Concluding the IFAD-ICARDA workshop on knowledge and technology transfer in Aleppo, Syria, today

On Thursday, 29 October 2009

The Workshop on Knowledge and Technology Exchange for Enhanced Quality of IFAD/ICARDA Operations in the NENA region concluded its deliberations in Aleppo, Syria today with a “Retreat” that discussed the Medium Term Management Plan 2010-2012 of IFAD’s Near East and North Africa Division (PN). The participating staff of IFAD and IFAD-supported projects deliberated the operational priorities of PN, including means of improving implementation and impact of country programmes and ways to expand and strengthen the lending and grant programmes while improving efficiency in portfolio and project development. The participants also discussed PN’s Contribution to IFAD-wide results by means of enhancing partnerships, expanding co-financing and intensifying knowledge sharing and dissemination.

The participants then broke into four separate roundtables working group discussions focusing on four aspects of the division’s work, namely, the Annual Work Programme and Budget (AWPB), Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E), Procurement and Financial Management.

The AWPB Working Group predominantly consisted of country program managers of IFAD supported projects. Along with IFAD staff in the Working Group, the participants identified a number of constraints, including the quality of AWPBs. The group expressed the need to develop a model of reference for greater consistency. Another major impediment to AWPB planning and implementation is the often incongruence of financial administration between government and IFAD funds particularly due to the fact that government funds are usually not flexibly tuned to the annual format of AWPBs. The group recommended approaching governments with the idea that they should administer their funds through a local project account for the implementation period with the flexibility necessary to carry over government funds.

Another pressing and fundamental issue is the lack of synergy or fine tuning between AWPB and the Logframe. Implementing the AWPB often reduces the projects into its activities without enhancing appropriate linkages of these activities for impact. The group recommended that the Logframe should be the steering course of AWPBs and that it should be updated continuously. This also was linked directly to another issue, the flexibility of AWPB. The AWPB should be adjustable more frequently and less constrained by current restrictions. Often there are also stalls in the planning and delivery of AWPB particularly due to the national procedures for approval and the participants emphasized the need for early proactive planning. The group also recommended that capacity building in preparation for implementation of AWPB should be a concentrated continuous effort. The fact that the planning of the project is imbedded in the AWPB under the overall Logframe makes it fundamental to implementation and impact making capacity building all the more crucial.

Finally the last issue raised was that knowledge management and innovation is not reflected in the AWPBs. This lack of reflection reduces the effectiveness of knowledge management and innovation support to the project. This support can go someway in enhancing capacity of project management units and supporting innovative management and intervention, which all fundamentally contribute to greater impact of projects.

The M&E working group discussed the impediments to more effective M&E systems in the IFAD-supported projects. Chief among them are dissymmetric perceptions with regard to the importance of M&E. Some Governmental officials tend to pay more attention to physical progress (i.e. output) than to measurements of outcomes and impacts. Another reported issue is pertaining to the M&E design itself whereby too many indicators, some of them are not relevant to the country context, are being monitored. Furthermore, there seems to be a disconnect in some Project Management Units between M&E staff and the rest of the project staff. A list of suggestions for M&E improvement was proposed:

• Sound and pertinent M&E system should be devised at the project design stage and not during start-up as it seems to be the case in most of the projects


• Empowering M&E staff through capacity building aimed at fostering the Monitoring for Evaluation approach


• Work with the Governments to foster awareness related to the necessity to measure impact

The Procurement working group addressed the need for capacity building at the PMU level with a view to strengthening the skills of PMU staff in managing procurement. The group made a series of recommendations to improve procurement performance by resolving the most common procurement challenges currently facing the on-going IFAD–assisted projects.

During the day, the workshop participants toured research stations within the ICARDA headquarters compound, where they were able to inspect some laboratories, facilities and filed experiments in areas of soil conservation and water harvesting. The participants had the opportunity to interact with the researchers at these well equipped facilities and discuss practical solutions to problem facing IFAD’s going projects. This includes a wide range of released technologies and services offered by the GIS department that are suitable to improve interventions in the agro-climatic zones where IFAD is active.

