LINKAGES OF INTEREST
IN COMMUNITIES OVERCOMING BIGOTRY
Brief summary
On 10 September 2003, from 1 to 2.15 pm, fourteen persons attended the first planning
meeting of the Spring 2004 interfaith dialogue series "Jews - Dialogues - Beliefs"
at First United Methodist Church. The attendees represented four world religions,
different area churches, three universities, and diverse area organizations dedicated
to furthering peace, social justice, and cultural competence in and around St. Cloud.
Prof. J. Edelheit and Dr. M. Nazareth clarified the goals, objectives, dates, topics, and
other details pertaining to these dialogues that seek to further understanding in
St. Cloud on Jews and Judaism.
Amplification of the proceedings
If numbers are any indication of a community's interest in stepping up to the plate
and assiduously working toward a new tomorrow, one may make the following bold claim.
The civic and faith communities of St. Cloud, St. Cloud State University (SCSU),
the College of St. Benedict (CSB), and St. John's University (SJU), are resolved
to bring about a bright, hopeful future for all minorities in the Five City St Cloud area.
Thirteen adults and an infant gathered at First United Methodist Church, St. Cloud, MN,
from 1 to 2.15 p.m. on the Eve of September Eleven, 2003. The date recalls a historic
tragedy marking a "breakdown of interreligious and intercultural dialogue" in the northern
hemisphere. Among the religions represented at this planning meeting were Christianity,
Judaism, Islam, and Baha'i.
The location of our planning meeting, too, was not without significance.
Among leading churches earnestly striving for justice and peace in the United States today,
very much in the forefront is the Methodist Church. Attending our initial meeting were four
Methodists who have been engaged in vigorous spiritual and social ministries in St. Cloud
and elsewhere, even in other continents. Two of these are pastors of St. Cloud Methodist
churches. They showed by their presence and participation that they care about our region's
ongoing struggle against Semitism and other forms of bigotry.
The First United Methodist Church (FUMC) of St. Cloud was one of the six area churches
which sponsored a UNIITE dialogue event during our Spring 2003 Muslim Dialogues series.
Please visit:
Muslims - Dialogues - Beliefs
Earlier, FUMC was also the location of the Center for Interfaith Encounter's (CIE)
Interfaith Millennium Celebration on 27 January 2001. Please visit:
Interfaith Millenium Celebration
Those present at the meeting on 9/11/03 were Dr. Joseph Edelheit (SCSU),
Dr. John Merkle (CSB/SJU), Ms. Norhashimah Erpelding (Treasurer and Webmaster, UNIITE)
and her child Keija Erpelding (interfaith millennium baby), Ms. Mariani Nazareth (Co-Founding
Director, CIE; nurse, St. Cloud Hospital), Pastor Katie Schneider-Bryan (FUMC), Pastor Philip
Schmidt (New Horizons Methodist Church), Phillip Durkee, Evelyn Durkee, Pastor Dee Pederson
(Bethlehem Lutheran Church; Chair of FC:BRH or Faith Communities Building Racial Harmony),
Dr. Les Green (SCSU), Nurianne Tomas (Founder, Jordan Institute; Secretary, St. Cloud NAACP),
Rev. Randy Johnson (Chair, Caucus of Spiritual Leaders in Create CommUNITY; Catholic Charities),
and Dr. Malcolm Nazareth (Co-Founding Director, CIE; Executive Director, UNIITE).
The meeting began on schedule with Nazareth welcoming everybody to the proceedings.
He then invited Mariani Nazareth to read aloud an inspirational excerpt from Peace Pilgrim:
Her Life and Work in Her Own Words, p. 85. "How diverse the many paths seem to be at times,
but do they not come together eventually upon the same mountain top? Are they not all striving
for the same thing? . . . We are all God's children and there are no favorites. . . ." What inspiring
words to orient our plans for the Spring 2004 Jewish Dialogues!
Next, Nazareth outlined the agenda which consisted mainly in discussing a 2-page outline of
the proposed dialogues. He made sure that all had copies of these, then invited people to introduce
themselves. Immediately after that, he asked Dr. Edelheit to speak about his outline-sheet which
provided in copious detail the topics which he plans to offer at the six dialogue sessions.
The first five sessions will be held on Tuesday nights 6-8 p.m. The dialogue session proper begins
always at 6.30 p.m. It will be preceded by a 30-minute video on a relevant aspect of Judaism.
The final session, including one of two panel presentations of this series (the other being during the fourth),
will be from 5 - 8 p.m. including a diverse Jewish panel and kosher dinner.
