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Father David Neuhaus, Latin Patriarchal Vicar, responsible for the Saint James Vicariate for Hebrew Speaking Catholics in Israel, has published a pastoral letter on the occasion of the 60th anniversary since the founding of the Work of Saint James. The letter was published on the Feast of Edith Stein, August 9, 2015.

Read here

NEW BOOK !

by Rabbi Dr. Mark Kinzer
"Searching Her Own Mystery"

with foreword of Card. Christoph Schonborn - Archibishop of Vienna, Austria

Read an excerpt: "On April 27, 2014 the Catholic Church officially recognized Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II as saints. Media reports focused on the appeal these two figures held for rival segments of the Church; John XXIII inspired progressives, while John Paul II earned the devotion of traditionalists. Little attention was given to the revolution in Catholic teaching and sensibility that these two Popes jointly accomplished;John XXIII as initiator, John Paul II as interpreter, emblematic personality, and implementer." Read more (entire first chapter)

This book is available at Wipf and Stock, Amazon (also Kindle edition)

INTERVIEW - JUNE 9th, 2015

The Jewish People and the Identity of the Church

BOOK REVIEW

From Saint James Vicariate For Hebrew Speaking Catholics in Israel
by Fr. David Neuhaus

Rabbi Mark Kinzer, a foremost Messianic Jewish theologian has published a new book on Nostra Aetate and its implications for Christian theology and dialogue with the Jews. Father David reports:

Rabbi Mark Kinzer, Messianic leader of the Zera Avraham Congregation in Ann Arbor, Michigan (b. 1952), has recently published a book on Nostra Aetate and its significance for Jews and Christians, Searching Her Own Mystery: Nostra Aetate, the Jewish People and the Identity of the Church (Eugene, Cascade Books, 2015). The book is an important contribution to the interpretation of Nostra Aetate and to the ongoing dialogue between Jews and Catholics, particularly those Jews who do believe that Jesus is the Messiah.

This year is the fiftieth anniversary of Nostra Aetate, the document that redefines the Catholic Church’s teaching on the relationship with members of other religions. The document was formulated during the Second Vatican Council, a council that brought together the leaders of the Catholic Church from all over the world. They deliberated for three years, from 1962 until 1965, redefining the Church’s relationship with the modern world and formulating the Church teaching within the context of the twentieth century. Nostra Aetate, translated “in our times”, redefined the attitude of the Catholic Church towards non-Christian religions. Discussions on the formulation of the document that became Nostra Aetate began with discussions on the attitude of the Catholic Church towards Jews and Judaism and this subject, the content of paragraph 4, is the longest part of the text.

Rabbi Kinzer defines four major changes evoked by Nostra Aetate in its long paragraph on the Jews and Judaism:

- The rejection of the claim that the Jews killed Christ. This tragically wrong interpretation of the Gospel has had devastating consequences for the Jews throughout the past two thousand years of history. The Council denounced anti-Semitism and all forms of racism!

- The reminder that Jews and Christians have a shared heritage not only focused on the Old Testament as a common patrimony but also emphasized that Yeshua, his Blessed Mother, the apostles and the early Church are Jewish.

- The insistence that the Jews are a chosen people and have an irrevocable vocation. They are not rejected by God because God is always faithful despite our faithlessness. In a particularly revolutionary formulation, the document, basing itself on Romans 11:29, a text never cited before in the Magisterium of the Church, said: “God holds the Jews most dear for the sake of their Fathers; He does not repent of the gifts He makes or of the calls He issues.”

- Finally, Kinzer claims that the document drives home the realization that the Church and the Jews are inextricably linked in the sight of God. It is from here that he derives the title of his book, quoting the beginning of paragraph 4: “As the sacred synod searches into the mystery of the Church, it remembers the bond that spiritually ties the people of the New Covenant to Abraham's stock”.

