I NEWS I CLASS ROOM Bellini Juvenile Designer Furniture will transform the ordinary bedroom into a Class Room. Create an environment for your child that reflects timeless luxury, safety and beauty in juvenile furnishings. Dellini. The Ultimate expression In child care. ‘Esl Ity/ 1875 S. WOODWARD • BIRMINGHAM 48011 1 Block North of 14 Mile 644-0525 Pre-Holiday Fall and Winter CLEARANCE 112 OFF • Sleep wear • Robes • Leisurewear No Charges — Final Sale Prior Sales Excluded la)slyt- f Intimatc Apparel 0-4 Open Evenings Mon.-Fri. 10-8, Sat. 10-5:30, Sun. 12-5 Applegate Square Northwestern Highway & Inkster Road 353-5522 SERIES 1O4 FRIDAY, DECEMBER 20, 1991 EE Catholic Bishops Synod Ends Rome (JTA) — A synod of Catholic bishops, called to plan the re-evangelization of Europe in the post- Communist era, ended its session at the Vatican last week with a voluble affirma- tion of Jewish contributions to European culture. The statement, issued at the close of the gathering at- tended by bishops from all over Eastern and Western Europe, was clearly aimed at easing the strains with Jews that arose from the pope's emphasis on the "Christian roots of Europe" when he called the synod last month. The bishops seemed to be responding to a European Jewish Congress request that the synod "respect and affirm the principle of re- ligious and cultural pluralism" that is fun- damental to modern Europe. The Congress' request was made in a letter to Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini of Milan, president of the Eu- ropean Episcopal Con- ference, a week before the synod opened on Nov. 28. It seemed significant that the bishops went out of their way to address Jewish con- cerns while ignoring pro- tests from the Eastern Or- thodox churches. Orthodox leaders charged, among other things, that the Roman Church was seeking converts among them. They were angered by the pope's apparent support for Roman Catholic Croatia over Or- thodox Serbia in the Yugoslavian civil war. Eastern Church leaders in Russia, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece declined invita- tions to send observers to the synod. The bishops assembled in Rome pledged to work for "a new spring" in Catholic- Jewish relations. They made clear their abhorrence of resurgent anti-Semitism in Germany, Poland and other countries of the former Communist bloc. Their statement observed that "European culture has grown from many roots." The fact that the Christian faith goes back to the very foundations of Europe "does not imply that Europe and Christianity are one and the same thing." The church has a "special relationship with the Jewish people," the bishops asserted. "An extremely important factor in the construction of a new order in Europe and in the world is interreligious dialogue, above all with our `elder brothers,' the Jewish people whose faith and cul- ture are an element of human development in Europe," the statement said. It added that "after the terrible Holocaust of our century, for which the chur- ch feels a profound grief, new attempts have to be made to acknowledge Judaism more profoundly, rejecting all forms of anti- Semitism, which are con- trary either to the Gospel or to natural law." The bishops said the chur- ch "certainly esteems the roots which Christianity and the Hebrew people share" and seeks to "promote positive relationships with the Jewish people in the church's preaching and edu- cational work." The bishops concluded that "joint work at different levels between Christians and Jews" could have "great significance in Europe's future." The statement issued by the synod acknowledged that the church's relations with Moslems are also "very significant." But it warned that dialogue between Catholics and Moslems "needs to be conducted prudently, with clear ideas about possibilities and limits." The statement pointed to the lack of religious freedom for Christians in Moslem countries as a major prob- lem. Nosair Trial Goes To Jury New York (JTA) -- The trial of El Sayyid Nosair, accused killer of Rabbi Meir Kahane, wrapped up here with the summations of the prosecution and the defense. The case will be presented to the jury, and presiding Judge Alvin Schlesinger has expressed the desire for a verdict by Christmas. Judge Schlesinger's presence has been strongly felt during the trial, par- ticularly in his refusal to allow the defense team, led by William Kunstler, to raise claims that Kahane's Jewish Defense League was riven with enough strife to provide a motive for the assassination.