ri•
COLORUJORKS STUDIO OF INTERIOR DESIGN
Spiritual Journey
Catholic and Jewish religious leaders pack for an
interfaith trip to Rome and Israel.
LYNNE MEREDITH COHN
Staff Writer
lthough they live and
preach in the same commu-
nity, Rabbi Dannel
Schwartz and Auxiliary
Bishop John C. Nienstedt never
crossed paths. That is, until they were
invited to travel to Rome and Israel
together. -
The Project Interchange trip set - for
March 8-19 will bring together 16
Catholic and Jewish American leaders.
Schwartz said the trip's goal is "basi-
cally to form community."
For him, "It's an opportunity, more
than just travel or meeting the Pope or
meeting the
president of
/-\=-- Israel, to inter-
face with a
leader of the
Catholic com-
munity and
probably a
future cardinal."
Schwartz has
visited the Vati-
can before and
Auxiliary Bishop of
met the Pope.
But that meeting Detroit John C.
Nienstedt
took place in a
crowd during
the Pope's U.S. visit. This trip gives a
private papal audience to the 16
Americans.
Nienstedt sees the trip "as fostering
a deeper dialogue with Jewish leaders
in my own community and an oppor-
tunity for both of us to come together
in a place of deep mutual interest and
then to bring back to the Detroit
community that sense of solidarity
and that sense of common purpose
that we share."
Nienstedt has visited Israel three
times: before being ordained, as a
church deacon and with a group of
seminary classmates from Rome.
"We read the [Christian] scriptures
in the context of where we were and
... if you read scripture in the place
where the events took place, you'll
never read scriptures the same again,
and that's been true for me," he said.
Rabbi Marla Feldman, assistant
P hoto cou rtesy o f Bishop Nienstecit
A
director for domestic concern at the
Jewish Community Council, said
Nienstedt and Schwartz were selected
by their respective communities.
Schwartz was chosen because he serves
as vice president of the Michigan
Board of Rabbis. Rabbi Irwin Groner,
the current president, was invited but
is unable to participate, she said.
"To my knowledge it is the first
time that something of this caliber is
taking place," Feldman said. "It is
being led by some significant national
figures."
Participants include Dr. Eugene J.
Fisher, director of Catholic-Jewish
relations for the Secretariat for Ecu-
menical and Interreligidus Affairs at
the Catholic archdiocese in Washing-
ton, D.C.; William Cardinal Keeler, a
Catholic cardinal from Baltimore;
Rabbi A. James Rudin, national inter-
religious affairs director of the Ameri-
can Jewish
Committee;
t - and Rabbi
Mark L. Winer,
president of the
National Coun-
' cil of Syna-
gogues, the
umbrella for the
Reform and
Conservative
movements.
Rabbi Dannel
Said Schwartz,
Schwartz
"To be able to
create a relation-
ship with [Catholic individuals] both
on the Jewish as well as on the non-
Jewish side is really going to be a treat,
and hopefully we'll- be able to get
those people to come to this commu-
nity to speak or to help."
The trip has been organized by Pro-
ject Interchange, an institute of the
American Jewish Committee, and the
Catholic Near East Welfare Associa-
tion. Participants will spend seven
days in Israel and three days in Rome.
The Israel portion will include a Fri-
day mass at Shepherd's Field and a
Shabbat welcome at the Western Wall.
The Jewish participants come from
the Reform and Conservative move-
ments.
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1998
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