EWTN News reports that on April 23, 2026, Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, hosted a panel titled “Shoulder to Shoulder: Strengthening Jewish-Catholic Friendship at a Moment of Crisis,” cosponsored by the Coalition of Catholics Against Antisemitism. The panel featured Jewish converts to Catholicism and a Catholic of Jewish descent who urged “renewed dialogue” and “theological clarity” to counter antisemitism. What was presented as a benign discussion on interfaith relations is, upon examination through the lens of integral Catholic doctrine, yet another manifestation of the post-conciliar apostasy: a systematic denial of the exclusive salvific mission of Christ and His Church, dressed in the language of “friendship” and “brotherhood.”
The Corruption of the Kingship of Christ
One of the most revealing moments of the panel came from Gideon Lazar, a Jewish convert to Catholicism, who lamented the “weaponization” of the phrase “Christ is King.” He stated: “One of the worst things that’s happened is this beautiful message, the kingship of Christ, has been corrupted by people who are fundamentally opposed to Christ.” He further asked: “How are we possibly supposed to tell our Jewish brothers and sisters that Jesus is their Messiah when we tell that to them, they think that means you hate us?”
This statement is not merely imprudent; it is a direct repudiation of the solemn teaching of Pope Pius XI in the encyclical Quas Primas (1925), which established the Feast of Christ the King precisely to affirm that “Christ reigns in the minds of men… because He Himself is Truth, and men must draw truth from Him and accept it obedientily” and that “His reign encompasses also all non-Christians, so that most truly the entire human race is subject to the authority of Jesus Christ.” Pius XI was unequivocal: “The state is happy not by one means, and man by another; for the state is nothing else than a harmonious association of men” and “there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
Lazar’s complaint reveals the modernist inversion: the “beautiful message” of Christ’s kingship is not the problem — the problem is that anyone would dare to insist that this kingship demands the conversion of all people, including Jews, to the Catholic faith. This is precisely the error condemned by Pius XI when he lamented that “the hope of lasting peace will not yet shine upon nations as long as individuals and states renounce and do not wish to recognize the reign of our Savior.” The conciliar sect has spent decades ensuring that the reign of Christ is neither recognized nor proclaimed, and now its adherents complain when anyone dares to utter the phrase.
The Myth of “Jewish-Catholic Friendship”
The very title of the panel — “Shoulder to Shoulder: Strengthening Jewish-Catholic Friendship” — presupposes a theological framework that is foreign to Catholic doctrine. The Church has always taught that there can be no “friendship” between truth and error, between the true faith and the rejection of the Messiah. As Pope Pius IX declared in the Syllabus of Errors (1864), Proposition 16 — the claim that “man may, in the observance of any religion whatever, find the way of eternal salvation” — is condemned. Proposition 17, which holds that “good hope at least is to be entertained of the eternal salvation of all those who are not at all in the true Church of Christ,” is likewise condemned.
The panel’s premise — that Catholics and Jews stand “shoulder to shoulder” as equal partners in a shared enterprise — is the very essence of the religious indifferentism anathematized by the Magisterium. It is the same spirit that produced Nostra Aetate (1965), the conciliar declaration that revolutionized the Church’s relationship with non-Catholic religions by implying that the Jewish faith retains its own salvific validity apart from explicit faith in Christ. This document, emanating from the antipope Paul VI’s “Second Vatican Council,” is a cornerstone of the modernist apostasy and has no binding authority, as it contradicts the perennial Magisterium.
Aviva Lund’s remark that “Jews are not evangelical. They just care about their own people” and that Catholics should “enjoy them as fellow human beings” reduces the supernatural relationship between the Church and the Jewish people to a merely natural, horizontal plane. The Church has always recognized the unique relationship — the Jewish people are the people of the Old Covenant, from whom Christ came according to the flesh, and for whom the Church prays for conversion, not “friendship.” As St. Paul writes: “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved” (Romans 10:1). The desire for salvation is not “antisemitism” — it is the highest act of charity.
The Naturalization of the Supernatural
Yarden Zelivansky’s comments about his life as a Jewish convert in Israel are particularly revealing of the naturalistic mentality that pervades the conciliar sect. He described his experience as “mostly surprisingly benign” and noted that Israelis care more about whether “you do what everybody else does to be a part of the nation of Israel” than about theological positions. He further stated: “Faith comes first. Faith informs morals. Morals inform politics.”
While this may sound superficially orthodox, the context reveals its true meaning: faith is privatized, reduced to an individual moral compass that must not interfere with political realities. This is the very error condemned by Pius XI in Quas Primas: “if men were ever to recognize Christ’s royal authority over themselves, both privately and publicly, then unheard-of blessings would flow upon the whole society.” The modernist mentality insists that faith remain private, that Christ’s kingship not extend to the public square, and that the Church accommodate herself to the political order rather than demanding that the political order submit to Christ.
Zelivansky’s remark that “serving in a certain country’s military certainly does not entail agreeing with every single policy” further illustrates the compartmentalization of faith that is characteristic of the post-conciliar mentality. The integral Catholic position is that faith must inform every aspect of life, including political and military service, and that a Catholic cannot participate in actions that contradict the natural law or divine positive law. The notion that one can serve in a military force while maintaining a private faith that is neatly separated from political judgment is a Protestant innovation, not a Catholic one.
