What is the status of our relationship with the Catholic Church?
The Jewish/Catholic relationship is solid, mature, and far-reaching. We have extensive relationships at every level, and work collaboratively on a wide array of issues. Our disagreements on issues such as abortion and gay/lesbian rights are deep, profound, religiously based, and not subject to ready resolution. At the same time, our areas of agreement are also deep, profound, and religiously based. We agree on fighting poverty, preserving the dignity of the individual, protecting the environment, and upholding international human rights. In many ways our relationship with the Catholic Church is a model of the coalitional relationship: we have extensive ties and communication, formal and informal, national and local. Rabbis across the country have outstanding relationships not only with local churches, but also with the cardinal and the bishops in their communities. And from the Holy Father on down, the Catholic Church is playing a supportive role with regard to Middle East politics. So
