The
Church... cannot forget that she received the revelation of the Old
Testament through the people with whom God in His inexpressible mercy
concluded the Ancient Covenant. Nor can she forget that she draws
sustenance from the root of that well-cultivated olive tree [Israel]
onto which have been grafted the wild shoots, the Gentiles. Indeed, the
Church believes that by His cross Christ, Our Peace, reconciled Jews
and Gentiles, making both one in Himself.
The Church keeps ever in mind the words of the Apostle about
his
kinsmen: "theirs is the sonship and the glory and the covenants and the
law and the worship and the promises; theirs are the fathers and from
them is the Messiah according to the flesh" (Rom. 9:4-5), the Son of
the Virgin Mary. She also recalls that the Apostles, the Church's
main-stay and pillars, as well as most of the early disciples who
proclaimed Christ's Gospel to the world, sprang from the Jewish
people... God holds the Jews most dear for the sake of their Fathers;
He does not repent of the gifts He makes or of the calls He issues."(NA
4)
We are an
apostolate of Catholics for Israel and Catholics in
Israel committed to fostering a greater love for the Jewish people, for
Jesus the Messiah, and for His Body, the Catholic Church.
NEW! The
fully editable PowerPoint presentations of the online course are now
available for purchase!
WE NEED YOUR
HELP!
The translation of our website into Hebrew is currently slowed down due
to a lack of funds. Do you feel called to support the work of
the
Gospel in the Holy Land and to contribute to the first Catholic
teaching resource available in Hebrew? Please DONATE NOW!
Catholics
for Israel is looking for volunteers interested in helping out with the
translation of our website into other languages (especially Hebrew,
French, German, and Italian). If you are interested in helping out
please contact Catholics for Israel.
Quote of the Week
It is right and fitting that, during my stay
in Israel, I will have the opportunity to honor the memory of the six
million Jewish victims of the Shoah, and to pray that humanity will
never again witness a crime of such magnitude. Sadly, anti-Semitism
continues to rear its ugly head in many parts of the world. This is
totally unacceptable. Every effort must be made to combat anti-Semitism
wherever it is found, and to promote respect and esteem for the members
of every people, tribe, language and nation across the globe. (From
Pope Benedict's arrival speech in Israel, Tel Aviv airport, May 11,
2009)
A Response to Robert Sungenis On September 2, 2009, Catholic apologist Robert Sungenis published a document entitled "The Erroneous Teachings of Catholics for Israel” in which he directly attacks the legitimacy of our... Read more...
Holy Land or Israel? Sometimes I hear Catholics talking about making a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and I must confess that something about this lightly irritates me. “Why would this irritate you” you... Read more...
On Anti-Semitism Jesus Christ suffers in the passion of Israel. In striking Israel, the anti-Semites strike him, insult him and spit on him. To persecute the house of Israel is to persecute Christ, not in his... Read more...
Christ, the Glory of Israel "We know that God gave Israel the land but there is no mention of his taking it back again forever. Can we Christians exclude that what is happening in our day, that is, the return of Israel to... Read more...
The Covenant With Israel Cardinal Avery Dulles (1918-2008), of blessed memory, discusses the present status of God's covenant with Israel, a subject which has been extensively discussed in Jewish-Christian dialogues since... Read more...
Cardinal Schönborn on Zionism Christoph Cardinal Schönborn says European Christians' support for Israel is not based on Holocaust guilt and Christians should affirm Zionism as biblical. Schoenborn said it was doctrinally... Read more...
Israel and the charge of Apartheid Day by day the anti-Israel alliance, and sadly in collaboration with major church movements mainly from the Protestant world, is seeking to make the Apartheid label stick to Israel. We see this at... Read more...
In Gaza, the Vatican Raises the White Flag Hamas denies Israel's right to exist. But for pontifical diplomacy, the Jewish state is wrong to defend itself with force. The custodian of the Holy Land reveals the thinking behind the Church's... Read more...
Human Rights of Christians in Palestinian Society On the heels of the Gaza disengagement, which was intended to empower the Palestinian Authority to improve the lives of its people, few journalists have reported on the acutely trying times facing... Read more...
Interview with Petra Heldt An interview with Petra Heldt, head of the Ecumenical Theological Research Fraternity in Israel and proud friend of Israel, on Christians in Israel, dhimmitude and Sharia law, and Jewish-Christian... Read more...
Christians Flee Islamic Fundamentalism The Christian population of the areas under the control of the Palestinian Authority (PA) has sharply declined in recent decades, as tens of thousands have abandoned their holy sites and ancestral... Read more...
Christmas in Jerusalem Christmas in Jerusalem (2009) See a schedule of the Catholic celebrations of Christmas (2009) in Jerusalem, or view a multi-media presentation on the Christmas story (in Hebrew). Read more...
