look at some of the key arguments put forth by the delegates. They argue, referring to Acts 5:33, that only undertakings of divine origin can endure. Rabbinic Judaism, which has survived, must therefore be of God. But Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism have endured longer than Christianity, and Islam has endured nearly as long.

The delegates argue that Interreligious dialogue devoid of intention to invite the dialogue partner to Baptism is a form of evangelism. Pope Paul VI, in Evangelii Nuntiandi, December 8, 1975, 22, answers: “There is no true evangelization if the name, the teaching, the life, the promises, the kingdom and the mystery of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of God are not proclaimed.”

The delegates argue that he Catholic Church has come to recognize that its mission of preparing for the coming of the kingdom of God is one that is shared with the Jewish people, even if Jews do not conceive of this task christologically as the Church does. However, the Jewish people share in the Church’s preparation for the coming of the kingdom of God specifically through their recognition of the Messiah. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, 674, says: “The glorious Messiah’s coming is suspended at every moment of history until his recognition by ‘all Israel’, for ‘a hardening has come upon part of Israel’ in their ‘unbelief’ toward Jesus. St. Peter says to the Jews of Jerusalem after Pentecost: ‘Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for establishing all that God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old.’ St. Paul echoes him: ‘For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?’ The ‘full inclusion’ of the Jews in the Messiah’s salvation, in the wake of ’the full number of the Gentiles’, will enable the People of God to achieve ‘the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, in which ’God may be all in all’.”

The delegates quote from the Notes on the Correct Way to Present the Jews and Judaism in Preaching and Catechesis in the Roman Catholic Church, published by the Vatican’s Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews in 1985, “Attentive to the same God who has spoken, hanging on the same Word, we have to witness to one same memory and one common hope in Him who is the master of history.” That does not address a separate saving covenant. The quotation from the Notes continues, “We must also accept our responsibility to prepare the world for the coming of the Messiah by working together for social justice, respect for the rights of persons and nations and for social and international reconciliation.” That belongs to Catholic social teaching, not to the idea of a separate saving covenant. The delegates’ quotation continues, “To this we are driven, Jews and Christians, by the command to love our neighbor, by a common hope for the Kingdom of God and by the great heritage of the Prophets.” Again, there is no mention of a separate saving covenant.

The delegates say, “Ought Christians to invite Jews to baptism? This is a complex question not only in terms of Christian theological self-definition, but also because of the history of Christians forcibly baptizing Jews.” The sins of Christians centuries ago who forced Jews into baptism do not justify an opposite sin, that Christians today should not invite Jews to baptism. Christian theological self-definition finds its origin in Christ’s commands: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,” (Mt 28:19) and, “You shall be my witnesses in Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) It finds its expression today in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 848, “The Church still has the obligation and also the sacred right to evangelize all men.”

The delegates quote Cardinal Walter Kasper on why evangelization initiatives are not appropriately directed at Jews. “The term mission, in its proper sense, refers to conversion from false gods and idols to the true and one God, who revealed himself in the salvation history with His elected people. Thus mission, in this strict sense, cannot be used with regard to Jews, who believe in the true and one God. Therefore, and this is characteristic, there exists dialogue but there does not exist any Catholic missionary organization for Jews.” But what then of Protestants, who also believe in the true and one God? Should we also not evangelize them?

Cardinal Kasper is president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity in Rome, and therefore also the president for the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews. He is responsible for Catholic-Jewish relations, and commands respect for his work. However, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, not the Pontifical Commission for the Religious Relations with the Jews, speaks for the Vatican on such issues as the Church’s mission. The Catechism of the Catholic Church addresses the Church’s mission as a requirement of its Catholicity at 849-856. Section 849 begins by describing the Church as the “universal sacrament of salvation.” A reading of this entire section indicates that the Church’s mission is the proclamation of the complete deposit of faith.

The delegates say, “The command of the Resurrected Jesus in Matthew 28:19 to make disciples ‘of all nations’ Greek = ethne, the cognate of the Hebrew = goyim; i.e., the nations other than Israel) means that the Church must bear witness in the world to the Good News of Christ so as to prepare the world for the fullness of the kingdom of God. However, this evangelizing task no longer includes the wish to absorb the Jewish faith into Christianity and so end the distinctive witness of Jews to God in human history.”