Vision Statement: To establish a working knowledge of Jews and Judaism in order
to pursue further dialogue and help the community at large in their understanding of Jews and Judaism
Presenter, Cantor: Dr. Joseph Edelheit, Interim Director, Jewish Studies,
St. Cloud State University
Respondent: Dr. John Merkle, School of Theology, St. John's University
Moderator: Dr. Dan McKanan, School of Theology, St. John's University
Sponsors:
UNIITE (Understanding the Need for Interfaith/Intercultural Togetherness and Education)
Center for Interfaith Encounter
First United Methodist Church
Faith Communities: Building Racial Harmony
Create CommUNITY, City of St. Cloud
St. Cloud State University
Dates and Topics :
2/3/04 Basic words and ideas that describe Jews and Judaism
2/10 Basic observances in the Jewish festival and Holy Day calendar
2/17 Basic Jewish life cycle observances
2/24 Hebrew Scripture and Christian Scripture (panel including Christian pastors)
3/2 What do Jews believe/understand about Jesus and the Messiah?
3/9 Panel from within the St. Cloud area Jewish community on
"Being Jewish as a minority in a Christian community"
At every session we seek the following (we welcome your call/email offering your services):
1. a hosting church or other institution
2. a prayer leader of a faith other than Jewish or Christian
3. a Jewish presenter of Judaism to children in daycare and
4. a daycare provider (preferably the same person as #3)
5. a volunteer for decoration and set up (literature table&)
6. 2 greeters including one doing registration/addresses/sign up for final night's kosher dinner
7. a hospitality manager for snacks and drinks (provided by hosting church/institution)
8. a volunteer to take care of publicity/advertising/media
9. symbols of diverse world religions to place on a credence
table (to be organized by hosting church)
Edelheit underscored his aim: to present a normative understanding of Judaism.
Drawing attention to his outline sheet, Nazareth then clarified some of the organizers' needs.
Among issues/concerns that emerged in the ensuing discussions and clarifications were:
1. Will representatives of the various branches of Judaism (especially Orthodox Judaism)
be present on the final day's panel? Edelheit responded: Yes, especially members of area
Jewish communities.
2. For a "Judaism 101" program such as this, would it be good to have considerably more
input from the presenter and considerably less time for response and q&a? Opinion was divided.
Nazareth was partisan to the view of those who had actually participated in the Spring 2003
Muslim dialogues. Based on their experience, four persons were arguing that the Christian respondent
(10 minutes max) needed close to equal time as the Jewish presenter (15 mins. max). Both presenter
and respondent would be free to speak at length during q&a to live concerns raised during the ensuing
30 mins. It seems important to view our St. Cloud-style 90-minute dialogues not as "Judaism 101" but as
"Judaism 101 divided by 3" (a 1-credit college course equivalent, not 3). The daily formal input of the
Jewish presenter needs to be real brief, almost skimpy. The information could be supplemented by
presenter-devised handouts that amplify as needed on the day's topics (biblical and other references;
references to authors and titles; short articles of topical interest du jour). The audience is to be privileged
with quality time for comment, reflection, questions. It's up to the moderator along with the presenter and
respondent to shape these dialogues within these broad parameters, playing it by ear, as it were.
3. What's required from the six "sponsoring churches"? Answer: $50 donation to UNIITE;
in-kind donation of space and refreshments; in-kind donation by way of copying day's handouts
to be delivered by organizers before noon on the dialogue day; a credence table, to be placed in
the center of the dialogue space, on which the host is responsible to arrange for symbols of the world religions.
4. Basic reading for those interested? Books recommended by Prof. Edelheit: 1) Morris Kertzer,
What is a Jew?, revised by Lawrence Hoffman (Touchstone Book) and 2) Emil Fackenheim, What
is Judaism (Collier Book).
5. Any participation in Jewish ritual? On a day yet to be specified, in March 2004, Dr. Edelheit
will preside over a Passover Seder to which all will be invited.
In concluding the meeting, Nazareth called for closing comments from the floor. Evelyn Durkee spoke
with warmth a brief word about the many, well known, historic involvement(s) of the Jewish communities
in social justice issues. Edelheit thanked her for evoking this important memory.
In the overarching series "Sacred Texts and Communities Series," the forthcoming
"Jews - Dialogues - Beliefs" series will be the second. The third series, following on the heels of
the second, will be on "Social Justice and World Religions." Scheduled for March-May 2004, five
dialogues will feature Native American religion, Christianity, Judaism, Islam, and Baha'i
(tentatively 3/23,30; 4/13,20,27; 5/4). Speakers from these traditions will spell out and discuss with
the audience how their respective religious traditions have historically addressed social justice issues.
The concluding sixth session in the same series will feature all these five religions on one single panel,
with the same speakers interacting together this time.
The main sponsor of the overarching "Sacred Texts and Communities Series" is a fledgling non-profit
organization UNIITE.
(respectfully submitted on 9/27/03 by Dr. Malcolm Nazareth)
