Conference bookings can now be made
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Pope condemns new antisemitism

The Australian Council of Christians and Jews annual conference, conjointly with the postponed annual general meeting will be held from 12.30 pm on April 2 in the Theatrette of the Sydney Jewish Museum, 144 Darlinghurst Road, Darlinghurst. The conference will "open" on the preceding evening with a three denominational choral concert at St. Francis, Paddington.

Conference Program:
12.00 pm Annual General Meeting
12.30 pm Tour of the Museum
2.00 pm Welcome
2.05 pm 1st panel session/discussion: "The Media's role in bringing together the religions" Panelists: Dan Goldberg, Editor, Australian Jewish News; Chris McGillion, former religion editor, Sydney Morning Herald; Deaconess Margaret Rodgers, Anglican Media Moderator: Alan Gill (journalist, author)
3.15 pm Afternoon Tea
3.45 pm 2nd panel session/discussion: "Is the dialogue getting anywhere?" Panelists: Fr. Frank Brennan, prominent Catholic writer/educator; Robert Forsyth, Bishop of South Sydney; Rabbi Jeremy Lawrence, Chief Minister, Great Synagogue; Simon Longstaff, Director, St. James Ethics Centre; Moderator: Rabbi Raymond Apple
5.00 pm 3rd panel session/discussion: "Can the Jewish community do more to close the gaps?" Panelists: Former presidents of the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies Gerry Levy; Stephen Rothman and (to be confirmed) Michael Marx; Peter Wertheim; Moderator: Margaret Gutman.
6.15-6.30 pm Close

Pope Benedict has told the chief rabbi of Rome that he is worried and pained by outbreaks of renewed antisemitism, of which manifestations are becoming evident in many parts of the world.
He added that such manifestations are of grave concern. In his first official meeting with Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni, Pope Benedict said Christians and Jews had a responsibility to work together to promote peace and justice. "In light of this shared mission, we cannot but denounce and fight hatred and incomprehension, injustice and violence that continue to concern the souls of men and women of good faith," the Pope said. "In this context, how can one not be hurt and worried by the renewed displays of anti-Semitism that sometimes appear," he added. Shortly after becoming Pope last year, Benedict sent a message to Rome's Jewish community, pledging to continue the work of his predecessor, John Paul, towards Catholic-Jewish reconciliation. He praised John Paul's work and thanked God for helping Jews fight off their various enemies throughout history. ?The people of Israel have been freed on numerous occasions from the hands of their enemies. The hand of the Almighty has supported and guided them during centuries of antisemitism (and) in the dramatic time of the Shoah,? he said. It is understood that the pontiff may pray at the site of the World War II Auschwitz death camp when he visits his predecessor's homeland, Poland, later this year, according to a Vatican representative in that country.

Have you made your reservation to be at the 2006 Australian Council Conference at the Jewish Museum, 148 Darlinghurst Road Darlinghurst, Sydney April 2 from 12.00 noon

To register, please phone 0412 564 956 or
send a fax to 02 9327 4418

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NSW Council attracts hundreds to its 2005 Kristallnacht event

The 2005 commemoration of Kristallnacht (the Night of Broken Glass) held by the NSW Council of Christians and Jews in Sydney?s Martin Place drew the attention of hundreds of passers by as the lunch time service was conducted by the NSW President, Fr. Joseph Sobb.
The boys choir of St. Andrews Cathedral School also participated in the event..

