Speeches at the 70 Years Gala Celebration

His Beatitude Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa

Vicar of St. James in the years 2005-2008

Good morning and a happy feast. I am very happy to be with you today, in the jubilee year, 70 years since the Saint James Vicariate was established. I was asked to say a few words about my experience with the communities during the time I served in them.

I started my service in the communities, at first, in a very improvised way. They were looking for a priest who could hold a mass in Hebrew, because back then there weren't many Hebrew-speaking priests. But slowly, I became more and more involved in the world of the communities until I became a real part of them.

This was towards the end of the 90's and the beginning of the 2000's a completely different era, an era of hope, maybe.

What remained with me from that period? First of all, the love of the Scriptures. I always loved the Scriptures, but reading them together, as a community, in Hebrew, for me, it was like meeting the Scriptures anew. They spoke to me in a new way, maybe because of the language, but not only because of the language. Also, reading together in a community that’s different. It was truly beautiful.

The second thing is, we weren't many. And back then, the Saint James Vicariate already existed, but we needed to organize it, maybe in a different, newer way. And I felt that we were in a period where we needed to, I don't know, maybe not build it from scratch because as I said, the Vicariate already existed, but to give our Church, our community, a new form. It was beautiful participating in the building of something beautiful and doing it together. The 'together' part was very beautiful and very important, and it was what made the difference.

And the third thing is the relationship with the people of Israel. To understand them, and not only to look at the past, but to think and to feel like it’s the responsibility of the communities to help the Church understand and look forward, while maintaining this important relationship. A relationship that today is more important than ever, shrouded in many controversies, and exactly because of that, it’s very important that this tie remains and strengthens.

Happy feast!

His Excellence Bishop Rafic Nahra

Vicar of St. James in the years 2017-2021

Hello everyone. I am happy to be with you today and to extend to you all heartfelt greetings and best wishes for the celebration of 70 years of the Vicariate of Saint James – called at its founding “Work of St James,” and which became a vicariate in 2013. 

First, allow me to recall my first encounter with the communities. It was in the spring of 1993, when I came from Rome to Jerusalem for one semester as a student of Biblical studies. I had the privilege then of taking part in a prayer service held on Agron Street at the Lazarist Fathers, and there I met some members of the Jerusalem community whom I had not known before - one of them was the late Rina Geftman. Shortly after that first meeting, Rina invited me to her home and, with a special skill, managed to convince me that, as an Arab, I would in fact have a place in the communities. 

She told me that I could contribute to the life of the community if I helped translate the Latin liturgy into Hebrew – because Hebrew and Arabic are closely related Semitic languages. Little by little I began to feel connected to the Hebrew speaking communities, not only because of Rina’s words, but because I saw how much these communities are like a church home – like a small family, where everyone knows one another. In them, as in every family, there are quite a few problems, but also human warmth and closeness. I also loved the fact that the Jerusalem community greatly respects the Bible and loves to study it-with the particular character that Bible study takes on when one lives within a Jewish societyrich in long-standing interpretive traditions. This deep bond with Scripture is an asset to the Church, and I hope it will never fade among the communities. 

Another aspect that impressed me even before I became vicar in 2017, and which then occupied me greatly during my years of service as vicar, was the work with migrants and asylum seekers – a work that began with Fr. David Neuhaus and developed over time. The burden the vicariate took upon itself was great and heavy, especially before the current Patriarch established a new vicariate dedicated to migrants and asylum seekers. Yet all of us received many blessings from the relationship we developed with migrant families and their children. There is much that could be said about this subject, but I would like to emphasize one point: before we invested in this mission, I sometimes asked myself what could be done to develop ties between the communities and Jewish society in Israel. I thought of activities such as lectures, study days, and the like. But from the moment the communities began to serve the poor, I saw how many Israelis came on their own initiative, joined us, and asked how they could help. In this way, a wonderful cooperation came into being. All these things are a richness, and at the same time they are also a challenge. 

The last years have brought with them many new challenges that we had not previouslyknown on such a scale. Since October 7, many things in Israeli society have become complicated, especially in relations between Jews and Arabs, and not only on the level of society at large: this has had effects, to some extent, on the ecclesial level as well. It cannot be otherwise, because we are human beings –nevertheless, I believe these challenges did not come so that we would fail, but so that we would overcome them and grow in love. 

