The one-day conference was sponsored by the Archdiocese of Łódź and the Committee of the Polish Bishops’ Conference for Dialogue with Judaism. ICCJ First Vice-President Sr. Dr. Kasia Kowalska serves on the Committee and attended the conference. The conference was well attended both by representatives of the Catholic hierarchy and the Jewish community, and it was encouraging to see a significant number of seminarians in the audience.
ICCJ Officers Attended Nostra Aetate Conference in Łódź, Poland
His Eminence Cardinal Grzegorz Ryś, Archbishop of Łódź, hosted the event and welcome the attendees. He then introduced Rabbi Sandmel and Bishop Etienne Vetö, auxiliary bishop of Riems, France and former director of the Cardinal Bea Center for Judaic Studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome to offer reflections on the conference theme. Rabbi Sandmel presented a Jewish perspective on the impact of the Nostra Aetate on interreligious relations, with a focus on the political and demographic challenges of affecting Jewish-Catholic relations today. Bishop Vetö examined some of the theological implications of Nostra Aetate for a Catholic understanding of Judaism.
Keynote address by ICCJ-President Rabbi Dr David F. Sandmel:
“The Discernment of the Past and Dreams of the Future”
The second session, “60 Years After Nostra Aetate: Why don’t we know what we do not know,” focused on studies charting knowledge of the Holocaust and awareness of antisemitism among the Polish public, with an emphasis on younger demographics. The panel was introduced by Prof. Kaja Kaźmierska (University of Łódź) and chaired by Prof. Sławomir Jacek Żurek (John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin). It also included Prof. Antoni Sulek (University of Warsaw) and Prof Bożena Szaynok (University of Wroclaw).
The third session celebrated the publication of a new book, The Catholic Church of “Our Times” toward Jews and Judaism: Documents of the Holy See (1965-2015) and Commentaries (WAM Kraków, 2025). The session was chaired by Prof Jan Grosfeld (Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw) and included Rev. Prof. Andrej Perzyński (Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University in Warsaw), Rev. Prof. Miroslaw Wróbel (John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin), Rev. Prof. Alfred Wierzbicki (Maria Curie Sklodowska University of Lublin), and Prof. Sławomir Jacek Żurk (John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin).
To close the event, Rabbi David Szychowski and Cardinal Ryś offered meditations and the Neo-Catechumenal Choir & Orchestra performed.