Editorial

This earlier than usual March issue of Scene contains the information on the Council?s second national conference to be held in Sydney on April 2. It is to be hoped that members of the various communities take this opportunity to come together, particularly in the light of the prominence of the participants in the three panel sessions being presented in the afternoon of that day. With the event being held at the Sydney Jewish Museum, attendees (admission is free) have the opportunity of being given a tour of the Museum by one of its expert guides prior to the commencement of the afternoon?s conference program. This in itself represents a bonus for those who have not shared the experience of this unique museum environment. The issue is graced by articles featuring the two rabbinical names most linked to the Great Synagogue in Sydney, Rabbis Apple and Lawrence, the latter?s being a transcript of his eloquent welcome to a large audience attending the celebration late last year of the 40th Anniversary of Nostra Aetate. Rabbi Lawrence has also recently instituted a modern method of communicating with his congregants by the use of text messaging, an innovation which could well be considered by ministers of religion of all denominations as being valuable, particularly in that this is the communication method of today?s younger generation. Lastly, SCENE commends to its readers the three denomination choral concert which will mark the opening of the annual conference. It will be remembered that the first of these, held at Temple Emanuel in Woollahra in 2004 was an outstanding success, from a musical and ecumenical standpoint and this year?s event, to be held at St. Francis in Paddington, promises to provide an evening of outstanding musical and spiritual experience.

The Amity Foundation was founded in 1985 on the initiative of Chinese Christians to promote education, health, social welfare and rural development in China. As the Foundation celebrated its 20th anniversary last year, it invited representatives from oversea's Christian churches to see some of its work. I joined an ecumenical Christian group of 12 from Australia to see some of the great sights of China, meet representatives of the Chinese church and visit some of the work of the Foundation, which is supported through the Christmas Bowl and other ecumenical appeals. China is clearly in the midst of change, becoming a consumer society with a general sense of freedom, although there are certainly many people being left behind. In Shanghai, the group met with representatives of the China Christian Council, the official Protestant church organisation. The church describes itself as ?post-denominational?, encompassing a range of church styles and traditions without the denominational boundaries with which western Christians are so familiar. When my group attended a Sunday morning service in Shanghai, the style was Presbyterian and traditional, the 400 or so strong congregation containing a significant proportion of younger people, the hymns were Western – an attendant found some old hymn books with the English words to the hymns being sung.

Something worth exploring

The officially registered church has maintained a conservative theology, with an Episcopal structure. In its bookshop, there were Bibles and a range of Christian literature. The church is growing, and conservative estimates indicate that there are at least 30 million Christians in China – some would double that figure. Christianity is seen by many people as something worth exploring, although it is certainly difficult for Christians to gain promotion in government- controlled areas of employment. One of the big issues when thinking about Christianity in China is the government?s relationship with the Church. The ?Three-Self Patriotic Movement? approved by the government insists that the church be self-supporting, self-propagating and self-governing. Obviously the aim is to keep religious groups free from outside interference, but it is clear that there is a significant amount of government interference.

No officially approved expression of the Jewish faith

How much, and what the effects are, are hotly debated inside and outside China. We visitors were told that the registered church has complete freedom to worship, teach, witness and serve. But it is reasonable to assume that the government keeps a close eye on what happens in the church. Clearly there are boundaries that are not to be crossed: at the very least, the church must not criticise the government or involve itself in political activity which might be seen as a threat to the government. The Catholic Patriotic Association, the registered Catholic Church, has millions of members but is officially out of communion with the Pope. (There is also an unofficial traditional Catholic Church which is apparently recognised by the Pope). However, at a formal level, there is no officially approved expression of the Jewish faith for the very small number of Jewish residents of China.

Paranoia

However, there are also millions of people who belong to unregistered Protestant churches. Some see no need to get involved in the process of registration: many however see both the government and the established church almost as ?the enemy?. Stories about Christians being persecuted in China generally involve members of unregistered (?underground?) churches. The persecution is spasmodic, but can be brutal. It is a sign of a government with a degree of paranoia as it tries to keep control in a time of rapid change. Amity has repaired school buildings, provided educational resources, trained teachers and doctors, provided clean water, arranged small loans for people to establish themselves with regular income, replanted trees to overcome soil erosion, arranged for ditches to be dug to prevent floods. The Foundation has also printed more than 30 million Bibles with the approval of the Chinese Government. Its web site provides further information. It was encouraging to see an increasing religious freedom in China and indeed a growing interest in spiritual issues. How the government handles this, along with the broader demand for freedom in the vast country, remains to be seen.

