Pope John Paul Commission Statement

Art Commission Statement

The new Christian and Jewish Interfaith Cultural and Historical Center have decided to commission a piece of art work to reflect what our center represents. After much discussion, we decided on a stain glass mural of the person who exemplifies the interfaith movement, Pope John Paul II.

Pope John Paul II represents our company with a good deal of practice and influence between Judaism and Christianity. Pope John Paul II came to the Holy Land as a pilgrim, a man of prayer, to bring a message of peace and he identified with Abraham's journey from UR of the Chaldeans to the land called Canaan. He also traveled to Mount Sinai to identify with Moses' journey through the wilderness with the Israelites. At the spot where the Torah was revealed, he affirmed the Ten Commandments as essential for re-consecrating private and public morality in our time. On the first leg of his holy land pilgrimage, he stood at the top of the Mount Nebo to view the Promised Land from Moses' final resting place (Mortimer, 2005).

John Paul II has passed on, but his vision of freedom, interfaith reconciliation, and brotherhood endures. On his famous visit to Poland in June 1979 that led to the unraveling of the Communist empire in Eastern Europe, he advised the Poles to not be afraid. He challenged the attitudes in the Roman Catholic Church itself, stating that discrimination of any kind was against the very spirit of Christian beliefs and that racism was a sin (Mortimer, 2005).

This piece symbolizes how people of agonizing cultures can be brought together by one person's words and research and expresses how peace is weapon of knowledge versus race and ignorance. By placing a mural of Pope John Paul II in the lobby of the Christian and Jewish Interfaith Cultural and Historical Center, the mural will increase awareness and allow individuals to embrace and educate each other on the crusade that Pope John Paul II had to endure in order to promote peace amongst all races. The mural will represent that there is no more room for racism or ignorance, but rather help individuals to see the light and learn from each other in the positive aspect in order to be good role models for our youth. The mural will illustrate that all nations can be universally one by working through one another rather than against (Younes, 2004).

The movement of Interfaith between the Christians and Jewish religions has been around for several years. In the Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions, Nostra Aetate, Proclaimed by His Holiness Pope Paul VI on October 28, 1965, his Holiness spoke of the common belief among the different religions and in promoting unity. When speaking of the Christians and Jews, he reminds the church of the spiritual bond of the Christians to the Abraham's stock. The church is not to forget that she received from God's chosen ones the revelation of the Old Testament. He states: "Indeed, the Church believes that by His cross Christ, Our Peace, reconciled Jews and Gentiles. Making both one in Himself" (Pope Paul VI, 1965, para.10).

His Holiness continues by speaking of the ancient times, when the Jews pressed for the death of Christ as well as the un-brotherly way Christians have treated the Jews over time. As he tries to unite the two religions, he wants both religions to stay true within themselves and to forgive but not forget where they came. He reminds both religions that the Scripture says: "He who does not love does not know God, for God is love" (The Holy Bible, 1 John 4:8).

In staying consistent with the Nostra Aetate, Pope John Paul II began speaking about interfaith in 1978 and is considered a hero in the Christian and Jewish interfaith movement. He became the first pope since ancient times to visit a synagogue, and has spoken often of the kinship he sees between the two religions (Kress, 2006).

For this reason our team has chosen a mural of Pope John Paul II, along with his likeness will be the prayer he spoke at the Western Wall, Jerusalem, March 26, 2000.

God of our Fathers You chose Abraham and his descendants to bring your Name to the Nations: we are deeply saddened by the behavior of those who in the course of history have caused these children of yours to suffer, and asking your forgiveness' we wish to commit ourselves to genuine brotherhood with the people of the Covenant (Cassidy, 2001, para. 4).

This visit showed a dramatic change in the way the Jewish people viewed Christianity. Rev. Father Jerome Murphy-O'Connor pointed out:

By standing there [at the Western Wall], this symbolized the humility of the Church, which has been viewed by Jews as arrogant. By standing there he transformed the relationship of Christianity