The renewal and purification of memory led to a change in thought and language that transformed a “teaching of contempt”, a phrase formulated by the Jewish French historian Jules Isaac, who encountered Pope John XXIII in 1960, into a “teaching of respect”.

Kinzer’s book goes on to deepen an understanding of the theological challenges that result from Nostra Aetate, examining ecclesiology, the sacraments of priesthood, baptism and Eucharist and challenging the Church and the Jewish people to pursue an understanding of sacramental presence that brings them ever closer together. The book includes fascinating sections on Kinzer’s own spiritual journey and the ongoing dialogue between Messianic Jews and Catholics.

FROM AN INTERVIEW WITH Rabbi Dr. MARK KINZER

"Our common adventure began with fr. Antoine Levy OP, a French Jewish Catholic priest and theologian who directs a study center in Helsinki, Finland. Over the past several years Antoine has been growing in his consciousness of the spiritual significance of his Jewish identity. This led him in the summer of 2008 to bring a Finnish tour group to Israel to inquire into contemporary expressions of Jewish faith in Yeshua. They visited both Messianic Jewish and Hebrew Catholic groups, and met with key leaders.

While in Jerusalem Antoine attended a public lecture I gave that focused on the published responses to my book, Postmissionary Messianic Judaism. The lecture piqued Antoine’s interest, and was followed by e-mail correspondence, transatlantic conversations by Skype, and our reading of one another’s work. In the process, we both became convinced that we should do something together that would enable Messianic Jews and Jews in churches to challenge and encourage one another as we were doing in our friendly and productive arguments.

We met for a day in Jerusalem in the summer of 2009, and decided at that time to initiate the Helsinki Consultation on Jewish Continuity in the Body of Messiah".

If you want to know more about our two co-chairs, read their thumb-nail biographies here (Mark’s) and here (Antoine’s).

Dallas Congress 2018 news here!

PRESS RELEASE – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE –

12 SEPTEMBER 2018

First International/Interconfessional Congress of the Jewish Disciples of Jesus

Dallas, Texas - August 27-30, 2018

The first International and Interconfessional Congress of Jewish Disciples of Jesus met at the Kings University, Dallas for four days of discussions. More than forty congregational leaders and theologians from Messianic, Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, Evangelical and Pentecostal traditions resolved to develop a new inter-confessional structure to encourage deeper association and unity between Jewish disciples of Jesus across the range and diversity of their respective confessions.

Attendees came from Brazil, Canada, England, France, Germany, Israel, Italy, Poland, Russia, Scotland and the USA. They held plenary sessions and group discussions to explore the formation of a new entity that will encourage Jewish expression of faith in Jesus as a “corporate expression of Am Israel within the body of Christ, a prophetic voice within that body and within the Jewish people.”

Jewish disciples of Jesus in Anglican, Baptist, Christian and Missionary Alliance, Episcopal, Lutheran, Messianic Jewish, Pentecostal, Roman Catholic, Russian Orthodox and Wesleyan traditions worshipped together using a variety of liturgies, including the Mass in Hebrew and Messianic Jewish services.

The Congress was convened by the Helsinki Consultation on Jewish Continuity in the Body of Christ (http://helsinkiconsultation.squarespace.com/), an interconfessional group of theologians who are Jewish disciples of Jesus, and whose previous statements were a basis for discussion and further action. The participants elected a steering committee to develop the new structure over the next two years.

The participants issued the following joint statement:

RESOLUTION BEGINS

The First International/Interconfessional Congress of Jewish Disciples of Jesus The Dallas Resolution (August 30, 2018)

1. We are Jews who worship the God of Israel, Creator of heaven and earth, who has revealed himself in Jesus the Messiah through the Holy Spirit. As disciples of Yeshua, we belong to a broad range of churches – Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, Evangelical, and Pentecostal – and to Messianic Jewish communities. Inheriting almost a decade of prayer, study, and collaboration by some of our members in the Helsinki Consultation, we are discovering mutual respect, understanding, and affection. We yearn to grow in our common life, to continue to learn from one another, and to support each other’s calling in the Spirit. We believe this is a precious gift from God that should be extended to all our Jewish brothers and sisters who, like us, have come to faith in Yeshua the Messiah. This gift has enabled many of us to overcome the solitude we have felt in our condition as Jewish disciples of Jesus, and we believe our communion with one another can be an instrument of strengthening and faith for all who follow Him.

