LARGE TREE SALES AND MOVING Interfaith Relations "Large Tree Movers" Continued from Page 1 Residential - Commercial Many Varieties of Trees Available For More Information Call (313) 624 2055 - G.P. ENTERPRISES 7520 Pontiac Trail • W. Bloomfield, MI 48033 • (313) 624-2055 ORCHARD LAKE ROAD AT FOURTEEN MILE • FARMINGTON HILLS • 855-3444 SEE OVER 100 CLASSIC FORDS ON DISPLAY THUNDERBIRDS • MUSTANGS • SHELBYS 50's & 60's PERFORMANCE CARS CUSTOMIZED STREET MACHINES AND MORE 14 Friday, May 15, 1987 THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS LOCAL NEWS terfaith dialogue from the various positions he has held on the Jewish Community Coun- cil. On the national level, the American Jewish Committee has been in the forefront of forg- ing Catholic-Jewish ties. "Since Catholics and Jews are human beings they are not always congruent on all issues," said Rabbi A. James Rudin, na- tional director of interreligious affairs for AJC. "If relations were smooth we would have a monologue, not a dialogue?' That dialogue was made possible largely by the Vatican Council's 1965 statement on the Jews, exonerating Jews of guilt for Christ's crucifixion. While the statement, Nostra Aetate (In Our Time) also im- plied that Judaism had been superseded by Christianity, it declared that "Jews should not be represented as repudiated or cursed by God," a radical about- face for the Church which open- ed up a theological avenue that has since been used for dialogue on social and political issues by Catholics and Jews. A focus of the interfaith cooperation has been in the fight against religious and racial discrimination, accor- ding to Fr. Kevin Britt of the Archdiocese of Detroit. "My personal feeling is that most bigotry and hatred comes from ignorance?' As minorities in the United States, long victims of discrimination by America's Protestant majority, Jews and Catholics were actively involv- ed in the civil rights struggle of the 1950s and '60s. But sporadic cooperation existed long before the civil rights era and the Nostra Aetate, accor- ding to Jewish News Editor Emeritus Philip Slomovitz. In 1919, a bill was opposed in the Michigan legislature whcih would have compelled every child to attend public school, Slomovitz recalled. "It was an anti-Catholic measure aimed at reducing support for parochial schools!' Dr. Leo Franklin of Temple Beth El joined Bishop Michael Gallagher at a rally to condemn the measure which was even- tually defeated. espite that and subse- quent expressions of goodwill, fundamental issues still remain dividing Jews and Catholics. One such issue, which Jewish interfaith activists are quick to downplay, is Vatican non-recognition of Israel. Relations soured during New York Archbishop John Cardinal O'Connor's visit to Israel earlier this year. Jewish hopes that the visit would lend an air of diplomatic recognition were scotched when Pope John Paul II forbade the cardinal to meet Israeli leaders in their official capacities. "Things that were done and said could have been done dif- Archbishop Szoka: Dialogue between bureaucracies? ferently," remarks Judge Shepherd. "It was not made a big issue over and it quickly disappeared as an issue?' Conversely, the Pope's visit to a Rome synagogue in April 1986 was a welcomed event but, added Judge Shepherd, "local- ly we didn't need that to make our relations better. It wasn't needed as a catalyst?' In Detroit, interfaith activists seem. to be distancing themselves from the interna- tional arena in an attempt to hold their coalition together, apparently turning a blind eye to world events over which they have no control. "For the first five or six years, practically the only thing peo- ple in the interfaith dialogue talked about was the Holocaust and Israel," explained Fr. Alex- ander J. Brunet, director of ecumenical and interreligious affairs for the Archdiocese of Detroit. "It was recognized (later) that there are a lot of religious things that can be dealt with?' Harold Gales, co-chairman of the National Polish-American / Jewish-American Task Force agreed: ("Non-recognition of Israel) is something that's never been discussed. It could be indicative that on the local level there have been agenda items that are more pressing?' One such item may be im- proving understanding between Polish-Americans and Jewish Americans. This ethnic, or na- tional, dialogue is seen by many as a sub-stratum of an overall religious dialogue. Gales explained that through working together, both the Polish and Jewish communities have acquired an understan- ding to each others' sensitivities. Obviously, the Holocaust is a sore point for both cora- munities. Shoah, Claude Lanz- mann's epic documentary on the Holocaust, "has been an issue that has occupied a lot of our time?' according to Fr. Continued on Page 16