Youth and Interreligious Dialogue

 A key to progress in Jewish-Catholic relations is to get the younger generations involved, says a Vatican aide. Father Norbert Hofmann is the secretary of the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, within the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. This month the Vatican organization will participate in a meeting in Budapest, Hungary, along with the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations. The Nov. 9-12 meeting will reflect on "Civil and Religious Society: Catholic and Jewish Perspectives.” This is the second international congress of its type that has taken place in eastern Europe -- the first was held in Prague in 1990 -- having as its purpose the involvement of future generations in interreligious dialogue, and promoting cooperation between Catholics, Jews and Orthodox. An important reason for choosing Budapest for the conference is to see how dialogue goes with the Jews in this context in Eastern Europe. The theme of the conference is "Civil and Religious Society: Catholic and Jewish Perspectives." Explaining the theme Father Hofmann said, we are religious, so for us faith is at the centre of the dialogue. One aspect of contemporary society is the secularization that impacts Jewish and Catholic religious life. One point of convergence is the importance of religion and of finding one's own identity. There is also the need to help the poor and those who live on the margins of society. The expectations are generally to deepen friendship between Catholics and Jews at the international level, to make progress in and deepen our dialogue.