LYNN — The Rev. Francis J. Cloherty and Rabbi H. David Werb spent their childhoods ignorant and suspicious of each other’s faiths. Today, they are best friends united in demolishing the myths and untruths that divide Catholics and Jews.
The pair wrote a 131-page book titled, “One God, Two Faiths: What do Catholics and Jews believe?” They will discuss the book and sign copies on Oct. 28 at 11 a.m. at Sacred Heart School, 571 Boston St.
“We live in a world of fear and suspicion of people who are different from us. We are trying to bring people together,” Rabbi Werb said.
Ordained in 1962, Father Cloherty retired in 2011 and is currently senior priest in residence for the Lynn Catholic Collaborative of St. Mary’s and Sacred Heart churches. Rabbi Werb was ordained in 1967 and retired in 2007 from Temple Beth Emunah in Brockton where he is now rabbi emeritus.
The Boston native who grew up in an Irish-American neighborhood and the son of a rabbi from Caldwell, N.J., forged a fast friendship in 1993 when they met during a discussion on Nazi Germany’s mass slaughter of millions of Jews and other people during World War II. The conversation spun off into an examination of Catholic-Jewish relations and Father Cloherty and Rabbi Werb volunteered to expand the dialogue.
Both men were more than ready to challenge viewpoints and prejudices cloaking their respective faiths. Assigned to Our Lady, Star of the Sea in Marblehead after ordination, Father Cloherty quickly found himself in a local battle against housing policies perceived as prejudicial and racist.
Rabbi Werb’s work in interfaith outreach as a rabbi in Brockton had reforged his outlook on Catholics from “a skeptical attitude” to one fostering “great openness to others.” But he had a crucial question to ask his new friend as they embarked on building a bridge between their beliefs: “Has the Catholic Church changed its position on the Jews?”
The answer Father Cloherty gave him was a resounding “yes.”
“The church does not have a message to the Jews; We are not trying to convert them. This is official Catholic teaching,” he said.
The pair put the unity at the heart of their friendship into action by visiting each other’s house of worship in Brockton.
“People were crying when they saw us walking down the aisle at St. Patrick’s,” Cloherty said.
They took their conversations, in Rabbi Werb’s words, “down to the benches where people worship.
“Both of our faiths are based on the dictum ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ It’s something both of us believe very strongly,” Rabbi Werb said.
Ensuring years of conversation, interfaith work, and personal faith explorations led them to begin writing in earnest in 2011, turning conversations about immense religious topics including sin, revelation, interfaith marriage, even angels and life after death, into tightly-written chapters laying out Catholic and Jewish perspective on these subjects. Editing and re-editing led them to finally publish in July 2017 with access to paperback copies or Kindle editions through Amazon.
“People who edited it said it is extremely accessible,” Rabbi Werb said.
“It tells what we are committed to as believers,” added Father Cloherty.
