In today's Boston Globe there's a story about how Catholic Memorial in West Roxbury is going to change their curriculum in the wake of their students chanting an anti-Jewish slogan at a basketball game. The article seems to indicate that there may be problems with how students at the school have been
taught about Jews.
Catholic Memorial School administrators say they will hold a series of student assemblies Monday and make long-term changes to their curriculum after several students peppered fans of a rival school with anti-Semitic chants at a basketball game Friday night.
The students taunted a group of Newton North High School fans, many of them Jewish, with choruses of “You killed Jesus!”
“Catholic Memorial is committed to using this incident as a teaching opportunity and to help students understand the hurt they have caused, to Newton North High School and the broader Jewish community,” Catholic Memorial said in a statement Sunday night.
Catholic Memorial reached out to the Anti-Defamation League Saturday to apologize for the incident and seek assistance in educating their students about anti-Semitism, according to the statement.
“It’s very clear that Catholic Memorial is taking this seriously, and we’re very pleased about both the short-term and long-term commitment to educating their students,” said Robert Trestan, regional director for the Anti-Defamation League New England, in a phone interview Sunday.
Trestan said the ADL and the Archdiocese of Boston developed a curriculum more than 20 years ago called “New Directions” for Catholic educators to use in teaching their students about Jews and Judaism.
He said the ADL could help to implement that curriculum at Catholic Memorial, an independent school in West Roxbury. Officials at the school said that curriculum is among the options they are considering.
I wonder why they weren't already using the "New Directions" curriculum at Catholic Memorial. If this is a curriculum that was developed more than twenty years ago, shouldn't all the Catholic schools in the Boston area be using it? The Boston Archdiocese recommends using the curriculum on a web page entitled "
How can I be involved in Catholic-Jewish relations?"
Organize a New Directions Program for the religious educators in your parish religious education program or school. Reach out to other parishes in your vicinity. The New Directions Program, co-sponsored by the Archdiocese of Boston and the Anti-Defamation League, has been highly successful in teaching Catholic religious educators how to teach about Judaism with accuracy and respect. In addition to the basic workshop, New Directions also provides higher level workshops.
If it were possible I would turn dragon now and spit fire. The total ignorance, stupidity, etc. just boggles my mind. I have studied Bib Lit and theology as well as the ancient Near East and the Roman Empire. Sacred Lit is NOT history -- especially as it is this recent. "Prophecies" are manipulated. There were numerous travelling rabbis, which one did you mean? There is no Roman evidence -- and the Romans were anal retentive. Give me a break. They have to make up excuses to hate.
ReplyDeleteWhy is the Catholic Church taking its marching orders from left-wing anti-Catholic Jews from the ADL ?
ReplyDeleteThis was just a tit-for-tat response from high school kids. The Catholic Church needs to focus on the anti-Catholic political agenda of left-wing Jews in this country (not religious or conservative or centrist Jews, just the Far Left).
How is it far left to object to Jews being called killers of Jesus? The Church repudiated the charge of deicide 50 years ago, at Vatican II, led by Pope Paul VI. You need to catch up with your Church.
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