ADL Lauds Cardinal for Advocacy in Catholic-Jewish Relations

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As Catholic and Jewish middle school students in Manhattan delighted in sharing a traditional Passover Seder, Cardinal Dolan served as distinguished guest of honor and recipient of an award from the Anti-Defamation League for being an “unambiguous champion of Jewish-Catholic relations.”

“This is the icing on the cake for me, everybody…I will treasure this,” Cardinal Dolan said in accepting the ADL Cardinal Bea Interfaith Award during the ADL New York Regional Office’s annual Interfaith Seder March 23.

Before and after the cardinal received his award at the ADL’s Manhattan headquarters, students from The Epiphany School and Solomon Schechter School of Manhattan made presentations on the various components of the Passover holiday.

“This is already a very radiant, happy day,” continued the cardinal. “To see you all together from Epiphany and Schechter School…sharing your faith, enjoying one another, making friends, learning our traditions—this is an answer to prayers, to those of us from my generation. This is happy…this is hopeful.”

He conceded such congeniality among Catholics and Jews didn’t always exist. “There were days,” the cardinal solemnly explained to the youngsters, “when we (Catholics) were very suspicious of the Jewish community,” days “we didn’t care to associate with them” as well as days “when we very much misunderstood and misinterpreted their faith,” all of which “caused a sadness.”

But those days did not have the last word, the cardinal affirmed. “That’s what Passover is all about. That’s what Easter is all about. That light conquers darkness, good conquers bad, life conquers death.”

Sadly, in some parts of the world, such suspicions among religions continue to occur, the cardinal said. He urged the youngsters to do their part to make sure religion and faith bring about love, respect and understanding, and is never a cause for hatred, division, persecution or prejudice.

“I’m grateful for being Catholic, I’m grateful to have so many Jewish friends, I’m grateful for an experience like this, I’m grateful for the Cardinal Bea Award, and I’m grateful that you and I live in the United States of America, because there are not too many countries in the world where something like this (interfaith Seder) could happen. We rejoice in it.”

At the actual Seder, the students were asked to conduct an informal Q-and-A among those with whom they were seated.

Sam Labovitz, an eighth-grader from Schechter School, said he was curious “about how Jesus was born.” Before the gathering, “it didn’t make sense” to him, he said. Then, at the Seder, a student from Ephiphany School explained it to him in practical terms.

In turn, some Epiphany students asked Sam “if I believed in Jesus. I said, ‘Of course.’ I don’t know much about the story of Jesus, so I can’t really say that I believe in that, but I definitely believe he was a person.”

Juliet Davidson, an eighth-grader from Epiphany School, said she has learned about the Jewish faith in class lessons on Church history. She specifically recalled a section on Exodus taught in the sixth grade.

The Seder was a first for David Sterling, an eighth-grader at Epiphany. He said he appreciated making new friends—including Rachel Schindler, a Schechter eighth-grader who will be his classmate at LaGuardia High School next year—and learning how the Catholic and Jewish faiths “are fairly similar but also fairly different.”

The Cardinal Bea Award was established to perpetuate the memory of Cardinal Augustin Bea, a German Jesuit scholar whose efforts are credited for deepening and enriching relations between the Catholic Church and Jewish people. The ADL noted Cardinal Bea’s efforts made possible the positive statement of the Second Vatican Council on Jews and Judaism. This year marks the 50th anniversary of Vatican II and “Nostra Aetate,” (Latin for “In Our Time”) the Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions, as proclaimed by Pope Paul VI on Oct. 28, 1965.

The ADL described the document as one that “revolutionized the Catholic Church’s approach to Jews and Judaism.”

Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the ADL, conferred the award to Cardinal Dolan. “In our time, and in this city, you, Cardinal Dolan, have been a consistent and unambiguous champion of Jewish-Catholic relations,” Foxman said.

He acknowledged the cardinal’s unequivocal support of the Jewish community in times of need, adding that the archbishop has served as a “clarion voice of support when the Jewish community has been threatened or attacked.”

“Even in the simple act of exchanging your cardinal’s red hat with a bar mitzvah boy’s yarmulke” during one of the cardinal’s many visits in synagogues shows his devotion, Foxman said.

Cardinal Dolan cheerfully canvassed the room before the Seder, conversing with the jubilant Catholic and Jewish students.

With an assortment of colored markers in hand the students tapped into their artistic acumen and faith histories to craft posters of the steps of a Seder, intertwining their renowned traditions as they explored the Exodus story.

Rabbi David Sandmel, director of interfaith affairs of the ADL, noted that upon his arrival, “the Epiphany kids” congregated in one part of the room while “the Schechter kids” assembled in another section of the same room, but minutes later students from both schools mingled seamlessly.

From the exuberant volume that reverberated around the room it was apparent the uninhibited youths worked well together as they chatted animatedly and informally among themselves.

The ADL is located at 605 Third Ave., between East 39th and 40th streets. Accompanying the 25 sixth-, seventh- and eighth-graders from The Epiphany School, whose middle school campus is located at 141 E. 28th St., were the principal, James Hayes; the director of religious education, Carmen DeSimone, and Maria Zanelli, a religion teacher.