A Catholic Conference sponsored by the Association of Hebrew Catholics
At the Renaissance St. Louis Airport Hotel • Oct. 1-3, 2010
Many Catholics have heard individual Jews express their gratitude at
discovering the Messiah and being led into His Church. Now, in an
exercise of their irrevocable calling (cf. Rom 11:29), many will come
together to share their testimony and witness to God's revelation and
mercy.
This conference, sponsored by the Association of Hebrew Catholics (AHC),
invites all Catholics to come share the joy of
fulfilling our Lord's call when He declared: "You Shall Be My Witnesses."
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.
Address to our Arab Christian Brothers and Sisters Catholics for Israel are highly aware of the precarious and difficult situation you find yourselves in. We are not against you by calling ourselves Catholics for Israel. It is precisely the... Read more...
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...
Mary, the Universal Soul of Israel In this message I try to outline a a Jewish Catholic doctrine of Mary, a doctrine that, I think, does full justice to Mary as she is understood by the Church while, at the same time, acknowledging... Read more...
Why Catholics for Israel? Why is there a need for an apostolate of Catholics for Israel? What are some of the current challenges and problems in the Church and in the world that Catholics for Israel hopes to address? 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 (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...
Christians' Plight in the Holy Land It's highly doubtful that Dr. Justus Reid Weiner's chilling forecast of the impending demise of Christian communities under Palestinian Authority jurisdiction will generate much outrage or uproar in... 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; the... 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...
Judaism & Catholicism: The Essential Difference There are no disagreements between Judaism and Catholicism. Where their teachings diverge, it is because they apply to two different, well, let’s call them universes, two ways that human... 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...
Torah and Gospel - Other Articles External links to other articles on the subject of Jewish Catholics and Torah observance Hebrew Catholic Vocation by Aharon Yosef
Jesus and His Disciples Kept the Law Is the baptized Jew obligated to keep the commandments of the Jewish Law? In the first part of this series, we see how Jesus did not abrogate the Law of Moses that was given to the Jewish people. We... Read more...
The Sacrament of Reconciliation (Confession) Confession (or “reconciliation”) is the sacrament where Baptized Catholics receive forgiveness from God’s mercy for the offense committed against him, and are reconciled with the... Read more...
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 of the Christian life and its highest and most... Read more...
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 through a new and greater Savior, Jesus the... 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...
Why Don't (Most) Jews Believe in Jesus? I have recently returned to Jerusalem after an absence of seven months abroad. During this time, I had many conversations with Catholic friends about Judaism. To many of them it seems... Read more...
USCCB on Covenant and Mission A statement clarifying two points of Catholic teaching relative to the Jewish community was released June 18, 2009, at the spring meeting of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops... Read more...
Gott ist kein Bigamist (German) On March 9, 2009, the Central Committee of German Catholics released a heretical document entitled Nein zur Judenmission - Ja zum Dialog zwischen Juden und Christen ("No to Jewish mission - Yes... Read more...
Papal Address to American Jewish Organizations Benedict XVI calls the Shoah "a Crime Against God and Against Humanity" and reaffirms that "the Church draws its sustenance from the root of that good olive tree, the people of Israel,... Read more...
Pope: Holocaust denial unacceptable Pope Benedict XVI said any minimization of the Holocaust was unacceptable, especially for a priest, as he met with Jewish leaders in hopes of ending the rancor over a bishop who denied 6 million Jews... Read more...
Vatican Note on Bishop Williamson Following the reactions aroused by the recent Decree of the Congregation for Bishops, with which the excommunication of the four Bishops of the Fraternity of Saint Pius X was remitted, and in... Read more...
A Secret Seeker Finds the Messiah I am an Orthodox Jew by adoption. That is to say, I am a convert to Judaism, according to the halacha. I live in the company of other Orthodox Jews, with my husband and four children, in a religious... Read more...
A Messianic Jewish Catholic's Journey Having been raised in a Conservative Jewish home in suburban Toronto, I was a regular attendee at synagogue on Sabbaths and High Holidays. My father is a Holocaust survivor from Poland and my... Read more...
Magdi Allam's Path to Conversion Benedict XVI Baptized the Journalist at Easter Vigil. Here is a translation of Magdi Allam’s account of his conversion to Catholicism. The Muslim journalist was baptized by Benedict XVI at... Read more...
In Memoriam: Cardinal Lustiger Aaron Jean-Marie Lustiger, cardinal and archbishop, died on August 5th, 2007, aged 80. At the funeral of Jean-Marie Lustiger, at Notre Dame de Paris on August 10th, his second cousin Jonas... Read more...
Other Testimonies Read and hear testimonies of "fulfilled Jews" who entered the Catholic Church on the site Salvation is from the Jews Once a Chicken, Now a Fish: the spiritual journey of Reformed Jewish... Read more...
A Prodigal Son Returns Home This is the story of my return to the Catholic Church. I will attempt to explain how my walk with the Lord these past years has led me to this important and difficult decision, yet one that I... Read more...
Recent Articles
Quote of the Month
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 the
land of its fathers, is not connected in some way, still a mystery to
us, to this providential order which concerns the chosen people and
which is carried out even through human error and excess as happens in
the Church itself? If Israel is to enter the New Covenant one day, St.
Paul tells us that they will not do so a few at a time but as an entire
nation, as ever-living ‘roots’. But if Israel is to enter as a nation,
it must be a nation, it must have a land of its own, an organization
and a voice in the midst of other nations of the earth. The fact that
Israel has remained an ethnic unity throughout the centuries and
throughout many historical upheavals is, in itself, a sign of a destiny
that has not been interrupted but is waiting to be fulfilled. (Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa, from Christ, the Glory of Israel)
