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MOCHAS, MIDRAS AND MYSTERIES Mochas, midrash and mysteries: Skorka and Francis — a model interfaith friendship Comment DailyTidings.com Writer Posted Oct. 7, 2015 at 12:01 AM Posted Oct. 7, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Social News “Having me in many opportunities with him is a message for the Jews and for Christians as well, “ said Rabbi [Abraham] Skorka in a September interview with Dotty Brown of The Forward. “Our friendship is a paradigm of what has to be the great relationship between Jews and Christians.” Rabbi Abraham Skorka and Pope Francis seem to be highly conscious of the witness value of their interfaith friendship. During Pope Francis’ September visit to the United States, he veered off the scripted itinerary to stop at St. Joseph University in Philadelphia. There, he and Rabbi Skorka affirmed the imperative to build relational bridges between Jews and Christians, aware of and redressing a history of tension, misunderstanding, and even anti-Semitic attitudes among many Christians over many eras. The occasion for the Pope’s surprise stop was a new sculpture, “Synagoga and Ecclesia in Our Time,” on the campus of St. Joseph's in Philadelphia, which was created to counter centuries of anti-Semitic imagery in Catholic art. The sculpture depicts two figures — one holding a Torah scroll and other a book of Scriptures — turned toward one another in evident dialogue. They seem to be listening to and learning from each other. “There exists a rich complementarity between the Church and the Jewish people that allows us to help one another mine the riches of God’s word,” Pope Francis commented. Rabbi Joshua Boettiger and I have experienced this unique interfaith mining of God’s word, as we meet for regular chavruta (“fellowship,” learning together as a pair, unpacking a sacred text). Rabbi Skorka and Pope Francis inspire us through their chavruta dialogues, captured in 29 vignettes in "On Heaven and Earth" (2010). As we mine the riches of God’s word together, Rabbi Joshua and I enrich each other, uncovering layers of insights and implications from our faith traditions and life experiences. With Rabbi Skorka and Pope Francis on the macro scale giving witness to the excellence of interfaith dialogue, let us commit to encountering others of differing faith and spiritual traditions on the micro (local) level. Our dialogues will yield rich fruits of interfaith understanding through friendship. “As experience has shown, for (inter-religious) dialogue and encounter to be effective, it must be grounded in a full and forthright presentation of our respective convictions. Certainly, such dialogue will accentuate how varied our beliefs, traditions and practices are. But if we are honest in presenting our convictions, we will be able to see more clearly what we hold in common. New avenues will be opened for mutual esteem, cooperation and indeed friendship.” Amen, Pope Francis. Daniel Murphy promotes human flourishing through Integrity of Life Services LLC, and is a member of Our Lady of the Mountain Catholic Church in Ashland. DailyTidings.com Writer Posted Oct. 7, 2015 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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