The Jay Phillips Center for Interreligious Studies at the University of St. Thomas is a member organization of the Council of Centers on Jewish Christian Relations (CCJR). The Jay Phillips Center endorses and is a signatory on the recent CCJR statement, a “Call for Solidarity with Our Jewish Colleagues and Neighbors.” The Anti-Defamation League and the Pew Research Center document the recent disturbing increase in antisemitic incidents and hate crimes. We join the call to speak out and work against antisemitism and all forms of hatred and violence whenever we encounter them. You may read the CCJR statement in its entirety below or on the website by clicking here.

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A Call for Solidarity with Our Jewish Colleagues and Neighbors

28 May 2021

A Jewish man beaten by a mob of protesters in Times Square. A man yelling antisemitic slurs at a rabbi outside a synagogue telling the rabbi, “Jews should die”–and then leaving a bag of human feces in front of the building. A synagogue preschool getting a voicemail from a caller threatening to be “the next synagogue shooter.”

These are only three of the incidents that occurred in the United States in a single month: May 2021. In 2020, the number of antisemitic incidents in our country was the highest since the Anti-Defamation League began keeping records forty years ago. Unfortunately, there is no sign this year that the numbers will decrease.

It should not need saying: there is never any political or social justification for targeting individuals and communities because of who they are. Attacks on Jewish individuals, schools, synagogues, and other community centers–like attacks on anyone in our country–make us all vulnerable. They are alarming signs of deeper polarization, hatred, and violence. They erode the foundations of trust and basic decency, undermining our ability as a society to address the many challenges that confront us.

The Council of Centers on Jewish-Christian Relations (an association of centers and institutes in North America devoted to enhancing mutual understanding between Jews and Christians) stands together with our Jewish colleagues and neighbors at a time when Jewish Americans are feeling especially vulnerable. We call on all people of goodwill–as individual citizens and as communities, whatever our faith tradition–to do the same. Antisemitism can never be tolerated. We must speak out and work against it and all forms of hatred and violence whenever we encounter them.

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Statement issued by a supermajority vote by the Councul’s regular members below:

• Cardinal Joseph Bernardin Center for Theology & Ministry at Catholic Theological Union, Chicago, Illinois
• Edward B. Brueggeman Center for Dialogue at Xavier University, Cincinnati, Ohio
• Catholic-Jewish Dialogue Committee at Stonehill College, Easton, Massachusetts
• Center for Catholic-Jewish Studies at Saint Leo University, St. Leo, Florida
• Center for Christian-Jewish Learning at Boston College, Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts
• Centre for Catholic-Jewish-Muslim Learning at Kings University College, London, Ontario, Canada
• Center for Holocaust and Genocide Education, Saint Elizabeth University, Morristown, New Jersey
• Christian Jewish Relation and Encounter at Sisters of Sion, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
• Driscoll Professorship in Jewish-Catholic Studies at Iona College, New Rochelle, New York
• Gratz College – Jewish Christian Studies Program at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Hayyim Kieval Institute for Jewish-Christian Studies at Siena College, Loudonville, New York
• Holocaust, Genocide, and Interfaith Education Center, Manhattan College, New York City, New York
• Institute for Islamic-Christian-Jewish Studies at Baltimore, Maryland
• Institute for Jewish-Catholic Relations at Saint Joseph’s University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
• Institute of Judaeo-Christian Studies at Seton Hall University, South Orange, New Jersey
• Jay Phillips Center for Interfaith Learning, Saint John’s University, Collegeville, Minnesota
• Jay Phillips Center for Interreligious Studies at University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota
• Jewish-Catholic Theological Exchange at Providence College, Providence, Rhode Island
• Judaic and Catholic Studies Centers at Fairfield University, Fairfield, Connecticut
• Kraft-Hiatt Program for Jewish-Christian Understanding at College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, Massachusetts
• Kripke Center for the Study of Religion & Society at Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska
• Lux Center for Catholic-Jewish Studies at Sacred Heart Seminary & School of Theology in Franklin, Wisconsin
• Manhattan College Holocaust Resource Center at Manhattan College, New York City, New York
• Miller Center for Interreligious Learning and Leadership at Hebrew College, Newton Centre, Massachusetts
• Milstein Center for Interreligious Dialogue at Jewish Theological Seminary, New York City, New York
• Mobile Christian-Jewish Dialogue at Spring Hill College, Mobile, Alabama
• National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education at Seton Hill University, Greensburg, Pennsylvania

Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding at New York City, New York