“An attitude of dialogue” is the indispensable premise for the closer relations with Judaism requested by the Dutch bishops in their pastoral letter “The joy of learning”, issued by the Bishops’ Conference of the Netherlands on 27 October 2005. This is the bishops’ third intervention on the subject, after those in 1999 and 1995 with their previous letters on relations with Judaism. It has been published on the 40th anniversary of Vatican II’s declaration on the relations of the Church to non-Christian religions “Nostra aetate”. In their letter the Dutch bishops stress the significance of dialogue between Catholics and Jews in our present-day secularised society and point out that, according to the common faith of Jews and Christians, man is made in the image and likeness of God: it is this that forms the foundation of both visions and their attitudes to the sacredness of life. “Jews are conditioned by their own centuries-old tradition of explaining the Torah. For Catholics, Christ and His explanation constitute the norm of the Torah”, write the bishops. Distinctive signs of the necessary attitude of dialogue are “willingness to learn, self-criticism, listening”, and the importance of a continuous learning process, so significant in the Jewish tradition and a source of great joy, “which must represent an essential prerequisite also for Christians”. The bishops therefore remind Catholics, if possible together with Jews, to learn and to exercise, both in the doctrinal field and in other contexts; for this reason, they write, “we favour initiatives in the doctrinal field and encourage and emphasise the importance of dialogue, both in the parishes and in theological institutes”. “The living and speaking together of Jews and Catholics” ought to constitute, according to the bishops, “a source of inspiration to involve other religious traditions in faith and in dialogue”.
