Sister Mary Rose Thering, now living in a reirement home for nuns outside Boston, is a true hero. Growing up as a child in rural Wisconsin, she encountered casual but pervasive anti—Semitism, and it rankled her. She was appalled at the attitude toward Jews as killers of Christ and destined for damnation. Something within her knew this was wrong.

Unlike most people, Sister Mary Rose was determined to do something about what angered her. She became a nun, taught school, and pursued a doctorate at St. Louis University. For her dissertation, she examined the views of Jews contained in Cathoilic school textbooks. In the words of a New York Times article today,

"It was evident from what I was reading that the church was trying to say that the Jews were not loved by God," she said.

Once she had her doctorate, she decided to strike, which annoyed some bishops, including a few who asked her not to make her findings public. She did anyway, leaving her to battle superiors who wanted her to take her vow of obedience more seriously.

Her research, completed in 1961, was part of the evidence used by the Vatican to call for a change in the church's treatment of Jews when Pope John XXIII convened the 21st ecumenical council, known as Vatican II, in 1962. Cardinal Augustin Bea requested Sister Rose's dissertation when it came time to make a decision to declare that the Jews were not responsible for the death of Jesus. She had helped shake the foundations of the church.

Posted by Ed   07 29 04