'We have fulfilled our Jewishness'.

At a time when Pope Benedict XVI has drawn fire from many quarters for receiving a prominent Muslim into the Church at this year's Easter vigil, it's instructive to examine the story of two young London, Ontario Jews who became evangelical Christians. Of course their decision caused stress to their family and community but at no time was anyone rejected or threatened. Their father gradually became more reconciled to his sons' decisions, particularly once they married Christian women and half a dozen grandchildren started to arrive on the scene. Late in his life, the father also accepted Christ as his saviour.

The Katz brothers, Harvey and Howard, both published books last year with former London, Ontario mayor, Dianne Haskett's U.S.-based publishing house, Believe Books. Both books are shot through with reminiscence of growing up Jewish in London as the sons of Sam Katz, who was also known as the Mayor of Cherryhill--an enormous shopping mall and apartment complex he developed. Today the two brothers continue to run their father's company, ESAM, and Howard is the pastor at Open Doors Christian Fellowship.

Little brother, Harvey, was the first to write a book, as he was the first to accept Christ as his saviour on May 3, 1976 at the age of 16. Harvey's book, Becoming a God Magnet, is an engaging and at times very funny survey of his witness and evangelization over the last 30 years. Quite independently, Howard came to Christ a few months after Harvey in his 20th year while working out of town in construction. Howard's book, Seven Essential Relationships, is a more sober, pastoral work, grounded in the Genesis account of the life of Joseph and showing the seven stages of development in a Christian's relationship with God.

Herewith, some transcripts from my interview with the brothers:

HARVEY: We aren't Rabbinic Jews because we don't follow Judaism in its present form and we acknowledge that and respect that. But we do consider ourselves Biblical Jews. We believe that we have the heritage of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and that Jesus Christ is the Jewish Messiah. We would never deny being Jewish or being Christian. I would say that we haven't converted. Converting implies that we aren't Jewish anymore. I believe that we have fulfilled our Jewishness. Christianity is Jewish, thank God. Jesus didn't say, "Well, it didn't work here, let's start a new religion." He fulfilled and extended it to the Gentiles.

HOWARD: My Dad being a Holocaust survivor brought death into the forefront for us. We could sense it in our family. Of his entire family, only he and his sister survived. Of course he had animosity towards the Nazis but not the Germans. In fact his business partner and a lot of the people who worked for him were Germans. Harvey went to a Hebrew day school and I went to an Anglican day school. My Dad wasn't a religious Jew. He'd go to synagogue to socialize but he wouldn't go on a weekly basis. He was very Jewish culturally. He didn't see the traditions as having a spiritual value but having a social value.

HARVEY: What brought me to Christ was the law. The harder I tried to be a good Jew, the more I couldn't. Howard didn't care about the law. He didn't believe it was true. I did and I was trying to find righteousness by performance and I couldn't do it. I was never going to be good enough. I thought Christians had to be good enough Jews. They substituted Jesus for God and got the same thing. I didn't accept Jesus because I was a self-hating Jew. I didn't want to become a Christian. But it was the fulfilment of being a Jew. When I came to faith in Jesus, then it all made sense. But I was afraid to tell anybody what I had done, especially Dad. It was absolutely devastating for him. That was heartbreaking for us. We loved our Dad. This wasn't an act of rebellion.

HOWARD: When my brother told my Dad originally that he had received Christ, I wasn't there. My Dad wasn't super upset. Harvey was 16. He was a milder personality. So he came to see me. I had just received the Lord about four weeks before and I was in the washroom brushing my teeth and my Dad comes in and says, "We've got a problem with Harvey. He's under Christian influence." I almost swallowed my toothbrush. I didn't want to deny Christ but I wasn't yet ready to confess Him. I kept that toothbrush in my mouth. Because as long as it was there, I knew I was safe. My Dad kept talking and I kept brushing my teeth until finally he was tired and he left the bathroom. And that was when I learned about Harvey.

HARVEY: We had the same anxieties. Our Dad had suffered so incredibly in the Holocaust that all this could seem selfish on our part. It seemed like we were just heaping coals on him. I never thought it wasn't right but at one point when my Dad had a big meltdown, just for one moment I regretted it.

HOWARD: My Dad was hoping I'd give him the key to win Harvey back and I eventually told him, "I believe it too." It was very painful. We were both in tears. There was a lot of anger there and disappointment but our Dad loved us so much that he didn't reject us. Not only was there pain because we had accepted Christ but because of the shame he felt in terms of the community because he had failed us. After we received the Lord, we went to the synagogue more than we ever did before. We wanted to honour our father so we went with him every Saturday. He was hoping to win us back but I think it was a little boring for him; that we were getting more out of it than he did. One day I said to him, "Dad, if what I believe is not true, my life will show that out. And if what I believe is true, then the good in my life will bear that out also. He looked at me and acknowledged it. Instead of one of us saying, "I'm right and you're wrong," neither one of us had to push at the other anymore. That was a real turning point in our relationship.

Herman Goodden is a journalist who writes from London, Ontario.