Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Two global figures to speak about faiths

A bishop and a rabbi are the distinguished guests at a conference on Catholic-Jewish relations.

By EBONY WINDOM
Published December 3, 2005

For years, one organization has worked to strengthen the bond between Catholics and Jews.

On Wednesday, the Center for Catholic-Jewish Studies will bring two prominent leaders from both faiths together for a miniconference.

Year round, the Center for Catholic-Jewish Studies offers various town hall meetings and public lectures. But Wednesday's program, "Catholic-Jewish Relations: John Paul II to Benedict XVI" features a pair of noted speakers.

One, the Reverend Edward K. Braxton is one of the highest ranking African-Americans in the Catholic church, says Barrens. He's a "high-level scholar and diplomat" who serves as the eighth bishop of Belleville, Ill.

The other speaker, Rabbi David Rosen, who lives in Jerusalem, heads the Interreligious Affairs, American Jewish Committee. Last month, Rosen was given a prestigious award, "Knight Commander of the Pontifical Order of Saint Gregory the Great," at a ceremony in Israel.

"These (speakers) are ... global figures," says James Barrens, who heads the center on the campus of Saint Leo University, "not folks we normally have in Pasco County. They are people whose reputations have historic proportions."

For the past eight years, the center has offered an annual conference on various topics to promote "mutual respect and understanding" between Jews and Catholics.

For more than 1,900 years, Catholics and Jews were "historical antagonists," Barrens says. Catholics blamed Jews for the death of Jesus, Barrens says. But the turning point came during Vatican II, when that notion was repudiated.

"Jews are our elder brothers in faith," says Barrens, who is Catholic. "The stem of Christianity flows from Judaism."

Wednesday's conference will focus on the relationship between Jews and Catholics during the passage of the late Pope John Paul II to Pope Benedict XVI. Both Rosen and Braxton boast firsthand experience with both popes, says Barrens, who organized the conference.

Behind the lectern, Rosen and Braxton are knowledgeable and polished speakers, Barrens says. One of the program's highlights will be the question and answer segment called "Ask-a-Rabbi" and "Ask-a-Bishop."

The event is an all-day affair.

The conference runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Wednesday at the McDonald Student Center at Saint Leo University, 33701 State Road 52 in St. Leo. The event is open to the public. The cost is $35 and includes lunch. A discount is offered to clergy and religious educators.

The conference shows Jews and Catholics on a united front, Barrens says.

"Catholics have become the greatest ally to the Jewish people," he says.

[Last modified December 3, 2005, 01:22:20]