David
Blewett is Sister Rose Thering’s successor as Executive Director of the National
Christian Leadership Conference for Israel. This tribute was read at Sr. Roses’
funeral on May 9, 2006, by Dr. Richard Lux, Vice President of the NCLCI Executive
Committee.
A TRIBUTE FROM NCLCI
by David Blewett
The Christian Church has lost a unique pioneer and we have all lost a creative
teacher, a unique leader and a cherished friend.
While Jews and Christians around the world
are morning the death of Sister Rose, they are also remembering and celebrating how this
little Catholic nun from Plain, Wisconsin, shook the foundations of the Christian Church
and helped usher in a new reality – the era of Christian-Jewish relations. And Sister
Rose never stopped shaking that ecclesiastical structure. Sister Rose continued to
challenge the church in its growing relationship with Judaism and the Jewish community
through the rest of her life.
One of the issues she was most critical of
was the relationship of the Christian church to the Jewish homeland, Israel. For Sister
Rose, support for Israel was a natural part of Jewish-Christian relations. She never
really understood how Christians could participate in Christian-Jewish dialogues and claim
to support Jews and Judaism while ignoring Israel; it made no sense to her.
It was her profound concern for the
Church’s attitude towards Israel that led her to join other Christian leaders in 1978
to establish the National Christian Leadership Conference for Israel (NCLCI). Apart from
the years that she served as NCLCI’s Executive Director (1989-1995), Rose was a
Vice-President of NCLCI’s Board of Directors and an active member of NCLCI’s
Executive Committee. From personal experience
I can testify that Sister Rose was as well known in Washington, DC, and in Jerusalem as
she was on the Seton Hall campus where she was Professor Emerita of Jewish-Christian
Studies and where the Sister Rose Thering Endowment Fund is based.
Sister Rose loved Israel and wanted everyone
to share her devotion. She spoke about Israel everywhere she went; she never missed an
opportunity to speak well of Israel and Israelis including to cab drivers, flight
attendants and shop keepers. Most of all, Rose
expressed her love of the land by taking people to Israel. She
led over 50 Christian tours to Israel, many made up of students, faculty and supporters of
Seton Hall University, others made up of NCLCI members.
Today, as the Christian-Israel relationship
is going through an especially difficult period we draw strength and encouragement from
Sister Rose’s example. May her
accomplishments and her memory continue to challenge and be a blessing to all of us. |
Move back to NCLCI home page or move back to the press
release page.