Madrid—More than 50 Jewish and Catholic leaders gathered in Madrid, Spain recently for the International Catholic-Jewish Liaison Committee (ICJLC) summit to further religious cooperation.

Betty Ehrenberg, the first woman to chair the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations (IJCIC) is also the representative of the World Jewish Congress on the committee. She recently spoke to JNS about her new position and the issues addressed in Madrid.

Her goal and responsibility she said, is to help guide the group to deepen dialogue with other religious faiths. “In addition to the meeting with the Catholic Church in Madrid, we recently met with leaders of Orthodox Christianity in Greece and plan to attend a meeting with the World Council of Churches in South Korea later this year.

“I also feel that it is very important to get younger Jews involved in the dialogue. I hope that we can teach young Jewish leaders to develop these types of friendships and communication skills.”

Among the topics discussed in Madrid were those that “both faiths have in common: combatting racism, extremism and violent attacks on religious institutions. The issue of religious freedom was an extremely important topic as well. We discussed recent efforts [by some European countries] to curtail kosher slaughter or enacting legislation outlawing male circumcision, as well as prohibitions by some countries against wearing religious symbols such as the kippah, Magen David or even crosses.”

Jews and Catholics, she said, are both deeply concerned with the continuity of their faiths and the involvement of young people in religious institutions. “We shared some of our ideas on how to involve younger people,” she said.

When asked if the Israel-Arab conflict was discussed, she answered, “We did not have a direct discussion of the Arab-Israeli conflict. But we did discuss attacks on faiths in the Holy Land, persecution of Christians in the region, and radicalization. This was not limited to the Middle East; we had an across-the-board discussion of extremism on the far left and right.”

The group also discussed the upcoming 50th anniversary of Nostra Aetate and how to mark it. “Although many are aware of Nostra Aetate and the healthy relationship with the Jewish people,” she said. “There are still many communities around the world where it is not well known, and we feel it needs to be taught more in Catholic schools, seminaries and churches.”

When asked about the new Pope, Ehrenberg noted that, “With the Catholic Church so influential in Latin America, Pope Francis’s election is important. There are many attempts by radical groups to make inroads there, particularly Iran.  His election makes the Jewish community feel more confident to counter attempts by extremists to destabilize Latin America and beyond. Pope Francis has a very strong relationship with a wide swath of Latin American Jews and was very supportive of the Jewish community following the Buenos Aires terrorist attack in 1994. We believe this is extremely positive, because he understands the concerns of the Jewish community—and we think that Pope Francis will be an outstanding influence on Catholic-Jewish relations.”

When Ehrenberg was asked where she would like to see more progress, she said it was in the fight against all forms of religious discrimination, including antisemitism. “Religious extremism has resurfaced on a global scale and we need to address this. We should be able to work more to speak out against antisemitism, persecution of Christians and end any efforts to curtail religious freedom. When you have strong friendship and understand each other’s concerns, like we now do with the Catholic Church, we see a great chance to work together for common ground on these issues.”

Formed in 1967 shortly after the Second Vatican Council’s groundbreaking declaration Nostra Aetate, which disavowed centuries of Catholic Church antisemitism and paved the way for improved Catholic-Jewish relations, ICJLC is the official interfaith organization that has met nearly two dozen times and has issued several important joint declarations concerning matters of faith, ethics and social issues.

By Sean Savage/JNS.org