Two upcoming Catholic-Jewish Dialogue events

One with Rabbi Skorka!

By Marty Gauthier, Co-chair of the Catholic-Jewish Dialogue

The Catholic-Jewish Dialogue of Collier County has two related and exciting events scheduled for January and February. We are honored to have received a commitment from Rabbi Abraham Skorka to visit us in February to give a presentation on his experience in dialoguing with the Pope. He and then Cardinal Bergoglio of Buenos Aires met several times over many years to promote interreligious dialogue. They both sought to build bridges among Catholicism, Judaism and the world at large. At the time, Rabbi Skorka was the leading rabbi in Argentina.

Before Bergoglio became the Pope, the two men published a book recounting their many dialogue sessions. The book, “On Heaven and Earth,” shares their thoughts on religion, reason and the challenges the world faces in the 21st century.

On Sunday, Jan. 16, Rabbi Adam Miller of Temple Shalom and Fr. Robert Kantor of St. Agnes Church will read excerpts from the book, presenting their observations, and inviting the audience to interact with them. This promises to be a very interesting afternoon and it is a great way to prepare for the live presentation by Rabbi Skorka in February. You do not have to get the book to participate, but we strongly encourage you to read this book to see how successful dialogue works.

The book is available at Barnes & Noble and Amazon.com — “On Heaven and Earth” Jorge Mario Bergolio, Abraham Skorka Image Publishing.

Mark both Catholic-Jewish Dialogue of Jewish Federation of Greater Naples’ events, held at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, 625 111th Avenue N. in your calendar:

Sunday, Jan. 16, 2:30 p.m. at St. John’s Claussen Center building. This is a free event.

Sunday, Feb. 20, 3 p.m. at St. John’s ballroom. $18 per person or $25 at the door. Purchase advance tickets at www. jewishnaples.org.