John M. Oesterreicher
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Monsignor John Maria Oesterreicher (2 February 1904 – 18 April 1993), born Johannes Oesterreicher, was a
Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
theologian and a leading advocate of Jewish–Catholic reconciliation. He was one of the architects of ''
Nostra aetate (from Latin: "In our time") is the incipit of the Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions of the Second Vatican Council. Passed by a vote of 2,221 to 88 of the assembled bishops, this declaration was promulgated ...
'' or "In Our Age," a declaration which was issued by the
Second Vatican Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the , or , was the 21st Catholic ecumenical councils, ecumenical council of the Roman Catholic Church. The council met in St. Peter's Basilica in Rome for four periods (or sessions) ...
in 1965 and which repudiated
antisemitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...
.


Biography

Oesterreicher was born to a Jewish family in Město Libavá (Stadt Liebau) in
Moravia Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia. The me ...
(then part of
Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
and now the
Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...
). He was a convert to Catholicism and became a priest in 1927. He served as a chaplain in
Gloggnitz Gloggnitz is a mountain town in the Neunkirchen district of Lower Austria, Austria. Gloggnitz is situated in the south-western part of the Vienna Basin in Lower Austria. It is surrounded by the highest mountains in Lower Austria, Mount Rax (20 ...
, and there he founded the local Scout group and served at its chaplain. He was an anti-Nazi activist in the 1930s. In 1934 he founded the newspaper ''Die Erfüllung'' (''The Fruition'') to improve relations between
Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
and
Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
and to fight against
antisemitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...
. Together with Georg Bichlmair SJ, he founded the ''Pauluswerk'' in Vienna. The Pauluswerk was a community for converts from Judaism to Roman Catholicism and prayed for Christianization of Jews. Oesterreicher edited a document authored by
Waldemar Gurian Waldemar Gurian (February 13, 1902 – May 26, 1954) was a Russian-born German-American political scientist, author, and professor at the University of Notre Dame. He is regarded particularly as a theorist of totalitarianism. He wrote widely on p ...
(a Russian-Jewish convert to Catholicism) and Karl Thieme (a German-Lutheran convert to Catholicism) in 1937 entitled "''The Church of Christ and the
Jewish Question The Jewish question, also referred to as the Jewish problem, was a wide-ranging debate in 19th- and 20th-century European society that pertained to the appropriate status and treatment of Jews. The debate, which was similar to other "national ...
''", which called on all Christians, but especially the
Pope The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...
and the Roman Curia, to oppose contemporary anti-Jewish sentiment and to take a public position on the movement against the
Jews in Germany The history of the Jews in Germany goes back at least to the year 321, and continued through the Early Middle Ages (5th to 10th centuries CE) and High Middle Ages (''circa'' 1000–1299 CE) when Jewish immigrants founded the Ashkenazi Jewish ...
. He would maintain a close intellectual partnership with Thieme for many years.Connelly, J. (2014). Eschatology and the Ideology of Anti-Judaism. Studies in Christian-Jewish Relations, 9(1)
/ref> After the broadcast of Austrian Chancellor Schuschnigg's resignation on 11 March 1938, Österreicher went to Schuschnigg's office and burned all the correspondence, because he was aware that the Gestapo would search his office and home. Österreicher also burned all of his own correspondence as well as his books, in order to protect citizens of Jewish origin. His parents, Nathan and Ida Oesterreicher, later died in Theresienstadt and Auschwitz. He fled Austria five weeks after the March 1938
Anschluss The (, or , ), also known as the (, en, Annexation of Austria), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ...
, or annexation of Austria. Based initially in Paris, he condemned the Nazis in weekly broadcasts and writings. He fled to the U.S. after the German invasion of France in 1940. Oesterreicher founded the Institute of Judaeo-Christian Studies at
Seton Hall University Seton Hall University (SHU) is a private Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Seton Hall is the oldest diocesan un ...
in 1953. He was appointed a
Papal Chamberlain A Papal Gentleman, also called a Gentleman of His Holiness, is a lay attendant of the pope and his papal household in Vatican City. Papal gentlemen serve in the Apostolic Palace near St. Peter's Basilica in ceremonial positions, such as escorting d ...
, with the title of monsignor, in 1961. In the 1960s, he was one of fifteen priests who petitioned the Vatican to take up the issue of antisemitism. Oesterreicher is probably best known for his involvement in drafting ''
Nostra aetate (from Latin: "In our time") is the incipit of the Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions of the Second Vatican Council. Passed by a vote of 2,221 to 88 of the assembled bishops, this declaration was promulgated ...
''. The statement rejected antisemitism and repudiated the notion that Jews were responsible for the persecution and death of Jesus Christ. It stated that even though some Jewish authorities and those who followed them called for Jesus' death, the blame for this cannot be laid at the door of all those Jews present at that time, nor can the Jews in our time be held guilty.Barnes S.J., Michael. "Nostra aetate -the moral heart of the Second Vatican Council", Jesuits in Britain, 2015
/ref> The statement thus repudiated the historic charge of deicide, which is a basis of
antisemitism Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...
. It stated that "the Jews should not be presented as rejected or accursed by God." Oesterreicher was strongly pro-Israel and advocated improved relations between Catholics and the Jewish state. However, he was not always a supporter of Israeli government policies.GOD'S 'LOVING WILL' SPURS CHURCH'S 'JEWISH CONNECTION'
He was the author of several books and numerous scholarly articles. His books include ''The New Encounter Between Christians and Jews''; ''Racism, Anti-Semitism, Anti-Christianism''; and ''God at Auschwitz?''. He lived near the campus of
Seton Hall University Seton Hall University (SHU) is a private Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton, Seton Hall is the oldest diocesan un ...
in
South Orange, New Jersey South Orange, officially the Township of South Orange Village, is a suburban township in Essex County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the village's population was 16,198, reflecting a decline of 766 (4.5%) fro ...
, and he died on 18 April 1993 at
Saint Barnabas Medical Center Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center (CBMC), formerly Saint Barnabas Medical Center (SBMC), is a 597-bed non-profit major teaching hospital located in Livingston, New Jersey. An affiliate of RWJBarnabas Health (formerly known as Barnabas Health and ...
in
Livingston, New Jersey Livingston is a township (New Jersey), township in Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States census, 2010 U.S. census, the township's population was 29,366, reflecting an increase of 1,975 (+7.2%) from the ...
, aged 89.


