New York, NY, July 28, 2010 ... The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) mourns the passing of Father Lawrence Boadt, a Catholic scholar, longtime editor and publisher of Paulist Press, and active participant in Christian-Jewish dialogue.

Rabbi Eric J. Greenberg, ADL's Director of Interfaith Affairs, issued the following statement:

Father Boadt made enormous contributions to Christian-Jewish relations during his storied career, not only through the publication of important books, but also through his warmth, humor and personal dedication to interfaith dialogue.

He was instrumental in helping to develop a historic new positive relationship between Christians and Jews by overseeing the publication of a series of scholarly books that explored and explained the history and theology of the two faiths.

 

He helped promote the vision of the Second Vatican Council, the 1965 world conference that rejected anti-Semitism and the deicide charge against Jews, and called for reconciliation between Roman Catholics and the Jewish people.

 

He will be missed but his legacy will live on.  May his memory be for a blessing.          

Father Boadt published a number of seminal works edited or co-edited by the late Rabbi Leon Klenicki, ADL's longtime Director of Interfaith Affairs and Co-Liaison to the Vatican.  These included: "In Our Time, The Flowering of Jewish Catholic Dialogue" (1990), "Issues in the Jewish-Christian Dialogue" (1979), "Toward a Theological Encounter, A Jewish Understanding of Christianity" (1991), "Biblical Studies, Meeting Ground of Jews and Christians" (1980) and "A Dictionary of the Jewish Christian Dialogue" (1984).  He also authored the widely used text, "Reading the Old Testament: An Introduction" (1984).