October 2015

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Oct. 27, 2015 — Fifty years ago on Oct. 28, Pope Paul VI issued a proclamation Nostra Aetate(In Our Time) at the Second Vatican Council, opening up the relationship of Catholics to non-Christian religions. The document called for mutual understanding, respect, and fraternal dialogue across religious traditions. This simple but profound proclamation marked a new chapter in interfaith cooperation, and has underwritten many movements of interfaith action to address issues of systematic discrimination and injustice.   

 

“Nostra Aetate served to open the Catholic Church in radical ways to meaningful and mutual relationships with those of other religious traditions. It informs the way in which Santa Clara carries out its Jesuit, Catholic mission today,”  said Michael McCarthy, S.J., executive director of the Ignatian Center for Jesuit Education at Santa Clara University.

 

To mark the anniversary, Santa Clara University President Michael E. Engh, S.J., has signed a statement with four other faith leaders - San Jose Catholic Bishop Patrick McGrath, Rabbi James Greene of the Cantorial and Rabbinic Association of Greater San Jose; Rev. D. Andrew Kille of Silicon Valley Interreligious Council; and Jyl Jurman of the Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley.  

 

This joint statement celebrates the milestone anniversary, and reaffirms the groups' commitment to working together to support interfaith dialogue and action, particularly around pressing issues of environmental justice and climate change today.

 

A website of the Ignatian Center spotlights the statement and the many events that SCU has co-sponsored with the signers of this statement over the past several years.

 

The statement is below:

 

 

October 27, 2015

 

On the eve of the 50th anniversary of Nostra Aetate, Santa Clara University, the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Jose, the Cantorial and Rabbinic Association of Greater San Jose, Silicon Valley Interreligious Council, and the Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley join together in celebrating this milestone for interfaith relationships, and commit to continued partnership and dialogue as friends and colleagues.  Nostra Aetate, the Second Vatican Council’s declaration on the relationship between the Roman Catholic Church and those of non-Christian religions, calls for mutual understanding, respect, and fraternal dialogue across religious traditions.  Over the last few years we have hosted many joint programs and initiatives to celebrate and deepen our common understanding and mutual responsibility.  We are marking this anniversary by joining Pope Francis’ call for a moral response to climate change and urging our communities to work together to care for our common home.

 

Reverend Michael E. Engh, S.J.

President, Santa Clara University

 

Most Reverend Patrick J. McGrath
Bishop, Diocese of San Jose

 

Rabbi James Greene 
Chair, Cantorial and Rabbinic Association of Greater San Jose

 

Reverend D. Andrew Kille
Chair, Silicon Valley Interreligious Council

 

Jyl Jurman
CEO, Jewish Federation of Silicon Valley

 

 

Santa Clara University, a comprehensive Jesuit, Catholic university located 40 miles south of San Francisco in California’s Silicon Valley, offers its more than 9,000 students rigorous undergraduate curricula in arts and sciences, business, and engineering; master’s degrees in business, education, counseling psychology, pastoral ministry, and theology; and law degrees and engineering Ph.D.s. Distinguished nationally by one of the highest graduation rates among all U.S. master’s universities, California’s oldest operating higher-education institution demonstrates faith-inspired values of ethics and social justice. For more information, see www.scu.edu.

 

Media Contact
Deborah Lohse | SCU Media Relations | dlohse@scu.edu | 408-554-5121