The Grinch that Destroys Christmas It's that time of year again - the media prepares to take a festive bash at Israel. But in the rush to blame Israel for the precarious position of Christian communities in the region, the foreign... Read more...
Tisha b'Av and the God who Suffers This coming Saturday night begins the fast of Tisha b'av on which we mourn the destruction of both the first and second Temples. According to the midrash, the messiah was born on Tisha b’av,... Read more...
The Blessed Trinity The Trinity is the central mystery of the Christian faith. The term describes the inner life of God, who is an eternal communion of Persons and a Family whose life is love. Is the concept of the... Read more...
The Divinity of the Messiah Is the Messiah to be a mere man, as is commonly thought in traditional Judaism, or is he divine, as it is held by Christians? Did the concept of a divine Messiah derive from Greek pagan influences,... Read more...
Why Jesus? A short overview of the Gospel message and how it applies to you today: God's loving plan for us to share in His divine life, how we have broken His covenant, how Jesus has come to reconcile us to... Read more...
The Messiah in the Tanakh Can we get a good idea of who is the Jewish Messiah from the Old Testament and from Jewish writings? Study the messianic prophecies of the Old Testament in the light of Jewish apocryphal literature,... Read more...
The River of Ezekiel's Temple A study of the river flowing from Ezekiel's Temple (Ezek 47:1-12) and its underlying themes: Jerusalem and Zion as the Lord's cosmic mountain; water as a prophetic sign of eschatological healing; and... Read more...
The Feasts of Israel The Feasts of Israel recall God's deliverance of the Israelites and his care for them throughout their history: the Exodus out of Egypt, the journey through the desert, the giving of the law and the... Read more...
Why the Catholic Jew Rejoices on Passover Why should the Jew who has been saved by Jesus celebrate his redemption from Egypt? What meaning could the statement in the Haggadah that we should regard ourselves as having participated personally... Read more...
Cardinal Lustiger on the Jewish Church From Cardinal Jean-Marie Lustiger's Book 'The Promise':"The Church appears in Jerusalem, after Pentecost, as an "assembly" kahal in Hebrew, ecclesia in Greek. it is unthinkable that... Read more...
The Ceremonial Law as Acquired Virtue The commandments of the Law of Moses require both interior and exterior acts. There are commandments which pertain to the heart (love of G-d, to love of neighbor, fear of G-d etc.) and commandments... Read more...
The Ceremonial Law Sanctifies the Body The sanctification of the body is important because, as St. Paul points out in Romans 7, the law of sin, i.e., the impulse to sin, resides in the body. The sanctification of the body through... Read more...
St. Paul on Jewish Law and Catholic Jews Is the baptized Jew still a Jew? Is he still obligated to keep the Law? Didn’t St. Paul say that he’s not? The purpose of this article is to address these questions by... Read more...
A Short Meditation on Kashrut Are the laws of kashrut (the Jewish dietary laws) just empty, outdated rules, or do they serve a purpose in glorifying God for the Catholic Jew? Read more...
Did Jesus Abrogate the Law? Did Jesus Suspend the Observance of the Law? This article examines some of the Biblical arguments in support of the traditional doctrine that exempts, not only the Gentile, but even the baptized Jew... Read more...
The Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) An Introduction to the Sacrament of Reconciliation (with an examination of conscience) What is Confession? Confession (or “reconciliation”) is the sacrament where Baptized Catholics... Read more...
The Mass and the Eucharist An Introduction to the Mass and the Eucharist Welcome to this short introduction to the celebration of the Holy Mass, or Eucharist (which means thanksgiving)! The Eucharist is the source and summit... Read more...
The Catholic Liturgical Life as New Exodus The Catholic Liturgical Life as New Exodus Read how the Exodus, God's deliverance of Israel out of Egyptian slavery through Moses, prefigured God's redemption of all humanity from the slavery of sin... Read more...
A Catholic View of the End Times What are Catholics to think of the end of days? Did Jesus say that we can have no idea of when He will return, or did He warn us to be aware of the "signs of the times"? What are some of... Read more...
On Love and Authority No one could stand beneath the Cross there who wasn't willing to join Jesus on the Cross, to suffer with him. But only those who truly loved Jesus could do that, so only those who truly loved Jesus... Read more...
Why Be Catholic? Do you sometimes feel like there is something missing to your faith? Do you have a desire of becoming a part of the Church that Jesus originally founded? What does it mean to be "Catholic"?... Read more...
The Story of Salvation This article presents an overview of salvation history, covering creation, the fall, God's covenants with Israel and with mankind, the coming of the Messiah, and the one, holy, catholic and apostolic... Read more...
The Tendencies of Evangelicalism Are you an evangelical Christian or a Messianic Jew? What makes Evangelicalism so attractive? What is the recipe for its success? What are the tensions and problems inherent in Evangelical... Read more...
