While searching for something to write about this week, I was pleasantly surprised to read about a good friend of the Diocese of Camden, being a member of the most recent Jewish-Catholic dialogue held in New York City on May 12. Rabbi Lewis Eron is the Jewish Community chaplain for the Jewish Federation of Southern New Jersey and director of Religious Services at Lions Gate in Cherry Hill. He has been a leader, professor and integral part of our South Jersey Catholic-Jewish Institute for Understanding for many years. He has served on various boards for the diocese and has been a recipient of the bishop’s medal.
Rabbi Eron is a 1981 graduate of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College; he received his doctorate in religion at Temple University in 1987. He has served as a pulpit rabbi, college teacher and organizational administrator. He has written extensively in a number of areas and has been a leader in Jewish-Christian interfaith dialogue locally, nationally and internationally. Rabbi Eron and I were co-chaplains on a Catholic-Jewish pilgrimage to Israel in 2000. I am proud to say Lewis is a colleague and friend.
Some of the other experts in Jewish-Catholic dialogue that are part of this semi-annual consultation of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the National Council of Synagogues are Cardinal William Keeler, Archbishop Emeritus of Baltimore, and Archbishop Wilton Gregory, chairman of the Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs, Father Larry Frizzell from Seton Hall University and Rabbi Richard Marker, chairman of the International Committee for Jewish-Christian Consultation. The consultation was co-chaired by Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York and National Council of Synagogues chairman Rabbi Alvin Berkun.
Participants discussed the impact that individualism and porous boundaries in faith practice have on religious identification. “We are living in an age of spiritual ‘individualism,’ having moved from a sense of religious duty to religious feeling and into an era of blurring of religious boundaries and of large defections from one religion to another,” sociologist Mark Gray, of the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) of Georgetown explained to the consultants.
Much of their discussion centered on youth and their religious identity in today’s world. Presenting for the Jewish contingent of the dialogue was Steven Cohen, Research Professor of Jewish Social Policy at Hebrew Union College and the Jewish Institute of Religion. He pointed out how patterns of Jewish religious observance reflect the overall trend in America’s religious landscape of “movement from faith to choice.” He contends that younger Jews, like younger Catholics, are more likely to adopt a form of spiritual practice that differs from the religious identity given them at birth. The “choice” of a religious home typically follows a period of “seeking” in one’s 20s. Dr. Cohen also said that the center of Jewish religious life in America, which is found in the Reform and Conservative movements, is rapidly declining, while the Ultra-Orthodox and secular segments of the Jewish population appear on the rise.
Dr. Gray, the Catholic expert, agreed with Dr. Cohen’s findings that the younger generation tends to perceive institutionalized religion as “alien, bland, coercive and divisive.” They stressed the need to engage 25-39 year olds with worship services and study groups outside of the parish and synagogue settings. Grey held up as a creative form of outreach to Catholic young adults “Theology on Tap,” a lecture/discussion meeting that takes place in a bar, coffee shop or restaurant.
Archbishop Dolan pointed out that both rabbis and priests face similar problems when attempting to reach out to younger congregants. “It’s good to realize that Catholic and Jewish pastors face the same problems today: the integrity of marriage and family life and the retention of young people in their congregations. The Pew Study has given us a sobering reminder of how American culture challenges both communities to find new means of outreach to our people,” he said. Rabbi Rosenthal wisely added, “if we fail to attract them to religious life and involvement, we imperil our future as meaningful religious communities.”
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