The 2024 CCJR Annual Conference

Sunday, November 3 and Monday, November 4, 2024 

hosted by the Bernardin Center at the Catholic Theological Union

5401 S. Cornell Avenue, Chicago, IL 60615

Local Contact: Peter Cunningham, Associate Director, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The meeting will begin with lunch on Sunday and conclude by 4 p.m. on Monday.

Conference Hotel

Hyatt Place Chicago South/University Medical Center at 5225 South Harper Avenue, Chicago, IL. It is about a 10-minute walk to CTU.
Participants are responsible for making their own hotel reservations by calling 1-888-492-8847 and referencing CCJR at CTU or by booking online at CCJR at CTU Group Block Booking Link to receive the special rate of $149 per night (Rooms should also be available for CCJR members if needed on Saturday and Monday nights.) There are a limited number of rooms at the special rate available on a first come, first serve basis and will expire on October 1, 2024. Breakfast is included. Check in time is after 3:00 p.m.

CCJR Meeting Registration Fee

The conference fee is $100.00. Checks should be made payable to “CCJR.” Mail this registration form to: CCJR c/o Bonnie Shafrin, 2043 W. Hidden Reserve Court, Mequon, WI 53092.

Shevet Achim Award

The CCJR Board of Directors is delighted to announce that the 2024 Shevet Achim Award for Outstanding Contributions to Christian-Jewish Relations will be awarded to Celia M. Deutsch, NDS, Research Scholar in the Religion Department at Barnard College, Columbia University.

The CCJR Address and the CTU Shapiro Lecture

Will be delivered during the CCJR meeting by Prof. Marc Zvi Brettler of New York City, New York, who is the Bernice and Morton Lerner Professor in Judaic Studies at Duke University.

Conference Schedule

Sunday, November 3

12:00-1:30 pm Arrival and Lunch

1:45-2:00 pm Welcome

• Representative from CTU
• Adam Gregerman, Saint Joseph’s University (CCJR Chair)

2:00-3:30 pm Session 1: Introduction to and discussion of The Documentary History of Jewish-Christian Relations, eds. Edward Kessler and Neil Wenborn (Cambridge University Press, 2024)

• Edward Kessler, Woolf Institute (Editor, virtual) 
• Victoria Barnett, University of Virginia (Contributor)
• Mary Boys, Union Theological Seminary (Contributor)

3:30-4:00 pm Break

4:00-5:30 pm CTU Catholic-Jewish Studies Program Shapiro Lecture: “What Bible, Whose Bible: Studying the Scripture of Others” (Open to the Public; in person and online; regiser HERE. )

• Marc Brettler, Duke University

5:30-6:00 pm Reception for CCJR Members and Shapiro Lecture Attendees

6:00-8:00 pm CCJR Dinner and Presentation of the Shevet Achim award to Celia Deutsch, Barnard University and Sisters of our Lady of Sion

• Laudation by David Sandmel, International Council of Christians and Jews (Virtual) 
• Laudation by Lucy Thorson, Sisters of our Lady of Sion

Monday, November 4

8:00-9:00 am CCJR Board Meeting (over breakfast)

9:00-10:30 am Session 2: Practicing Dialoguing in Difficult Times

• Daniel Joslyn-Siemiatkoski, Boston College
• Ruth Langer, Boston College

10:30-10:45 am Break

10:45-12:00 pm CCJR Business Meeting

12:00-1:00 pm Lunch

1:00-2:30 pm Session 3: Listening to the Voices of Others after October 7 

1:00-1:45 pm Part I: Catholic-Jewish Relations After October 7: Jewish Correspondence with the Holy See

• Elena Procario-Foley, Iona College (Moderator)
• Malka Simkovich, Jewish Publication Society (Virtual)
• Karma Ben-Johanan, Hebrew University (Virtual)
• David Meyer, Gregorian Pontifical University (Virtual)

1:45-2:30 pm Part II: Trauma's Impact: A Factor in Different Jewish and Christian Responses to the Israel-Gaza Situation

• Philip A. Cunningham, Saint Joseph's University (Moderator)
• Eric Greenberg, National Director of Partnerships & Multifaith Engagement, The Focus Project 
• Murray Watson, Member of the Canada-USA Relation and Encounter Team of the Sisters of our Lady of Sion

2:30–2:45 pm Break

2:45–4:00 pm Session 4: Best Practices for Campus and Community Programming in Tense Times

• Rebecca Carter-Chand, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum (Moderator)
• David Maayan, Saint Leo University
• Heather Miller-Rubens, Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies
• Ben Sax, Institute for Islamic, Christian, and Jewish Studies
• Yehiel Poupko, Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago

4:00 pm Closing / departure