I wish for the communities that they will always be an open and embracing home for everyone. I know that many people frequent the communities – Christians, people of other faiths, and even those with no religion –  each with different expectations, sometimes even strange ones. It is written in Psalm 87: “And of Zion it shall be said, ‘This one and that one were born in her.’” May the communities, and all our churches in Jerusalem, be a place where everyone who enters can feel accepted and loved, as if they were a member of the household. Happy feast to everyone.

Fr. David Neuhaus

Vicar of St. James in the years 2009-2017

Seventy years is already retirement age in the life of a human but in the life of a Christian community this is still the age of infancy. Today I want to give thanks for the Hebrew speaking Catholic communities in Israel, which will always be for me the kehilla, my little corner in my home which is the Church.

 I was introduced to the kehilla at the beginning of the eighties. What struck me back then, still in my teens, was the atmosphere of prayer, and how it was expressed in a beautiful musical tradition. Thanks to the talented musicians of the first years, Fr. Yohanan, Sr. Maroussia, Sr. Ora, Lea and others, we got off to a good start… And we continue with the contributions of our musicians today, including in recent years Bp Rafic and Fr. Benny.

 I was baptized and then received first communion and confirmation in the kehilla in 1988, when we were still in Isaiah House. Twelve years later, I was ordained to the priesthood, surrounded by members of the kehilla, in 2000, and celebrated my first mass in Hebrew in Terra Santa College, alongside Card. Pierbattista, then responsible for the Jerusalem kehilla, now our Patriarch. In 2005, I started serving as the assistant to the then Vicar, Card. Pierbattista, and we began a period of renewal and revitalization.

Our big challenge has always been to give expression to a form of Catholic life at home in the Hebrew language, rooted in the Jewish tradition (which is the tradition of those of us who are indeed from Jewish families, but also the tradition out of which the Church emerged), rooted in Israeli society, sharing our load of civic responsibilities, in communion with our brothers and sisters who are Arabs, in Israel, in Palestine, and throughout the Middle East, and witnesses to Gospel values of equality, justice, and peace, in dialogue with Jews and Muslims.

I served as Vicar between 2008 and 2017, and this was a time of intense activity. We continued to develop our various ministries

- among our children (summer camps, Passover camps and Hannukah camps),

- among our youth with Desert Flower and the attempt to provide social support for them to live their Christian faith in the midst of Jewish society,

- among our families, encouraging a conversation on how to support families in creating home churches where, children grow up in an environment that makes it perfectly natural to be Catholic and Jewish and Israeli,

- developing catechetical instruction, through training religion teachers, publishing textbooks and feeding an active website,

- continuing the ongoing discussion about the Jewish roots not only of our faith but of our lives as Jewish believers,

- seeking ways to make our contribution to the unity of the body of Christ in Israel/Palestine today.

In those years, the outreach to migrants and asylum seekers consumed a lot of our energies. We built a pastoral center in Tel Aviv, Our Lady Woman of Valor and a children center, Saint Rachel’s, in Jerusalem, set up extensive day care facilities and after school structures in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. We lobbied for the rights of migrants, opening ourselves to their reality of marginalization, discrimination and poverty.

I resigned in 2017 but have continued to see the kehilla as my home. I now sit on the sidelines, helping wherever I can. We must continue to grow not only in numbers but in depth so that we can be a face of Jesus Christ in our society, a face through which our neighbors and compatriots can get to know him, dialogue with him, and feel his presence. On the 60th anniversary, I published a letter to the kehillot and I concluded it with words that seem appropriate also now; “The celebration of an anniversary is also a time to recommit to the founding vision, and in the light of the evaluation of the present, move with confidence towards a future that is opening on the horizon. As we look towards the future (…), we turn to the Creator to ask His blessing, to the Lord to ask His guidance and to the Holy Spirit that we might be inspired.”

Mazal tov to us all.

His Excellency Yaron Seideman

Ambassador of Israel to the Holly See

Greetings to you, members of the community of St. James Vicariate.

It is a great honor for me to congratulate you today on seventy years since the founding of your community.

