Rev. Dennis McManus To Explore Dangerous Nature of Holocaust Matrix At Seton Hall University’s 19th Monsignor Oesterreicher Memorial Lecture

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Laurie Pine, Director of Media Relations, 973.378.2638  laurie.pine@shu.edu                                                                                                   

Rev. Dennis McManus To Explore Dangerous Nature of Holocaust Matrix At Seton Hall University’s 19th Monsignor Oesterreicher Memorial Lecture 

SOUTH ORANGE, NJ – SEPTEMBER 28, 2012 – The Rev. Dennis McManus will discuss The Holocaust Matrix: Its Destructive Past and Its Dangerous Future at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, November 4, at The 19TH Monsignor John M. Oesterreicher Memorial Lecture.  The program is hosted by The Institute of Judaeo-Christian Studies. Sponsored by the Msgr. J. M. Oesterreicher Endowment, the event is free and open to the community. The event will take place at Seton Hall University’s Walsh University Library Beck Rooms, 400 South Orange, NJ.

”The many-faceted work of the Reverend Dr. Dennis McManus provides a background for his insights into the Shoah (Holocaust) and implications for continuing reflection on this important topic.” (Father Lawrence Frizzell, Director, The Institute of Judaeo-Christian Studies.

The Rev. Dennis McManus, Ph.D., teaches at St. John’s Seminary in Boston and at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. He is Consultant for Jewish Affairs at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) and belongs to the Church Relations Committee of the United States Memorial Holocaust Museum. Since 1997 he has been very active in the Anti-Defamation League/USCCB joint program in Holocaust Education “Bearing Witness,” offered nationally in Catholic dioceses. He is director of the Jan Karski Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Georgetown University. He has contributed to the Cambridge Dictionary of Christian-Jewish Relations

(2005) and to Ancient Christian Commentary (InterVarsity Press). His forthcoming book will address the achievements of Pope Benedict XVI with the Jewish community.

Monsignor Oesterreicher, a European-born Jew who converted to Catholicism at the age of 20, devoted his early years in the priesthood to parish work, ecumenism and peace.  During the years of Nazi persecution he combatted Adolph Hitler’s glorification of race and hatred for Jews, eventually escaping from the Gestapo in 1938 via Switzerland and Paris and travelling circuitously through Spain and Portugal, finally arriving in the United States in 1940.  After serving in several parishes in New York City, he was invited to Seton Hall University in March 1953 and became founding director of the Institute of Judaeo-Christian Studies.

The late Monsignor Oesterreicher wrote in The Rediscovery of Judaism (1971), “True sensitivity sees not only the volcano of evil that erupted in Auschwitz, Treblinka, and Bergen-Belsen, but also the ultimate failure of the greatest poisoner of history; for all his success, he did not triumph. Horrible though it was, the “Final Solution” was anything but final. Six million Jews died, but the Jewish people lives. What this sentence really means is exemplified by the State of Israel. Here, an ancient people that for almost two thousand years was severed from the soil, that as a whole had not been involved in statecraft, that in the days of Hitler had been defaced in every possible way, was rejuvenated.”

The Advisory Board of the Institute of Judaeo-Christian Studies includes Director Reverend Lawrence E. Frizzell, D.Phil.; Michelle Dahl, Ed. D.;Sister Phyllis Kapuscinski, N.D.S., Ph.D.; M. Therese Liddy, M.A.; Reverend Msgr. Gerard H. McCarren, S.T.D.; Reverend John F. Morley, Ph.D.; Sister Alice Swartz, R.S.M., Ph.D.; and Sister Anita Talar, R.S.M., M.L.S.

For more information, contact Reverend Lawrence Frizzell at (973) 761-9751 or Lawrence.Frizzell@shu.edu.

ABOUT SETON HALL UNIVERSITY

One of the country’s leading Catholic universities, Seton Hall University has been a catalyst for leadership — developing students in mind, heart and spirit — since 1856.

With more than 60 rigorous academic programs, and schools singled out for distinction by The Princeton Review, US News & World Report and Bloomberg Businessweek, Seton Hall exemplifies academic excellence.  A student-to-faculty ratio of 14:1 and an average class size of 20 provide a truly supportive educational environment; students enjoy hands-on guidance from a world-class faculty that includes Fulbright scholars, leading researchers, industry leaders, and former ambassadors. Dozens of Seton Hall students have been chosen for highly selective national and international awards in recent years, including Rhodes, Fulbright, Pickering, and Udall scholarships.

Seton Hall offers superior opportunities for career development before and after graduation. More than 75 percent of students participate in an internship, practicum or clinical program to gain professional experience; the university also boasts a career-related job placement rate 10 to 15 percent above the national average and an international alumni network more than 70,000 strong.

The university combines the resources of a large university with the personal attention of a small liberal arts college. Its attractive suburban campus is only 14 miles by train, bus or car to New York City, with the wealth of employment, internship, cultural and entertainment opportunities the city offers.

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(Editors Note: For Press Credentials, please contact Laurie Pine at 973.378.2638 or laurie.pine@shu.edu)