When I was asked to write for Jewish & Christian Scene, my initial response was, ?Why me?? But then I thought about how, when I began work on my new anthology, ?Half/Life: Jewish Tales from Interfaith Homes?, I had a similar emotional response. I may not be an expert in the traditional sense, but I do have a right to speak. And not simply because I was born into a Jewish/Christian intermarriage and can speak to the issues that face a child exposed to both worlds, but because – being born into a blended religious family – you will always ask yourself questions relating to legitimacy. So perhaps I not only have the right to speak, but the obligation.

To raise a voice that stems from the best kinds of ecumenical dialogue – rooted in a childhood, surrounded by active participants in many faiths; as someone who feels shame when either ?side? of my identity commits an injustice, and also pride when either side steps forward to right a wrong. Perhaps this ability of mine, this odd birthright of multiple identities, will be of use here, will afford readers a new perspective, a middle ground and a fresh pair of eyes. Interfaith work of the past few decades, combined with religious assimilation has produced many families like mine. And there are a growing number of voices like mine, blended identities. And too often, within a house of worship, within a religious community, intermarriage is seen only as a weakening of the walls, a dilution of the spirit or the tradition. But in fact, intermarriage, much as it scares people, can also be a product of open communication and tolerance.

So in the coming months, as I approach and ponder timely and seasonal issues and ideas, I hope you will read my words with the understanding that families like mine, while complicated, are also where interfaith and ecumenical ideas are not discussed, but enacted. Both are the product and the process of the Jewish/Christian dialogue.
Shalom from America!

Southern Cathedrals Festival (SCF) 2006, the popular annual five day festival of choral music which features the choirs of Chichester, Salisbury and Winchester Cathedrals, is hosted by Salisbury Cathedral from 19 - 23 July. SCF 2006 will also showcase young musicians and the impressive music-making which is so much a part of Salisbury's life throughout the year.

David Halls explains: 'I see the future of music being firmly in the hands of the young and decided to acknowledge this by initiating a mini-series within SCF called 'Youth in Music'. In three short instrumental concerts former pupils of Salisbury Cathedral School who are pursuing careers as professional musicians will perform programmes full of energy and contrast. In addition one of the South of England's most exciting choirs, Sarum Voices, comprising mainly ex-cathedral choristers, will sing Bernstein's Chichester Psalms and the second performance of Sam Hanson's Requiem. Sam was Organ Scholar of Salisbury Cathedral last year and is currently studying music at Cambridge.

The Festival also provides a showcase for local musicians including Salisbury Community Choir, whose programme presents an eclectic mix of music, and the Bishop of Salisbury with his period instrument ensemble; they give concerts in the warm acoustic of St Martin's Church, Salisbury.' There will be a Festival Club for ticket holders for the duration of SCF 2006, offering a friendly environment for relaxation between events.

Tickets for all the concerts are available from Salisbury Playhouse box office, telephone 01722 320333, up to the beginning of the Festival. Existing and new patrons have priority booking until 6 May and general booking starts on May 7.
During the Festival tickets can be bought from the SCF box office at No 33, The Close. Entry to all services is free. Booking brochures are available: email: [email protected].