Nadim Khouri, Director of PN closed the workshop with a presentation in which he highlighted the major achievements of three decades of cooperation between the IFAD and ICARDA, during which the Fund provide US$37 million in grants to the centre. He highlighted the sectoral distribution of these grants, of which 76 percent was allocated for applied research and technology transfer, 12 percent for management of natural resources, nine percent for value chain and three percent for capacity-building. He emphasized the importance of further enhancing cooperation with ICARDA building an even stronger strategic alliance between the two institutions. He again thanked the Government of the Arab Republic of Syria and ICARDA for hosting this important learning event.


On Wednesday, 28 October 2009

Participants at the IFAD-ICARDA workshop on Knowledge and Technology Transfer in Aleppo Syria have dedicated this day to field visits to sites of three IFAD-supported projects in Syria, the closed Jebel el-Hoss Agricultural Development, the on-going Idleb Rural Development Project and the on-going Badia Rangeland Development Project.

Participants who visited the Badia Rangelands Development Project reported that implementation of the project activities are being carried out by some 200 herder cooperatives. Each cooperative has about 100 members. The cooperatives collaborated with the BRDP in rangeland rehabilitation. The process works like this: the cooperative identifies the land that they would like to rehabilitate and discuss it with the management of the BRDP. Cooperatives usually allocate 500 Ha for rehabilitation. The characterisation of the plot of land takes place and the most appropriate method for rehabilitation is selected either through direct seeding of palatable range varieties or through the cultivation of forage trees. Where range reserves are being established, the cooperative provides the land and manages the grazing rights in the reserve; whereas the project provides the land preparation, cultivation and guarding for a period of 4 years.

The results are impressive. Despite the extended drought over the past years, and thanks to the selection of appropriate range varieties, implementation of high quality land preparation and cultivation practices, and very proactive project management, the results are generating more demand among cooperatives for replication. Key elements that we need to consider in the course of replication or adaptation of this methodology are:

• the land tenure and the grazing rights and whether these are vested in homogeneous social units (tribes, sub-tribes);
• the “representativity” of the herders’ cooperatives, their legal status and whether they include all users of a given geographic area; and
• strict government enforcement of environmental rules and support to environmental development.

Participants in the field trip to the IFAD-supported Rural Development Project in Idleb were able to examine some of the major achievements of the project in helping about 42,000 beneficiaries in 140 of Syria’s poorest villages improve their food production and incomes.

At the total cost of almost US$45 million, the project has already reclaimed some 20,000 ha of rocky mountainous land plots turning them into productive small agricultural holdings. It has been highly successful in increasing the area cultivated with fruit trees and different seasonal crops, supporting agricultural extension and developing water resources and water harvesting techniques. The project has been particularly successful in reaching out to landless and poor rural women and men with microfinance and vocational training helping them develop their own micro enterprises and, thereby, generating incomes for themselves and contributing to job creations for others.

A good example of the many micro enterprises supported by the project is the mushroom farm of the 45 year old small producer, Abdulaziz Ismael, who received vocational training and technical support from the project. With an initial investment of US$2000, Abdulaziz has been able to initiate a mushroom farm in his underground garage. The Mushroom farm has come to represent a reliable source of income for Abdulaziz and his family, which consists of six members, granting it a comfortable standard of living.

As one of the most successful microfinance experiences in the Arab region, the so called “Village Funds” developed and supported by the Idleb project in 22 villages are yielding some extraordinary results with 100% repayment of all small loans by micro-entrepreneurs and a zero failure rate of on-going enterprises. IFAD will be developing some of the success stories of this project and its Village Funds in various communication products that will tell some of the most amazing successes of poor rural women and men in charting a better future for their families.

The Workshop on Knowledge and Technology Exchange for Enhanced Quality of IFAD/ICARDA Operations in NENA continues

The “Knowledge and Technology Exchange for Enhanced Quality of IFAD/ICARDA Operations in the Near East and North Africa Workshop” was opened by Mahmoud El Solh, Director-General of the International Centre for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA) and Nadim Khouri, Director of the Near East and North Africa Division of IFAD in Aleppo, Syria, last evening (Monday, 26/10/09). About 70 workshop participants, including staff members of the two institutions and other experts and resource persons from IFAD supported projects in NENA, attended the opening ceremony.