The Omission of the Supernatural Mission
What is most striking about the entire panel is what is entirely absent: any mention of the Church’s mission to convert the Jews to the Catholic faith. Not once did any panelist state that the Jewish people must accept Jesus Christ as their Messiah and enter the Catholic Church for salvation. The word “conversion” appears only in the biographical description of the speakers as “converts” — but the content of the panel is devoted to ensuring that no such conversion is urged upon anyone.
This silence is the gravest accusation that can be leveled against the conciliar sect. The Church was founded by Christ with the command: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28:19). The Church has always taught that the Jewish people, like all people, are called to the Catholic faith. The Council of Florence (1442) declared: “The Holy Roman Church firmly believes, professes, and preaches that none of those existing outside the Catholic Church, not only pagans, but also Jews and heretics and schismatics, can have a share in life everlasting.”
The panel’s complete silence on this dogma is not an oversight — it is a deliberate suppression of the truth in favor of the modernist agenda of interreligious dialogue, which presupposes that all religions are equally valid paths to God. This is the heresy of indifferentism, condemned by Pope Gregory XVI in Mirari Vos (1832) and by Pope Pius IX in the Syllabus of Errors.
The Weaponization of “Antisemitism”
The panel was cosponsored by the “Coalition of Catholics Against Antisemitism” — an organization whose very name reveals the inversion of priorities that characterizes the conciliar sect. The primary concern is not the salvation of souls or the proclamation of Christ’s kingship, but the avoidance of the accusation of “antisemitism.” This term has been weaponized to silence any Catholic who dares to proclaim that Jesus Christ is the only way to salvation and that the Jewish people are called to embrace Him.
Gideon Lazar’s complaint that Gen Z men are turning to “random antisemites online who have quote-mined a bunch of random Church fathers” reveals the strategy: any appeal to the Church Fathers or the perennial Magisterium that affirms the necessity of conversion is to be dismissed as “antisemitism.” This is a modern form of the damnatio memoriae — the systematic erasure of Catholic truth in favor of a sanitized, naturalistic “dialogue” that offends no one and converts no one.
The Church Fathers whom Lazar dismisses as being “quote-mined” include St. John Chrysostom, who preached his famous Adversus Judaeos homilies, and St. Augustine, who taught that the Jewish dispersion was a divine punishment for the rejection of Christ. These are not marginal figures — they are Doctors of the Church whose teaching forms part of the integral Catholic tradition. To dismiss their teaching as “antisemitism” is to reject the Magisterium itself.
The Symptom of Systemic Apostasy
This panel is not an isolated incident — it is a symptom of the systemic apostasy that has consumed the conciliar sect since the “Second Vatican Council.” The entire framework of “Jewish-Catholic dialogue” was established by Nostra Aetate and has been developed through decades of “theological” work aimed at severing the Church’s mission from the imperative of conversion.
The result is a Church that no longer knows what it is. It cannot proclaim Christ as the only Savior because that would be “antisemitic.” It cannot insist on the social kingship of Christ because that would be “imposing” religion. It cannot teach the necessity of the Catholic faith for salvation because that would be “exclusivist.” All that remains is a vague “friendship” between “brothers” who share nothing in common except a mutual agreement to avoid theological truth.
This is the abomination of desolation foretold by Our Lord: “When therefore you shall see the abomination of desolation, which was spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place…” (Matthew 24:15). The holy place — the Church — has been occupied by those who have driven out the true worship of Christ and replaced it with the worship of human fraternity, interreligious dialogue, and the avoidance of all offense.
Conclusion: Return to the Unchanging Faith
The panel at Benedictine College is a microcosm of the conciliar apostasy: a gathering of people who bear the name “Catholic” but who have abandoned the essential mission of the Church. They speak of “friendship” where the Church demands conversion. They lament the “weaponization” of Christ’s kingship where the Church proclaims it as the foundation of all society. They invoke “dialogue” where the Church commands preaching.
The remedy is not more dialogue, not more “theological clarity” within the modernist framework, but a complete return to the unchanging Catholic faith. As Pope Pius XI declared: “The Kingdom of our Redeemer encompasses all men… His reign extends not only to Catholic nations or to those who, by receiving baptism according to law, belong to the Church, even though their erroneous opinions have led them astray or discord has separated them from love, but His reign encompasses also all non-Christians, so that most truly the entire human race is subject to the authority of Jesus Christ.”
Until the conciliar sect repudiates Nostra Aetate, repudiates the entire framework of interreligious dialogue, and returns to the perennial teaching of the Magisterium, every “panel” and every “dialogue” will be nothing more than another step toward the complete annihilation of the Catholic faith. The faithful must reject these abominations and cling to the unchanging truth: “Extra Ecclesiam nulla salus” — outside the Church there is no salvation, and there is no salvation except through Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords.
Source:
Panel explores Gen Z perspectives on Jewish-Catholic relations (ewtnnews.com)
Date: 23.04.2026