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Editorial
The Editors
It is almost five years ago, on October 28th, during Vatican Council II, that the Catholic Church officially manifested its sincere desire to begin a new era in its relations with Judaism. The "Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to non-Christian Religions" (Nostra Aetate), proclaimed a positive approach to other religions. With this conciliar document for foundation, Catholics have been able to establish - or continue, as the case may be - contacts with the Jewish world. The value of all general directives is judged by the way they are put into effect. After five years it cannot be said that the Council directives have been put into practice by the whole of the Church. This is very understandable, in view of the profound interior change of attitude and of ' mentality that they demand. A change of such depth cannot take place overnight. On the other hand, such a document can become a dead letter if constant and serious efforts are not made to transform directives into action.
This number of Sidic contains all the important texts and documents on Jewish-Christian relations that have been published by the Church since 1965. Obviously, documents as such, cannot change mentalities. But they are signs of the very definite thinking of certain local churches how best to develop the attitude which the Council asked from the whole Church. At the same time they can serve as an instrument of study for all who wish to follow the evolution of Catholic thinking in the field of Jewish-Christian relation (*). The editors thought it might be of service, to our readers to introduce the collection with the text of the Seelisberg Conference of 1947, and the statement of Bad Schwalbach in 1950, because these two texts have played no small role in the formation of a new Christian attitude towards Judaism, and, thus, indirectly, have influenced the spirit and the formulation of succeeding declarations.
Documents issued by the World Council; .of Churches, or by member Churches of the Council, have not been included in this collection, but we would like to draw our readers' attention: to the fact that in July 1964, "The Commission of Faith and Order" in collaboration with "The Committee on the Church and the Jewish People", published a collection of declarations drawn up by The World Council of Churches, or by organisations representing the member Churches. The title of the collection is The Relationship of the Church to the Jewish People.
The Editors
(*) In 'this number, we are publishing the Latin text of the Conciliar Declaration Nostra Aetate, opposite the English translation. The original texts of the other documents may be obtained from our Service International de Documentation Judéo-Chrétienne; or from other competent organizations.