In his opening speech, Mahmoud El Solh, Director General of ICARDA said the workshop will deepen the strategic partnership between ICARDA and IFAD. “This is our opportunity to learn from IFAD colleagues on the sustainable agricultural development aspects because our research agenda should target such aspects, El Solh said.” “At the same time,” he added, “I am happy to see so many Country Programme Managers who can see what ICARDA has to offer of technologies that may facilitate their work in development.” He affirmed that there are many technologies that are winning grounds quickly, some others are really new and some technologies that need more fine tuning to meet the needs of the ultimate target group, which is the resource poor farmers.

On his part, the Director of IFAD’s Near East and North Africa Division, Nadim Khouri, thanked the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic and ICARDA for hosting and organizing the workshop. He said “the objective of this learning event is to update our knowledge on enhanced rainfed agricultural production systems.” “About 80% of cultivated land in the world is rainfed while about 60% of the food produced is produced by systems that do not rely on irrigation,” he said. Large numbers of resource-poor rural people live in dry areas, with limited opportunities to enhance their capacities to improve food production and standards of living. He added: “We understand that poor people have their own strategies to move out of poverty and the best strategy we can have is to understand their strategies and help them realize them and multiply their assets.”

Khouri further stated: “We basically have US$ 300 million that are going to come out of IFAD funds for the region over the next three years.” On the basis of 1:1 dollar cofinancing, IFAD could attract a similar investment from co-financiers of its projects, bringing the total external funding to US$ 600 million. Kouri said: “Normally, the largest co-financing comes from the recipient countries and beneficiaries of development projects themselves. So if our investment starts with US$300 million by the end we will have about US$1 billion basically entrusted in us and our partners to decide how to allocate in the next three years.”

Khouri emphasized that helping the most vulnerable, IFAD’s target group, requires greater efforts to make best use of available resources, knowledge and technologies to enhance the quality of the Fund’s interventions in the region, which is facing increasing challenges under climate change conditions. The learning event should help the staff of the Near East and North Africa Division further enhance their capacity to reflect upon the newly acquired knowledge and to boost the impact of IFAD’s operations.

The opening ceremony was followed by a dinner reception, which provided and initial opportunity for the experts and staff members of the two institutions and participating resource persons from IFAD-supported projects to meet and exchange views on various issues under consideration.

Most of the participants expressed satisfaction that the workshop will strengthen country capacities in the NENA region on the latest agricultural packages available from research. Many indicated that it would also would help align ICARDA operations with the Country Strategic Opportunities Papers (COSOPs) and IFAD loan projects. The workshop should also help foster a strategic partnership between IFAD and ICARDA country programmes and take stock of joint initiatives and assess future collaborations.

On Tuesday, 27 October 2009


The first day for the workshop started with a PowerPoint presentation by the Director General of ICARDA, Mahmoud El Solh on research outputs and approaches to enhance food security and improved livelihoods in dry areas. The presentation dealt with constraints leading to food insecurity and poverty in Dry Areas; technologies towards food security and better livelihoods; approaches for technology transfer; and ICARDA’s Strategic Plan 2007-2016 on Agricultural Research for Development in Dry Areas. He underlined that the severest impact of climate change will be in the NENA region. He underlined the need for new technologies to face the challenge of ever scarcer water resources. In this regard, El Solh highlighted the importance of developing more drought tolerant varieties of crops; improved management of water resources; and alternative solutions to traditional irrigation including the use of supplementary irrigation methodologies in rainfed areas.

Following a plenary discussion, a group photo was taken for all participants who then broke into four working groups dedicated to discussing in depth the following areas of work:

• Group 1: Improved agricultural productivity and food security – Crops
• Group 2: Improving agricultural productivity and food security – Livestock
• Group 3: Water and natural resource management and climate change
• Group 4: Value chains, microfinance and market diagnostics

Each of the four groups attended and discussed presentations by ICARDA scientists, IFAD experts and resource persons. Following a couple of hours of discussions, the working group formulated their findings and presented brief reports to the plenary.

Focusing on crops, the first group presented what has been identified as the main challenges in this area. This includes, among others, the challenge of enhancing research for development and expanding its coverage to larger scale projects as well as the challenge of scaling up innovation and technology dissemination and outreach. The group also identified a number of constraints to overcome, such as the need for expanding the lack of awareness and “buy-in” at the national level; lack of capacity to indemnify products and creating enabling system of support linked to markets and a disconnect between National Agricultural Systems (NARs) and the national priorities. The group also highlighted the weakness of marketing systems and trade issues as well as the need to develop alternative crops, including alternatives to the cultivation of poppies, and the need for policy reforms to enable small farmers to compete for market opportunities.

