HEBREW SPEAKING CATHOLIC COMMUNITY

Today we had the great blessing to hear a talk by a priest of the Hebrew speaking community here in Israel who also has worked at the forefront of Jewish Christian relations. His information and experience helped piece together many things that have come up for us in our classes and from the variety of people we have met on pilgrimage. I think we have made strides in understanding more about the Jewish people and their faith. Especially in regards to our common heritage and the scripture we share. 

From what I gathered the Hebrew speaking Catholic is a rather new development, but it makes sense if you figure in the fact that many of the migrants to Israel are Catholics looking for work and seeking a prosperous place to raise a family. The new mission is now to provide catechesis for these children who are being raised in schools utilizing Hebrew. We celebrated Holy Mass with the community in Hebrew. The Mass was aided by a seminarian who played the guitar and sang beautiful songs throughout.  It was truly a privilege to pray with this community and chat with them afterwards.