Marking the 60th anniversary of two Second Vatican Council texts – Nostra Aetate and Dei Verbum – the gathering was framed not only as an exercise in commemoration but as an invitation to grounded study and concrete engagement.
Nostra Aetate opened the Church to respectful relations with other religions; Dei Verbum offered a renewed account of how Christians read and interpret Scripture. Together they changed the contours of Catholic teaching and practice in the modern era. That change, however, arrived unevenly across different parts of the world. For Romania – shaped by decades of closed borders and religious repression – the questions raised by those documents are only now emerging as matters for public attention.
Between 1947 and 1989, communist rule severely restricted the Romanian’s people’s contact with the outside world. Religion was regarded by the regime with extreme suspicion, and Catholic congregations were suppressed, their members persecuted in many ways. Their faith, practised clandestinely, developed into a very private form of spirituality and a witness of suffering.
When the regime fell, the Catholic community faced a twofold challenge. The relief of regained freedom initially masked a deeper need for healing; and decades of separation had left them unaware of developments elsewhere in the Church. Beyond missing liturgical and pastoral developments, they had been cut off from the broader religious conversation, and were ill-equipped to take it in.
Sr Iuliana Neculai NDS, the symposium’s organiser, believes that the time has come for a deeper, public engagement with the legacy of Vatican II. “Only now,” she says, “more than thirty years after the fall of communism, have Romanian Catholics reached the maturity to receive and integrate the council’s changes.” She chose the St Joseph Roman Catholic Theological Institute in Iași as host because, she explained, it is the priests and educators undergoing formation today who will be the principal transmitters of these concepts into catechesis and parish life.
Under the thoughtful moderation of Fr Dr Iosif Antili, the symposium assembled historical, theological and cultural perspectives. Bishop Iosif Păuleț of the Diocese of Iași opened by urging a listening posture: dialogue requires seeking the good and the beautiful in the other. Fr Dr Tarciziu Șerban then appraised the wider climate of mid-20th-century Europe in which Vatican II took place, reminding participants that Church developments are inseparable from historical circumstances.
Prof Dr Marcie Lenk offered a personal entry into theological reflection. Drawing on her Jewish upbringing in New York, she described the gradual discovery that the “other” need not be feared. Her references to Genesis, Job and the Mishnah supported a theology of mutual recognition: encountering difference, she suggested, is a path toward deeper self-knowledge. For her personally, Nostra Aetate contributed to opening doors to a two-way exchange of teaching and learning between Jews and Christians.
Prof Massimo Gargiulo brought ancient history to bear. His lecture on Second Temple Judaism urged Christians to study the period that shaped the religious and social world of the New Testament. Many currents visible in early Christianity, he argued, are best understood against the pluralised Jewish landscape of the first century. Such study, he suggested, guards against simplistic readings of the New Testament and enriches contemporary Christian-Jewish dialogue.
A practical aim of the symposium was to expand resources in Romanian so seminarians and students will be able to continue their study after the event. Sr Iuliana rallied authors and translators to prepare key materials, which were presented during the day and are available through Librăria Sapientia.
The first volume, Documente, gathers in Romanian all the texts issued by the Vatican Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews since its foundation in 1974. Rev Dr Ștefan Lupu, who translated the documents, traced the Church’s evolving approach to Jewish-Christian relations and highlighted milestone documents of 1974, 1985, 1998 and 2015. The collection also includes a Jewish text responding to the Church’s evolving self-understanding.
The Fișe pentru cunoașterea iudaismului, recently translated from Italian, form a second practical tool. Developed by Rev Dr Giuliano Savina with a working group of Jewish and Christian experts, the book presents aspects of Judaism in accessible terms for non-Jewish readers. Topics range from the Hebrew Bible to community life and the history of Jewish-Christian relations. The Romanian edition is enriched by a section on the history of the Jews in Romania. The section’s author, Prof Felicia Waldman, presented the contributions of certain Jewish figures to Romanian society.
A third resource, Biblia prieteniei, was introduced by its translator, Fr Dr Cristian Bulai, and presented by one of its editors, Prof Marco Morselli Cassuto. The three-volume work follows the structure of the Hebrew canon – Torah, Nevi’im and Ketuvim – and includes contributions from some 130 Jewish and Christian authors. Rather than seeking a single harmonised interpretation, the project presents a chorus of readings that illuminate the plurality of meaning within Scripture and model respectful scholarly encounter.
The symposium concluded with the presentation of the book: In Sion Firmata Sum. Viața și activitatea în clandestinitate a surorilor Congregației Notre Dame de Sion în timpul regimului comunist din România (1947-1989) – a study of the life of the sisters of Our Lady of Sion in Romania during the communist years. Four speakers reflected on the book.
Sr Oonah O’Shea, Superior General of Notre Dame de Sion, recalled how, even during their segregation, the sisters’ hidden witness informed the identity of the whole congregation, and continues to do so.
Sr Iuliana Neculai, who initiated the book, collocated it within the symposium as a reflection of the Sion congregation’s enduring mission to promote Nostra Aetate ever since the moment of its promulgation. She recounted how the book came about, underlining the importance of this act of remembrance today and for future generations.
Fr Dr Corneliu Berea, the book’s researcher and author, described the editorial challenge of turning archival boxes of letters into a coherent narrative. He found a balance that preserved the sisters’ voices while supplying historical context within a clear framework, producing a work that honours both personal testimony and scholarly standards.
Historian Fr Dr Petru Ciobanu reviewed the story in the light of the broader panorama of the history of ecclesial communities.
By placing Nostra Aetate and Dei Verbum at the heart of the symposium and inviting Jewish and Christian scholars to reflect together, Sr Iuliana sought to turn commemoration into encounter, encouraging a transition in Romania from abstract theories on Jewish-Christian relations to direct, active engagement.
She was grateful to all the speakers for sharing their precious expertise, and hopes the day’s learnings may have sparked a new curiosity about interfaith dialogue, preparing the terrain for fresh paths in Romania’s spiritual landscape.
The symposium was organised by the Congregation of Notre Dame de Sion in collaboration with the Office for Biblical Pastoral Care of the Diocese of Iași, the St Joseph Roman Catholic Theological Institute, and the Faculty of Roman Catholic Theology of the Al. I. Cuza University. The sessions can be viewed, in Romanian, English and Italian, on the St Joseph’s YouTube channel:
Read more about Fr Corneliu Berea’s book.