Superintendant receives ‘Horn of Remembrance’ for interfaith efforts

By J.D. Long-García
The Catholic Sun

For the past 33 years, MaryBeth Mueller has helped Catholic students look beyond their immediate surroundings to see global problems.

The Phoenix Holocaust Survivors’ Association recognized Mueller, Catholic Schools superintendent, for her dedication to Holocaust remembrance through the Bearing Witness program April 23.

“I think it’s very important for our students not only to be aware of the Holocaust, but of anti-Semitism, the hatred and the genocide that’s still happening today if we look at the Sudan,” Mueller said. “We have to teach our children that violence cannot wreak havoc with people’s lives.”

The Bearing Witness program is an educational effort organized by the Anti-Defamation League. Mueller led a team effort to implement it in the Diocese of Phoenix in 2003.

“The ambition of this program is to provide Catholic school teachers with the training and resources necessary to teach their students about anti-Semitism and the Holocaust,” said David Kader, president of the Phoenix Holocaust Survivors’ Association.

The Bearing Witness program first began regionally in the Diocese of Tucson in 2002. The program continues to be strong, Kader said.

“In a world which would rather ignore the truth and descend into moral amnesia, we have friends in the ADL and the dioceses of our state,” he added.

Mueller and Sr. Rosa Marie Ruiz, CFMM, from the Diocese of Tucson received the “Horn of Remembrance,” joining the many teachers that have been honored in the award’s 20-year history.

By recognizing teachers, the award underscores the fundamental role they play in the “sacred work of remembrance,” Kader said.

Mueller credited John Paul II for opening the doors to a deeper relationship between the Catholic and Jewish faiths.

“He’s the one who took those initial steps that said these are our brothers and sisters,” she said.