This Week Crossed Signals A new channel in Vatican-Jewish dialogue opens possibilities for miscommunication. - s J.J. GOLDBERG Special to the Jewish News )** Did You Know? — Assisted Living facilities are NOT required to be licensed? Courtyard Manor — is licensed by the State of Michigan. — Most Assisted Livings will discharge your loved one if they need more care? Courtyard Manor — provides care throughout the aging process, meeting even the most difficult needs. — Assisted Living facilities are NOT required to have nurses on staff? . Courtyard Manor — has full-time, licensed nurses at every location. — Most Assisted Livings combine residents with various mental capacities in the same unit? Courtyard Manor — provides 4 specialized buildings at each location to meet individual needs. .4J Auburn Hills 800-756-9199 Livonia Farmington Hills 800 736 2325 800 998 0787 - - - Wixom Sterling Heights 800-753-1046 800-807-8337 - Courtyard. Management Company 800-486-9039 Sp ecializing in Alzheirners & Dementia, Frail Elderly and Mentally Alert 22 New York enior Catholic Church offi- cials are scheduled to meet in mid-June in Washington with a new group of rabbis, hailing from three continents and represent- ing the three major Jewish denomina- tions, to begin what both sides envi- sion as a new dialogue between Judaism and Catholicism. The initiative is the latest twist — and perhaps the strangest — in a continuing Catholic-Jewish relation- ship that has gone through more flip- flops than the NASDAQ stock exchange in recent years. Relations hit a low about 14 months ago, when the Vatican sus- pended ties with its longtime Jewish negotiating partner, an international coalition of Jewish organizations led by the World Jewish Congress. The coalition, known as the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations, or IJCIC, had worked with the Vatican steadily through 30 years of profound church reforms. Last year's freeze followed months of intense bicker- ing over the church's behavior dur- ing World War II. Then, last month, relations hit a high point with the visit of Pope John Paul II to Israel, where he prayed at the Western Wall and toured Yad Vashem, Israel's national Holocaust memorial. Jews in Israel and around the world proclaimed the visit dramatic evidence of a new Catholic attitude toward Jews. The upcoming Washington dia- logue is meant to raise communica- tions" between the faiths to a new level, say spokesmen on both sides. Discussions will focus on issues like the divine roots of human ethics. Church leaders had for years been pressing IJCIC, their traditional part- ner, to move beyond discussions of historic antisemitism and address the theological links between the two faiths. That's met with little success. IJCIC leaders cite a traditional Orthodox ban on interfaith theologi- cal "disputation." Diverse Theologians The new rabbinic group, the Rabbinic Committee for Interreligious Dialogue, includes internationally respected Jewish the- ologians. Among them are Israeli philosopher David Hartman, incom- ing U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council chief Irving "Yitz" Greenberg, University of Judaism Provost Elliott Dorff and former French Chief Rabbi Rene Sirat. Also included are two of America's best- known pulpit rabbis, Harold Schulweis of Los Angeles and Ronald Sobel of New York's Temple Emanu-El. "These kinds of people are very important to us, because they are not representatives of secular organiza- tions but religious representatives," says Father Remi Hoeckman, Belgian-born secretary-general of the Vatican Commission on Religious Relations with the Jews. What's odd about the new group is that, in a crucial sense, they're not representatives at all. In' fact, the rab- binic committee was convened under the auspices of a Catholic college. Its founder, Rabbi Joseph Ehrenkranz, is director of the Center for Christian- Jewish Understanding at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn. That's a strange pedigree for a group purporting to represent Judaism. Vatican officials are noncommit- tal on the significance of the new dialogue. "We are open to relating to any group of people that wants to share an agenda with us," say Hoeckman. They haven't always been so open. For 30 years, they've refused to recog- nize any formal partner but IJCIC. Indeed, IJCIC first was established at Vatican request, after the Second Vatican Council in the mid-1960s ordered the church to begin a long- term dialogue -with Judaism. What emerged was a coalition that included Judaism's three main reli- gious wings plus the World Jewish CROSSED SIGNALS on page 24