Saint Leo University’s Center for Catholic-Jewish Studies Hosting Eternal Light Award Dinner on November 9 in Tampa

It is fitting that Saint Leo University’s Center for Catholic-Jewish Studies (CCJS) will host its annual Eternal Light Award Dinner, a time to recognize and champion dialogue and friendship between Christians and Jews, on Sunday, November 9. The date marks the anniversary of Kristallnacht (German for “night of broken glass”), which most historians identify as the beginning of the Holocaust. The evening will recognize positive developments in Catholic-Jewish dialogue and consider the challenges in the work ahead.

The Eternal Light Award Dinner will take place 6-9 p.m., Sunday, November 9, at the Shanna and Bryan Glazer Jewish Community Center, 522 N. Howard Ave., Tampa, FL 33606. A major donor reception will take place 5:30-6 p.m., with a general reception 6-6:45 p.m., followed by dinner and programs following, 7-9 p.m.

Since 1999, the Center for Catholic-Jewish Studies’ Eternal Light Award is presented to a scholar who has made contributions to Catholic-Jewish studies and relations. This year’s recipient of the Eternal Light Award is Adele Reinhartz, a Distinguished University Professor at the University of Ottawa, where she also is a professor in the Department of Classics and Religious Studies. Her main research contributions have been in the areas of ancient Jewish/Christian relations, religion and film, and feminist criticism of the Bible. 

Reinhartz served as the general editor of the Journal of Biblical Literature from 2012-2019 and as the president of the Society of Biblical Literature in 2020. She was inducted into the Royal Society of Canada in 2005 and into the American Academy for Jewish Research in 2014.

In 2021 she won the Konrad Adenauer Prize, awarded to one Canadian annually by the Humboldt Foundation in Germany. 

Her most recent books are Cast Out of the Covenant: Jews and Anti-Judaism in the Gospel of John (2018), The Bible and Cinema: An Introduction (2nd edition, 2022), and Jousting with John: Essays on Jews, Gender, and Ethics in the Fourth Gospel (2025).

Providing comments will be Father Craig E. Morrison, chair of the Center for Carmelite studies and a professor of biblical studies in the School of Theology and Religious Studies at The Catholic University of America. Previously, he was the dean of the faculty of ancient near Eastern languages and professor of Aramaic and Syriac languages at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome.

Morrison has written for The Bible Today, The Word Among Us, and Give Us This Day. He has a commentary on King David in the Second Book of Samuel from Liturgical Press. His current book, published in April 2025, is What Does the Bible Say about Violence? 

Event co-chairs are Rabbi Joel Simon, senior rabbi of Congregation Schaarai Zedek, and Rev. Msgr. Robert F. Morris, vicar general of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saint Petersburg. Honorary co-chairs are Maureen Cohn and Gail Whiting, CCJS National Advisory Board members.

“In our time of turmoil, the religious core of our traditions which emphasizes that all people are created in the image of God, can serve as a profound source of light,” said Dr. Matthew Tapie, director of Saint Leo’s Center for Catholic-Jewish Studies. “The CCJS invites you to join us Sunday, November 9, to reflect on how to continue dialogue in a time of turmoil at this special event.” 

Tickets, Tables, and Sponsorships

To join in the conversation and dialogue, individual tickets are $90 and may be purchased at https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/ev/reg/kbakg4u and include hors d'oeuvres, drinks, dinner, and dessert. RSVP to purchase individual tickets by Friday, October 24.

Tables and sponsorship opportunities are available at https://your.saintleo.edu/ccjs/elad. For more information, email, laurie.gens@saintleo.edu or call (352) 588-7711.

History of Saint Leo’s CCJS 

The importance of the interchange of ideas and dialogue among Catholics and Jews prompted the formation of Saint Leo University’s Center for Catholic-Jewish Studies in 1998. Rabbi A. James Rudin recalled that Florida had an increasing population of Jews and Catholics, and that he expected that demographic trend to continue. “There was no Christian-Jewish academic center south of Baltimore at that time,” he said.  

Rudin met with the then-Saint Leo College President Arthur Kirk Jr., who liked the rabbi’s proposal of creating an interreligious center on campus. Kirk, Rudin, and Bruce M. Ramer, then-president of the American Jewish Committee, signed a joint statement establishing CCJS. 

As the college grew and became a university, the late Bishop Emeritus John J. Nevins of the Catholic Diocese of Venice (FL); and now Bishop Emeritus Robert Lynch of the Diocese of St. Petersburg (FL) became co-founders of CCJS. These leaders recognized the need in the state for an academic center devoted to the biblical and theological study of Catholic-Jewish relations and interreligious dialogue, as emphasized by the Second Vatican Council. 

Today, the CCJS is a leading academic center for the study of Catholic-Jewish relations, and to support its mission, the center sponsors events for the community. In September, the CCJS hosted Catholic Church and synagogue visits, offering participants the opportunity to learn about the distinctive liturgical traditions of each community. 

Upcoming events include a three-part series, Israel-Palestine in the Context of Catholic-Jewish Dialogue. The first topic will be “A Catholic Approach to Dialogue on Israel-Palestine,” 2-3 p.m., Thursday, October 16. The event will be held in TECO Hall in the Tapia College of Business building at Saint Leo, 33701 County Road 52, St. Leo, FL 33574, as well as online.