2. Without relinquishing our ecclesial communities, we are convinced that Jewish disciples of Yeshua are called to live as a corporate expression of Am Israel within the body of Christ, a prophetic voice within that body and within the Jewish people. We believe that the loss of a Jewish expression of faith in Messiah is a wound within Am Israel and the body of Christ. The healing of this wound calls for the coming together of disciples of Jesus from among the Jews and the nations. This too can inspire disciples from among the nations to increase their efforts to come together with one another in unity. This then will contribute to the fulfillment of the prayer of Jesus that “all may be one.” Working towards this vision will require a visible structure that will reflect the breadth of Jewish disciples of Christ. That structure will be inter-confessional in nature and will incorporate the statements of the Helsinki Consultation as the basis of its theological work.

Practically, this organization may develop or share

·               mutual support and fellowship
·               paths towards repentance and mutual forgiveness among Jewish disciples
·               resources for deepening the identity of Jewish disciples of Jesus
·               joint prayer and the sharing of liturgical traditions
·               theological research
·               interconfessional dialogue and study programs of formation
·               witness to Yeshua networks for building relationships among young people and singles
·               support in combatting anti-Semitism
·               representation of Jewish disciples of Jesus to the wider Church

The members of this transitional Steering Group will be Boris Balter, Mark Kinzer, Fr. Antoine Levy, Lisa Loden, Mark Neugebauer, Lee Spitzer, and Igor Swiderski.

Signatories to the 2018 Dallas Resolution:

