|
|
|
A rabbi and priest walk into a bar … almost By Elaine Durbach
JWR 'spirituality in sports' columnist Joshua Hess finds common ground with 'Father Charlie'
The priest was Father Charles Cortinovis of Potomac, Md., Hess's roommate at a four-day Catholic-Jewish Emerging Leadership Conference, held at the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center in Connecticut. The outing to Manhattan was a break from talks and workshops, and a chance to visit Catholic and Jewish leaders in the city.
"The best part of the experience was forming relationships with people of a different faith, seeing how many similarities we share and how much we have in common," Hess said. "It was wonderful."
The gathering, held June 18-21, focused on the theme, "Catholics and Jews: Our Common Values, Our Common Roots." It was organized by the International Catholic-Jewish Liaison Committee, a partnership between the International Jewish Commission on Interreligious Consultations and the Holy See's Commission on Religious Relations with the Jews.
Every weekday JewishWorldReview.com publishes what many in the media and Washington consider "must-reading". In addition to INSPIRING stories, HUNDREDS of columnists and cartoonists regularly appear. Sign up for the daily update. It's free. Just click here.
Each participant shared rooms with a peer from another religious group. Hess said he and "Father Charlie" talked until late every night. "We'd get back to our room tired from a long day of talks, and we'd get into a discussion that would go on for hours," he said.
Despite their differences, the two shared a commitment to religious values, and concerns such as the cost of religious day school education and the tensions in dealing with secular society. Throughout the conference, he said, participants expressed respect for one another's faiths.
That attitude is what he and the other participants agreed to bring back to their communities. To that end, he said, they are hoping to bring Catholic and Jewish children together, possibly to do social action projects together.
Hess, 31, said younger leaders have grown up in a far better environment than their elders, who remember the tense years before the Second Vatican Council and its deliberate effort to improve church relations with the Jews. "It's a beautiful thing," Hess said, but there is still much to be done.
"Generally speaking, we tend to keep to ourselves," he said. "The more we understand each other, and the stronger the bonds between us, the less likely it is that something like the Holocaust will happen again."
The conference also honored the late Sister Rose Thering, the Seton Hall University professor who worked for decades to build understanding and respect for Jews and Judaism. They viewed a documentary about her work. "Clearly, what she did played an important role in these dialogues," Hess said.
One of her former colleagues, Father Lawrence Frizzell, director of the Institute of Judaeo-Christian Studies at Seton Hall, addressed the first plenary session, "Catholic-Jewish Relations post-Vatican II." He told NJ Jewish News, "There is an international group being prepared for the future in ways that my generation was not."
The International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations (IJCIC) is composed of: American Jewish Committee, Anti-Defamation League, B'nai B'rith International, Central Conference of American Rabbis, Israel Jewish Council on Interreligious Relations, Rabbinical Assembly, Rabbinical Council of America, Union of Reform Judaism, Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, and World Jewish Congress. IJCIC serves on behalf of its constituent member organizations to maintain and develop relations with the Vatican's Commission on Religious Relations with the Jews, the Orthodox Christian Church, the World Council of Churches, and other international religious bodies.
Interested in a private Judaic studies instructor — for free? Let us know by clicking here.
Sign up for the daily JWR update. It's free. Just click here.
To comment, please click here.
Elaine Durbach is a staff writer for the The New Jersey Jewish News.
© 2012, The New Jersey Jewish News
| ||||||||||||||||||
