Towards the very end of the final session of the Second Vatican Council, the document Nostra Aetate, the “Declaration on the Church’s Relation to Non-Christian Religions,” received definitive approval from the Council Fathers meeting in Rome. At the heart of the declaration is the relationship of the Church to the Jewish people, “the descendants of Abraham” (NA 4).

The approved text of the “Declaration on the Church’s Relation to Non-Christian Religions” promulgated on 28 October 1965 was intended to put an end to every form of anti-Semitism within Christianity and to express the Church’s acknowledgment of its own Jewish roots. The Declaration shows that, on the basis of sound biblical and historical arguments, the Church was able to set aside centuries of traditional animosity towards the Jews, and also to create a space for genuine interreligious dialogue more broadly. It was fitting then that the International Council of Christians and Jews (ICCJ) should hold its 2015 Conference in Rome to celebrate the 50^th anniversary of that landmark document, Nostra Aetate.

On the last day of autumn, when Melbourne's weather was at its most unwelcoming, a diverse group of some 100 people met at the Cardinal Knox Centre in Melbourne next to St Patrick's Cathedral for a community forum on "Maintaining Social Cohesion in Australia". The afternoon forum was at the initiative of the Jewish Christian Muslim Association and sponsored by various government bodies and more especially by representative councils within these three faith traditions: the Victorian Council of Churches, the Jewish Community Council of Victoria and the Islamic Council of Victoria.