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Friday March 3, 2006

Jews, Catholics must continue working together for social change

by rita semel

Participating in the ceremony welcoming Archbishop George Niederauer to San Francisco last week brought back a flood of memories for me. These days it is almost taken for granted that Catholics and Jews have much in common and can work together on all kinds of issues — not only nationally, but certainly in this city.

And that reminded me of how long that cooperation has been going on. The civil rights movement of the ’60s propelled it along, but if it were not for certain key people to nudge, persuade and set an example, this city and many others would be different places today.

I think about Monsignor Eugene Boyle, who in 1963 attended a conference in Chicago — the first ever national meeting that brought together Jews, Protestants and Catholics to talk about the festering sore of segregation.

He came back to San Francisco with a mandate to have a local conference. One of the first people he called was the late Rabbi Alvin Fine of Congregation Emanu-El, then serving as president of the Board of Rabbis. Fine agreed immediately and called on Earl Raab, Jewish Community Relations Council director, and me to join the committee to plan that conference.

Five hundred people attended the following September. The work begun then continued for 25 years and tackled all kinds of issues which had the potential to create rifts between the two communities, to say nothing of the larger community.

But this didn’t happen, because people got to know each other. As Father Gerry O’Rourke is fond of saying, it’s all about relationships. If there was a problem or a potential problem, we knew who to call.

This long collaboration between the two communities worked on issues of housing, employment and education. I can recall many marches down Market Street calling attention to the de facto segregation of San Francisco schools, the need for change in hiring practices on Auto Row, restrictive housing covenants. All of this ferment resulted in the creation of the city’s Human Rights Commission. Fine, Raab, Howard Nemorovski and Robert Lauter were appointed to that commission when it began, which did so much to call attention to inequalities in so many areas of civic life.

Others joined in. For example, the late Ben Swig was the sponsor of the Swig Judaic Studies Program at the Jesuit University of San Francisco, which continues its groundbreaking educational program to this day.

The tradition that Fine began was carried on when Rabbi Malcolm Sparer served as president of the Board of Rabbis and started, with then-Archbishop John Quinn, a Catholic-Jewish Thanksgiving service and an interfaith Passover seder.

Almost more important than these ceremonial occasions were the friendships that developed, making it possible to work together on issues of common concern. Old stereotypes disappeared as true camaraderie developed. Fine, Bishop Mark Hurley and Dean Julian Bartlett of Grace Cathedral hosted a television program called “Problems Please” which tacked moral issues from three different theological perspectives.

When the Six-Day War began in 1967, immediately faith leaders rallied to show their concern for Israel’s survival. And when the JCRC began its sponsorship of educational trips to Israel in 1988, four Catholic priests were among the delegation. Catholics, both clergy and lay, have been part of those missions ever since.

Much of this predated Vatican’s Nostra Aetate declaration 40 years ago, which transformed Catholic-Jewish relations nationally and internationally. But we in San Francisco can be proud that our efforts came before, and continue to this day.

When Archbishop William Levada received his appointment to the Vatican last June, he was the guest of honor at a farewell dinner hosted by his colleagues of many different faiths. But before that dinner, he came to Congregation Emanu-El to participate in the Friday Shabbat service.

Now there is a new archbishop and an opportunity for the two communities to continue that long relationship. This beginning will take place 7 p.m. Sunday, March 12 at Congregation Emanu-El, when those of us who have been involved for so many years will gather. But we want not only to call attention to the past but to look forward to future opportunities to do tikkun olam, to make the world a better place for all.

I urge the whole Jewish community to join the JCRC, the Board of Rabbis, the consul general of Israel and the rest of us that evening to reinforce that friendship for the 21st century.

Rita Semel is currently the executive vice chair of the San Francisco Interfaith Council and executive director emeritus of the Jewish Community Relations Council.

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