Q: Does the Catholic faith categorically believe that one religion is true for everyone? Or are there elements of truth in all religions? If my mother was born Catholic and my father is Jewish, how do I know what the true religion is? I grew up Jewish, but through suffering I have questioned my faith. Is it possible that both religions are equally true? Besides the Old Testament, are there any Jewish beliefs than can be reconciled with Catholicism? Thank you. — Hannah
Answered by Fr. Edward McIlmail, LC:
A: Great questions!
Catholics believe that Jesus was the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies that pointed toward a messiah.
We believe that Jesus is the Son of God. He is “the way and the truth and the life” (John 14:6).
One of the most remarkable things the Almighty revealed through Jesus is this: God is (note the singular verb) a Trinity of three Divine Persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Here, “persons” doesn’t mean human persons like you and me; rather, the Divine Persons are subsistent relations (the technical term).
Don’t worry if you can’t wrap your mind about this. It’s the core mystery of Christianity that we will never totally understand, even in heaven.
Since Jesus is God, and God is truth, there is only one, true Church — the Church founded by Jesus, that is, the Catholic Church.
The Church, however, recognizes that other religions have elements of the truth. But that doesn’t put them on the same level.
A passage from the Second Vatican Council’s declaration Nostra Aetate is worth quoting at length here:
“Religions, however, that are bound up with an advanced culture have struggled to answer the same questions by means of more refined concepts and a more developed language. Thus, in Hinduism, men contemplate the divine mystery and express it through an inexhaustible abundance of myths and through searching philosophical inquiry. They seek freedom from the anguish of our human condition either through ascetical practices or profound meditation or a flight to God with love and trust.
“Again, Buddhism, in its various forms, realizes the radical insufficiency of this changeable world; it teaches a way by which men, in a devout and confident spirit, may be able either to acquire the state of perfect liberation, or attain, by their own efforts or through higher help, supreme illumination.
“Likewise, other religions found everywhere try to counter the restlessness of the human heart, each in its own manner, by proposing ‘ways,’ comprising teachings, rules of life, and sacred rites.
“The Catholic Church rejects nothing that is true and holy in these religions. She regards with sincere reverence those ways of conduct and of life, those precepts and teachings which, though differing in many aspects from the ones she holds and sets forth, nonetheless often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men. Indeed, she proclaims, and ever must proclaim Christ ‘the way, the truth, and the life’ (John 14:6), in whom men may find the fullness of religious life, in whom God has reconciled all things to Himself.” [boldfaced mine]
In the case of what we now call Judaism, God began to reveal himself to a chosen people. The fullness of what he intended to reveal was revealed in Jesus.
Thus, there is a close link between Judaism and Christianity. As for what Jewish beliefs outside of Scripture are compatible with Catholicism, that would depend on the topic. I’m guessing that you are thinking of the Talmud, the central text of rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law and theology.
A few books that might help you connect the dots between Judaism and Catholicism are Salvation Is from the Jews and Jesus and the Jewish Roots of the Eucharist. The Youth Catechism could give you an overview of the Catholic faith.
I realize that this reply only touches on the tip of an iceberg. But I hope that some of this helps. Count on my prayers.
