Seton Hill University’s National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education (NCCHE) will launch the celebration of its 25th anniversary with the Ethel LeFrak Holocaust Education Conference October 21-23, 2012. The theme for the 2012 conference is “Holocaust Education: Challenges for the Future.”

Two conference sessions are open to the public. Rabbi Irving “Yitz” Greenberg, Ph.D., who will serve as the conference’s keynote speaker, will present “But We Have Not Been Saved: An Unfinished Moral and Theological Agenda of ‘Never Again’” on Sunday, October 21, at 7:30 p.m. On Monday, October 22, at 7:30 p.m., Rev. John T. Pawlikwoski, O.S.M., Ph.D., will address the topic “The Impact of Vatican II on Christian-Jewish Relations.” Both conference sessions will be held in Cecilian Hall, which is located in the Administration Building on University’s hilltop campus in Greensburg, Pa. There is no fee to attend, however, reservations are required. To make a reservation, call 724-830-1855.

Greenberg is a Modern Orthodox rabbi, Jewish-American scholar, author and leader in Holocaust education. In 1975, he founded the Zachor Holocaust Resource Center with Elie Wiesel. He was executive director of President Jimmy Carter’s Commission on the Holocaust, which led to the establishment of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Later Greenberg served on the museum’s founding board and council. In 2000, President Bill Clinton appointed him to chair the council.

Pawlikwoski is the director of Catholic-Jewish Studies Program at the University of Chicago. His extensive study of the Holocaust has enabled him to appreciate the ethical challenges facing the human community as it struggles with greatly enhanced power and extended responsibility for the future of all creation. Pawlikwoski's scholarly interests include the theological and ethical aspects of the Christian-Jewish relationship and public ethics. A leading figure in the Christian-Jewish dialogue, > Pawlikwoski is the president and chair of the Theology Committee of the International Council of Christians and Jews (ICCJ). He is a member of the Catholic Theological Society, the American Academy of Religion, the http://www.scethics.org/ (past board member), the Ethics Working Group of the World Conservation Union, the Association of University Leaders for a Sustainable Future and is the principal theological consultant for the U.S. Catholic Bishops’ Statement on Energy.

“The conference is made possible by benefactor Dr. Ethel LeFrak. Seton Hill University is indeed grateful for Dr. LeFrak’s generosity. Her support allows the University to host a conference featuring many respected, international scholars in Holocaust education,” said Sister Lois Sculco, S.C., Ph.D., vice president of Mission and Student Life.

The Ethel LeFrak Holocaust Education Conference seeks to enhance Catholic-Jewish understanding by educating the educators. The Conference will equip teachers and faculty members, especially those at Catholic institutions, to enter into serious discussions on the causes of anti-Semitism and the Holocaust, and to write and deliver papers that shape appropriate curricular responses at Catholic institutions and other educational sites.

In 2008, LeFrak, a noted New York philanthropist, made a generous donation to Seton Hill University’s National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education (NCCHE) to endow The Ethel LeFrak Holocaust Education Conference and create The Ethel LeFrak Student Scholars of the Holocaust Fund.

Seton Hill University’s National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education (NCCHE) was established on the campus of Seton Hill University in 1987. Seton Hill initiated this national Catholic movement toward Holocaust studies in response to the urging of Pope John Paul II to recognize the significance of the Shoah, the Holocaust, and to “promote the necessary historical and religious studies on this event which concerns the whole of humanity today” (Letter to Archbishop John L. May, 1987). The NCCHE has as its primary purpose the broad dissemination of scholarship on the root causes of anti-Semitism, its relation to the Holocaust and the implications from the Catholic perspective of both for today's world. Toward this end the Center is committed to equipping scholars, especially those at Catholic institutions, to enter into serious discussion on the causes of anti-Semitism and the Holocaust; shaping appropriate curricular responses at Catholic institutions and other educational sites; sustaining Seton Hill's Catholic Institute for Holocaust Studies in Israel through a cooperative program with Yad Vashem, the Isaac Jacob Institute for Religious Law and Hebrew University; encouraging scholarship and research through conferences, publications, workshops for educators, and similar activities; sponsoring local events on the Holocaust and related topics in the University and the community and enhancing Catholic-Jewish relations.