This year's distinguished honoree was Georgette F. Bennett, Ph.D., the founder and president of the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding, New York City. The Tanenbaum Center is an organization established by Dr. Bennett to carry on the work of her late husband, Rabbi Marc H. Tanenbaum, a world-renowned pioneer in interreligious understanding and a prominent activist on behalf of social justice and human rights. The Tanenbaum Center bridges the gap between analysis and action through programs and publications that emphasize religious pluralism in primary education, religious diversity in the workplace, and religion's role in conflict resolution.

Prior to being president of the Tanenbaum Center, Dr. Bennett had worked from 1987 to 1991 with the First New York Business Bank Corporation as a Senior Vice President, held many financial and media consulting positions, and held a faculty position at the City University of New York's Sociology department. She has served on the boards of several non-profit organizations, many of which promote interreligious scholarship and understanding, and has been honored with many awards including the International Council of Christians and Jews Interfaith Gold Medallion (1997), and the American Jewish Women of Achievement Award (1990). She has written five books and more than 50 articles in a distinguished career of authorship.

Dr. Bennett accepted the award on behalf of the Tanenbaum Center and said that the work that she and her staff did was essential and she was grateful for the common pursuits and support that the CCJU and other organizations offered. She concluded by bringing her son, Joshua Marc Tanenbaum, to the podium and thanked him for “giving up so much of his mother so that she could do the work of his father.”

The Nostra Aetate Award was also presented to Mr. and Mrs.Henry Leir [posthumous] for their outstanding leadership and commitment to promoting dialogue and understanding in ethics, religion, education and politics, while courageously striving to make the world a better place for the next generations by protecting the rights and dignity of all. Henry J. Leir and his wife Erna D. Leir, foreseeing the ultimate consequences of the rise of Hitler and Nazism in Germany in 1933, abandoned their home and business to move to Luxembourg, and ultimately moved to the United States in 1938. In the ensuing decades, Mr. Leir developed a business in ores,minerals and fertilizers with offices throughout the world. He was an adventurous and pragmatic businessman. His wife Erna was a grand, humorous lady; and both were involved in numerous civic involvements.

The wealth of the Leirs has been devoted primarily to those charitable purposes which would have the widest benefit to humankind. Through their guidance, six Leir chairs have been endowed at universities and hospitals in medical research, humanitarian studies on relief of poverty and conflict resolution, and international trade and development. There are Leir Halls and Galleries at several prominent museums. The Leir Foundation supports the outstanding series of conferences on religious understanding sponsored by the Center for Christian-Jewish Understanding, notably the international 5-part conference,“ What Do We Want the Other to Teach About Us?” and the annual Institute for Seminarians and Rabbinical Students. These conferences reflect the convictions that motivated the Leirs throughout their lives.

Mr. Arthur S. Hoffman, president of Charitable Foundations and a Trustee of Charitable Trusts created by the late Henry J. Leir, and a lawyer and CPA, offered remarks which spoke to the heart of the Nostra Aetate document and the Leirs' journeys and accomplishments in the face of terrible odds during Nazi Germany. Mr. Hoffman said that the Leirs did not become infected by the horrible experiences of their times. Instead,“they felt no bounds to their responsibility to alleviate humankind's woes, nor did they feel that one's religion or ethnicity dictated greater or lesser entitlement to food, shelter, health and security. . . . The 1965 Nostra Aetate magnificent message confirmed the Leirs' leap of faith,” he said.

The Nostra Aetate Awards and Dinner was held at Park Avenue Synagogue in New York City, with Rev. Michael Moynihan, Chairman of the Center's Board, serving as master of ceremonies. The Most Reverend William Lori, Bishop of Bridgeport, offered the invocation and speaking on behalf of the Center were Dr.Anthony Cernera, president of Sacred Heart University, and Rabbi Joseph Ehrenkranz, executive director. They spoke about the Center's unique role in furthering the mandate of Nostra Aetate, fostering a spirit of kinship and mutually respectful dialogue between Jews and Christians, particularly through academic research, programs, conferences, and the education and formation of future religious leaders for a ministry in conversation with other traditions.

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