Rabbi to discuss interfaith dialog at annual Oesterreicher lecture

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ — In celebration of the 51st anniversary of Vatican Council II, Seton Hall University’s Institute of Judaeo-Christian Studies will host the 23rd Msgr. John M. Oesterreicher Memorial Lecture on Thursday, Nov. 3, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. in the Beck Rooms on the first floor of the Walsh Library at Seton Hall University.

The annual memorial lecture at Seton Hall celebrates the strengthening of Catholic-Jewish relations and remembers Oesterreicher’s commitment to the fostering of interreligious dialog through his work on Vatican Council II’s statement of goodwill in Nostra Aetate, the “Declaration on the Relation of the Church with Non-Christian Religions.” Oesterreicher, a papal chamberlain who founded the Institute of Judeo-Christian Studies at Seton Hall in 1953, was born to a Jewish family in what was then Austria and converted to Catholicism. His mother and father perished in the Holocaust.

This year’s event will feature the American Jewish Committee’s Director of Interreligious and Intergroup Relations Rabbi Noam Marans, who will discuss “The Vatican Document of December 10, 2015, God’s Gifts and Calling, Builds on Nostra Aetate.” Marans oversees national interfaith outreach, dialog and advocacy to enhance mutual understanding, freedom of religious expression and support for the state of Israel and Middle East peace for the AJC. Marans was also a participant in the anniversary celebration in Rome in October 2015 and was an organizer of the biennial conference of the Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews and the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations in Warsaw, Poland, from April 4 through 7.

The event is free and open to the public; however, registration is encouraged by contacting Lawrence Frizzell at Lawrence.frizzell@shu.edu or calling 973-761-9751.

Seton Hall University is located at 400 South Orange Ave. in South Orange.

  Seton Hall University