American Jewish Committee, Saint Leo College Establish Center For Catholic And Jewish Studies

American Jewish Committee
Tuesday, 15 December 1998

The American Jewish Committee has signed an agreement with Saint Leo College to establish a Center for Catholic and Jewish Studies.

The jointly managed center will be based at the college, which is located in Saint Leo, Florida.

Through educational programs and publications the Center will foster Catholic-Jewish dialogue and seek to present to the broader public Catholic and Jewish points of view on critical issues. The Holocaust will be one of the subjects on the Center's agenda.

"Creation of the center advances our long-standing efforts to promote dialogue and cooperative projects for the benefit of both the Jewish and Catholic communities," said AJC President Bruce M. Ramer.

The AJC is the leading American Jewish organization building bridges with the Catholic community in the United States. AJC's chapter in Sarasota has a long-standing close working relationship with the local diocese.

Indeed, the Catholic Bishops in the area, Robert Lynch of St. Petersburg and John Nevins of Venice, were strong advocates for creating with the AJC the jointly sponsored center on the Saint Leo campus.

Saint Leo College, a Roman Catholic school located near Tampa, has nearly 1,300 students and plans to become a university in August 1999. The school also has nearly 10,000 extension students enrolled in its courses at U.S. military bases both in the United States and overseas.

The idea for the center resulted from a national conference on bio-ethics that was co-sponsored by the AJC and the College earlier this year.

The two organizations will hold a national conference on teaching the Holocaust from February 21-23, 1999. The conference will be held at the college.

For more information, or to contact American Jewish Committee, see their website at: www.ajc.org