Fifty years ago, in October 1965, the world of interreligious relations was transformed when the hundreds of Roman Catholic bishops – gathered at the Vatican to complete a nearly four-year series of meetings known as the Second Vatican Council – voted overwhelmingly to accept a succinct 624-word promulgation that began with the Latin words “Nostra Aetate” (“In Our Time”).

But that promulgation was a very long time in coming. It came at a time when the Roman Catholic Church, motivated by the remarkable visions of Pope St. John XXIII and Pope Paul VI, looked deep within its own theological teachings and spiritual soul, and concluded that it was time to move beyond its troubled history of relationships with its two sister religions, Judaism and Islam, and to acknowledge something extraordinarily positive – that the beliefs and practices of other religions “often reflect a ray of that Truth which illuminates all human beings” (John 1:9).

“Nostra Aetate” reflected a new and authoritative church teaching about Jews and Judaism. It rejected for all time the nearly 2,000-year-old horrific charge that Jews were culpable for the death of Jesus and that they were “cursed for eternity” by God for a crucifixion carried out by the Roman Empire.

In addition, “Nostra Aetate” made clear that the “preaching of the word of God” must in no way reflect anti-Jewish prejudice and deplored all “hatreds, persecutions, displays of anti-Semitism directed against Jews at any time and by anyone.”

With these few hundred words, the Vatican had issued the most important statement in the history of Christian-Jewish relations and perhaps in the history of interreligious dialogue.

We understand that “Nostra Aetate” has found its most significant impact in the area of Catholic-Jewish relations. This has been summed up quite succinctly in the words of Rabbi David Rosen of the American Jewish Committee:

“Perhaps never has there been a transformation of quite this order, that a particular community was viewed as cursed and as rejected, in league with the devil, the source of evil to be absolutely abhorred and to be condemned. This is surely the ultimate demonstration of how the tragic past can be overcome, of how a new relationship may be engaged in … .”

But “Nostra Aetate” is also of great significance for Muslim-Catholic relations. The third section of the document deals with the church’s relations with Islam and makes two critical points.

• The first is an expression of “esteem” for Islam and an emphasis on the commonalities shared by both religions in their devotion to worship of the one God and the Creator of all things.

• The second is to call on Christians and Muslims not to be held captive by past conflicts and injuries but to commit themselves to the preservation of “peace, liberty, social justice and moral values.”

On Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Hannaford Hall of the Abromson Center on the University of Southern Maine’s Portland campus, we will remember the past – those extraordinary visionaries who led the Roman Catholic Church and ultimately much of the Christian world toward this new relationship among the three sister religions.

And we will also ponder the present and the future as we acknowledge that other visions, never very far from the surface of daily existence, have also endured and been enhanced by other forces.

Religious extremism, violence and hatred have emerged as alternatives to the spirit and aspiration of “Nostra Aetate” and threaten not only the fragility and success of interreligious dialogue and action but also the very future of our world. What is to be done?

To ask that question and to seek positive responses, three of the most important representatives of Judaism, Roman Catholicism and Islam – who are known both nationally and internationally for their efforts to create a climate of interreligious cooperation – will participate in a roundtable discussion facilitated by MPBN’s Jennifer Rooks: Rabbi David Sandmel, director of interfaith affairs for the Anti-Defamation League; the Most Rev. Arthur L. Kennedy, auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Boston; and Imam Yahya Hendi, Muslim chaplain of Georgetown University.

We invite the Portland-area community to share in this important event. Both admission and parking are free.