The good news is that Israel Singer, chair of the International Jewish
Committee for Interreligious Consultation (IJCIC) at a recent conference
sponsored by the Anti-Defamation League, combined firmness with civility
in dealing with Jewish-Catholic conversations and negotiations. He met a
good response from high-level Catholics who "welcomed Singer's bid to
upgrade the dialogue."

Singer admitted that Catholic-Jewish discussions have a long, long way to
go. But he asked fellow Jews not to get fixated on opening Vatican
archives or about details of the pontificate of Pius XII in Holocaust
years. Jews and Catholics need each other, have to speak and hear each
other, and be patient with each other. Cheer Singer for helping to buy
time until all parties gain perspective.

The bad news is that he then went on to downgrade the dialogue (if any can
be said to exist) among Jews and Eastern Orthodox plus ecumenical
Protestant leadership, as in the World Council of Churches (WCC). "He
pledged to take the WCC to task and make the dialogue with it 'harsher
than any dialogue we ever had with the Catholics.'" What is
understandably at issue is the set of WCC statements on Israeli and
Palestinian traumas.

Here is Singer's exercise in civil discourse: "The WCC is the head office
for the dissemination of anti-Semitic statements. . . the ugliest words
that have been produced anytime anywhere. . . They poison the wells of
every European country's ideology; they are well-poisoners!" Anytime is a
long time and anywhere is a large space, so, forget Hitler and Stalin and
Mao; forget Attila the Hun and Vlad the Impaler; goodbye paranoid ranter
Bobby Fischer and Osama Bin Laden: the WCC's poisonous words are uglier
than yours.

Those of us who don't wake up each morning to see what the WCC has issued
might need to scramble to read for ourselves the "ugliest." I found a
statement of March 15th posted online at the Palestine Monitor. It is
easy to see why defenders of current Israeli policies would not like
it. Instead of condemning by name the suicide bombers, it asks for only
"non-violent" resistance. About ten paragraphs criticize Israeli and
Palestinian leadership in a "balanced" way; several others speak with
equal criticism and hope toward Jewish, Christian, and Muslim
leaders. Admonitions: Israel should abide by UN Security Council
resolutions and the Fourth Geneva Convention. Keep Holy Places open to
all. It is easy to disagree with some of these. Calling them "the
ugliest words. . . any time anywhere" will not advance even "harsher
dialogue." If Singerism prevails, it is hard to picture any meeting, or
dialogue, happening "anytime anywhere."