Cardinal Dolan Receives AJC’s Nostra Aetate Award for Visionary Interfaith Work

Cardinal Timothy Dolan was today honored by American Jewish Committee (AJC), the global advocacy organization for the Jewish people, for his decades of groundbreaking work improving Catholic-Jewish relations and combating antisemitism.

Cardinal Dolan, the Archbishop Emeritus of New York, was given AJC's Nostra Aetate at Sixty Award during a celebratory luncheon at AJC headquarters.

AJC has long been a Jewish organizational leader in Catholic-Jewish relations, including the creation of Nostra Aetate. That groundbreaking document, issued by the Roman Catholic Church in 1965, declared Jews were not collectively responsible for the death of Jesus,

reversing centuries of Church dogma, and transforming Catholic-Jewish relations for the better.

"Cardinal Dolan has never hesitated to extend a hand of friendship to the Jewish community," said Rabbi Noam Marans, AJC's Director of Interreligious Affairs. "In a time when antisemitic incidents have spiked, he has always spoken out and showed up."

Cardinal Dolan has retired as Archbishop of New York but remains active as a cardinal, bishop

and priest, including as co-chief chaplain for the New York Police Department.

"One of my greatest joys in the nearly 17 years I served as Archbishop of New York was the strong bond of friendship and respect between the Catholic and Jewish communities of New York," Cardinal Dolan said. "I am grateful to my good brothers and sisters of American Jewish Committee for the honor of receiving AJC's Nostra Aetate at Sixty Award. They have my deep appreciation and I look forward to many opportunities to be together in the years to come."

Marans said Cardinal Dolan "set the gold standard" as a friend to the Jewish people, especially after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks in Israel. The cardinal had been in Rome at the time. When he returned to New York, Cardinal Dolan visited synagogues in the city, met with hostage families and survivors

and facilitated a contribution from the Archdiocese to rebuild a home destroyed by Hamas.

"As much as anyone

Cardinal Dolan knows the scourge of antisemitism is a problem we all have to solve, not just Jews," Marans said.

For Cardinal Dolan, AJC headquarters was familiar ground for talking about Nostra Aetate. He was there in 2015 to mark its 50th anniversary in a conversation with Marans.