Nominated for an Academy Award® this year in the Documentary Short Subject category, SISTER ROSE'S PASSION is a inspiring portrait of a remarkable woman who challenged the doctrine that blamed the Jews for the death of Jesus, and took a leading role in Vatican II, which officially changed the Catholic Church's position on its relationship with the Jewish people.

Born in 1920, Rose Thering grew up with ten siblings in a devoutly religious Catholic family on a Wisconsin farm; there were no Jews or people of color, and just one Protestant family, in her town of Plain. Sister Rose remembers the arrival of the first Jewish family in her area, recalling, "I can tell you a story of my father. At one time, we were driving through Plain and he whispered to me, 'We have a new pharmacist, and I think he's Jewish.' And I said, 'Daddy, why did you whisper that?' I didn't get an answer from my father.

"And then I asked my mother, 'Who are the Jews? Because I read here that the Jews killed Christ, killed Jesus.' 'Well,' she told me, 'they are the people that killed Jesus.' "

Exchanges like this prompted Sister Rose to begin a life of teaching and serving others. Asking why the Jewish people were persistently blamed for the death of Jesus, she began to question this assumption, embodied by the concept of "deicide." This term was often prominent in Catholic teachings and religious texts, fuelling long-held anti-Semitism. But as she says, "Jews never crucified anyone, Romans crucified people."

Through her dedicated scholarship, perseverance and conviction, Sister Rose was instrumental in convincing the Vatican to renounce the charge of deicide during the Second Vatican Ecumenical Council, known as Vatican II (1962-1965). In 1965, Vatican II adopted "Nostra Aetate: The Declaration on the Relationship of the Church to non-Christian Religions."

The "Nostra Aetate" Declaration made the key statement, "What happened in His passion cannot be charged against all the Jews without distinction, then alive, nor against the Jews of today." Sister Rose explains the meaning of the Declaration, saying, "That document said we Christians cannot blame the Jews for the death of Jesus. And it gave the reasons why. No more. No how. No one can ever say [that]...and if you ever hear anyone say that, you need to tell them, 'You better study your religion, 'cause it doesn't teach that anymore. It was our sins that Jesus chose to die for.' "

Sister Rose continued to fight against both secular and religious injustice. In 1986, following revelations that Kurt Waldheim had been an officer in a German army unit that committed atrocities in Yugoslavia during World War II, she was again on the front lines when she traveled to Vienna to protest his inauguration as Austrian president. In the melee that broke out during the demonstration, many protesters, including Sister Rose, were roughed up by the crowd and a yellow star was torn from Sister Rose's coat.

In 2004, anti-Semitism again became a subject of worldwide discussion with the release of Mel Gibson's film "The Passion of the Christ." While Sister Rose has been careful not to criticize Gibson, she is critical of the potential damage the film may cause and she disapproves of the "anti-Jewish" overtone, which is contrary to the Church's "Nostra Aetate" Declaration.

Still active today, Sister Rose lives in New Jersey, near Seton Hall University, where she came to teach in 1968 when the Department of Jewish-Christian Studies was established.

In addition to receiving an Oscar® nomination, SISTER ROSE'S PASSION was honored as Best Documentary Short at the 2004 Tribeca Film Festival.

SISTER ROSE'S PASSION is production of New Jersey Studios, LLC and Storyville Films; director/producer, Oren Jacoby; producers, Steve Kalafer and Peter LeDonne; coordinating producer, Risa Perlmutter Goldstein; executive producers, Peter LeDonne and Kellie Pyffer.

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