The report of the second group, which focused on livestock, indicated that the discussion was based on the experience of the IFAD-supported Mashreg-Magreb project, which has developed animal feed technologies and helped establish community development organizations and approaches. The group outlined the needs for improved feeding technologies and alternative fodder and feed resources, improved milking and cheese processing with a focus on shifting market demand. Among others, a range of approaches were discussed for enhanced adaptation rate of such technologies.

Addressing water and natural resources issues, the third group affirmed that a new water productivity concept has emerged with the climate change challenge and increase severity of water scarcity. It recommended that new policies and strategies at different levels should be accommodated to improve farmers and nomads productivity ensuring good life quality and livelihood. Land productivity and water productivity concepts are to be seen together during the design and implementation phases of projects. The group also underlined the importance of mapping of resources and management of natural resources using GIS, indicating that ICT is important to have a role in transfer of technologies to farmers and nomads within search Institutes and projects. The development of technologies for scaling up and adoption requires engagement of research and development projects to fill in the gaps in production.

Dealing with value chains, markets and diagnostics, the fourth group focused its discussions on the analysis of the value-added chains of Onions and Pomegranate and the constrains facing small producers. It concluded a series of recommendations, including, among others, the possibility of increasing the use of seed capitals and start-up capital to introduce and develop the activity, institutionalization of small farmer groups and their role in processing, transfer of resources and empowering of small growers in the value-chain.

Following this first half a day of brain storming, the workshop participants moving their debates to the field visiting three ICARDA supported projects.

Court of Inquisition Fines SSPX Bishop Williamson €12,000 for Denial of Dogmas of Holocaustolatry

German court fines British bishop for Holocaust claims

Richard Williamson fined €12,000 over claim on Swedish TV that fewer than 300,000 Jews died in Nazi death camps

Guardian

Monday 26 October 2009

A British bishop has been fined €12,000 after a German court found him guilty of denying the Holocaust.

Richard Williamson received a letter today from the court in the Bavarian city of Regensburg informing him that he was being fined for incitement over his claim on Swedish television that fewer than 300,000 Jews died in Nazi death camps.

In the interview, Williamson alleged that Nazi gas chambers had never existed and "only 200,000 to 300,000 Jews" had been killed by the Nazis.

Holocaust denial is classed as a hate crime in Germany and because the interview took place in Regensburg, German prosecutors were allowed to investigate.

The bishop's remarks were made public in January, shortly after Pope Benedict XVI repealed an order made by the previous pope excommunicating Williamson for his rightwing views. Williamson was consecrated a bishop by the pope's Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), an ultraconservative splinter group.

The outcry was immediate, with both Jews and members of the Catholic hierarchy criticising the pope's rehabilitation of a Holocaust-denier. While condemning Williamson's remarks, the Vatican defended its decision, only saying later that it hadn't known about his very public views about the Holocaust.

Williamson has said through his lawyer that he was assured his offending remarks would not be broadcast in Germany but only in Sweden, where there is no law against Holocaust denial. A Munich newspaper, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, said prosecutors had received a letter from the Swedish television producers in which they denied offering any assurance to Williamson that the interview, conducted in English, would be broadcast in Sweden only.

Williamson's German lawyer, Matthias Lossmann, said his client had been told to pay €100 a day for 120 days, and he was likely to appeal. If he does, there will be a proper trial in Regensburg, which Williamson will not be forced to attend.

