Fordham – NYPL Lecture Series: Nina Valbousquet

“Un-American” and “Un-Christian?” Global Antisemitism and Jewish-Catholic Relations in the United States, 1936–1945.

This lecture examines the impact of antisemitism on Jewish-Catholic relations in the United States from 1936 to the Holocaust. It is especially timely today to further investigate the historical shapes of antisemitism in the U.S. and to consider both its religious and secular components. The second half of the 1930s bore witness to an unprecedented “tide of Catholic antisemitism” in America (Father Gregory Feige). In response, American Jewish defense organizations approached the Vatican and American Catholic leaders to convince them that antisemitism was “un-American” as well as “un-Christian.” The lecture reassesses the weight of home-grown antisemitism (Father Charles Coughlin, the Christian Front, and the Tablet of the Brooklyn diocese, for instance) as well as the impact of global issues such as the Spanish Civil War and the refugees’ crisis on the eve of WWII.

In this presentation, Valbousquet follows cases of Jewish-Catholic collaboration against antisemitism and the initiatives of the American Jewish Committee, the National Conference of Christians and Jews, and the Committee of Catholics to Fight Antisemitism. I dedicate specific attention to Jewish-Catholic encounters that took place in New York and especially to the key role of New York universities (Fordham University, Hunter College, Jewish Theological Seminary, among others). As a result, the lecture discusses the significance of these interactions: to what extent did they go beyond mere religious self-interests and address broader issues of human rights, racism, and pluralism?

All Fordham events in Jewish studies are free and open to public.