December 2005
5
Orange County Catholic –
WASHINGTON (CNS) —
Washington Cardinal Theodore
E. McCarrick and Rabbi Jonathan
Schnitzer, president of the Wash-
ington Board of Rabbis, celebrated
the 40th anniversary of a major
Vatican document Nov. 13 at the
Pope John Paul II Cultural Center
in the nation’s capital.
Cardinal McCarrick and Rabbi
Schnitzer reaffi rmed the message
of “Nostra Aetate,” the Second
Vatican Council’s Declaration on
the Relationship of the Church
to Non-Christian Religions, in a
brief ceremony marking the an-
niversary.
“In my Mass this morning, I
prayed in the name of Abraham,
our father in faith,” Cardinal Mc-
Carrick said. “If we’re from the
same family, it is impossible not to
work together.”
Rabbi Schnitzer urged the par-
ticipants of both faiths to strengthen
their relationship.
“As we continue to work among
the world, may all of us children of
God fulfi ll that challenge,” he said.
“It is by working together, many
lives joined in common endeavor,
that we move closer to God’s plan
for us.”
The cardinal and the rabbi
signed a one-page commitment
in which they pledged to “af-
firm the importance of ongoing,
strong and positive Catholic-Jew-
ish relations” through dialogue,
understanding, respect and col-
laboration.
One of 16 documents produced
by Vatican II, “Nostra Aetate”
helped pave the way for reconcilia-
tion between the two faiths. Signed
Washington Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick and Rabbi Jonathan Schnitzer,
president of the Washington Board of Rabbis, mark the 40th anniversary of
“Nostra Aetate,” the Second Vatican Council’s document on Catholic relations
with other religions, by signing a reaffi rmation of the importance of Catholic-
Jewish relations during a Nov. 13 ceremony at the Pope John Paul II Cultural
Center in Washington.
Cardinal, Rabbi Reaffi rm Importance of Catholic-Jewish Relations
By Lynnea Pruzinsky
CATHOLIC NEWS SERVICE
by Pope Paul VI and published on
Oct. 28, 1965, the document con-
demned all forms of anti-Semitism