Lossmann told Germany's Focus magazine that the fine – imposed under an "order of punishment", a German legal tool that involves no trial but, if accepted by the defendant, is equivalent to a conviction – was too harsh and that the sentencing authorities had been influenced by the publicity surrounding the case. German law allows a maximum sentence of five years in prison for belittling or denying the Holocaust.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/26/british-bishop-holocaust-fine

IFAD and ICARDA hold a regional knowledge and technology transfer workshop in Aleppo, Syria

Monday, 26 Ocober 2009

With emphasis on rainfed agriculture, a three day regional information exchange and knowledge sharing workshop starts in Aleppo, Syria this evening. Some 70 staff members of IFAD, IFAD-supported projects in the Near East and North Africa region (NENA) and the International Centre for Agricultural Research in Dry Areas (ICARDA) are expected to participate. The “Knowledge and Technology Exchange for Enhanced Quality of IFAD/ICARDA operations in the NENA region” workshop aims at strengthening PN’s capacity to incorporate the latest research-generated agricultural Science and Technology (S&T) packages and other up-scalable innovations in its future operations in the region.

The learning event will take place at ICARDA headquarters with several field sessions at the sites of IFAD-supported development projects and ICARDA research stations. It will provide learning opportunities for the participants to identify and discuss major needs and priority areas that could benefit the design of development projects for NENA countries. The field work should provide ample opportunity to demonstrate the technological packages in the areas of:

• improving agricultural productivity and food security
• adaptation to climate change and natural resource management
• upgrading pro-poor untilization of value chains and markets
• diagnostics for targeting pro-poor research and development investments

The workshop will reach its objectives through wide application of several KM activities & tools, including round table discussions, focus groups (World Café), informal meetings, and direct interviewing of beneficiaries from IFAD and ICARDA projects. The participants will select specific themes (out of a list of 22 themes extending from themes like rangeland rehabilitation and water harvesting to the themes like biodiversity, gene management and biofuels) as the main focus of their work during the workshop. Designated staff will facilitate plenary sessions, contribute as resource persons, lead the field visit groups, and generate success stories from the field. The event will end with a divisional PN retreat that will examine a number of deliverables including the Divisional Management and Medium Term Plans.

Besides the benefits of cross fertilization and lifting of the overall team spirit, the workshop is expected to yield concrete deliverables, including:
• 20 learning notes on available technologies and approaches in rain-fed agriculture
• 6 success stories (human stories) from the field
• validated Divisional Management Plan 2010 and a PN Medium term plan 2010-2012
• strengthened networking and systematic knowledge sharing mechanisms between the country programme and IFAD HQ
• Outlines of 2-3 specific projects that would build on ICARDA’s knowledge and expertise in areas relevant to IFAD’s thematic priorities in the NENA region

A Vision on a Hill, Recalling Marycrest, an inspiring experiment in Christian community

The Marycrest Community Remembered --- and its Post-Vatican II Death

Archbishop Dolan Replaces Cardinal Keeler as USCCB Judas Goat

The rabbis and their Judas Goat accomplices believe that numbers and dates empower their schemes. But whatever power they have derives directly from 'Christian' neglect of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. If the salt lose its savor, wherewith shall the earth be salted? (Matthew 5;13) And as Pope St. Pius X echoed, "In our time more than ever before, the chief strength of the wicked lies in the cowardice and weakness of good men ... All the strength of Satan's reign is due to the easygoing weakness of Catholics."

New Moderator of Catholic-Jewish talks named

Spero News

Friday, October 23, 2009

Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York has been named Moderator of Jewish Affairs for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), succeeding Cardinal William H. Keeler, Archbishop-emeritus of Baltimore, in that role.

Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, USCCB president, made the appointment, which is effective November 11, and is for five years.

In announcing the appointment, Cardinal George noted the New York Archdiocese’s “long history of cooperation and friendship between Catholics and Jews.” In addition, said Cardinal George, “Since the Second Vatican Council, important strides in this relationship have been made through dialogue and collaboration in countering racism, anti-Semitism and other offenses against human dignity,”

Cardinal George said in the letter of appointment. “Our Episcopal Conference, through the leadership of your predecessors in New York, and especially through the tireless and generous service of Cardinal William Keeler, has sought to contribute to the work of reconciliation between the Church and the Jewish people after centuries of mutual estrangement. While we look back with gratitude on nearly a half century of progress in these efforts at healing and renewal, we also know that important and pressing challenges lie ahead for us.”

Cardinal George said news of this appointment will be appreciated by the Bishops of the United States, as well as by friends and colleagues in the Jewish community who have come to know Archbishop Dolan as a good listener and faithful interpreter of the historic ties that bind the two communities together.

