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bor to counterattack the Palestine
Liberation Organization in
Operation Peace for Galilee.
"When we returned," the Rev.
Lyons recalls, "every newspaper,
television and radio station want-
ed to speak to somebody who had
been there." The resulting pub-
licity helped establish the
fledgling institute.
One of the biggest miracles has
been the Rev. Lyons' health. A
diabetic since he was 12, the 56-
year-old Rev. Lyons is blind in
one eye, has had parts of one foot
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amputated and wears leg braces.
A sudden loss of vision in his good
eye earlier this year led to
cataract surgery, which allows
him to see better than ever.
That "vision" is calling for a
larger organization, something
that goes beyond the warm per-
sonality of its founder to make
more of an impact.
"We worked very quietly for a
while," Rev. Lyons says. 'When
you first create something, you
tiptoe. Now we are comfortable.
Now we are moving beyond be-
ing a symbol of good relations to
being an active force."
Those moves include a busy
lineup for the fall. The Rev. Lyons
is leading his last trip (last be-
cause of his legs) to Germany Oct.
5-15 and to Israel Oct. 16-31. In
Germany, the group will study
the Holocaust and its impact on
post-war Germany.
On Oct. 2, the institute will
sponsor a tour of Southfield
Presbyterian Church, Congre-
gation Beth Achim and Mother
of God Chaldean Catholic
Church.
In November, two institute-
sponsored elderhostels will focus
on the history of Jewish-Christian
relations, and the Rev. Lyons will
teach a weekly course on "Jesus
Within the Judaisms of His
Time." It focuses on the histori-
cal and theological roots of
Christianity found in Judaism,
as well as Jesus' relationships
with the Pharisees, Sadducees,
Essenes and other Jewish sects,
and the relationship of Judaism
and Christianity in the Dead Sea
Scrolls.
The institute will sponsor a
speaker on the Dead Sea Scrolls
at the Jewish Book Fair, a non-
fundraising "friendraiser" at the
Janice Charach Epstein Museum
Gallery, and a model Passover
Seder at Temple Beth El.
"If we don't do things together,
who is going to do it?" the Rev.
Lyons asks. "That doesn't mean
that we have to always agree."
Church leaders in post-war
Germany, he says, attributed the
Holocaust to the country's lack
of ecumenism.
"There was no mutual sup-
port when the going got tough,"
he was told. "The major chal-
lenge for us is to get the Jewish
and Christian communities to-
gether for the common good."
The Rev. Lyons believes the
Holocaust was not a religious
but a racial crime against the
Jews — that Jews were select-
ed because they were perceived
as different. "We have to fight
racism with every ounce in us,"
he says. And he strongly op-
poses mixing religion and poli-
tics. He says there is nothing
but trouble "when God is in-
voked for a political point of
view."
To make his point to both
Christians and Jews, the Rev.
Lyons has a two-fold approach:
• Everything he quotes is
based on the highest degree of
scholarship (the institute's library
takes up one-third of its second-
floor suite in an office building at
Nine Mile and Lahser).
• He emphasizes face-to-face
dialogue and discussions between
lay people.
"We see ourselves as a clear-
inghouse for ecumenical events,"
he says. "There's no ownership."
Eight years ago, the one-man
operation gained an administra-
tive assistant, Barbara Yuhas,
and there is now a part-time sec-
retary. The institute's newsletter
has grown to 1,200 persons on its
mailing list and the organization
receives donations ranging from
$3 to $10,000 toward its annual
$150,000 budget.
Improving the
relationship in a
non-conversionist
way.
The Rev. Lyons' dream is to
have a staff that is "not just a
Protestant minister who is forced
to speak about Catholicism and
all of its fields, and Judaism and
all of its fields.
"I want the people to meet peo-
ple who are authentic — not just
someone who is knowledgeable
and sympathetic, but not an in-
sider."
ti