Vatican priest to visit Indianapolis synagogue and Catholic parish

By Sean Gallagher

Less than a month before Pope Benedict XVI makes a historic visit to an ancient Jewish synagogue in Cologne, Germany, a priest from the Holy See will attend a Friday evening Sabbath service in a synagogue in Indianapolis.

Salesian Father Norbert Hoffman, a native of Germany, is the secretary of the Commission of the Holy See for Religious Relations with the Jews. He will be in Indianapolis from July 20-23 as a part of a three-week visit to America sponsored by the United States State Department.

On July 21, he will concelebrate Mass at St. Monica Church in Indianapolis at 5:30 p.m.

The next evening, Father Hoffman will attend a 7 p.m. Friday evening Sabbath service at Congregation Shaarey Tefilla at 5879 Central Ave. in Indianapolis. A reception for Father Norbert is scheduled to follow the conclusion of the service. He is expected to address those present either during the service or at the reception.

Both the Mass on July 21 and the Sabbath service on July 22 are open to the public.

At the local level, his trip to Indianapolis will be coordinated by the International Center of Indianapolis.

The commission that Father Norbert oversees gives direction on a worldwide basis to the ongoing formal dialogue between the Catholic Church and the Jewish community.

In a telephone interview with The Criterion, Father Norbert said that he is traveling to various parts of the United States to make greater contact with the Jewish community in this country.

His trip, and that of Pope Benedict to a synagogue in Cologne during his Aug. 18-21 participation in World Youth Day, coincides with the 40th anniversary of the promulgation of Nostra Aetate (“In Our Time”), the Second Vatican Council’s “Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions,” in which was laid the foundation for the improvement of Catholic-Jewish relations since then.

He hopes that Catholics in the archdiocese will gain from his visit a greater appreciation of these strides.

“I think it’s important to know that Jews and Catholics have made a lot of progress in our relations and we are now able to trust each other and to have a complete collaboration, especially in the field of social justice,” Father Norbert said.

John Delaney, the vice present of the board of this organization and a member of St. Monica Parish in Indianapolis, will host Father Norbert for the first part of his trip here.

He described the visit of Father Norbert as “a tremendous honor” for the archdiocese and said that he is anticipating learning more about Catholic-Jewish dialogue.

“Even though I feel that I’m a pretty strong practicing Catholic, I don’t feel that there’s a lot of discussion around that relationship,” he said. “I personally look forward to learning more about how that is viewed from the top, from the Holy See, and how practically that can be put into practice on a local basis here in Indianapolis.”

Father Norbert offered some suggestions of how relations between Catholics and Jews across the world that he oversees can be fostered on the local level. But he said that it all boils down to friendship.

“On the grassroots, local level, the issue of friendship is important,” he said. “This is, I think, is the first step to learn about each other.”

In addition to Indianapolis, Father Norbert will also visit Washington, D.C., New York, Memphis, Tenn., Salt Lake City, and Chicago.

Calling the trip “a feather in Indianapolis’ cap,” Rabbi Arnold Bienstock, the spiritual leader of Congregation Shaarey Tefilla, values it as a sign of the importance of the ongoing dialogue between the Church and the Jewish community.

“As someone who’s seen the progression from Pope John XXIII until Pope John Paul II and now Pope Benedict, the relationships between Catholics and Jews is here to stay,” he said. “It’s developed over the years and it’s something really profound and serious. And it represents a sort of revolution in the history of these two religious groups.”

Like Delaney, he sees Father Hoffman’s attendance at his congregation’s Friday evening Sabbath service as a way to further this dialogue at the local level.

“All of this helps break down stereotypes and gives more information, clarifies things and brings it down to a lay level,” Rabbi Bienstock said. “We have to bring this down to the grassroots.”

Wherever Catholic-Jewish dialogue happens—at the Vatican or here in central and southern Indiana—Father Norbert said that it is important for all Catholics and can have a global impact.

“Christianity has Jewish roots,” he said. “And Jews and Christians have a common patrimony to discover more and more. We are brothers in faith, according to John Paul II, brothers in the faith of Abraham. So I think our being together can be a blessing for the entire world.” †