Kristallnacht Commemoration Program

Sunday, Nov. 9, 2:30 p.m.

Location: Temple Shalom, 4630 Pine Ridge Road

Free community event, with light refreshments. Please sign up in advance so we can plan accordingly. Click HERE to register.

Join us as we explore the roots of the Holocaust and reflect on how its lessons resonate today. Together, we’ll consider how the past may be echoing in the present.  We remember and honor the 6 million lives lost and pledge to create a world where such atrocities can never happen again.

Sponsored by:

Catholic Jewish Dialogue of Collier County | Diocese of Venice in Florida | Holocaust Museum & Janet G. and Harvey D. Cohen Education Center | GenShoah of SWFL | Jewish Community Relations Council of the Jewish Federation of Greater Naples | Jewish Federation of Greater Naples

Click HERE for the Study Guide

Nostra Aetate 60th Anniversary Symposium

Saturday, Dec. 6, 2 p.m.-Ave Maria University

Sunday, Dec. 7, 2 p.m.- Nina Iser Jewish Cultural Center, 4720 Pine Ridge Road

Or attend via Zoom, Sunday, Dec 7. @ 2 p.m.

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the landmark document known as Nostra Aetate (In Our Time), which was the result of Jewish and Catholic collaboration during the Second Vatican Council.

This two-day program brings together a panel of distinguished theologians and professors from across North America to discuss the landmark document that changed 20 centuries of Catholic-Jewish relations, and its impact on our lives.

In Our Time calls for interfaith dialogue to promote a better understanding of each other’s faith, emphasizes the spiritual connection of humanity, promotes a mutual respect among all religions, and rejects all forms of discrimination and antisemitism.

The symposium is a collaboration of the Catholic-Jewish Dialogue of Collier County, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Naples, and Ave Maria University.

In that spirit, we are presenting the same program on two consecutive days: first at Ave Maria, a Catholic institution; and the following day at the Jewish Federation of Greater Naples.

Panelists include Bishop Frank Dewane, Diocese of Venice; Dr. Matthew Tapie, director of the St. Leo University Center for Catholic-Jewish Studies; Dr. Robert Ventresca, president, King’s University College; Rabbi James Rudin, retired director of interfaith relations, American Jewish Committee; Rabbi Mark Gross, Jewish Congregation of Marco Island; attorney Martin Kaplan; theology professor T. Adam Van Wart, Ave Maria University; and Rabbi Stephen Fuchs, Temple Beth Shalom, Vero Beach.

How to begin and share uncomfortable conversations with a Catholic and a Jew

Larry Hermalyn and Dick Surrusco, Catholic-Jewish Dialogue members

Sunday, January 25 , 2026, at 2:30 p.m.

Location: Nina Iser Jewish Cultural Center, 4720 Pine Ridge Road

After a successful effort in 2025, it’s time for the return of Uncomfortable Conversations with a Catholic and Jew, part two.

In popular culture, the Thanksgiving dinner table represents the peak of uncomfortable conversations, often when political differences emerge among family members.

But those difficult dialogues aren’t limited to the holiday season - they occur every day and everywhere. We live in a time of uncomfortable conversations- conversations that strike at the core of who we are, and who we understand ourselves to be, walking the planet with those who follow different paths.

Join Jewish lawyer and a Catholic deacon for a listening conversation with a question-and-answer format, a dialogue on various topics to help clarify - or at the very least to feel a little more comfortable with - these faith traditions as they are experienced today.

We will unpack issues in both faith traditions, connecting the dots between the tropes and misconceptions of the past to the divisiveness of the current moment, including dehumanizing generalizations and hurtful or dangerous language that chip away at the dignity of both traditions.

Bigotry toward one group is never isolated-if one is at risk, so are we all. It is only through talking and listening with open minds and open hearts, acknowledging the commonality of our origins and a shared moral compass, that we come finally to a sense of community.

With antisemitism on the rise, social divides widening, and violence in the name of one group or another persisting, sustainable relationships in our communities will only be built by bonds of friendship and trust that lead to respect for one another.

Interfaith Marriage: A Candid Conversation

Sunday, February 22, 2:30 p.m.

Location: Nina Iser Jewish Cultural Center, 4720 Pine Ridge Road

Join us for part two of a candid conversation between spouses Dean Garfinkel, a Jewish guy from Wanamassa, New Jersey, and Donna Poach, a Catholic girl from Havertown, Pennsylvania, as they share the ups and downs of their 14-year marriage and 30-year partnership navigating a shared life and two faiths along the way.

Film screening: UnBroken

Sunday, March 29, 2:30pm

Location: St. William Catholic Church, 601 Seagate Drive, Naples, FL 34108

This 2023 documentary follows the daughter of a Holocaust survivor searching for answers about the fate of her mother and six siblings who, as children, escaped Nazi Germany and survived in hiding for two years thanks to a benevolent farmer and his wife before escaping Nazi Germany.