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Sent:                                             Friday, April 01, 2011 11:33 AM

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CJCUC Joins IJCIR As Partner

Contact: CJCUC Media Department, 516-882-3220

JERUSALEM, Israel, March 29, 2011 /Christian Newswire/ -- Ohr Torah Stone's Center for Jewish- Christian Understanding and Cooperation (CJCUC) in Efrat is pleased to announce that it is now a full partner of the Israel Jewish Council for Interreligious Relations (IJCIR) in Jerusalem. "I am grateful to IJCIR's board members in accepting CJCUC and recognizing the unique contribution that our young organization has already made in the field of interreligious relations," said CJCUC's founder Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, now a Deputy Chairman of IJCIR.

IJCIR has a seat on International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations (IJCIC), which has the official mandate to conduct Jewish-Christian relations and dialogue with the Vatican, the World Council of Churches, and Ecumenical Patriarchate which involves all the Orthodox churches.

IJCIR's Chairman Chief Rabbi Mordechai Piron and Deputy Chairman Chief Rabbi Menachem HaCohen, welcomed CJCUC as its new partner. "CJCUC is the premiere Orthodox organization in Jewish-Christian relations. It is changing the status quo in interfaith dialogue. This partnership will be a catalyst in advancing Jewish-Christian relations in Israel and around the world," they said.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, please contact CJCUC's Media Department at 516-882-3220 or visit www.cjcuc.com.

http://www.earnedmedia.org/cjcuc0329.htm

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Friday, April 1, 2011

CHALLENGES FACING JEWISH AND CATHOLIC LEADERS

VATICAN CITY, 1 APR 2011 (VIS) - The Bilateral Commission of Delegations of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel and the Holy See's Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews celebrated its tenth meeting in Jerusalem from 29 to 31 March. The meeting - presided by Chief Rabbi Shear Yashuv Cohen and by Cardinal Jorge Maria Mejia, archivist and librarian emeritus of Holy Roman Church - discussed the challenges of faith and religious leadership in secular society.

  At the end of its meeting the commission published an English-language communique stating that the deliberations "sought to define the challenges that modern secular society faces. In addition to its many benefits; rapid technological advancement, rampant consumerism, and a nihilistic ideology with an exaggerated focus on the individual at the expense of the community and collective wellbeing, have led to a moral crisis. Together with the benefits of emancipation, the last century has witnessed unparalleled violence and barbarity. Our modern world is substantially bereft of a sense of belonging, meaning and purpose".

  Religious leaders, the text continues, "have a critical role in responding to these realities, in providing both hope and moral guidance derived from the awareness of the Divine Presence and the Divine Image in all human beings. ... The biblical description of Moses was presented as a paradigm of religious leadership who, through his encounter with God, responds to the Divine call with total faith, loving his people, declaring the Word of God without fear, embodying freedom and courage, and an authority that comes from obeying God always and unconditionally, and listening to all, ready for dialogue".

  "The bilateral commission expressed the hope that the outstanding matters in the negotiations between the Holy See and the State of Israel would soon be resolved, and bilateral agreements speedily ratified for the benefit of both communities. The Catholic delegation took the opportunity to reiterate the historic teaching of the Vatican Council II Declaration 'Nostra Aetate' regarding the Divine Covenant with the Jewish People, ... and recalled the prayer for peace of Pope Benedict XVI when receiving the bilateral delegation in Rome on March 12 2009".