
I have had 15 personal meetings with Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI and authored a book describing how three American cardinals — Richard Cushing, Francis Spellman and John O'Connor — played major roles in the adoption and implementation of the Second Vatican Council's Nostra Aetate declaration that called for mutual respect, knowledge and understanding between Catholics and Jews.
I have been an overnight guest in numerous monasteries and spoken publicly in St. Patrick's Cathedral and in other Catholic churches. I hold honorary doctorates from St. Leo University and St. Martin's University, and I am a proud co-founder of the Center for Catholic-Jewish Studies on the St. Leo campus in Florida and a professor of religion at that university.