c. 2000 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) American Jewish groups are giving Pope John Paul II’s apology for the past misdeeds of church members a generally warm reception, and an official Roman Catholic-Jewish dialogue group has sent greetings to the pontiff as he prepares to visit the Holy Land.

“He will visit sites that will evoke great emotion among Jews and Christians because they underscore both what binds Judaism as well as what separates us,” said the Ongoing Consultation between the National Council of Synagogues and the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, an officially appointed group that has been meeting twice yearly since 1987.

On Sunday (March 12), John Paul presided at a solemn Day of Pardon Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican in a liturgy during which a number of cardinals recalled wrongs done by members of the church and the pope responded with a prayer asking for forgiveness.

Among the remembered wrongs was the “sufferings of the people of Israel,” to which the pope responded by asking forgiveness and committing “ourselves to genuine brotherhood.”

Several Jewish leaders, while praising John Paul’s penitential words, said they nevertheless were disappointed he was not more specific, especially about the Holocaust.

For example, Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, called Sunday’s apology a “bold and important step forward,” but said he was disappointed that the pope had not mentioned the Holocaust explicitly. “The church still wants to steer clear of dealing with the role of the Vatican during World War II.”

Hier’s remarks were echoed by Jewish leaders abroad.

“I hope deeply that the pope of today, whom I appreciate very much for his doings and for his condemning anti-Semitism, will complete the asking of forgiveness next week in Yad Vashem in Jerusalem,” Israel’s chief rabbi, Meir Lau, said after the Sunday Mass. John Paul is scheduled to visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial on March 23 during his six-day visit to the Holy Land.

In the United States, response by Jewish groups was positive.

Two groups representing more than 3,000 Reform and Conservative rabbis jointly praised the pontiff’s apology, reacting to the complaints the pope did not go far enough.

“We are very grateful for what the pope has done, because the truth is, he didn’t have to do anything,” said Rabbi Seymour Essrog, president of the Rabbinical Assembly, which represents more than 1,400 Conservative rabbis worldwide.

Essrog and his Reform counterpart, Rabbi Charles Kroloff, representing about 1,600 Reform rabbis, issued a joint statement praising the apology in the context of other initiatives by John Paul toward Jews. Earlier in his papacy, the rabbis noted, John Paul “affirmed the irrevocable nature of God’s covenant with the Jewish people,” condemned anti-Semitism as a “sin against God,” and established diplomatic relations with Israel.

“In this context we welcome and applaud Pope John Paul II’s historic liturgy of forgiveness, presented to the global community of Catholics this past Sunday,” the rabbis said.

They urged their fellow rabbis “to engage in intensified dialogue and fellowship with our Roman Catholic neighbors.”

Essrog was more moderate in his remarks than Hier or Lau.

“I’ve heard different responses on radio and television, and I think it’s better to work with honey than a fly swatter,” said Essrog, the senior rabbi in Baltimore.

“Is there more work to be done? Absolutely,” he said. “There’s the whole issue of the pope during World War II and why the Vatican didn’t speak out.

“Yet it remains a wonderful expression, particularly from our point of view. Considering the Crusades, the Inquisition, the centuries of forced conversion of Jews, when the leader of the Roman Catholic world apologizes for these things, we should be grateful, and hopefully other things can be worked on from there.”

DEA END NOLAN