“Above all else,” Cardinal George said, the Jewish community will find Archbishop Dolan to be “a friend who communicates the joy of his own faith, while at the same time conveying profound respect for the spiritual gifts of the other.”

Archbishop Dolan will join Cardinal Keeler on November 11 for the semi-annual USCCB’s consultation with the National Council of Synagogues. This will be the last Catholic-Jewish meeting at which Cardinal Keeler serves as co-chair.

http://www.speroforum.com/a/21427/New-Moderator-of-CatholicJewish-talks-named

'Elder Brother,' Whiskey Merchant Bronfman on Controlling Education

Middle East Peace Begins in the Classroom

October 8, 2009

Edgar M. Bronfman - Huffington Post


... My predecessor as President of the World Jewish Congress, Nahum Goldmann, negotiated the great papal encyclical "Nostra Aetate" [sic] with Pope John XXIII. As important as that document was in starting on the path of reconciliation, it didn't really change things on the ground. That's why the International Catholic Jewish Liaison Committee, [and HERE] an organization consisting of Jewish and Catholic communal leaders, was created: to improve interfaith relations, tangibly and from the relationship's core.

Among its other missions, the committee met regularly and took on the issue of what textbooks used in the classrooms said about the other faith. I was there at some of those meetings, and as difficult as it was in some instances, progress was always made ...

full article:


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/edgar-m-bronfman/middle-east-peace-begins_b_313672.html

Cardinal O’Malley to Accept 'Noahide' Award on Behalf of JPII

News from the occupied territory of Boston:

Interfaith event: Cardinal to visit Norwood Jewish school

Tue Oct 20, 2009

Stanley Hurwitz - Norwood Transcript and Bulletin

For the first time, the Archbishop of Boston will be the guest speaker at an event held at a Jewish day school on the South Shore.

The Nov. 12 program, open to the entire community, will be held at the South Area Solomon Schechter Day School in Norwood.

Keynote speaker Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley, Archbishop of Boston, will accept the first Righteous Among Nations Award, which is being presented posthumously to Pope John Paul II to honor his work toward improving Catholic-Jewish relations, often at great personal risk.

Noting the interfaith program that has evolved in the last few years between SASSDS and area Catholic schools, SASSDS Head of School Jane Taubenfeld Cohen said, “Our students have formed a social and spiritual bond through learning, performance and play and have crossed the bridge of understanding. They are bringing the greater community along on this pioneering educational journey.”

O’Malley said, “I am honored to have the opportunity to visit the South Area Solomon Schechter Day School and to accept this award for the important work and commitment of Pope John Paul II to improving Catholic-Jewish relations. The late Holy Father taught us that through mutual respect, understanding and dialogue we can open doors for future generations to embrace each other as people of God. I am particularly pleased to be a part of this program, which is being made possible by the Israel Arbeiter Institute and Gallery of Understanding. Mr. Arbeiter provides us a powerful example of courage and a belief in the dignity of the human person. We pray for his continued leadership working for a just and compassionate society.”

The event is sponsored by the Israel Arbeiter Institute and Gallery of Understanding housed at SASSDS that features an exhibit, “The Life Lessons of Israel Arbeiter,” tracing the 84 year-old Holocaust survivor and human rights activist’s life from pre-World War II Poland through war-torn Europe, to emigration to America and the rebuilding of his life.

SASSDS President Andrew Butler said, “This year’s Gallery theme is ‘Children Make A Difference.’ By teaching our children to embrace differences, they can bring about real differences locally and worldwide now and throughout their lives. We expect to use this program as a springboard for future collaborative efforts.”

The gallery’s mission is to provide a venue in which children and adults can learn about the Holocaust, explore causes of hatred and prejudice, and participate in programs and events whose purpose is to promote understanding between people of different beliefs and backgrounds.

During the Nov. 12 event, third and sixth graders from St. Catherine of Siena School in Norwood and SASSDS will celebrate their interfaith learning through a new Unity Through Diversity workshop. They have both been studying an exhibit on the life of Pope John Paul II, “A Blessing to One Another,” which traces the early influences that affected his commitment to humanitarianism.

Second and fifth grade SASSDS and St. Catherine students who have collaborated in the last few years in the Sheer Arts Musical Theater program, will present a musical cantata honoring Pope John Paul II.

