With the support of the Sisters of Our Lady of Sion and the Pratt Foundation, the Australian Council of Christians and Jews recently held a three-day gathering ‘Heads, Hearts and Hands: What can dialogue do for us?’, bringing together Australian and New Zealander interfaith practitioners, to discuss the current challenges facing Christian Jewish dialogue.
The gathering was able to create a safe space for genuine and meaningful dialogue, seeking healing, transformation and unity in a world rocked by divisions, disinformation and misunderstandings. Those gathered shared and listened to the pain that Jewish and Christian communities have experienced, in their own ways, since October 7, 2023. Attendees also grappled with Indigenous reflections on dialogue and reconciliation in the year since the failed referendum on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
The Sisters of Our Lady of Sion and their lay colleagues gather in Temple Beth Israel, St. Kilda, for the ACCJ Heads Hearts and Hands Interfaith Gathering, February 2025. PHOTO: Emma Carolan
In a panel session, Mary Reaburn NDS, spoke about the unique characteristics of Jewish-Christian dialogue in Australia and abroad, drawing on her long history of engagement in Jewish-Christian as a Sister of Sion, a congregation whose charism is grounded in bearing witness to God’s faithful love for the Jewish people.
“Jewish Christian relations is unique historically because what became Christianity and what became Rabbinic Judaism grew out of Second-Temple Judaism. In that way we are siblings. Of course Jesus was also Jewish,” said Sr Mary.
“All of that implies a very particular relationship. This does not mean that our relationship with other religious traditions is not important, but it is a relationship that is somewhat different to other religious traditions.”
Those gathered also heard from Rev Dr Patrick McInerney SSC, Director of the Columban Centre for Christian-Muslim Relations, who reflected on dialogue today. He lamented that despite the Vatican Council promulgating its Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions, Nostra Aetate, 60 years ago, it remains a fringe teaching in the Catholic Church. He said the last 16 months had seen great challenges to the successful facilitation of Abrahamic dialogue, between Christians, Muslims and Jews, but encouraged an ongoing commitment to the fostering of a renewed dialogue in these challenges time.
A summarising word for the gathering was “unfinished,” with many expressing the urgent need for Christian Jewish dialogue to continue with ‘heads, hearts and hands,’ further deepening understanding, breaking down barriers, and inspiring joint action in a troubled world.
“The gathering was deeply relational, and I found that the pain shared by the Jewish community was unintentionally confrontational. It was a real gift to me as a Christian to have that genuine encounter,” Sr Mary concluded.