Eugene Fisher honored for Catholic-Jewish work

Published: 2007-05-03

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The Anti-Defamation League and a variety of Catholic and Jewish leaders honored Eugene J. Fisher as he approached retirement after 30 years as one of the world's leading advocates of better Catholic-Jewish relations. Since 1977 Fisher has been associate director for Catholic-Jewish relations at the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. In awarding him the ADL's Dr. Joseph L. Lichten Award in Catholic-Jewish relations April 29, ADL National Director Abraham H. Foxman called Fisher a "central figure" in implementing changed Catholic understandings of and relations with Jews following the Second Vatican Council. "Gene was an important part of Pope John Paul II's program to revolutionize Catholic-Jewish relations," Foxman said. He added that it was Fisher who drafted Pope John Paul's famous 1987 speech to American Jewish leaders in Miami, in which the pope "pledged to join the Jewish people in the cry 'never again' regarding the Holocaust." On May 2 Fisher was honored again at a testimonial dinner sponsored by the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs. Fisher is retiring from his post at the secretariat at the end of June.

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