Saint James Vicariate For Hebrew Speaking Catholics in Israel

Inter-religious Dialogue

Since its origins Saint James Vicariate revealed a profound vocation to inter-religious dialogue, especially with the Jewish people. Indeed, there have always been, in our communities, members who are both children of the Church and of the people of Israel. Also, our faithful live, study and work in a Jewish Hebrew speaking milieu. Therefore, we feel the need to build bridges between our communities and the Jewish society, remembering that these two worlds have been too separated throughout history.

Our little kehillot (communities) are open and welcoming. Many Christian groups from all over the world visit us, attend our services, and are interested in hearing about our experience as a Catholic minority living in Israel. We receive sometimes Jewish Israeli guided groups who visit our place, willing to discover – often for the first time - who we are, asking questions about the Church in the world, the Christian practice and about our experience as Hebrew speaking Catholics in Israel.

Our Vicariate is engaged in several initiatives within the frame-mark of inter-religious dialogue:

In Jerusalem, since 2015, a deep friendly collaboration has been established with the Jewish congregation “Tzion”, including regular inter-faith Bible study on a monthly base, and common charitable activities with the participation of Muslim partners.

Our day care center Beit Rachel Imenu in Jerusalem is the crossroads of positive inter-religious collaboration, given the presence of many volunteers belonging to different organizations, who come and dedicate part of their time to our migrant children.

Beersheva Kehilla has recently discovered her inter-religious vocation and is contributing actively to the development of the dialogue in the southern part of the Country. The parish priest of Beersheva is much present and active in inter-faith panels and events, some of them being organized in the schools.

Inter-religious dialogue is little by little engaging our young generations too. Since 2018 some delegates from our Youth Group “Perah Ha-midbar” take part to the biannual Jewish-Catholic dialogue emerging leadership conference, organized by the Vatican and world Jewish organizations.