On display in the gallery for Cardinal O’Malley and all guests will also be artwork on “What Interfaith Understanding Means to Me” by children from SASSDS and St. John’s School of Canton.

The inter-school programming will continue in January, when Israel Arbeiter will give a tour of the exhibit and describe his life’s journey and what others can learn from it. In the spring, SASSDS students will visit the St. Catherine of Siena School.

Other supporters of the event include: the American Association of Jewish Holocaust Survivors; the Anti-Defamation League, New England Region; the Jewish Community Relations Council; the American Jewish Committee; the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum; and the Falmouth Jewish Congregation.

Reservations for Nov. 12 are $18 for seniors and students; $36 for individuals; $72 for families; and $180 for a Gold family sponsorship. Event and Gallery sponsorships start at $1,800. For information and reservations contact Diane Joiner: 781-769-9400 or email djoiner@sassds.org. Also visit www.sassds.org.

http://www.wickedlocal.com/norwood/news/education/x826020323/Interfaith-event-Cardinal-to-visit-Norwood-Jewish-school

17th Annual "Nostra Aetate Dialogue"

Nostra Aetate to Explore Catholic-Jewish Interfaith Dialogue


Contact: Nina Romeo
(212) 636-7576
nromeo@fordham.edu


Catholic-Jewish interchange will be the subject of the 17th annual Nostra Aetate Dialogue, which will take place at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 5, at the McNally Amphitheatre on Lincoln Center campus.

The discussion, "The Future of Catholic-Jewish Interfaith Dialogue," will feature Timothy M. Dolan, archbishop of New York HERE, and HERE, and Arnold M. Eisen, Ph.D., the seventh chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary. Edward Bristow, professor of history at Fordham University, will serve as moderator.

The event is co-sponsored by the Archbishop Hughes Institute on Religion and Culture and the Jewish Community Center in Manhattan. Admission is free and open to the public.

The Nostra Aetate Dialogue can be traced to the Nostra Aetate (In Our Time) document, a declaration by the Second Vatican Council stressing the importance of relationships between the church and non-Christian religions.

The Archbishop Hughes Institute on Religion and Culture was established in 1995 to foster Catholic-Jewish dialogue and in addition to the Nostra Aetate Dialogue, hosts the annual Russo Lecture.

Founded in 1841, Fordham is the Jesuit University of New York, offering exceptional education distinguished by the Jesuit tradition to approximately 14,700 students in its four undergraduate colleges and its six graduate and professional schools. It has residential campuses in the Bronx and Manhattan, a campus in Westchester, and the Louis Calder Center Biological Field Station in Armonk, N.Y.
10/09

http://www.fordham.edu/Campus_Resources/eNewsroom/topstories_1686.asp

Third Synagogue Spectacular of Benedict XVI Pontificate Scheduled for January 17th

Pope to visit Roman synagogue

Spero News

October 13, 2009

On January 17, 2010, Pope Benedict XVI will visit the Synagogue of Rome, to meet with the Jewish Community for the 21st Day for Reflection and Progress of Dialogue Between Catholics and Jews, and the feast of “Lead Mo'ed,” which coincides on that day. Known among Italian Jews as the Feast of the 'Mo'ed di Piombo', it commemorates a miraculous event of 1793 when the Jews of Rome escaped an attack by Roman anti-Semites thanks to a sudden storm which doused the fires that had been ignited against the gates of the Jewish ghetto.

full article:

http://www.speroforum.com/a/20805/Pope-to-visit-Roman-synagogue

Polish Archbishop Gives Imprimatur to Rabbinic Exegesis Book

A proper introduction to rabbinic exegesis is here:

Traditions of the Jews by Johann Andreas Eisenmenger

Polish priest, rabbi team up in new book on Jewish literature

Oct 12, 2009

Jacob Kanter - Jerusalem Post

The recent publication of a new book in Poland coauthored by a priest and a rabbi is being seen as an important step towards mutual understanding and tolerance between Polish Jews and Catholics.

Introduction to Jewish Literature and Biblical Exegesis, published earlier this year in Polish by the official publishing house of the Polish Catholic Church, was co-authored by Prof. Mariusz Rosik, a Polish priest, and Rabbi Yitzchak Rapoport, the chief rabbi of Wroclaw.

