Mark Weitzman, director of the Task Force Against Hate at the Simon Wiesenthal Center in New York, told the audience at the memorial that Holocaust denial is “the top of the iceberg” in problems between segments of the Catholic Church and the Jewish community.
Photos by Robert Wiener
Cantor Joel Caplan of Congregation Agudath Israel sang two of Sister Rose’s favorite Hebrew songs, “Erev Shel Shoshanim” and Yerushalayim Shel Zahav.”
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May 21, 2009
Likening her to “a rose among thorns,” Holocaust survivors and other members of the MetroWest Jewish community joined Monday to pay tribute to the life and work of Sister Rose Thering.
They gathered at the Aidekman Jewish Community Campus in Whippany to salute the Dominican nun, who devoted much of her life to challenging the Catholic Church’s anti-Semitic moments.
The event was sponsored by the Holocaust Council of MetroWest to mark the third anniversary of her death and to call attention to what organizers see as a rise in anti-Semitism.
At the time of her death after a lengthy battle with cancer, Thering was a resident of the Lester Senior Housing Complex in Whippany.
Her memory is a permanent fixture at the Sister Rose Thering Endowment of the Jewish-Christian studies department at Seton Hall University in South Orange.
Mark Weitzman, director of the Task Force Against Hate at the Simon Wiesenthal Center in New York, saluted her as a fearless leader who challenged church hierarchy, most notably over issues dealing with the Vatican’s relationship with the Nazis during World War II.
“She stood up before the congregation and said what had to be said when no one else was ready to do that,” said Weitzman in his remarks at the memorial. “She stood with the victims and, despite some issues, she stayed true to her church. She was a rose among thorns, willing to risk her own hands to prune away the ugliness of anti-Semitism.”
Weitzman also referred to recent tensions between Jews and Catholics, in particular Pope Benedict XVI’s reinstatement earlier this year of Richard Williamson, a conservative bishop who made statements denying the Holocaust.
Weitzman said Jews should also “be alarmed by deep currents of anti-Semitism” that run through the Society of Saint Pius X, an organization of Catholic traditionalists to which Williamson belonged.
The society has rejected Vatican II church reforms, championed by Sister Rose, which include a papal declaration that Jews are not responsible for the death of Jesus.
“True, Pope Benedict has said any reconciliation with the society is contingent on its embracing Vatican II,” noted Weitzman. “But acceptance of Vatican II must be more than a box that can simply be checked off for readmission into the church’s good graces. It must require a commitment to a renewed theology that respects Jews and Jewish self-determination.
“No one seriously believes the pope is a Holocaust denier or an anti-Semite,” he added. “However, there does appear to be a pattern, as in the case of Richard Williamson, when the Vatican acts, faces severe criticism, then reacts and attempts to correct a situation.”
Others paying tribute to Thering included Rabbi Jehiel Orenstein, rabbi emeritus of Congregation Beth El in South Orange, and Father Lawrence Frizzell, director of the Institute of Judaeo-Christian Studies at Seton Hall. Cantor Joel Caplan of Congregation Agudath Israel of West Essex in Caldwell played guitar and sang two Hebrew folk songs that were favorites of Thering.
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