National Christian Leadership Conference for Israel
Tel. (248) 557-4540 · Fax. (248) 557-4527 · E-mail: NCLCI@MSN.COM

The following tribute was read at a public memorial service for Sister Rose at the Newark New Jersey Cathedral on September 13, 2006 

IN APPRECIATION OF SISTER ROSE THERING, O.P., Ph.D.,  FROM  THE NATIONAL CHRISTIAN LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE FOR ISRAEL

            Sister Rose Thering – a teacher of teachers, a committed friend, loved by many all over the world, a diminutive nun who shook the male-dominated world of the Roman Catholic Church and forced it to pay it attention to what she had to say. Having exposed the Church’s history of false teaching about Jews and Judaism she devoted her life to making sure that the Church never stopped working to correct the errors of its past. To make sure, as much as possible, that the church’s teachings were corrected she devoted herself to teaching teachers how to teach without bearing false witness. As a teacher, Sister Rose was an early advocate of Christian-Jewish dialogue for all people, not just a few church and synagogue leaders.

            Sister Rose was also an early activist for Christian-Israel relations and demonstrated her commitment by helping to create the National Christian Leadership Conference for Israel (NCLCI) in 1978. As NCLCI’s Executive Director (1989-1995) she would go anywhere to speak about Christian support for Israel and to generate more of it. She worked tirelessly to make sure that Israel, the issue of a God-given holy land, was a topic addressed at all conferences and workshops on Christian-Jewish relations because she understood that without Israel, Christian-Jewish dialogue was incomplete. Sister Rose also recognized that Christians who were too judgmental toward Israel were demonstrating that they were not engaged in the dialogue, or were not listening to their dialogue partners.

In this time of war in the Middle East, terrorism, growing antisemitism and a diminishing commitment of some Christian denominations to Christian-Jewish relations, we miss Sister Rose’s leadership – but she left us her stimulating example. It is up to us to continue what she began and to do what she taught us to do.

May the memory of Sister Rose Thering continue to be a blessing and an inspiration for many generations to come.

David Blewett
NCLCI National Director