Cardinal O'Malley seeks to improve Jewish-Christian relations

This article was in today's Boston Globe:

Quotes:

Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley and leaders of the Jewish community are attempting to reinvigorate efforts to build Catholic-Jewish relations, following a period of moral and financial troubles in the church...

''The Catholic Church comes out of the Jewish religion; the church is the daughter of the synagogue," he said. ''The Mass, which is the center of our spiritual life, is basically a synagogue service and a Seder meal brought together. . . . Christianity and Catholicism can be understood only in light of our Hebrew roots."

O'Malley said that he draws inspiration for his effort from Pope John Paul II, who by personal acts -- praying at Jerusalem's Western Wall, visiting Rome's central synagogue and the death camp at Auschwitz, recognizing the state of Israel -- improved Catholic-Jewish relations dramatically.

The late pope ''saw the 20th century as the century of the Shoah," O'Malley said. ''He encouraged Catholics to come to grips with the meaning of the Holocaust."

Amen, Cardinal. Well said.