Nostra Aetate 40th Anniversary
Welcome to The Great Synagogue

There is something wonderfully appropriate in hosting this 40th Anniversary of Nostra Aetate over the festival of Sukkot, of Tabernacles. While the festival carries as one strand, God?s protection of the Jewish people when He established them as a nation and guided them in the wilderness in their journey from Egypt, the festival of Sukkot carries a clear universalist theme. It is our most constant refrain that God should spread His Tabernacle of Peace over all dwellers on earth. His is an inclusivist canopy, embracing all of humanity, which He created in His image. In Temple times, throughout the festival of Sukkot, the Israelites would sacrifice seventy young bulls on behalf of the 70 nations of the world. While other nations had not yet found a path of godliness, of ethical monotheism, it was our role to pray for their peace, for their salvation and to include them in our vision of harmonious redemption. Our role in bringing enlightenment is not the destructive abnegation of the other. Rather, it is what my teacher, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks has designated a ?conversation? founded upon the ?dignity of difference? towards a mutually fulfilling spiritual elevation. I believe that these principles find a welcome interlocutor in the Roman Catholic Church through Nostra Aetate. The other emblem of the festival of Sukkot is the Arba Minim, or four species. The palm, the citron, the myrtle and willow inspire many explanations among the sages. Indeed, they are a symbol and it is our duty to find meaning in them. The citron has fragrance and flavour. The palm has flavour but no fragrance. The myrtle by contrast fragrance but no flavour. The willow is bland on all counts. One preferred image is that they represent four different types of people. Thus transposed, there are some who have both, a tradition and ethics. There are some people and peoples whose tradition is deep-rooted but have no moral code. There are others who have ethics but no sense of tradition or peoplehood. There are those in our world who as yet stand for nothing and see themselves as having no place. On Sukkot, we bind these symbols together, and wave them in all directions. It is indicative that to everything and everyone there is a time and a purpose under the heavens. We must strive together in the service of an omnipresent God.

Sir Thomas More is celebrated as someone who brought his sense of principle and sense of self into public service. In a doctrinal note on the participation of Catholics in Public Life, Pope Benedict XVI, then Cardinal Ratzinger applauded his martyrdom highlighting the ?inalienable dignity of human conscience?, his constant fidelity to legitimate authority and institutions. ?He taught by his life and his death that man cannot be separated from God, nor politics from morality.? May we, in our ministries and our public lives, champion the cause of what is right with distinction, integrity and fidelity.

And may we be wise in the traditions of the Talmudic sage Ben Zoma. Who is wise asked ben Zoma? He who learns from everyone, he explained. May God extend His tabernacle of peace over us all. May we learn from each other and may He bless us as we continue our critical conversation.

Papal emissary Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan visited patients at Calvary Health Care Adelaide recently in the lead up to the 14th World Day of the Sick held in Adelaide for the first time. Cardinal Lozano Barragan heads the Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care opens the World Day of the Sick with a keynote address at a conference focusing on mental health and human dignity at the Adelaide Convention Centre. Other conference speakers include renowned psychiatrist Professor Ian Hickie, author and member of the New South Wales Mental Health Review, Anne Deveson and actor and board member of Beyond Blue Garry McDonald. The international event attracted Catholic bishops and clergy, conference delegates and health professionals and care-givers from across the world. World Day of the Sick was inaugurated by Pope John Paul II in 1992 to focus attention on human suffering and to the vital role of care-givers of the sick and elderly. Adelaide Archbishop Philip Wilson said: "World Day of the Sick will challenge us to engage and experience the needs of those who are most vulnerable in our society. We will endeavour to make inroads into what has become one of the biggest health problems affecting the world today."

The truth will set you free

In a previous incarnation ? surely a permissible reference at an inter-religious event ? I was a professional youth worker. At one of the youth clubs I visited, a teenager, possessed of the unrivalled wisdom of the very young, confidently informed me that ?anyone over 20 is a has-been?. Seeing that all this happened many years ago, the wise young man is now probably highly middle aged with children of his own who are well into their 20s or even older. Fortunately he is unlikely to remember his exchange with me but I not only remember but want to apply it. For now that the Victorian CCJ is 20, there may well be a need to ask whether the organisation which had its beginnings under impressive circumstances, is on the way to becoming a has-been. It is of course tempting to use superficial criteria such as how many people are paid up members, whether there are good attendances at meetings and other programs and whether the organisation can balance its books. These are not unimportant but the real question goes much deeper.

