L.A. Catholic Lawyers Assn. to host retreat March 14
LOS ANGELES --- Bishop Gordon Bennett, retired bishop of Mandeville, Jamaica, will present "The Meaning of Our Life," a Lenten retreat for Catholic Lawyers to be held March 14, at the Immaculate Heart Retreat Center, Los Angeles. The event is sponsored by the Los Angeles Catholic Lawyers Association, formed last year to provide a forum for Catholic lawyers to exchange ideas and offer pro bono legal services, retreats and continuing legal education. The association co-hosted the recent Spirit and Law Convention with the Los Angeles Archdiocese. The Immaculate Heart Retreat Center is located at 3431 Waverly Dr., Los Angeles; the retreat is open to all Catholic lawyers for a fee of $49. For information, call (310) 445-4165.

Rabbi says trip to Israel can help pope show his respect for Judaism
ROME (CNS) --- Poland's chief rabbi said he hopes Pope Benedict XVI's trip to Israel will be an opportunity for the pope to demonstrate to the world his deep knowledge of and respect for Judaism. Rabbi Michael Schudrich, the U.S.-born chief rabbi of Poland, said the May trip can be "very enlightening and help Pope Benedict show in a very clear way" the sensitivity and respect that has been clear in his writings for decades. "I am full of hope," the rabbi told Catholic News Service March 2 after delivering the second annual Pope John Paul II Lecture on Interreligious Understanding at Rome's Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas. Rabbi Schudrich's speech focused on how he learned from "the life and actions" of Pope John Paul about the importance of interreligious dialogue and of being willing to learn from members of other religions. But the rabbi said he could not talk about Catholic-Jewish relations without acknowledging that "it clearly was very painful" when Pope Benedict lifted the excommunication in January of traditionalist Bishop Richard Williamson, who had denied the extent of the Holocaust. The incident has demonstrated that 40 years of improving relations make it possible for Jews and Catholics to speak openly when offended or hurt, he said.