Jeremy Jones represents Australia at highest level interfaith meeting
May 20, 2019 by J-Wire
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Jeremy Jones, Director of International and of Community Affairs for the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council, has participated in the 24th meeting of the International Catholic-Jewish Liaison Committee [ILC] in Rome, Italy, last week.
Jeremy Jones and Rabbi David Sandmel, scheduled to speak at Limmud Oz this year, meet The Pope
The ILC is a partnership between the Holy See’s Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews and the International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations [IJCIC], the coalition of the world Jewish communal organizations charged with official relations with other world religious bodies.
Jones is the only Jewish Australian who has ever participated in this elite international interfaith meeting, and this year co-chaired, with Professor Joseph Sievers, the Catholic-Jewish Working Group on Combatting Antisemitism, a role he also filled at the 2016 ILC in Warsaw.
Although the bulk of the meeting consisted of intensive discussions and strategising, off-site sessions included an audience with Pope Francis, a formal opening which included discussions with Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and a visit to a refugee centre managed and led by the Sant’Egidio Community.
Jeremy Jones said: “The ILC is testimony to the dramatic changes in Catholic-Jewish relations over the past 50 years, where we now see ourselves as allies addressing a range of social issues.
Over the past 30 or so years, the relationship has matured and deepened.
He added: “Having been present at St Mary’s Cathedral in Sydney when Pope John Paul II first described antisemitism as sinful and now working with dedicated Catholic partners to confront this evil, I have been an eyewitness to a sea-change in attitudes and actions.”
Pope Francis expressed appreciation for the ILC focus upon refugees and “the fight against the troubling recrudescence of antisemitism, and concern for the persecution of Christians.”
Jeremy Jones is a delegate of the American Jewish Committee to IJCIC.
Where are the women?
Did you meet with Rabbi Riccardo Di Segni??Who were the local representatives from Rome?