The wall of separation is still there

It is concerned with whether the work has helped to build a climate of harmony, understanding and mutual respect. The answer is yes, and it is also no. We have still not succeeded in discovering each other?s unique identity. For Jews, it is history, hope, land and peoplehood, as well as religion ? or rather all are part of religion for the Jew. For Christians it is the word made flesh, man?s fall, God?s grace, intermediation and resurrection. To the Jew, as Martin Buber said, the Christian is too daring, the Jew too obdurate. The result is the wall of separation, actual or virtual that is still there despite the joy we feel in often regarding the other as a member of our own family. In my own family it would have been unthinkable not to invite priests, nuns, clergy and colleagues from the religions ? we were part of each other. But back to the wall, a Berlin Wall that separated us long before Berlin was ever thought of. If it were merely what Paul calls ?the middle wall of partition?, it would not be so bad. Unfortunately it is more likely ? to quote Paul again ? to have for most of its history been ?the dividing wall of hostility?.

We have no choice

Who built the wall? Two convictions as to truth. What will remove the wall? Because we are each distinctive, the divide will remain. The question is will it be the fence that marks off one friendly neighbour from another and not a high, solid wall of hostility. It will not be easy, despite our reconciliation and cordiality. We may never reach a full agreement about truth ? but we may jointly reach some truths about truth. Till 9/11 and 7/7 we thought we could smile and get away with conventional pleasantries as ?they?re all paths to God, after all.? But now we have no choice, now that we have been caught up in events that show there are some people whose fierce commitment to their truth impels them to want to conquer the world.

For others world conquest is not their agenda but they believe in spiritual coercion. We have good reason to fear both approaches because zealots and negativists do not engage in dialogue. Dialogue in all its senses is a sharing in which all make room for each other, not just because pragmatic realities demand it but if we can find the appropriate conceptual framework, we can base on a sustaining idea. There are two messages for our situation. The first is that there are truths in many traditions, but one?s deepest commitment must be to one?s own; the second, that though our distinctive identities are separated by a ?middle wall of partition?, others must be respected, not humiliated or delegitimised, turning the partition into a dividing wall of hostility.

Our duty: to find each other, not destroy each other

The evidence all around us is that there is a lack of respect. Fanatics and negativists blow up trains, buses, places of work or worship and fellow human beings. For them the victim is nothing, however precious, clever, decent, trying simply to live in dignity; all is dispensable in the onslaught of ferocity. In the end the perpetrator too is nothing, making no contribution to civilisation, no contribution to anything, not even to his or her own cause. Mankind at large, in Jewish teaching, has the seven Noachide Laws, to which we might feel like adding an eighth ? ?survive, live, preserve the world and its civilisation!? Our duty is to find each other, not to destroy each other. Part of that duty is to acknowledge the necessary ambiguities which make it possible to find room for us all. But the details are not up to me. I do not believe I can bring the moment closer by forcing my Judaism on others, regardless of their own conscience. Nor, I hope, will others feel they have to coerce me into their camp. The wall of partition may remain, but to ensure it never again becomes a dividing wall of hostility we have to dedicate life in what the Hebrew sages call ?the world of action? to living as brothers and sisters.

20 years on, CCJ Victoria has much to celebrate

Some of the finest minds and noblest of spirits in the religious spectrum have given it their energies and inspiration. On one level or another, CCJ Victoria has helped to break down old stereotypes that were left behind from the times of hostility. It may not have penetrated the grass roots far or widely enough but that is a task for the future. But it has issued academically creditable documents, come to grips with a series of agonising conceptual issues, formulated theologically tenable positions and spear-headed appropriate advocacy on issues that needed a common religious voice. In the meantime there is vigour and vision in the organisation that ensure it is far from becoming a has-been.

Around the World

Czech churches deplore 'communist' law on religion
Churches in the Czech Republic are considering an appeal to the country's constitutional court about a law on religious bodies which they say restricts their activities and resembles legislation from the pre-1989 Communist era. "The Ministry of Culture drew up the latest text without any dialogue with the churches," said Jitka Krausova, general secretary of the Czech Ecumenical Council, about the measure signed into law by President Vaclav Klaus on 6 December. The president of the Roman Catholic Bishops Conference, Archbishop Jan Graubner, has said he also hopes the law will be declared unconstitutional. "This new law discriminates against churches, meddles in their internal affairs and reduces the Christian third of the population to second-class citizens," he said.

