Interfaith Trip
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INTERFAITH TRIP: ITALY & ISRAEL Co-sponsored by the Academy for Jewish Religion and College of Mount Saint Vincent In association with The Lay Centre at Foyer Unitas, Keshet: The Center for Educational Tourism in Israel, and Field Travel, Inc. June 24 - July 8, 2014 TRIP ITINERARY DATE PROGRAM June 24 - July 1, 2014 Tuesday, June 24 Depart United States at 6:00 pm (EST) Wednesday, June 25 Arrive from the United States in Rome at 8:35 am • Bus transfer from airport to hotel. • Free time for lunch. • Afternoon Guided Visit to the Catacombs of San Sebastiano & Fosse Ardeatine. Description: The Catacombs of San Sebastiano , named after an early-third century Christian martyr, who is buried here, are a splendid example of the “ad catacumbas” found outside the city walls of ancient Rome where Christians were buried. According to the widely acknowledged explanation, the name signifies “near the hollows”, because of the mines of tuff located in this area. The name was later used generally to indicate all subterranean Christian cemeteries. The archaeological finds in the catacombs offer a precious witness into the early Christian understanding of death, funeral rites, and eternal life, and its connection to ancient Jewish practices concerning burial. The Fosse Ardeatine is an Italian national monument to the resistance movement and a memorial cemetery for 335 innocent youths and adults, taken at random from Rome’s prisons and streets, in reprisal for an attack carried by partisan fighters in the city centre against occupying Nazi Forces on March 24, 1944. The victims included political prisoners from the gaol in Via Tasso and several Jews, who were led off in trucks to the rural suburbs of the city, inside the tunnels of a disused quarry near the Via Ardeatine and shot in the back of the head. • Opening dinner and Introduction at the Lay Centre (Israeli Ambassador to the Holy See to be invited as guest speaker). Thursday, June 26 • Meeting at the Secretariat for Jewish-Christian Relations (at the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity). Description: The Commission of the Holy See for Religious Relations with the Jews at the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity is a branch of the Roman Curia established after the Second Vatican Council to promote dialogue and understanding between the Catholic Church and Judaism in the contemporary world. • Lunch and meeting with the new US Ambassador to the Holy See. (to be confirmed) Description: The US Embassy to the Holy See was established after official diplomatic relations were established between the US and the Holy See in 1984 to promote understanding, dialogue and collaboration between the two sovereign states on such issues as human rights, interreligious dialogue and social justice. • Afternoon Guided Visit to the Jewish Ghetto. Description: The Roman Ghetto or Ghetto of Rome was established for the Jewish community in the city 1555 in the Rione Sant'Angelo, in the area surrounded by present-day Via del Portico d'Ottavia, Lungotevere dei Cenci, Via del Progresso and Via di Santa Maria del Pianto, close to the River Tiber and the Theatre of Marcellus. With the exception of brief periods under Napoleon from 1808 to 1815 and under the Roman Republics of 1798-99 and 1849, the ghetto of Rome was controlled by the papacy until the capture of Rome in 1870. Today it is still one of the active centers of the Jewish community in the city, and it was here that the first public synagogue was founded in the 19th century. • Walk from Jewish Ghetto to Meeting with Sant'Egidio Community. • Evening Meeting with the Comunità di Sant'Egidio on Promoting Social Justice. • Evening Prayer with Comunità di Sant'Egidio in Trastevere. Description: The Comunità di Sant’Egidio is a Catholic community of laity that claims 50,000 members in more than 70 countries. Its main activities are: prayer, centered on a reading of the Bible; spreading the Gospel to help people who are looking for a sense to their life; service to the poor, which is free and unpaid; commitment to ecumenism; dialogue with members of other religions and non-believers. The Community of Sant'Egidio was founded in Rome in 1968 by a group of Roman high-school students led by Andrea Riccardi. Since 1968, the community has gathered each night to pray and read from the Bible, reflecting on the Gospel, eventually spreading throughout the world with a mission of helping those in need. Their activities include setting up refuges for the old, hospices for AIDS patients, and printing a handbook titled "Where to Eat, Sleep, and Wash in Rome" as gifts to the homeless. The lay Catholic Community of Sant'Egidio is among global leaders on HIV/AIDS, running programs across Africa, pushing scientific research inter alia on mother-child transmission, and advocating passionately that everyone deserves the best care. • Free time for dinner. Friday, June 27 • Morning meeting