In December, an international team of Catholic and Jewish scholars met in New York to discuss how they will carry out their mandate to study 11 volumes of World War II-era material the Vatican published between 1965 and 1981. The panel was announced by Seymour D. Reich, chairman of the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations, and Cardinal Edward I. Cassidy, chairman of the Vatican’s Commission on Religious Relations with the Jews.
The three Catholic scholars are: Eva Fleischner; Father Gerard Fogarty; and Father John F. Morley. The three Jewish scholars are Michael R. Marrus; Bernard Suchecky; and Robert Wistrich. All have published in the area.
Father Morley has been critical of the work of Father Peter Gumpel, the Jesuit who is promoting the cause of sainthood for Pope Pius XII; Father Morley has labeled Father Gumpel’s work “biased.” And at the time of the first meeting, Father Fogarty said, “We should look back and at least acknowledge what we have done wrong. One of the greatest obstacles to Christianity in our time is, unfortunately, Christians.”
