[Adapted from the Seton Hall University website.]

Born August 9 in 1920 to second-generation German Catholic parents in Plain, Wisconsin, Rose Elizabeth Thering grew up on a dairy farm. The family prayed together three times a day and sent 11 children to Catholic schools. From humble beginnings, her life traveled a distinct, yet distinguished, path. She would come to share the spotlight with world leaders and celebrities — and stand with victims in the shadow of oppression.

At the age of 16, Sister Rose joined the religious community of the Sisters of St. Dominic, and, following her profession as a sister, she began to teach. "There were no Jews where I grew up," Sister Rose once said. "I only knew them from what we read in our religious text books." The message of intolerance toward the Jews she learned unsettled her. Many pre-Vatican II religious texts portrayed Jews as the people who killed Jesus. After many years of teaching in elementary and high schools, where she continued to find anti-Jewish references in Catholic school texts, Sister Rose decided to continue her own education to benefit others. A graduate of Dominican College in Racine, Wisconsin, she earned a Doctor of Philosophy from St. Louis University and master's degrees from the College of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Seton Hall University. 

At St. Louis University, her dissertation was devoted to the Catholic Church's teachings about Jews and other religions. Her doctoral research culminated in 1961 with an examination of how Catholic teaching materials dealt with ethnic groups and other faiths, primarily Jews and Judaism. Her research contributed to the deliberations during Vatican II before the issuance of the Vatican document Nostra Aetate (1965), a declaration on the relation of the Church to non-Christian religions.

Sister Rose came to Seton Hall University in 1968 to establish an educational outreach program, known then as the Menorah Studies Program, for Seton Hall's Institute of Judaeo-Christian Studies then under the direction of Monsignor John M. Oesterreicher. "Sister Rose was a champion of opening doors between Christians and Jews," said Monsignor Robert Sheeran, president of Seton Hall University. "For a half-century she was an uncommon, inspired voice of reconciliation and dialogue among Christians and Jews. Her support for the nation of Israel, her determination to root out anti-Semitism wherever it exists, and her commitment to educating new generations about the evils of the Holocaust form her lasting legacy." 

In 1972, Sister Rose planned and directed the Menorah Institute to Israel, sponsored by Seton Hall's Institute of Judaeo-Christian Studies. It was the first of more than 50 excursions to Israel that she planned and directed on behalf of the University and other organizations. Her activism on behalf of Holocaust survivors and oppressed Jews throughout the world led her to Austria to protest the inauguration of Kurt Waldheim, thought to be a former Nazi, as its president. In 1987, Sister Rose traveled to the Soviet Union to visit 22 refusenik families in a show of solidarity before glasnost secured the freedom of Soviet Jews.

Sister Rose was a tireless lecturer, speaking throughout New Jersey and the nation, making lay people aware of the tenets of Judaism and Catholicism and helping to eradicate intolerance. She earned more than 80 humanitarian awards, including the Anti-Defamation League's Cardinal Bea Interfaith Award (2004), where she was honored as the first woman to receive the award, and the prestigious Jerusalem Award (1987), which was presented to her by Teddy Kollek, Jerusalem's former mayor, after she testified before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in support of a bill that would move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem

Sister Rose shared her unique life story with the world in 2004 through Sister Rose's Passion, a 39-minute documentary film that chronicles her career's dedication to reconciling Jews and Christians through education on the evils of anti-Semitism. The documentary, produced by Peter LeDonne and Steve Kalafer, an Academy Award-nominated team, was directed by Oren Jacoby, who has produced and directed films for the BBC, ABC, PBS, National Geographic and the Discovery Channel. The film was the brainchild of Risa Goldstein, a friend of Kalafer's and a South Orange resident whose father had taken classes in Seton Hall University's Graduate Department of Jewish-Christian Studies. After winning the Best Documentary Short at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City in 2004, Sister Rose's Passion was nominated in 2005 for an Academy Award.

In August 1992, the University established the Sister Rose Thering Endowment for Jewish-Christian Studies. The Endowment builds on the inter-faith education work of Sister Rose by providing scholarship assistance for teachers in graduate-level Jewish-Christian and Holocaust Studies, developing curriculum resources and presenting workshops for teachers in public, private and parochial schools. School teachers are an important audience for the Endowment because in addition to New Jersey, only four other states – New York, Illinois, California and Florida – have mandates to teach about the Holocaust, though several other states officially recommend Holocaust education. Of the five, New Jersey is the only one requiring Holocaust or genocide education at all grade levels. More than 350 teachers and an estimated 150,000 students throughout New Jersey have benefited from the Endowment since its inception.

By Joelle Farrell, Inquirer Staff Writer

The Rev. Franklin H. Littell, 91, of Merion Station, a Methodist minister widely acknowledged as the father of modern Holocaust studies in America, died Saturday at home after a long illness.

Mr. Littell dedicated his life to Holocaust research after spending nearly 10 years in postwar Germany as chief Protestant religious adviser in the U.S. high command. He was the first American scholar to offer courses on Holocaust and genocide studies, and at Temple University he established the nation's first doctoral program on Holocaust studies in 1976.

His scholarship examined individual responsibility in a free society and sought to encourage interfaith dialogue, especially between Christians and Jews.

Mr. Littell was the author of more than two dozen books and more than 1,000 articles, and was working most recently on his memoirs. He also was an activist who had marched with the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil-rights struggle, said Marcia Sachs Littell, his wife of 30 years.

From LoHud.com

NEW ROCHELLE — Brother John G. Driscoll, who re-created Iona College as a high-profile Catholic college during a 24-year tenure as president before becoming an international leader in Christian-Jewish relations, died Tuesday evening after a long illness. He was 77.

Driscoll, a New York City native and mathematician by training, became president of Iona in 1971.

