Statement on the Recent Violence Against Jewish-Americans

"In our time, when day by day humanity is being drawn closer together, and the ties between different peoples are becoming stronger the Church examines more closely her relationship to non-Christian religions. In her task of promoting unity and love among all, indeed among nations, she considers above all in this declaration what men and women have in common and what draws them to fellowship." These are the opening lines of Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions. Nostra Aetate. They were proclaimed by His Holiness, Pope Paul VI, on October 28, 1965.

Tragically, in our current time, we are experiencing daily occurrences where members of humanity are drifting apart from one another. Recent incidents, in New York, involved a young man being beaten and innocent people being attacked, and in Los Angeles, a group of diners was assaulted at a restaurant. And the reason given for the attacks: they are Jews. Additionally, synagogues and businesses were vandalized. This reprehensible behavior targeting innocent people must stop.

Violence against our Jewish brothers and sisters, throughout the United States and elsewhere, is a rejection of the spiritual patrimony which we claim we cherish. That patrimony consists in the recognition that all deserve the promotion and upholding of the human dignity of our shared created status. The authentic exhibition of that recognition is expressed in love for another. To love another is to will the good for that person. And, the Sacred scriptures tell us that if we do not know love, we do not know God.

In our time, and at all times, if I claim that I know and love God, then I must love all the work of his hands, all my sisters and my brothers. 

Thomas B. Curran, S.J.
President