Hillel, St. Paul team up

Jewish students on campus will be celebrating their High Holy Days this year in a different way -- in a Catholic church.\nTypically, services are held in the Helene G. Simon Hillel Center, 730 E. Third St. But the Jewish New Year is such a big celebration that Rabbi Sue Shiffron, leader at Hillel, said the attendance demands are much more than normal.\nThe St. Paul Catholic Center, 1413 E. 17th St., will host the Jewish High Holy Day services during the next two weeks. \nJoe Hren, a member of St. Paul and on-air manager at WIUS, said the collaboration is something that shocked him when he first joined the church.\n"I was taken aback," Hren said. "I had been to a Catholic church my whole life, and I had never experienced something like this."\nBut Hren said now that he's come to know the "love and friendliness" at the church, it doesn't surprise him at all. \nShiffron will lead the services at St. Paul's during the Jewish high holidays.\n"Students who generally don't go home come to St. Paul's," she said. "This year students will go home for Rosh Hashana because it's on a weekend. But Yom Kippur will be larger, maybe 1,000 or more."\nShiffron said the relationship between she and St. Paul's pastor, Father Dan Atkins, has been "fantastic."\n"The congregation has been great to us," she said. "Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur are our holiest days, and St. Paul is making it possible for so many students to observe this holiday. We really want to thank them."\nAtkins said the idea started about five years ago when the IU Auditorium -- where the large Jewish services were normally held -- scheduled another event during the high holy days. He said he offered the idea to Shiffron at a meeting for campus ministries. \n"Sue said, 'I don't know what we're going to do,' and I said, 'Do you want to come over to our house?'" Atkins said. "Initially there were some reservations -- which is expected. But now everyone is OK."\nThe Catholic congregation started taking down or covering any Christian religious symbols today for the Jewish services. \nLori Watson, director of campus outreach at St. Paul and graduate student at IU, said this conversion is important to appreciate and understand different faith traditions.\n"Attending other services or welcoming another faith into your home space is an effort to appreciate other religions," she said. "It does help them to know that the Christian community is welcoming of people of other faith -- that were not out to exist isolated from other communities."\nHren said the pairing has made him more aware of the Jewish faith.\n"It didn't affect me before," he said. "Now I think I'm more aware of their holidays, and I'm more interested in what they are doing. It does open up the communication between the two faiths."\n-- Contact Campus editor \nBen Cunningham at bacunnin@indiana.edu.