CV NEWS FEED // Two rabbis recently thanked the Catholic archdiocese of Vancouver for its ongoing support of the Jewish community since October 7, saying that the archdiocese’ words and actions “speak love” and have “absolutely been noticed.”
They expressed their appreciation for the support during two separate occasions of Catholic and Jewish gatherings. The first was on November 25, according to B.C. Catholic:
Shabbat Service preceded a Kiddush lunch provided by parishioners from Immaculate Conception in Delta as an offering of support to the Vancouver Jewish community.
Archdiocese of Vancouver Vicar General Msgr. Gregory Smith read an English translation of a blessing of safety for the Jewish people, for captives, and for the success and safety of the Israeli Defence Force.
Rabbi Jonathan Infeld said during the gathering, “Today we are grateful for the moral clarity of our brothers and sisters in the Catholic Church, for speaking out about antisemitism… Your words, your actions, speak love. It has absolutely been noticed. Thank you.”
He added, “Let this not be a mere ‘co-existence,’ … interspersed with limited and occasional meetings, but let it animate fraternal love.”
Smith said during the meeting, “We are family today, standing together against an onslaught of hatred that has erupted from some unseen depths in Canadian society and threatens not only Jews but basic elements of Canada’s civil society.”
One day after the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel, Vancouver Archbishop J. Michael Miller and the Canadian bishops published statements asserting that they “unequivocally condemned” the Hamas attack.
Miller wrote, “Such an attack must be unequivocally condemned, and our voices raised to the Lord that respect for human life, created in His image, will prevail among all people of good will. I join my prayers to those of the Jewish community who are mourning the deceased.”
Miller joined Rabbi Dan Moskovitz on November 30 at Temple Sholom in Vancouver, “for an evening of fellowship and a conversation about their respective paths toward religious leadership,” B.C. Catholic reported.
During the gathering, Moskovitz said, “The very first communication I received [after the Hamas attack] was from [Archbishop Miller] reaching out to our community… [Miller was] a voice in the wilderness because we didn’t hear from people we have allied with on many other things.”
Moskovitz added, “We can’t be strangers to each other. Part of the way we combat antisemitism, or anti-Catholic hate, or hate of any kind is to know each other.”
B.C. Catholic concluded that during the gathering, Miller
weighed in on the question of antisemitism in Canada, saying it can be difficult for those raised in the Judaeo-Christian tradition to readjust their understanding of the world to realize there are people who don’t only not understand those values, but who truly reject them.
“It’s been shoved in our face in a very brutal way,” said the archbishop. “It’s not just ‘a matter of time’ until people will just come along. There is such a thing as a rejection of deep values that we hold. I find that disturbing truth.”
