Catholics should be sensitive to the Jewish insecurity of loss of identity, especially in the wake of historic state persecutions of Jews under the pretense of preserving Catholicism or Christianity more broadly. These facts should make the faithful Catholic (or any Christian) wary of conflating the Gospel of Jesus Christ with any human ideology bound by temporal circumstances and political intrigue. Nevertheless, the Catholic must not mince words in witnessing to the fulfillment of the Hebrew scriptures in the life, teachings, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, in whose name alone is salvation, and only by belief in the same is one truly a son of Abraham (John 8:39, Gal. 3:7). Historical figures like Edith Stein testify to the truth that through Christ are the natural branches easily regrafted into their original tree (Rom. 11:24), and refute the lie that belief in Jesus as the Jewish Messiah resigns one’s identity as a Jew.
