Rose Thering

[1] She played a crucial role in the implementation of the landmark Vatican II document Nostra Aetate, which repudiated anti-Semitism and laid the groundwork for improved relations between Catholics and Jews.

[2] A strong advocate for interfaith dialogue and understanding, she participated in numerous conferences, lectures, and seminars aimed at promoting mutual respect and cooperation between people of different faiths.

[2] In recognition of her interfaith work, Seton Hall established the Rose Thering Endowment for Jewish-Christian Studies, which provides scholarships for teachers to take courses in this department.

[3] Rose Elizabeth Thering was born in Plain, Wisconsin, the sixth of 11 children in a German-American farm family that prayed together daily.

The film, Sister Rose's Passion,[4] depicts her recalling how she "almost got ill" reading texts that were used across the country to educate school children.

In 1986, she went to Austria to protest the inauguration of President Kurt Waldheim,[3] the former U.N. secretary-general, who had served in a Nazi army unit implicated in the deportation of Jews from Greece during World War II.

[2] At Seton Hall, where she joined the faculty in 1968, she established workshops on Judaism for church leaders and teachers, and led student groups on 54 tours of Israel.

Rabbi Alan Brill continues Sister Rose Thering's work toward interfaith understanding in his role as chair of the Department of Jewish-Christian Studies at Seton Hall University.