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The Jewish Week called the bishops' official statement a "seeming contradiction" since , the USCCB's conference's interfaith leader, Eugene Fisher, established the scholars' group.

It's not the first time such a Jewish-Catholic scholars' group has gotten into trouble with the bishops' conference. Last year, the bishops' Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs issued a statement saying that Jews aren't part of the "all nations" clause of the Great Commission. "This evangelizing task no longer includes the wish to absorb the Jewish faith into Christianity," said Reflections on Covenant and Mission, posted and promoted on the USCCB's website. But within days, it was pulled from the website and disavowed by the full bishops' council.

Meanwhile, the ADL and other Jewish leaders continue to fight the Gibson film. "Gibson is a great actor and director, but he has a responsibility to make a movie that does not contribute further to a legacy of pain and suffering," write the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Marvin Hier and Harold Brackman in a Los Angeles Times op-ed that spells out their qualms about the film.

Likewise, the ADL's Ken Jacobson defends his group's criticism of the film. "We have good reason to be seriously concerned about Gibson's plans to retell the Passion" he says in a letter to the New York Post, which last Thursday published a columnist's summary of the dispute. "Historically, the Passion—the story of the killing of Jesus—has resulted in the death of Jews."

Of course, the story of the killing of Jesus is told every year in thousands upon thousands of churches worldwide without any violence to Jews whatsoever, but the ADL seems more concerned about such questionable history as Oberammergau's Passion Play causing the Holocaust.

For his part, Gibson is no longer threatening to sue, and says critics should judge the film once it's actually in theaters. But will it offend Jews? "It's true that, as the Bible says, 'He came unto his own and his own received him not,'" he said. "I can't hide that." But he promises his film is "meant to inspire not offend. … My intention in bringing it to the screen is to create a lasting work of art and engender serious thought among audiences of diverse faith backgrounds. If the intense scrutiny during my 25 years in public life revealed I had ever persecuted or discriminated against anyone based on race or creed, I would be all too willing to make amends. But there is no such record."

Abortion:

• Fed court declines to reopen Roe v. Wade | The court said late Thursday that Norma McCorvey's request wasn't made within a "reasonable time" after the 1973 judgment in Roe v. Wade (Associated Press)
• Also: Court dismisses 'Roe's' challenge to abortion | (Reuters)
• Southern Baptists remove exception to abortion policy | "Health of mother" can't justify taking a human life, denomination says (Family News in Focus, Focus on the Family)
• A rocky Polish landfall for a Dutch abortion boat | The Langenort, a tugboat, holds a mobile abortion clinic, and in Catholic Poland its presence is unwelcome by many (The New York Times)
• Also: Dutch abortion ship reaches Poland | Protesters threw red paint and eggs (Associated Press)

Division in the Anglican Communion (news):

• Williams: 'No objection' to gay bishop | "It is an appointment I have sought neither to promote nor to obstruct," says Archbishop of Canterbury (BBC, video)
• Sex obsession must stop, says Archbishop of Canterbury | Gay bishop debate 'should not distract Church from its mission' (The Times, London)

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June (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47