As Israel's Ambassador to the Holy See, I am proud to represent the State of Israel and Israeli society to the Vatican and the Catholic world in general.

And you, my dear friends, represent in my eyes everything that is good and beautiful, and something worth being proud of in the State of Israel and in Israeli society.

When I submitted my charter to Pope Francis in September 2024, I chose to give him as a gift a photograph of youth from the community of St. James, proudly waving the Israeli flag as part of a gathering of young Catholics from all over the world called World Youth Day, held in Lisbon in the year 2023.

This is how I explained this picture to the Pope. In my opinion, it is a tangible and inspiring expression of the uniqueness and the strength of Israeli society, all of it, and you are part of it.

The harmony between your Catholic religious identity and your Israeli national identity, combining them with great justice, is something you are proud of. It sets an example and is a masterpiece of the capacity of Israeli society, all of it, to contain in closeness a rich variety of identities, religions, cultures, and traditions, and to be built and strengthened from their combination.

This is the secret of our magic. This is the unifying quality that dances with us as a society.

And you, in the community of St. James Vicariate, represent this quality in a masterful and inspiring manner.

You proudly wave both the religious and national flags. You glorify the use of the Hebrew language in which the Bible was written, which embodies the world of values that we share in common with both Judaism and Christianity.

Your work on the social and interreligious level contributes a very significant and noticeable contribution to promoting values of human brotherhood, tolerance, and understanding - values that unite and bind us together as a society.

In these days, when the world is facing challenges of polarization, division, and extremism, your message of brotherhood, unity, mutual respect, persistence in integration, and contribution to the whole is an incredibly important message, which constitutes a source of inspiration for all of us.

It reminds us of the importance of community and of human and cultural bridges.

I am proud, therefore, of the great privilege that has been given to me to recognize you and to learn about your blessed work, and I would like to express my appreciation to each and every one of you.

May you continue to strengthen our common future through deepening ties to our common roots, and awaken in all of us a spirit of faith, of peace, and of brotherhood.

I wish you many more years of a flourishing and prosperous community, for the life of the community of St. James Vicariate and for the life of the State of Israel.

Thank you very much.

Rt. Rev. Piotr Zelazko

The Vicar of St. James

Dear brothers and sisters,

Today we celebrate seventy years of the St. James Vicariate - seventy years of faith lived in a unique way, in a unique land, and in a unique language.

First of all, our hearts turn with gratitude to the past generations. To the founders, priests, religious sisters, and lay people who had the courage to begin something entirely new. They did not have ready models to follow. They trusted the Gospel, listened to the needs of the people, and believed that God was calling them to build a home for Hebrew‑speaking Catholics in this land. Many of them planted seeds without knowing how they would grow.

Today, we stand on the ground they prepared with their faith, sacrifice, and perseverance. We also remember those who continued this mission through the decades - those who taught our children, welcomed new immigrants, celebrated the sacraments, translated prayers, organized communities, and quietly carried responsibilities day after day. Some of them are still among us; others are no longer here, but their legacy lives in the life of our Vicariate. We owe them more than words can express.

At the same time, this anniversary is not only about the past. It is also about the present. I would like to thank all those who are building the St. James Vicariate today: our priests and pastoral workers, catechists, youth leaders, volunteers, staff members, families, and donors. Each of you is a brick in this building that is so beautiful, yet not perfect: just like us. Thanks to you, the Vicariate is not a memory, but a living reality. You keep our communities open, welcoming, praying, serving, and growing. You show that the Church is not an institution alone, but a family shaped by many hands and many hearts.

And finally, this celebration invites us to look toward the future with hope. We do not know all the challenges that await us, but we know that the same God who guided the past continues to walk with us today. Our task is to remain faithful, attentive, and courageous - to listen to the signs of the times, to care for the next generation, and to continue building bridges of faith, dialogue, and compassion.

Seventy years is a gift. It is also a responsibility. May the St. James Vicariate continue to be a place where faith speaks the language of the people, where diversity becomes richness, and where hope is stronger than fear. May it continue to be a place where Jesus is present and His grace meets everyone. Thank you to each one of you for being part of this journey. May God bless our Vicariate, our communities, and all who walk with us - yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Thank you.