While a project such as this would be highly influential in its own right, the book was also the first to be authored by a Polish priest and rabbi, while receiving the Polish Catholic Church's official imprimatur, granted by Archbishop of Wroclaw Marian Golebiewski.

The church's official recognition of the book is an encouraging development in the struggle to repair relations between Polish Catholics and Jews after decades of anti-Semitism, according to Michael Freund, chairman and founder of Shavei Israel, which works to uncover and strengthen Jewish communities around the world, and particularly those within Poland.

"The Polish Catholic Church is a very influential body in Poland," said Freund. "And the fact that the Jewish community is so small means that most Poles don't usually come into contact with Jews. That the church is publishing this book means that the Poles will now be able to learn first-hand about what it means to be Jewish, and the fact that the church is disseminating the book through its own channels will lend the book further credibility."

Rapoport is one of three emissaries who was sent to Poland by Shavei Israel, the other two being Krakow Chief Rabbi Boaz Pash and Rabbi Pinchas Zarczynski of Warsaw. The emissaries were dispatched after the chief rabbi of Poland, Rabbi Michael Schudrich, called for an increased presence among Jewish leadership, soon after he was appointed to the position of chief rabbi in 2004. The arrival of the rabbis, and their success in their respective cities, reflects a budding Jewish community.

"Ninety percent of Jews in Poland were annihilated in the Holocaust, but since the fall of the Iron Curtain, Poland has opened up and become a more democratic country," said Freund. "People feel freer and safer to express their Jewish roots."

Shavei Israel has played a significant role in strengthening the bonds between Polish Jews and their Catholic compatriots, as well as uncovering what has come to be known as "The Hidden Jews of Poland."

"During the Holocaust, Jewish children were often put up for adoption with Catholic families, and many of these children grew up thinking that they were Catholics," said Freund. "But in recent years, their descendants have been coming out of the closet, so to speak."

According to Freund, 4,000 people are currently registered as Jews in Poland, but the population is estimated to be upwards of 30,000. Through Shavei Israel's influence - dispatching the three rabbis, organizing Jewish educational programs in Polish, and holding cultural events - Freund believes the gap between the official and actual Jewish populations is closing.

"With each passing day, more and more Jews uncover the truth about their past," Freund said.

And now, with the publication of Rapoport's book, many more Jews may soon be ready to be "uncovered" in Poland.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1255204781499&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull

USCCB States Principles for "Dialogue" Fraud

Statement of Principles for Catholic-Jewish Dialogue

A NOTE ON AMBIGUITIES CONTAINED IN REFLECTIONS ON COVENANT AND MISSION

The USCCB has retracted this statement from an earlier document, "A NOTE ON AMBIGUITIES CONTAINED IN REFLECTIONS ON COVENANT AND MISSION":

"Though Christian participation in interreligious dialogue would not normally include an explicit invitation to baptism and entrance into the Church, the Christian dialogue partner is always giving witness to the following of Christ, to which all are implicitly invited."

http://old.usccb.org/comm/archives/2009/09-196.shtml

Read the original "Reflections on Covenant and Mission" document which is a transparent call for conversion of Christians to the Talmudic "Noahide Laws" and Kabbalistic "Tikkun Olam."

http://www.jcrelations.net/Reflections+on+Covenant+and+Mission..2356.0.html

The USCCB says, "Catholic-Jewish dialogue has never been and never will be used by the Catholic Church as a means of proselytism or a disguised invitation to baptism.” But the rabbis say that "dialogue" is indeed an occasion to convert Christians into "Noahides" as Rabbi Yehoshua Friedman of the "Root and Branch" organization explains:

"Our approach is a VERY STRICT AND LIMITED application of the principle of interfaith cooperation which Rabbi Soloveitchik permits ...

We DO NOT discuss with Christians (or other non-Jews) differences or similarities between our religious beliefs (theological "Show and Tell") and those of other religions (i.e. "interfaith dialogue").

We DO give rabbis and scholars from the Torah observant community the opportunity to discuss with and teach non-Jews about universal Jewish ethical principles (the Seven Laws of Noah ["Noahide Laws"]) ..."

http://www.rb.org.il/RBIS/RBIS%201998/RBIS%201998.10.07.htm

"Dialogue" is a one-way path to disaster.