March 2, 2005 Rabbis, papal candidate meet at NY parley By URIEL HEILMAN NEW YORK In an unusual encounter by the standards of interfaith dialogue, Orthodox rabbis and Catholic candidates to be the next pope shared tables this week at an interfaith conference in New York. Organized by the World Jewish Congress, the conference between Catholic and Jewish clergy drew rabbis from across the Jewish religious spectrum, and Jewish and Catholic religious leaders from six continents. The meeting, held at New York's Holocaust museum, was focused on building alliances against what emerged during conference speeches to be the twin enemies of religious Catholics and Jews: secularism and religious extremism-specifically, Islamic fundamentalism. "In terms of major threats of the 21st century on us, we have more in common than what separates us," said Rabbi Eugene Korn, director of Jewish affairs at the American Jewish Congress. "On the political level, it's vitally important for Jews and Catholics to form an alliance against extremists." Held at a time of grave concern among Catholics for the health of the ailing pontiff, the meeting included one Italian patriarch who is considered to be among a handful of frontrunners to succeed John Paul II: Cardinal Angelo Scola of Venice. Jay Rosenbaum, rabbi at a Reform temple on Long Island, said attendance at the conference by such high-level Catholic clergymen reflected the importance the bishops ascribe to Catholic-Jewish ties. "In these last moments of the pope's reign, it reflects his mission to heal the rift, the pain and the hurt inflicted upon the Jewish people by the Catholic Church, and to have us as partners engaged in the essential work of tikkun olam," Rosenbaum said. Israel Singer, chairman of the WJC's governing board, said it was important that the conference include Orthodox rabbis, who rarely participate in interfaith dialogue events. "I didn't want it to be a marginal activity that only secular Jews can participate in," Singer said. "To a certain extent, the Catholics consider this very, very important. It's about meeting the totality of the Jews." The Orthodox rabbis present included the chief rabbis of Ukraine and Moscow, a grandson of Rabbi Aaron Soloveitchik and noted Orthodox scholars from New York University and Brooklyn College. The leaders of the Rabbinical Council of America, an Orthodox rabbinic group, were listed as tentative participants, but they did not show up to the conference. Rabbi Basil Herring, the group's executive vice president, said scheduling conflicts kept them away. Many of the Catholic participants of the conference said they came because they wanted to learn more about the religious tradition that begat Christianity. "As Christians, we need to understand how Jews are living with the Old Testament," said Guy Thomazeau, archbishop in Montpelier, France. "It's not only useful. It's of spiritual importance to understand why we need this open relationship with Jews." The Jews' agenda was more political than theological. "My interest is getting them to support us on anti-Semitism and on joint projects and on principles that they have changed their attitude on," Singer said. "They really have taken [positive] steps at the same time that the World Council of Churches is dealing with divestment on Israel. This is not a time when we can afford to reject the people who are cooperating with us." Last week, the Geneva-based World Council of Churches called for the Protestant and Orthodox Christian congregations that comprise its membership to divest from companies that do business with Israel, following the lead set last summer by the Presbyterian Church USA. The Jews at the conference spoke about the need for the Catholics to be more vocal in their support of Israel and condemnation of anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism, particularly in the face of Islamic extremist threats. The Catholic prelates at the conference spoke proudly of the pope's record on Israel, citing his visit to Jerusalem and his embrace of Vatican-Israel ties as signs of Catholics' support for the Jewish state. John Onaiyekan, a bishop from Nigeria, said the Jews' priorities were not relevant to many of the clergymen at the conference, who came not only from Europe and the Americas, but from Africa and Asia as well. "We in African cannot relate to European anti-Semitism," he said. "As an African, I'm worried about the ways European governments keep out Africans." In a mirror image of Israel's tradition of taking visiting foreign dignitaries to Yad Vashem, the World Jewish Congress ended the day Monday with a tour of the Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust. On Tuesday, the congress took the cardinals on visits to various Jewish institutions around New York City. In the waning hours of Monday afternoon, as the latest Nor'easter began to blanket New York in a fresh coat of snow, a few of the priests seemed more interested in what was going on outside the museum's windows than in chit-chatting with their colleagues around the table. "Snow in March!" exclaimed one of the bishops from Africa, shaking his head. "You must always have enough water here."