Confraternidad

On the night of Tishah Beab--when Jews lament the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in A.D. 70 by Roman legions under the future Emperor Titus--a bomb shattered Buenos Aires' Knesset Israel Synagogue. After that 1947 bombing, Head Rabbi Guillermo Schlesinger wandered in the rubble and said aloud: "What have I done? Why was the house of the Lord profaned?" A black-robed figure stepped forward and answered: "Prejudice, hate and ignorance have struck." His hand outstretched, Father Carlos Cucchetti added: "I come to offer you my sympathy." Replied the Rabbi : "I shall never forget your kindness."

One night eight years later, during Dictator Juan Peron's church-burning war on Catholicism, the same bomb-hurling gangs switched from Jews to Catholics, beat up friars (one was killed) and tried to catch anti-Peronista Father Cucchetti. To his hiding place came a friendly visitor--Rabbi Schlesinger. By last week their friendship had resulted in Latin America's first interfaith union: Movimiento de Confraternidad Judeo-Christian.

Trial Balloon. Since he was ordained in 1933, Carlos Cucchetti has rarely stayed out of trouble. When Peron first came to the fore, Cucchetti led 10,000 people in a protest march. When the Catholic hierarchy supported Peron, he blasted his bosses and was relieved of his parish. When Peron turned against the church, he shed his cassock and organized anti-Peron resistance. In July 1956, with Peron booted out of Argentina, Father Cucchetti went to Italy, talked over his idea for a Christian-Jewish brotherhood movement with Vatican officials. Next he visited Israel. Back in Buenos Aires several weeks later, he launched his first trial balloon, a message in La Prensa: "Judaism and Christianity are two sides of one mountain at the summit of which is the idea of the Messiah . . ."

Conservative Catholics frowned; rank and file Protestants, reluctant to attract attention, kept silent; wealthy Jews retreated. But Father Cucchetti, flanked by Rabbi Schlesinger and Methodist Minister Adam Sosa, did not lose zeal. "The three musketeers," as supporters tagged them, worked on their congregations. The rabbi persuaded two of his richest members to finance the movement; the Protestant pastor got backing from the U.S. National Conference of Christians and Jews; the priest managed to keep stodgy superiors from getting involved.

Program & Plans. Last week the three men sat together at Confraternidad's first public meeting. Their program, to be spread through radio, press, lectures, books: i) "mold a collective soul through the union and understanding of all believers," 2) "form a common front against soulless forces which destroy the dignity of man," and 3) "promote the spiritual significance of democracy."

At brotherhood headquarters last week, secretaries were swamped with letters of praise and membership applications. Said Father Cucchetti: "The days of preaching about what divides us are over. Now it is time to preach about what unites us."

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