Archbishop's web site Denver Catholic Register Parishes Catholic Pastoral Center
October 16, 2002
Program to explore sad past, hopeful future of Jewish-Catholic relations
Multi-media event 'A Man Had Two Sons' to be presented at pastoral center Oct. 24
By Roxanne King
A 40-minute crash course in the 2,000-year relationship between Judaism and Christianity is open to all via the multi-media presentation "A Man Had Two Sons" to be shown 7 p.m. Oct. 24 at the John Paul II Center.
Sister Magdalit Bolduc of the Community of the Beatitudes, which seeks to educate Catholics about the Jewish roots of Christianity as one of its primary ministries, is the event host. Participants will see a montage of 250 slides of sacred art, all taken by Sister Bolduc, that illustrate a script outlining the history of Jewish-Christian relations and the theology of the Church toward Judaism over that time.
The presentation precedes a brief conversation about Jewish-Christian relations facilitated by Sister Bolduc and Bill Beckman, Ecumenical and Interreligious officer for the Archdiocese of Denver.
"I created (the program) because I saw that the average Christian does not know why he should like Jews and doesn't know his own history," said Sister Bolduc, a former pilgrim's guide in Israel who now teaches "Jewish Roots of Christianity" out of her community's home in northwest Denver.
"The slide show is, in fact, a tool for conversation," she said. "We cannot start sharing if we do not have a true knowledge of our history: Where we come from and where we're going."
The presentation offers an unflinching look at the "troubled existence of the Church and the synagogue" prior to the Second Vatican Council, Beckman said, and the dramatic change since impelled by the council's document "Nostra Aetate" ("In Our Time").
The program is especially timely in view of last week's 40th anniversary of the council's opening session.
"This is a marvelous opportunity for people to understand their history and the call of the Second Vatican Council to live in renewed relationships with our elder brothers and sisters in the faith of Abraham," Beckman said.
Sister Bolduc's experience living in a Beatitude Community in Jerusalem a dozen years impressed on her the need for the program.
"I realized how poor we were, us Christians, in the knowledge of our history — the Church's history toward the Jews and our Jewish roots (of faith)," she said. "I didn't know that Christian nations had persecuted Jews throughout history. It was painful for me to realize that and learn about it from Jews. Jews themselves were hurt to realize I didn't know."
One early misconception about Judaism, the nun said, was the belief during the Middle Ages that Jews needed the blood of a Christian to make Passover bread.
"Not only was that believed, but Jews were brought to the stake for it when children were disappearing," Sister Bolduc said. "It shows ignorance of the Jewish religion: one of the principles of the Jewish dietary law is not to eat blood because blood is life. So to think the Passover bread is made with blood is absurd."
Although Christians no longer hold that notion, Sister Bolduc said, other negative beliefs remain.
"Israel is, in certain Christians' minds, divorced from God and Christianity is the New Israel," she said. "This was once called the Theology of Substitution, where the Church substitutes Judaism."
This notion, never a matter of dogma, was clarified during the Second Vatican Council, Beckman said.
"God's covenant with the Jews continues," Beckman explained. "God has not revoked his covenant with the Jews —they still have a role to play in God's plan of salvation."
Those who want to know more about that should attend the program, he added.
The presentation isn't interested in instilling Catholic guilt, the organizers said. Rather, it "puts things in perspective" by "showing the truth of the history" the nun said, and, Beckman added, shows how the Second Vatican Council "opened a new chapter in relationships between Judaism and the Church."
The Oct. 24 program, created with the help of another Beatitude nun, Sister Therese Andrevon, and audio-engineered by Michael Marek of Terrapin Sound, is the "world premiere in English" Sister Bolduc said with a laugh, explaining that the show has previously been given in French, Dutch and German.
Shown in Rooms 123 and 125 of the center at 1300 S. Steele St. in Denver, the event is co-sponsored with the archdiocesan Office of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs. There is no charge, but a free-will offering will be taken to offset project costs, organizers said. For more information, call Bill Beckman at 303-715-3207.
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