Catholic-Jewish consultation covers range of mutual concerns

Published: 2006-06-12

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- At a consultation in New York, delegates of the National Council of Synagogues and the U.S. bishops' Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs discussed mutual concerns ranging from current conditions in the Middle East to what they called "the anti-Catholic, even anti-religious implications of the movie 'The Da Vinci Code.'" The spring meeting of the twice-yearly consultation was held May 22 at New York's Hebrew Union College/Jewish Institute of Religion. The National Council of Synagogues is an agency of the nation's Reform and Conservative Jews. In a communique released in Washington June 8, the participants said they devoted their morning session to "an illuminating discussion of 'Mutual Borrowings Over the Centuries,'" exploring aspects of how Jewish thought and practice have influenced Christianity over time and vice versa. The session began with prayer and a moment of silence in memory of Dominican Sister Rose Thering, a pioneer in Catholic-Jewish relations who died May 6 at age 85.

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