Quote

* ''Nobody says anything against the Egyptian authorities for oppressing the Coptic Christians. No one protested vehemently against the forced closing of St. Joseph's College years ago in Iraq, nor against the laws in Jordan prior to 1967 which prohibited Christians from acquiring new property. If Israel did any of these things, everyone would cry bloody murder, from the authorities in Rome to Catholics all over the world... This is prejudice.'' (Monsignor John M. Oesterreicher, quoted by James C. O'Neill, ''Our Sunday Visitor'', 10 July 1983)


See also

*
Gregory Baum Gerhard Albert Baum (June 20, 1923 – October 18, 2017), better known as Gregory Baum, was a German-born Canadian priest and theologian in the Catholic Church. He became known in North America and Europe in the 1960s for his work on ecumenism, ...
— ''Nostra aetate'' co-author * Bruno Hussar — ''Nostra aetate'' co-author


References


Further reading

* Elias H. Füllenbach: Shock, Renewal, Crisis: Catholic Reflections on the Shoah, in: Antisemitism, Christian Ambivalence, and the Holocaust, ed. by Kevin P. Spicer, published in association with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Washington, D.C., Indiana University Press: Bloomington, IN 2007, pp. 201–234.


External links


Recommendations from the Institute of Judaeo-Christian Studies, Seton Hall University (1960)Auschwitz, the Christians and the Council, 1965
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oesterreicher, John M. 1904 births 1993 deaths Activists against antisemitism Austrian emigrants to the United States 20th-century Austrian Roman Catholic priests Converts to Roman Catholicism from Judaism Participants in the Second Vatican Council People from Olomouc District Seton Hall University faculty Writers on antisemitism Christian and Jewish interfaith dialogue