Vatican approves change to US catechism on covenant with Jews
August 28, 2009
The Vatican has granted its approval to a change proposed by the US bishops to the text of the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults.
The original 2004 text stated that “the covenant that God made with the Jewish people through Moses remains eternally valid for them,” leading some to believe that the text taught that only Gentiles, and not Jews, are called to the new covenant. The revised text, approved by the bishops at their June 2008 meeting, quotes St. Paul: “To the Jewish people, whom God first chose to hear his Word, ‘belong the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship and the promises; to them belong the patriarchs, and of their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ’ (Romans 9:4-5; cf. CCC, no 839).”
A press release issued by the bishops’ conference notes that “the clarification is not a change in the Church’s teaching. The clarification reflects the teaching of the Church that all previous covenants that God made with the Jewish people are fulfilled in Jesus Christ through the new covenant established through his sacrificial death on the cross. Catholics believe that the Jewish people continue to live within the truth of the covenant God made with Abraham, and that God continues to be faithful to them.”
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Further information:
- US Bishops get Vatican ‘Recognitio’ for Change in Adult Catechism (USCCB)
- Bishops vote to revise U.S. catechism on Jewish covenant with God (CNS, 2008)
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