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from page 22
Congress and other defense agencies,
representing Judaism's communal and
religious aspects. The Vatican has
rebuffed repeated efforts by Jewish
groups to open a second channel.
The decision to open a second
channel now, with a Catholic-spon-
sored Jewish group, seems to show
just how deeply frustrated the Vatican
is with the petulant, one-note tone of
its Jewish partners in recent years.
As for the new group's strange
pedigree, Hoeckman dismisses it as a
quibble. Ehrenkranz's center, he said,
"is run by Jews, and the initiative
came from Jews. If it could be hosted
by a Jewish university, fine. We are
still waiting for it. In the meantime,
you go to those who welcome you."
Behind the complaint lies a funda-
mental imbalance in Vatican-Jewish
relations. Catholicism, many
observers argue, needs a dialogue
with Judaism much more than
Judaism needs a dialogue with the
church.
For the church, dialogue with
Judaism is essential to understanding
Christianity. "You can't know what it
means to be a Christian without
understanding your Jewish roots,"
says Eugene Fisher, the National
Conference of Catholic Bishops' ecu-
menical affairs director.
But Judaism has no such need.
Jews entered the dialogue 30 years
ago to help rid the church of anti-
Jewish biases. Thirty years later, that
job is largely done. Many Jewish
leaders see little further purpose to
dialogue, other than courtesy.
Changing Attitude
But that's begun to change. For grow-
ing numbers of Jewish thinkers and
community leaders, the recent
Catholic-Jewish war of words over
the Holocaust has been -a sobering
lesson in Jewish over-sensitivity.
Some blame the traumas of the
Holocaust. Some blame the consensus-
driven, lowest-common-denominator
structure of Jewish representative bodies.
Still others see a problem in Jewish
education, which teaches young Jews
about enemies but rarely mentions
friends. "This is a moral failing of the
first order," Reform leader Rabbi Eric
Yoffie declared in a recent speech.
Yoffie called for Reform and
Conservative Judaism to seize the ini-
tiative and work to improve Vatican-
Jewish relations.
Increasingly, Jewish leaders now
argue that Judaism needs dialogue
with Catholicism more than ever, to
help Jews understand their new
place in the world. For that to hap-
pen, though, the dialogue must
include not just thinkers but com-
munity leaders who can be expected
to bring the message back to their
fellow Jews — as they have failed to
do before.
That's the oddest thing about the
latest events: the Jewish community
is finally ready. The Vatican is snub-
bing IJCIC, its traditional partner,
just as IJCIC has completed a major
facelift in response to church com-
plaints.
Since last fall, it has named a new
chairman, set up a program commit-
tee — headed by a rabbi well-trusted
at the Vatican — and offered a new
agenda for discussions, which church
officials greeted enthusiastically.
Though they won't use the word,
IJCIC's leaders have decided to bite
the bullet and move, hesitantly,
toward discussing theology.
"If we're going to move from
responding to the negative to building
a deeper relationship, then we're going
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• Russell Barnett is among the new members of the Temple Israel Board of
Trustees ("Temple Elects New Officers," April 21, page 48). His first name
was misspelled last week.
• One of the spots that the Jewish Historical Society of Michigan's bus tour of
old Jewish Detroit will travel past on May 7 is the Oakland (Avenue) Shvitz,
not the Oakland (Boulevard) Shvitz ("Time Travel," April 21, page 16).
• An incorrect price was listed for the Adat Shalom Sisterhood fund-raiser
on May 4 ("In Search Of Justice," April 21, page 99). Tickets are $36.
• Jan Simmons is vice president of Sinai-Grace Hospital care services, and
Connie Franco is vice president of Huron Valley-Sinai Hospital support services
("Moving In," April 21, page 35). Simmons' last name and Franco's job title
were misidentified last week.
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