Amanda Achtman (Catholic), Ottawa, Canada

Boris Balter (Orthodox), Moscow, Russia

Andrew Barron (Messianic), Toronto, Ontario

Monique Brumbach (Messianic), Los Angeles, USA

Michael Calise (Messianic/Pentecostal), New York, USA

Mikhail (Misha) Chernyak (Orthodox), Warsaw, Poland

Steve Cohen (Lutheran), Tennessee, USA

Lawrence Feingold (Catholic), St. Louis, USA

Matthew Friedman (Messianic/Wesleyan), New Brunswick, Canada

Boris Goldin (Messianic), Florida, USA

Matheus Guimarães (Messianic), Brazil

Richard Harvey (Messianic), England

Debra Herbeck (Catholic), Michigan, USA

Mark Kinzer (Messianic), Michigan, USA

Elliot Klayman (Messianic), San Diego, USA

David Klein (Presbyterian), Washington State, USA

Sr. Eliana Kurylo (Catholic), Toulouse, France

Ryan Lambert (Messianic), Georgia, USA

Rev. Warren Leibovitch (Episcopal), Ontario, Canada

Fr. Francois Lestang (Catholic), Lyon, France

Fr. Antoine Levy (Catholic), Helsinki, Finland

Lisa Loden (Messianic), Netanya, Israel

Yuriy Mark (Baptist), Germany

Leonid Mazin (Messianic), Israel

Fr. Michael Meerson (Orthodox), New York, USA

David Moss (Catholic), St. Louis, USA

Mark Neugebauer (Catholic), Toronto, Canada

Sue Neugebauer (Catholic), Toronto, Canada

Fr. David Neuhaus (Catholic), Israel

Rich Nichol (Messianic), Boston, USA

Svetlana Panich (Orthodox), Moscow, Russia

Juliet Pressel (Catholic), Michigan, USA

Ephraim Radner (Episcopal), Toronto, Canada

Jennifer Rosner (Messianic), California, USA

David Rudolph (Messianic), Dallas, USA

Rev. Lee Spitzer (Baptist), New Jersey, USA

Greg Stone (Pentecostal), Dallas, USA

Igor Swiderski (Messianic), Germany

Ari Waldman (Messianic), Dallas, USA

Marty Waldman (Messianic), Dallas, USA

Ken Wilsker (Catholic), St. Louis, USA

Judith Wolfe (Catholic), Scotland

RESOLUTION ENDS

The Consultation founders, Dr. Mark Kinzer, President Emeritus of Messianic Jewish Theological Institute (USA), and Fr. Antoine Levy, OP, Professor at the School of Theology, University of Eastern Finland, expressed thanks to The King’s University, Dallas, for hosting the conference.

Rabbi Dr. Mark Kinzer (Messianic Jewish) said “we came together from many different backgrounds but displayed a remarkable unity of purpose considering our differing theological and cultural backgrounds. I am delighted that the future of our working together will now be developed further, and look forward with eager anticipation to our next meeting. It is important for the Body of Messiah and for the Jewish people that such a process continues.”

Father Antoine Levy, O.P., said “We have been meeting together for a number of years as a small group, but now we have a growing number of Jewish disciples of Jesus from across the confessions who wish to see more visible, corporate and communal expression of our unity and fellowship, and I am most encouraged at the opportunity we have to work on this together.”

For more information contact:

http://helsinkiconsultation.squarespace.com/

Dr. Mark Kinzer:

MKBenBen@gmail.com

Congregation Zera Avraham

P.O. Box 2025

Ann Arbor, Michigan 48106 USA

Antoine Lévy O.P.: +358 (0)50 304 2778

antoine.levy@studium.fi

Studium Catholicum

Ritarikatu 3 B A 4

00170 Helsinki Finland

THE HELSINKI CONSULTATION

FOR JEWISH CONTINUITY IN MESSIAH

WHO ARE WE AND WHAT DO WE DO ?

The Helsinki Consultation consists of an international fellowship of Jewish scholars and theologians who acknowledge Jesus as Israel’s Messiah and who live as members of diverse ecclesial bodies.

The Consultation includes Messianic Jews and Jews from Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox churches. Named after the city in which the first meeting was held in 2010, it originates in the desire of these Jewish disciples of Jesus to learn from one another and to establish a vehicle for exploring their common concerns.

The Consultation aims at elaborating and promoting a united voice for Jewish followers of Jesus.

While holding differing views on many important questions, the participants agree that the existence and life of Jews within the body of Christ has theological significance for the whole. It is our conviction that the Church in its essence is the communion of Jews and those from the nations called to faith in Christ.

Accordingly, we believe that:

-The Church must find a way to support Jews in its midst in sustaining a distinct Jewish identity.

Messianic Jews seek to fulfill this goal through establishing Messianic Jewish ecclesial communities. This may not be possible or desirable for Jews in Catholic, Protestant, or Orthdodox churches, but lessons for all may still be learned from Messianic Jews.

-Jewish believers in Jesus must live in visible communion with those from the nations who share their faith.

Jews in Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox churches express this reality through membership in communities which are predominantly non-Jewish in composition. This may not be possible or desirable for Messianic Jews, but Messianic Jews might learn lessons from their brothers´ and sisters´ experience.

The Helsinki Consultation meets annually in order to exchange views on these vital issues.

This exchange takes place through the presentation and discussion of papers and the preparation of a joint statement at the conclusion of the meetings (see RIGHT sidebar "Consultations").

This website makes public the results of our efforts, in hope that they might be of benefit to other Jewish believers in Jesus and to the Jewish people as a whole

SAINT JAMES VICARIATE FOR HEBREW SPEAKING CATHOLICS IN ISRAEL

Sixty Years - A Pastoral Letter

NEW BOOK !

by Rabbi Dr. Mark Kinzer
"Searching Her Own Mystery"