IDA: Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of Nostra Aetate

Film and Discussion Presented by YIVO, Center for Jewish History, and Fordham University

October 2015 marks the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council’s landmark document “Nostra Aetate.” A turning point for Jewish-Catholic relations, “Nostra Aetate” affirms the unique bond between Jews and Catholics and denounces anti-Semitism “at any time or from any source.” This program begins with a screening of the Oscar-winning film, Ida followed by discussion with Jonathan Brent (YIVO), Magda Teter (Fordham University), and Father Guy Massie, Chair, Catholic-Jewish Relations for the Diocese of Brooklyn.

About the Participants

Jonathan Brent is the Executive Director of The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York City. From 1991 to 2009 he was Editorial Director and Associate Director of Yale Press. He is the founder of the world acclaimed Annals of Communism series, which he established at Yale Press in 1991. Brent is the co-author of Stalin’s Last Crime: The Plot Against the Jewish Doctors, 1948-1953 (Harper-Collins) and Inside the Stalin Archives (Atlas Books). He is now working on a biography of the Soviet-Jewish writer Isaac Babel. Brent teaches history and literature at Bard College.

Msgr. Guy Massie is a Roman Catholic Priest from the Diocese of Brooklyn, NY. Ordained on May 21, 1983 he has served in several Brooklyn parishes and is currently Pastor of Sacred Hearts/ St. Stephen Parish in Brooklyn, NY. Msgr. Guy Massie is the Chairperson for the Ecumenical and Interfaith Commission of the Diocese of Brooklyn. He chaired the Catholic/Jewish Dialogue for the Diocese for six years prior to becoming the Diocesan Ecumenical and Inter-Faith Chair. Msgr. Massie coordinates inter-religious dialogue in Brooklyn and Queens. At present the Commission is in dialogue with The Brooklyn and Manhattan Jewish Community, the Lutheran and Eastern Orthodox Communities and the Islamic Community. Msgr. Massie has also participated in the Catholic-Jewish Educational Enrichment Program sponsored by the American Jewish Committee. The goal of this program is to foster mutual Catholic/Jewish understanding. Msgr. Massie studied and earned a Masters Degree in Judaic Studies from the Jewish Theological Seminary of America.

Magda Teter is Professor of History and the Shvidler Chair in Jewish Studies at Fordham University. Previously, she was the Professor of History and the Director of the Jewish and Israel Studies Program at Wesleyan University. Teter is the author of Jews and Heretics in Catholic Poland (Cambridge University Press), Sinners on Trial (Harvard University Press), and a co-editor of and contributor to Social and Cultural Boundaries in Pre-modern Poland (Littman Library of Jewish Civilaztion). Teter's work has been supported by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, YIVO Institute, and the Yad Ha-Nadiv Foundation (Israel), among others. In 2002, she was a Harry Starr Fellow in Jewish Studies at Harvard University, and in 2007-2008, an Emeline Bigelow Conland Fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies also at Harvard University.