During his tenure, he expanded and modernized Iona's campus, grew the student body, and lobbied in Albany for education aid for private colleges and students.

He built new athletic facilities, expanded women's athletics and made Iona's sports teams more competitive.

"He took Iona when it was a small commuter college and began a residential program, created opportunities for faculty, built facilities," Liguori said. "He was a dynamo and a pastoral leader."

New York, NY, January 27, 2009 … The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) mourns the loss of Rabbi Leon Klenicki, the League's longtime Director of Interfaith Affairs and Co-Liaison to the Vatican.  During his more than 30 years at ADL, Rabbi Klenicki worked tirelessly to promote understanding and respect between Christians and Jews while making historic contributions in creating positive relationships between the faiths.

A renowned scholar, theologian and interfaith pioneer, Rabbi Klenicki received many recognitions and awards for his work.  In August 2007, Rabbi Klenicki was made a Papal Knight of the Order of St. Gregory the Great by Pope Benedict XVI, becoming only the second interfaith official to receive papal knighthood.  Later that year he was recognized by the League for his lifetime of dedication and service to ADL and the Jewish community.

"It was truly fortunate and blessed to have Rabbi Leon Klenicki represent us as our Interfaith Affairs Director for a quarter of a century," said Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director.  "He could talk to Jews and Christians with equal facility and ease.  It was amazing to witness the depth of respect the Catholic leaders showed Rabbi Klenicki.  This was because he was always honest with them, ready to criticize them when necessary, to praise them when appropriate, and always to be constructive in the relationship."

The Reverend Clemens Thoma (1932-2011) was a priest in the Society of the Divine Word (S.V.D.); one of eleven children in a farming family in the Saint Gall area of Switzerland, he was ordained to the priesthood in 1961.  He was a student and later a collaborator with Dr. Kurt Schubert, who had founded the Institutum Judaicum in Vienna in 1948.  Father Thoma’s doctoral dissertation on “The Destruction of the Jerusalem Temple in AD 70” laid the foundation for a lifetime of scholarly and pastoral commitment to Christian-Jewish dialogue.  In 1971 he became Professor of Biblical and Jewish Studies in the Theological Faculty of Luzern and in 1981 he founded the Institute for Jewish-Christian Research, which he directed until 2000.  He succeeded Dr. Gertrud Luckner as editor of the Freiburger Rundbrief and traveled frequently to Freiburg to bring a new format and fresh perspectives to this esteemed journal.  He was a founding member of the team that produced the monumental Theologische Realenzyklopädie.

Father Thoma was honored for his many contributions to Christian-Jewish relations: The Buber-Rosenzweig Medal (1994), the Honorary Medal of the City of Luzern (2001), honorary membership in the International Rosenzweig Society in Jerusalem (2006).

The man who once considered entering a monastery but decided to be “a man for others,” spending the last 40 years tackling spiritual issues through the Jewish-Catholic Institute, died suddenly on May 4, 2009. 

As an 8th-grader at a parochial school in Philadelphia, Fr. Don Clifford, SJ, won his school’s spelling bee, sending him on to the championship held at Saint Joseph’s Preparatory School. There he would compete against winners from all over the archdiocese for the top prize: a full high school scholarship. At $200 a year, the opportunity meant a great deal to many families, Clifford’s included, who were struggling through the Depression. Although quick to admit that his impressions of the Prep were not all positive — at first he was turned off by the suit jackets and ties worn by its students — his mother convinced him to compete. Round after round, Clifford passed through. “It was pretty miraculous. The other kids were getting words I couldn’t spell,” he remembers, “but when my turn came around, I always got easy ones.” He made it all the way to the final round to take the top prize.

The winning word was “ubiquity” — present everywhere at once.

The son of Francis J. Clifford and Mary E. Shuler, Fr. Clifford was born in Philadelphia on June 23, 1929. Winning the spelling bee gave Clifford his first contact with the Jesuits and a chance to play basketball for a team in 1947 that would go on to be the last in Philadelphia history to win the Catholic League and City Championships. The winning season earned the starting five players, including Clifford, a full scholarship to play for Saint Joseph’s University.

Fr. Lawrence Boadt’s untimely death is a loss for so many of us across the spectrum of not only Catholics but Jews as well.  I have known him as a colleague and as a friend for many years, as an editor for Paulist Press, eager to publish books furthering the cause of Catholic-Jewish relations, my own included, and as a neighbor when he was at the Paulist College across the road from where I worked at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.   One normally notes the wit and wisdom of a friend and colleague when they pass, but in this case that would be an understatement. 

Larry Boadt excelled.  There is no other word for it. His book on Sacred Scripture, Reading the Old Testament: An Introduction, became a classic in the field and was used in countless seminaries and theology programs at universities. It incorporated the best not only of biblical scholarship but of the critical scholarship of the Jewish-Catholic dialogue, thus putting into reality the great vision of the Second Vatican Council on the renewal of dialogue between the Church, as the People of God, and the Jewish People, as the original and still present People of God. 

I am sorry to have to share bad news with the global family of the International Council of Christians and Jews that our beloved friend and colleague, Ruth Weyl, has died at the age of 89. She passed away on Sunday, May 12th (the 3rd of Sivan in the Jewish calendar.) In the words of her daughter, Celia:

The past month did not correspond to her wishes and she fought valiantly to regain her health, but declined gradually over the past ten days, despite the doctors' efforts.  Her daughters and grand-daughters were round her the last week though I'm not sure that even the five of us together could have the same energy as this lady generally showed.

This will be a great personal loss to me. I have known Ruth for just under seven years, and she was old enough to be my mother, yet we became good friends and confidantes. She often called me and she e-mailed me frequently, sharing articles or other items of mutual interest.