Australia’s Catholic bishops have condemned “antisemitism in all its forms” in its submission to the Royal Commission into Antisemitism and Social Cohesion. Source: Melbourne Catholic.
The Albanese Government launched the royal commission in response to the horrific attack against Jewish Australians at Bondi Beach in December last year.
Jointly prepared by the Bishops Commission for Life, Family and Public Engagement and the Bishops Commission for Christian Unity and Inter-religious Dialogue, and signed by commission chairs Melbourne Archbishop Peter A Comensoli and Maitland-Newcastle Bishop Michael Kennedy, the submission strongly condemns the “horrific and evil” events at Bondi and declares, on behalf of Australian Catholics, that “we stand in solidarity with our Jewish brothers and sisters”.
In a message to Melbourne’s faithful, commending the submission to them and asking them to “take the time to read and reflect on its contents”, Archbishop Comensoli noted that the profound spiritual patrimony Christians and Jews share gives the Church a particular responsibility to reject antisemitism wherever it appears.
“Together, let us reject hatred, prejudice and division wherever we encounter them.” Instead, he said, we must “uphold the dignity and common humanity of every person, following the example and command of our Lord Jesus Christ to love one another.”
In their submission to the commission, the bishops describe the “recent explosion of explicit antisemitism in parts of Australia” as “shocking and deeply distressing”, and as a sign of “the re-emergence of a latent distrust and culpable ignorance concerning people of Jewish heritage, fuelled by deliberately fostered hatreds and loathing and tied into dishonest agendas from extreme standpoints”.
“It should trouble us all that many Jewish Australians cannot participate in ordinary community life without security measures that other communities would think unimaginable,” the bishops said.
“Jewish children should not need armed guards at school. Jewish families should not have to weigh whether it is safe to walk home. Jewish worshippers should not need to pray behind bullet-proof glass at their synagogues.”
While the Bondi massacre “brought these realities into sharper focus”, the bishops said, “the fear long preceded that day. No community should have to live this way.”
The submission acknowledges that “Australians are entitled to hold and express concerns about the actions of foreign governments” but says that “such concerns can never be used to excuse or justify hostility, intimidation or violence towards any group on account of their ethnicity or religion.”
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Australian bishops condemn ‘antisemitism in all its forms’ in submission to royal commission (Melbourne Catholic)
