JERUSALEM — A significant donation from a leading American Jewish organization to repair Gaza’s only Catholic church is an outgrowth of years of interreligious cooperation and dialogue between Catholic and Jewish leaders. 

The American Jewish Committee, an American Jewish advocacy organization, will donate $25,000 to assist Gaza Christians and rehabilitate the Holy Family Church, which was damaged by an Israeli tank shell on July 17. 

Three people were killed and 17 people, including Father Gabriel Romanelli, the parish priest of Gaza, were injured in the attack on the Holy Family Church compound, where about 500 Christians, as well as several disabled Muslims cared for by the Missionaries of Charity, have found refuge for nearly two years. The Israeli government apologized for the incident, which it called an accident. 

Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the archbishop of New York who is a strong advocate for interfaith dialogue and cooperation, said AJC’s desire to assist the Christian community in Gaza “reflects our shared Judeo-Christian beliefs: the belief that peace will ultimately triumph over warfare, that light will triumph over darkness, that good will triumph over evil. As Christians and Jews who stand in solidarity for those who are suffering, we strive to be people of hope, and AJC’s donation toward the rehabilitation of the community in Gaza is a hope-filled sign.”

Rabbi Noam Marans, the AJC’s director of interreligious affairs, said that while the organization’s “overwhelming primary concern is for the well-being of the state of Israel and the Jewish people,” helping the Christian community in Gaza “provides an opportunity to include wider humanity, innocents who have become victims of this painful war initiated by Hamas terrorists” on Oct. 7, 2023. 

Interreligious dialogue between Jews and Catholics has long been a priority for both Catholics and Jews. 

Father David Neuhaus, a former patriarchal vicar for Hebrew-speaking Catholics in Israel, said the improved relationship between Catholics and Jews can be traced to Nostra Aetate, the groundbreaking Second Vatican Council document on the Church’s relationship to non-Christian religions. Marking its 60th year, Nostra Aetate signified a major shift in how the Church formulated its attitude toward people of other religions, especially Jews.

“It was a call to look at how we formulate our teaching about Jews that led to a 180-degree turnaround,” he said. “No longer should we refer to Jews in negative terms, to say Jews crucified Jesus. It is recognition that Jesus was a Jew and that the Jews are a chosen people of God.” 

The Church also focused on the need to ask for forgiveness from the Jewish people. In the past, “we taught contempt, not respect, with disastrous consequences for the Jewish people. Nostra Aetate tries to formulate a new language of respect.” 

From this starting point, Father Neuhaus said, Catholics and Jews now study the heritage they have in common, including Scripture, and are jointly working on tikkun olam, the Hebrew term for making the world a better place. 

“These are some of the fruits” of interreligious dialogue and respect, the priest added. 

Rabbi Eugene Korn, a former director of national interfaith affairs for the Anti-Defamation League, also credited Nostra Aetate as the turning point in Catholic-Jewish relations. 

“Until the 1960s, relations between the Catholic Church and the Jewish people were very hard. The Church taught supersessionism or replacement theology — the belief that Christians have replaced Jews as God’s chosen people. That for Christianity to be the truth, Judaism had to be false. It bred a lot of antisemitism,” Korn said. 

Nostra Aetate replaced these teachings “with a much more cooperative relationship with Judaism and the Jewish people,” the rabbi said. “Suddenly, there was an interest in exploring the Jewish roots of Christianity.” Gradually, many Catholic universities established Jewish studies centers where Catholics could learn more about Judaism and Jewish-Christian relations and history. 

“It didn’t happen overnight,” Korn said, but ultimately, “it was seen as a miraculous reversal.” Since then, the Vatican has established diplomatic ties with Israel. When Pope John Paul II visited Israel, he met with Israeli officials, prayed at the Western Wall and visited the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial — gestures that held great significance for Jews around the world. 

Although Korn had no connection to the American Jewish Committee’s donation, he was not surprised that the American Jewish community wanted to help the people of Gaza. Since the AJC’s announcement, the Jewish Federation of New York has donated $1 million to feed hungry Gazans via IsraAid, an Israeli humanitarian aid organization that has been quietly aiding people in Gaza for the past 18 months. 

“From our own history, we know what persecution is and what it is to be hungry,” Korn said. “Our Jewish values compel us to come to their aid. Every human being is created in the image of God.”