On December 7th, 1993, delegates of the Synagogue Council of America and the National Conference of Catholic Bishops got together to discuss the the views of pornography, the rapid growth of pornography is a alarming rate, and it is a offence against human character. and is openly pornographic and morally offensive.


source: http://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/ecumenical-and-interreligious/jewish/upload/Joint-Statement-on-Pornography.pdf

Catholic and Jewish Religious leaders got together to discuss the issue of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.  One statement they made that really caught my eye was their discussion of the Muslim community following the attack.  They talked about how Muslim's condemned the actions of the extremists.  The American scope that portrayed these events was that all Muslims were responsible and appreciated that the extremists were willing to make it happen.  I did not think this could be true, but I had no other source of knowledge to think differently.  This statement really helped clear up the actual situ

Currently, we are looking at the dialogue between the Catholic Church and the followers of the Jewish faith. The relationship between these two religious communities has not always been the best; however, in recent years, leaders of both faiths have come together to discuss their future relationship and where their teachings agree.

One of the places where the Catholic and Jewish teachings agree is the death penalty. In fact, the two faiths have been in accordance for centuries. A second century Jewish text states that, "A Sanhedrin that puts one person to death once in seven years is called destructive. Rabbi Eliezer ben Azariah says: Or even once in seventy years. Rabbi Tarfon and Rabbi Akiba say: Had we been the Sanhedrin, none would ever have been put to death" (Mishnah Makkot, 1:10). This is in accordance with the teaching of the Catholic Church, which is exemplified by Pope John Paul II when he says, "A sign of hope is the increasing recognition that the dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil. Modern society has the means of protecting itself, without definitively denying criminals the chance to reform. I renew the appeal for a consensus to end the death penalty, which is both cruel and unnecessary."

Today, we had a class discussion with Father Phil. Multiple classmates asked Father Phil questions concerning the Catholic faith. Father Phil answered the questions to the best of his ability with his knowledge of the catholic faith. Frequent questions that were asked are ones that concerned abortion and the meaning of being a true catholic. This discussion was extremely informational for any Catholic that is concerning the rules of their faith.

Our senior religion class challenged the junior religion class to a game of soccer a couple of weeks ago.  Since our class won by 3 goals, a score of 4-1, we decided to get a trophy to celebrate the victory.  We had an old academic excellence trophy titled "The Governor's Cup".  This is now the trophy for the rivalry which continued today in a Catholic Trivia Challenge.  The Senior's won again, so the cup stayed home! stay tuned for more updates!

This week, we have read "A Letter from a Birmingham Jail," by Dr. Martin Luther King. Jr. We are currently writing reflections on certain point, chosen by each individual writer, that stood out to us. These essays will be uploaded in the coming week, and they can be found on the new "Reflections" page of our website.