BY JULIE IRWIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Cathy Rodner used to joke about belonging to the only Jewish family in her Anderson Township subdivision. Then a November attack of anti-Semitic vandalism in her community turned her laughter to alarm.
"It was really disturbing to me, really upsetting," Mrs. Rodner said of the swastikas and other graffiti spray-painted Nov. 15 on the Yarger Drive home of the Krug family.
"I went to work and started thinking: 'We need to do something.' I called my friend and said, 'Why don't you work on the schools and I'll work on the churches.' "
The response from the churches has restored much of Mrs. Rodner's faith in the township she moved to in 1991. Several congregations have passed out educational literature to their members and at least 18 Anderson-area churches are meeting next Sunday, Jan. 24, to sign a declaration denouncing such bigotry.
Mrs. Rodner's letter to churches detailed the difficulty that can greet people in areas such as Anderson Township. She told the pastors of a time several Christmases ago when her young daughter was confronted by a "large and emotional classmate who one day harshly demanded, 'Do you or do you not believe that Jesus Christ is God's only begotten son?'
"My daughter was scared of him and answered 'Yes,' and then hid from her father for two days in shame," she said. ". . . (The message) that reached this child's ears was clearly one of intolerance." Four former Anderson High School students, ages 19 and 20, were arrested and charged with criminal damaging and ethnic intimidation at the Krug home.
Mrs. Rodner's letter, and a fleeting conversation with a colleague, prompted the Rev. Henry Zorn of Anderson's Lutheran Church of the Resurrection to organize Sunday's declaration signing. At a recent meeting of Lutheran clergy in Columbus, Pastor Zorn mentioned where he worked.
"Oh," a colleague responded, "you live in the community where they paint swastikas on the homes of the Jewish people!" After reflection, Pastor Zorn drafted a resolution and asked all 29 churches in the Anderson - Mount Washington - Newtown area to sign.
About eight churches didn't respond and two or so declined to participate, Pastor Zorn said, adding that some churches are between pastors and the request was sent during the busy Christmas season. The resolution, to be signed during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, calls on Christians "not to react to acts of intolerance with silent disagreement, but rather, to transform silence and lethargy into visible acceptance of others by actively confronting intolerance and replacing it with acts of love."