Protestant 'saint' who opposed Hitler remembered
Christians around the world are preparing to remember the 100th anniversary of the birth of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German Lutheran theologian executed for his opposition to the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler. "He is a saint – in the Protestant meaning of the word," said Germany's top Protestant bishop, Wolfgang Huber, one of the editors of the complete works of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was born on 4 February 1906 in Breslau in what was then Germany, but is now the Polish city of Wroclaw. Bonhoeffer was executed on 9 April 1945 in the closing days of the Second World War in Europe at the hands of one of Hitler's special commandos in the Flössenburg concentration camp in Bavaria that was liberated by the US Cavalry on 23 April 1945. He was linked to the chief conspirators in the failed 1944 bomb plot to assassinate Hitler. Bonhoeffer is now said to be one of the world's most-cited Protestant theologians, with churches and parish centres named after him, and numerous books and movies recounting the story of his life. In Wroclaw last month a commemoration by the Polish Ecumenical Council was addressed by Bishop Huber, and the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams.

Church leaders remind media of their power as Islamic protests surge
World church leaders have reminded the media in Europe of the power it has and urge the striking of a balance between press freedom and respect for others. Their calls follow growing global protests, some of them violent, by Arabs and other Muslims against the publication of cartoon caricatures of the prophet Muhammad in European newspapers.

In Brazil, World Council of Churches to focus on society of many faiths
The complexity of a world with many faiths holding differing value systems will be a key issue for the forthcoming Assembly of the World Council of Churches, says the grouping's general secretary, the Rev. Samuel Kobia. "All Christians are being challenged to look at their identity in the context of a new religious plurality," Kobia noted prior to the 14-23 February gathering in Porto Alegre, Brazil, that brought together more than 4000 people from the world's major Christian traditions.
Several young people from Australia were among the delegates at the WCC Assembly in Porto Alegre, Brazil. They attended either as official church delegates or as participants in the visitors' program.
Three Sydney students who joined the pre-Assembly youth event, followed by the Assembly itself, were Emma Schubert, Lauren Fee and Christopher Hartley, members of Christian Students Uniting at the university campuses of Sydney and New South Wales. The Rev. Dr John Hirt, Uniting Church chaplain at the University of Sydney, said, "An opportunity to attend a WCC Assembly can be a life-changing experience for young Christians. Their faith will be challenged as they share with fellow young people from various cultures and faith traditions. ?I am confident that it will enrich their Christian journey and strengthen their discipleship."

The president of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) Bishop Mark S. Hanson, has condemned recent remarks by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, describing the Holocaust as a "myth" and calling for the elimination of the State of Israel. In a recent statement, Hanson, who is also the presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA), affirms the historical record of the Holocaust under legal and scholarly scrutiny. "We know and grieve the awful truth of the Shoah. No reasonable person can stand by while any nation?s leader makes such outrageous and unacceptable claims," he said. The LWF president says Ahmadinejad's latest remarks, quoted widely in the international media, represent a sadly different path for Iran, which in 2001 initiated the International Year of Dialogue among Civilizations at the United Nations. Hanson states Lutherans' commitment to an open and honest relationship with the Jewish community. He cites the presence of Dr Gerhard Riegner, then retired General Secretary of the World Jewish Congress at the 1984 LWF Seventh Assembly in Hungary, as a signal to a new start in the dialogue between Jews and Lutherans at the global level, "addressing the lamentable reality of Martin Luther?s anti-Judaic writings and the tragedy of the Shoah." "In a 1994 document", Hanson adds, "the ELCA itself acknowledges the pain caused by Luther?s anti-Judaic diatribes and his violent recommendations against the Jews." The LWF president stresses that Lutherans will continue to work with the Jewish people, Palestinian people, and all other people of good will in the Middle East in an ongoing "quest for mutual respect, hope, and peace for all people in this world."