Reaction to Cardinal Maida's remarks:
• Don Cohen, execu-
tive director, Anti-
Defamation
League/Michigan
Region: "Cardinal
Maida gave the clearest
expression of regret
and apology for anti-
semitism that I have
heard from a Church
Don Cohen
leader. He spoke from
his heart, reaching out
to the Detroit Jewish community, con-
demning antisemitism and expressing
particular regret for Catholic antisemitism
in the Detroit area. While issues and indi-
viduals will sometimes divide us, we have
the opportunity to move forward together
to create a glorious chapter in Catholic-
Jewish relations."
• David Blewett, exec-
utive director,
Ecumenical Institute
for Jewish-Christian
Studies, Southfield: "I
do not believe we can
enter the real depths of
Christian Jewish dia-
logue and ecumenical
David Blewett
relations until each of
us, Christians and Jews,
do exactly what
Cardinal Maida did. Each of us needs to
humble ourselves, pray, seek God's face in
the faces of God's people and turn from
our wicked ways. Then let God work
through us in our relationships and dia-
logues with others to heal the relationship
and our land."
• Rabbi Marla
Feldman, executive
director, Jewish
Community Council
of Metropolitan
Detroit, and director,
Michigan Board of
Rabbis: "The Catholic
Church has taken a
Rabbi Marla
tremendous
step by
Feldman
reaching out to the
Jewish community in
an effort to heal past wounds. The next
move is ours. If we are willing to reach
back, the future of Catholic-Jewish rela-
tions will indeed be different. I hope we
will accept -the cardinal's invitation. I
hope we will find a way to move forward
despite our troubled past and work col-
laboratively with the Catholic community
where we find a common cause."
"1, 41MM.:0.
A Pause To
Remember
The Holocaust Memorial Center marks the
memory of six million.
HARRY KIRS BAUM
Staff Writer
Staff photos by Krista Husa
In Response
regret that the Church was
silent in the Holocaust and
didn't do more "to try to stem
the tide of needless human
suffering and death."
In March, he was part of
the historic sojourn of healing
to the Holy Land, where Pope
John Paul II deplored "the ter-
rible tragedy of the Shoah,"
and prayed that harmony and
respect would replace blood
and tears as the fence lines
between Jews and Christians.
In Detroit 10 years, Cardinal
Maida spoke at Temple Shir
Shalom as recipient of the West
Bloomfield synagogue's first
Mezuzah Award. The award cel-
ebrates his "tireless efforts to
open the doors of righteousness
by creating opportunities for
interfaith dialogue and coopera-
tion."
Recalling the fiery anti-
semitism of Father Charles
Coughlin of Royal Oak dur-
ing the 1930s, Rabbi Dannel
Schwartz, who met with the
pope in Rome in 1998, said:
"In a world where a pope can
go to Israel and say, 'I'm
sorry,' and where a cardinal
can reach out to a rabbi and
say 'I will speak on Shabbat,'
this is a very different time
indeed."
"To our shame and regret,"
Cardinal Maida said in pre-
pared remarks, "there are the
countless times and ways over
the centuries that Christians
have not been respectful of the
gifts and heritage that you
have struggled to preserve."
He said Christianity has
adopted a divine covenant,
liturgy, Psalms and prayers
from Judaism. But "perhaps
the greatest lesson you teach
us," he said, "is the humble
and patient way you have
accepted the harsh rhetoric
and actions at critical
moments in your history, par-
ticularly in the 20th century
at the time of the devastating
Holocaust."
Describing reconciliation as
a process, he said that God,
ultimately, "must grant the
healing" but we, together,
must do what we can to keep
the pathway open.
"May we live and die as
brothers and sisters," he said. ❑
A
somber mood fell over the
crowd at Congregation
B'nai Moshe last Sunday as
Detroiters paid tribute to
the six million Jews who perished in
World War II.
Although the Holocaust Memorial
Center's annual Holocaust commem-
oration has changed little in recent
years, neither has the pain endured by
some of the 400 participants.
While some speakers remembered
their own experiences of survival,
.40014P OO
From top to bottom:
Rabbi Charles Rosenzveig, a
speaker at the commemoration,
is founder of the Holocaust
Memorial Center.
Roya Soleymani and Bryan
Weinstein of Farmington Hills
help Mr. and Mrs. Aron
Weinstein of Bloomfield Hills
lightt - a candle of remembrance.
Annette Ferber Adelman recites
poetry.
5/5
2000
31