For 50 years, the Christian-Jewish Dialogue of Toronto (CJDT) has been on the forefront in strengthening interfaith relations through unity and ongoing discussion. 

Since 1975, the Christian-Jewish Dialogue of Toronto has joined representatives from the various Jewish and Christian communities to learn from each other while collaborating on projects to foster interfaith relationships. This year, community leaders, advocates, educators, clergy and academics are continuing to highlight the importance and value of Jewish-Christian dialogue through shared action and joint celebrations. 

Core eccumenical and interfaith members, which include the Archdiocese of Toronto, the Toronto Board of Rabbis, the Anglican Diocese of Toronto, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs and the United Church of Canada, remain committed to the organization’s long-standing mission. 

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“While I have only been on for five years, this idea goes back to the early 1970s. My understanding was that there was quite a split, one that was getting wider, between the Jewish community of Toronto and the Christian communities. It was the Anglican priest, Roland de Corneille, who was instrumental in setting up a way to improve this relationship,” said Rev. James Leatch, current chair of CJDT.  

“If you can foster a greater understanding of one another, rather than just writing groups off as crazy or that you could never work with those people, that’s where  a real, healthy dialogue can come from, and we continue to support that now,” he said. 

A 50th anniversary celebration is taking place Oct. 19 at Timothy Eaton Memorial Church, featuring speakers such as former CJDT chair Rabbi David Seed and Rabbi Ed Elkin, the current president of the Toronto Board of Rabbis. Further celebrations to mark the anniversary are planned in the months to come.  

Today, CJDT operates by providing statements on Jewish-Christian events, both local and global, as well as offering informative events such as webinars and keynotes through its volunteer-driven working committees. Leatch, the Anglican representative for the organization, said the true impact of those events is often unseen but deeply profound. 

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“ Working together with different groups and holding events in synagogues, you get an idea that many Christians in Toronto don't worry about security at our church services, whereas every Jewish event that I've attended with CJDT has had a security component to it,” he said. “Growing our relationship helps Christians understand some of the isolation that Jewish communities are feeling, particularly since the Oct. 7 attack two years ago.” 

The Archdiocese of Toronto is a founding member of the Christian-Jewish Dialogue of Toronto. Fr. Luis Melo of the office for ecumenical and interfaith relations said the archdiocese remains committed to “encouraging the development of the specially privileged religious relationship that Christians have with Jewish people” through education, formation, dialogue and common witness. 

This commitment, said Melo, goes back to the Second Vatican Council's Nostra Aetate, a declaration on the Catholic Church's relations with non-Christian religions. It says the two communities are “inseparably linked as the essential foundation of faith in the God of Israel, united by a rich common spiritual heritage and the legacy of a longstanding shared past.”

The Archdiocese of Toronto’s involvement was further emphasized by Leatch, who spoke highly of the Catholic party’s ability to use its resources in a way that has long been beneficial to the organization at large. 

“In terms of infrastructure, office space and all sorts of physical aspects, I would say that the central command structure of the archdiocese has been extremely helpful in getting information out. I know the hierarchy and the authority come under attack, but I would say as far as we are concerned, the communication has really helped us,” he said, naming Melo, archdiocesan representative Dr. Rosanna Furgiuele, Sr. Lucy Thorson and Murray Watson as key Catholic contributors to the dialogue. 

As much as the group uses the milestone to look back in thanks for its past and rejoice in its present mission, it also looks to the future, knowing the reality of interfaith affairs, locally and globally, remains stressed.

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The solution, according to Leatch, is a continued and united day-to-day approach that has served CJDT well for half a century. 

“ I've tried to always get back to the individuals and the local relationships. We are not going to solve the problems in the Middle East, which have been going on since 1947 or longer, but we can keep our relationships going,  working and hoping that things are going to improve,” Leatch said.