PHILADELPHIA (January 30, 2009) – Saint Joseph’s University’s Institute for Jewish-Catholic Relations will host a briefing and panel discussion on Pope Benedict XVI’s recent decision to lift the excommunications of four bishops ordained by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, founder of the Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX). The panel will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 3 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. in room 264 of Barbelin Hall.
SSPX is an organization that rejects the Second Vatican Council’s ecumenical and interreligious outreach. The bishops were excommunicated because their 1988 ordinations violated a papal prohibition. Richard Williamson, one of the four bishops, publicly denied in a recent interview that nearly six million Jews died in gas chambers as a result of the Holocaust.
The panelists include Rev. Msgr. Michael J. Carroll, director of the Office of Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, Archdiocese of Philadelphia; Philip A. Cunningham Ph.D., director of the Institute for Jewish-Catholic Relations; and Rabbi Alan Iser, executive committee, Philadelphia Board of Rabbis; adjunct instructor, Saint Joseph’s University and Villanova University.
For more information about the event, contact Cunningham at 610-660-1863 or pcunning@sju.edu, or access the IJCR website.
Background: Founded by the Society of Jesus in 1851, Saint Joseph's University advances the professional and personal ambitions of men and women by providing a demanding, yet supportive, educational experience. One of only 142 schools with a Phi Beta Kappa chapter and AACSB business school accreditation, Saint Joseph's is home to 4,150 full-time undergraduates and 2,700 graduate, part-time and doctoral students. Steeped in the 450-year Jesuit tradition of scholarship and service, Saint Joseph's was recently named to the 2006 President's Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction for General Community Service. The University strives to be recognized as the preeminent Catholic comprehensive university in the Northeast.
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Contact: Patricia Allen, Associate Director of University Communications, 610-660-3240, patricia.allen@sju.edu
