The Saint Leo University Center for Catholic-Jewish Studies (CCJS) condemns the antisemitic vandalism at the Florida Holocaust Museum in St. Petersburg. Early Thursday morning, May 27th, police discovered a swastika and "Jews are guilty" painted on the outside wall of the Museum.
The notion of collective guilt has been used to justify violence against Jews for centuries. For this reason, we are horrified by the use of this ancient theological trope against neighbors in our own community. Such ideas were deployed by antisemitic thinkers and politicians in the years leading up to, and during, the Second World War. The concept of collective guilt helped fuel resentment of the place of Jews in modern society during what Saul Friedländer has called the years of persecution, 1933–1939.
Additionally, the antisemitic language of the vandal has been explicitly rejected by the Second Vatican Council: "...[W]hat happened in His passion cannot be charged against all the Jews, without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today (Nostra Aetate 4)."
We must not remain silent in the face of attacks on our neighbors, or other religious minorities, and we recall that the Church condemns discrimination or harassment of any human person because of religion or race. The Church “decries...displays of anti-Semitism directed against Jews by anyone and at any time (Nostra Aetate 4).” Such attitudes and actions are “foreign to the mind of Christ (Nostra Aetate 5).” Pope Francis has asserted that the Catholic Church “feels particularly obliged to do all that is possible with our Jewish friends to repel anti-Semitic tendencies.” Indeed, anti-Semitism, according to Saint Pope John Paul II, is a sin against God and humanity.
The antisemitic incident at the Museum is just one of many reported in the last week. According to the Anti-Defamation League, antisemitic incidents in Florida rose 40% from 2019 to 2020. And the surge of incidents in the U.S. over the last year alone is unprecedented. Friends of the CCJS may recall that this is not the first antisemitic incident to affect the Tampa Bay area. On October 16, 2016, an antisemitic message written on an American flag was left in front of Congregation Schaarai Zedek, in Tampa. As the Council of Centers on Jewish-Christian Relations has stated: "There is never any political or social justification for targeting individuals and communities because of who they are."
The CCJS encourages all members of the Catholic community to show solidarity with our Jewish neighbors by sending personal messages of support, supporting the Florida Holocaust Museum, and studying about the danger of neo-Nazi terms and symbols. The CCJS is committed to promoting mutual respect, knowledge, and understanding through dialogue, study, and teaching.