at the Cardinal Bea Center for Jewish Studies at the Pontifical Gregorian University. Description: The Cardinal Bea Centre of the Gregorian University takes its name and inspiration from the far-seeing vision of the Jesuit Augustin Bea, the principal architect of the Second Vatican Council’s declaration Nostra Aetate. The Centre is dedicated to the promotion of a theological knowledge and understanding of Judaism – from both a Jewish and a Christian perspective - as well as the teaching, research and academic exchanges between Christians and Jews, in order to foster a mutually enriching relationship. • Walk from Pontifical Gregorian University for Late Morning Guided Visit to the Roman Forum (including Arch of Titus) & Coliseum. Description: The Roman Forum is a rectangular forum (plaza) surrounded by the ruins of several important ancient government buildings at the center of the city of Rome. Citizens of the ancient city referred to this space, originally a marketplace, as the Forum Magnum, or simply the Forum. It was for centuries the center of Roman public life: the site of triumphal processions and elections; the venue for public speeches, criminal trials, and gladiatorial matches; and the nucleus of commercial affairs. Here statues and monuments commemorated the city's great men. The teeming heart of ancient Rome, it has been called the most celebrated meeting place in the world, and in all history. Located in the small valley between the Palatine and Capitoline Hills, the Forum today is a sprawling ruin of architectural fragments and intermittent archeological excavations attracting numerous sightseers. The Arch of Titus is a 1st-century victory arch located on the Via Sacra, just to the south-east of the Roman Forum. It was constructed in c. 82 AD by the Roman Emperor Domitian shortly after the death of his older brother Titus to commemorate Titus' victories, including the Siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD. The Coliseum , situated just east of the Roman Forum, and also known as the Flavian Amphitheatre is an elliptical amphitheatre. It was the largest amphitheatre of the Roman Empire, and is considered one of the greatest works of Roman architecture and engineering. Construction began under the emperor Vespasian in 70 AD, and was completed in 80 AD under his successor and heir Titus, using funds from the booty collected following the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem . • Free time for lunch. • Afternoon Guided Visit to the Pantheon and Santa Maria sopra Minerva. Description: The Pantheon is an adjective understood as "[temple consecrated] to all gods") was commissioned by Marcus Agrippa during the reign of Augustus as a temple to all the gods of ancient Rome, and rebuilt by the emperor Hadrian about 126 AD. Inside was even an image of Moses, representing the God of the Hebrews. It is one of the best-preserved of all Roman buildings. It has been in continuous use throughout its history, and since the 7th century, the Pantheon has been used as a Roman Catholic church dedicated to "St. Mary and the Martyrs" but informally known as "Santa Maria della Rotonda." The square in front of the Pantheon is called Piazza della Rotonda. Santa Maria sopra Minerva is one of the major churches of the Roman Catholic Order of Preachers, better known as the Dominicans. The church's name derives from the fact that the first Christian church structure on the site was built directly over (Latin: supra) the ruins or foundations of a temple dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Isis, which had been erroneously ascribed to the Greco-Roman goddess Minerva. St Catherine of Siena, Fra Angelico and several popes are buried in this church. • Shabbat dinner – Walk from The Lay Centre to hotel. Saturday, June 28 • Optional Morning Prayer at Synagogue - Walk from hotel to one of Rome's synagogues. • Lunch provided at The Lay Centre, followed by conversation on the Papacy and the Holocaust by a scholar. • Optional Afternoon Guided Visit to the Gesu and the Church of Sant'Ignazio - Walk from The Lay Centre to these sites for those who are interested. Description: The Gesù is the mother church of the Society of Jesus, a Roman Catholic religious order also known as the Jesuits. Officially named Chiesa del Santissimo Nome di Gesù all'Argentina (English: Church of the Most Holy Name of Jesus at the "Argentina"), its facade is "the first truly baroque façade", introducing the baroque style into architecture. The church served as model for innumerable Jesuit churches all over the world, especially in the Americas. St Ignatius of Loyola is buried here. The Church of Sant’Ignazio is a church dedicated to Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Society of Jesus. Built in Baroque style between 1626 and 1650, the church functioned originally as the chapel of the adjacent Roman College, that moved in 1584 to a new larger building and was renamed the Pontifical Gregorian University • Free time for dinner.