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By Samantha Smith
ATLANTA (CNS) – Leaders of the Catholic and Jewish communities have come together to fraternize and find tactics to cure hatred of racism in a three-day visit to civil rights monuments.
From May 9-11, representatives of the National Council of Synagogues and the U. S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The U. S. and other leaders came together to talk about history and how racism affects society, their respective religions, and find answers to create a greater world.
The adventure began in Atlanta, with stops at the Lyke House Catholic Center, located at historically Black College and Universities in Atlanta’s West End and the Martin Luther King Jr. Historic Site. .
The co-chairs of the discussion between the National Council of Synagogues and the USCCB are Cardinal Wilton D. Gregory of Washington and Rabbi David Straus, director of the National Council of Synagogues.
It is the cardinal’s first stop in Atlanta since his installation as archbishop of Washington in 2019. The following year, he rose to the rank of cardinal through Pope Francis. He served as Archbishop of Atlanta from 2005 until Pope Francis appointed him head of the Archdiocese. of Washington
“I like to go home,” Cardinal Gregory said upon his return.
According to its website, the National Council of Synagogues is an association of Judaism’s Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist movements that deals with interfaith issues at the national level. The council believes that religions will have to argue with each other to build a larger society. and a greater world.
One of the goals of this organization and its three-day occasion is to create a higher school curriculum for Catholic and Jewish schools to be informed about each other’s traditions and explore the problems of racism in America.
Cardinal Gregory has been active in the Catholic-Jewish debate for many decades. He is chairman of the USCCB Committee on Ecumenical and Interfaith Affairs.
His paintings include the Archdiocese of Atlanta’s “Nostra Aetate” Jubilee celebration in 2015, the 1965 Declaration on the Church’s Relationship with Non-Christian Religions, and the annual follow-up occasions that encouraged debate and brotherhood between Catholic and Jewish traditions.
“Nostra Aetate” the moment of the Vatican Council document that reshaped the Church’s path to Judaism after centuries of troubled relations.
“We are as divided as a society: racially divided, religiously divided, politically divided,” Cardinal Gregory said. brothers and sisters. “
Interfaith and interfaith discussion is a hobby for Rabbi Straus, who served as director of the National Council of Synagogues for about 8 years.
“When you have a serious interaction in this job, you don’t just get to know others, what they do and how they live their lives,” Rabbi Straus said. “But it forces you to literally look within your own devout tradition. And I think it really strengthens your religion and strengthens your commitment because you have to ask literally vital questions.
The assembly began at Lyke House, which houses scholars from Morehouse College, Spelman College, Clark Atlanta University and Georgia State University. Council members were welcomed through student ambassadors from Our Lady of Mercy High School in Fayetteville, Georgia.
After lunch, members stopped at the Lyke House Gallery, which pays tribute to Archbishop James P. Atlanta Lyke and the history and contributions of black Catholics.
“We are here in an establishment that is committed to the formation and education of other young people,” Cardinal Grepassry said. “Whenever our other young people can overcome religious, cultural and linguistic differences, it bodes well for our future. “
The first day ended with a visit to Martin Luther King Jr. Historical Park, which included the King Center, the crypt of Reverend King and Coretta Scott King, as well as the original and new Ebenezer Baptist churches.
After a day of meetings and briefings, the council began its adventure in Alabama, where members visited 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham and the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma.
In Montgomery, the council visited the Rosa Parks Museum, the Legacy Museum and the National Monument for Peace and Justice through the Equal Justice Initiative.
Being able to spend three days together and together at an incredibly difficult party is a normal opportunity, Rabbi Straus said.
Smith is editor of the Georgia Bulletin, a magazine of the Archdiocese of Atlanta.
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