A year after the suspension of discussion between the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Canadian Rabbinic Caucus, the two parties are expected to resume official communication.

With the potential to mark a significant restoration in ecumenical relations between the Church and the Canadian Jewish community, both parties will look to regain the effective bond shared prior to last October’s dialogue breakdown when they meet in Ottawa next month.  

It was the CCCB’s lacklustre response in regards to the events of Oct. 7, when Hamas fighters broached the Israeli border, slaughtered upwards of 1,200 Israelis and took more than 200 captives back to Gaza, that led to the suspension of talks between parties. 

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“The statement was generally seen by the Jewish community as being very weak and not addressive of the issue at hand which was that Jews were brutally slaughtered, in some cases raped and taken hostage,” said Fr. Deacon Andrew Bennett, the program director for Faith Communities at Cardus. 

“It was only a week to 10 days after that statement was released that Richard Marceau, the vice president of external affairs and general counsel at the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs came out to say that it was completely inadequate, unacceptable and that dialogue would be broken off.” 

That statement, only four lines in length, spoke of rapid escalation of armed conflict in the Holy Land but did not mention Oct. 7 directly, an attack that made up for the largest loss of Jewish life since the Holocaust. According to Bennett, the "bothsidesism" and false balance of the statement influenced the decision of the Canadian Rabbinic Caucus. 

Marceau confirmed with The Catholic Register that poor timing also led to the breakdown in dialogue, saying that while the uninspired statement did not help, the Jewish community being thrust into a newfound global crisis and the rise in subsequent anti-Semitic attacks across Canada did not favour an effective time frame for civil conversation or reconciliation. Now, he says, the time is right.

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“It has been more than a year since the last session and many things have happened since then, including the deadliest day in Jewish history since the Shoah and a terrifying rise of anti-Semitism in Canada,” Marceau said. “On top of the issues that were on the agenda last year, those will be of importance for the Jewish participants, especially given the CCCB’s reaction to those events.”

Beyond the CCCB statement, individual bishops such as Vancouver's Archbishop J. Michael Miller and Military Ordinariate Bishop Scott McCaig provided statements generally well-received by the Jewish community. Bennett said these were a welcome symbol of support to the Jewish community during the ongoing conflict. 

“People may have this misunderstanding that the CCCB speaks to the Catholic Church in Canada and it does not. It is a coordinating body for the bishops that can be instructed at times by the bishops to issue statements, usually under the signature of (current) president Bishop (William) McGrattan in Calgary,” he said. “An individual bishop has all the power and keys within his diocese to issue his own statement and over the past year, there have been many of us (in the Church) who have been working to heal that relationship with the Jewish community.” 

An inherently important relationship to nurture in the eyes of the Church is highlighted by Nostra Aetate, which proclaims the Church’s responsibility in regards to the Jewish people: “In her rejection of every persecution against any man, the Church, mindful of the patrimony she shares with the Jews and moved not by political reasons but by the Gospel's spiritual love, decries hatred, persecutions, displays of anti-Semitism, directed against Jews at any time and by anyone.” 

The responsibility does not begin at the time of the Second Vatican Council, with Bennett noting that the relationship stems from the core truths of the Catholic faith and through the person of Jesus Christ as well. 

“Our Lord Jesus Christ is a Jew, yesterday, today, and forever. The Son of God was a Jew, and the Apostles with the exception of Luke, Mark and some of the Seventy, were all Jews,” he said. “I think we have a responsibility as the Church to always have that sense of solidarity with the Jewish people.” 

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It is a sentiment shared by Marceau, who hopes the dialogue opportunity later this year marks a time of renewed strength between the two faiths. 

“The values we share such as the belief in a single God and that humans are created in B'tselem Elohim (in the image of God, Genesis 1:27) thus have intrinsic value. That freedom of conscience and religion are central to human rights and are the very foundations not only of our faiths but our civilization. Those values are under attack today around the world but also in Canada. They must not only be defended but also promoted,” he said.