Scripture translators always render ethne at Matthew 28:19 as, “all nations,” never “all non-Jews,” because the New Testament often uses ethne for non-Christians, which includes both Jews and pagans. For instance, “Now there were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, [ethnos] devout men from every nation under heaven.” (Acts 2:5) If there remains any question, it can be resolved by comparing the two commands that Jesus gave before ascending to the Father. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,” (Mt 28:19) is the same as “You shall be my witnesses in Judea and Samaria and to the end of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) Both commands were given by the Risen Christ shortly before His ascension and both are obviously identical in their reference to all men.

Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God.” (John 3:5) He was speaking to Nicodemus, a devout Jew and member of the Sanhedrin. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1257, says, “The Lord himself affirms that Baptism is necessary for salvation. He also commands his disciples to proclaim the Gospel to all nations and to baptize them. Baptism is necessary for salvation for those to whom the Gospel has been proclaimed and who have had the possibility of asking for this sacrament. The Church does not know of any means other than Baptism that assures entry into eternal beatitude; this is why she takes care not to neglect the mission she has received from the Lord to see that all who can be baptized are ‘reborn of water and the Spirit.’ God has bound salvation to the sacrament of Baptism, but he himself is not bound by his sacraments.”

The delegates add, “This evangelizing task no longer includes the wish to absorb the Jewish faith into Christianity and so end the distinctive witness of Jews to God in human history,” is new doctrine. The phrase “no longer” concedes that it has no origins in the public revelation of Jesus Christ.

Holy Mother Church has defined her relationship with the Jewish people. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, 839, states: “When she delves into her own mystery, the Church, the People of God in the New Covenant, discovers her link with the Jewish People, the first to hear the Word of God. The Jewish faith, unlike other non-Christian religions, is already a response to God’s revelation in the Old Covenant. To the Jews belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ,’ for the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.”

Jews certainly can find salvation, as Jews. The Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1257, tells us, “The Lord himself affirms that Baptism is necessary for salvation.” However, it adds, at 1260, “Every man who is ignorant of the Gospel of Christ and of his Church, but seeks the truth and does the will of God in accordance with his understanding of it, can be saved. It may be supposed that such persons would have desired Baptism explicitly if they had known its necessity.”

There is nothing in this to indicate a separate saving covenant. Rather, Jews who remain apart from Christ are saved through invincible ignorance of the necessity of Baptism. It is no more impolite for Christians to say so than for Jews to say that Jesus is not the Son of God.

There is nothing anywhere in the Church’s authoritative teaching that indicates a separate saving covenant apart from Christ.

The delegates’ text leaves an impression that if Catholics did not evangelize Jews, they would be free from evangelization by Christians. In fact, Protestant evangelization of Jews is highly organized, systematic, and supported by Evangelical Protestant denominations nationwide. I would estimate that 95 percent of Christian evangelization of Jews is currently being done by Evangelical Protestants.

The delegates have confused what we are to do with how we are to do it. There is no question that Christians of every denomination are responsible for evangelizing Jews in a respectful manner. Many Jews point out, rightly, that some Evangelical Protestant groups offer literature that is Jewish outside but Christian inside. Deceptive packaging is not God’s way to fish for men. I’m the author of Second Exodus, the book most often used by Catholics to evangelize Jews. It presents the Catholic Church as the Synagogue completed by the Messiah, and observes that a Jew entering the Catholic Church simply completes what he has already begun. Catholics who have a Jewish family member or friend can tell him that they have been reading a book that explains how Jewish the Catholic Church really is. If the Jew seems interested, the Catholic can ask whether he would like to read it. If he would, the Catholic offers him Second Exodus. If he says no, the subject is dropped, at least for a time. It is an honest and gentle approach.

Priests may answer parishioners who inquire about evangelizing Jews with St. Paul’s cry, “Preaching the Gospel is not a reason for me to boast; it is a necessity laid on me: woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel!” (1 Cor 9:16)