The JCPA continues to enhance relationships with the National Council of Churches and the United States Catholic Conference/National Conference of Catholic Bishops and with denominational leaders nationally and locally. In collaborations such as the National Religious Partnership on the Environment, which includes Evangelical Christians among others, and on various civil and religious liberty and social policy concerns, interfaith cooperation continues with a broad range of faith communities, including the growing Muslim American community. Locally as well, Jewish communities maintain extensive working relationships with diverse religious groups.

As the Roman Catholic Church begins its third millennium, it has placed increasing emphasis on themes of repentance and reconciliation, including significant attention to Christian roles and responsibilities with regard to anti-Semitism and the Holocaust. In the past year, the Jewish community has received numerous messages of teshuvah from religious leaders in the United States and abroad. A more global 90-page Vatican report, "Memory and Reconciliation: The Church and the Faults of the Past," addressed a range of historical transgressions committed by Roman Catholics in the name of the Church over the past 2,000 years. This was followed by an unprecedented Mass of Repentance, led by Pope John Paul II in a personal acknowledgement of past transgressions by members of the Church. Interfaith leaders within the Jewish community have welcomed these groundbreaking positive steps, although some have also expressed regret that the Vatican did not address the role of the Church as an institution and of some church leaders during the Holocaust.

Tensions over what the Catholic Church has called excessive negative criticism of Vatican statements regarding the Holocaust have presented a serious challenge for both the Catholic and the Jewish community. Acknowledging the significance of these concerns and the need to avoid negative rhetoric, Jewish leaders have maintained that it is important for partners in dialogue to be able to speak frankly to one another. Given the investment by both communities in the significant achievements of the past 35 years, interfaith leaders can be expected to intensify efforts to address their concerns through more effective communication, as they continue to advance their relationship. This will require an awareness of sensitivities on both sides. In one welcome development, the Vatican’s Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews and the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations (IJCIC) appointed a joint team of scholars to review published volumes of Church archival material covering World War II. While this development stops short of permitting full access to unpublished archives, it is nevertheless an important step in the ongoing effort to clarify understandings regarding the facts in question.

The historic six-day religious pilgrimage of Pope John Paul II to Israel and the Middle East became a powerful force for interfaith healing. As the first pope to pray in a synagogue, to acknowledge Catholic culpability in the Holocaust, to declare anti-Semitism a sin "against G-d and man," and to extend full diplomatic recognition to Israel, Pope John Paul II brought a compelling message of compassion, understanding and peace to every stop throughout his visit. While he essentially reaffirmed previous statements recognizing Israel and the enormity of the Holocaust, his presence in the land carried added and significant symbolic power.

At Yad Vashem, he called for a relationship of mutual respect, devoid of anti-Jewish feeling among Christians and anti-Christian feeling among Jews. Affirming that, "No one can forget or ignore what happened. No one can diminish its scale," he provided a strong counterweight to those who would attempt to trivialize or deny the Holocaust. Finally, standing before the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest site, he prayed for forgiveness for the Church’s sins against Jews through the centuries. Within the Jewish community, the response to the papal journey was strongly positive. Many events that marked the pilgrimage were seen as tangible evidence of the dramatic changes that have occurred in Jewish-Catholic relations, providing inspiration for the work ahead.

Elsewhere, the JCPA remains concerned about missionary work targeted at Jews, to which themes of millennial evangelism may add new energy. Many in the Jewish community have been outraged at recent activity by the Southern Baptist Convention, including publication of a booklet urging prayers for the conversion of Jews to Christianity and announcement of plans to send thousands of volunteers to targeted cities in the summers of 2000 and 2001 for missionary work. Of added concern has been the growing alliance between the Southern Baptist Convention and messianic Christian groups (so-called "Hebrew Christians"). Messianic Christians often use deceptive tactics in their proselytizing activities, suggesting that one can become a Christian and, at the same time, remain a Jew. Acknowledging that proselytizing activities are protected behavior under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment, the JCPA nevertheless has long opposed missionary work specifically targeted at Jews, as it dismisses the validity of Judaism and is frequently dishonest in its methods.

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