Posted on 10/11/2025 6:15:16 PM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
A group dedicated to providing a welcoming space for Jewish converts to Catholicism has launched in Israel.
The Association of Hebrew Catholics celebrated its official launch with a Mass on Aug. 8, the eve of the feast of its patron, St. Edith Stein, who was a Jewish convert to Catholicism.
Yarden Zelivansky, a Jewish convert to Catholicism and member of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) who worked to bring the Association of Hebrew Catholics to Israel, told CNA that about 30 people attended the event.
Reactions to the Association of Hebrew Catholics will likely be “mixed,” according to Zelivansky...
For example, he said, while secular Jews will likely remain indifferent, the religious Jewish community might take issue with the group, not because it is a Christian community but because it is a community of Jewish converts. However, he said the goal of the association is not to evangelize but rather to reach Jews who have already converted.
Ultimately, what Zelivansky is “most excited for” is to see how Christians who have a Jewish background or Messianic Jews will react to the association.
“I think what a lot of people don’t appreciate, Jews have historically often rejected Christianity, not just for the theology but for the culture,” he explained. “Because for Jews, their heritage and their culture are not just an ethnic thing.”
Jews have often “rejected Christianity because they were forced to assimilate or they were expected to assimilate when that happens,” he continued. “And it’s unimaginable for them to stop being Jews because it’s their inheritance from God.”
“I think being able to maintain that inheritance while being orthodoxly Catholic, once the Church really knows how to facilitate that for the people of Israel, it’s going to be a historical moment,” he stated.
(Excerpt) Read more at catholicnewsagency.com ...
Thank you for sharing.
Wanting now to do a deeper dive into the lives of notable converts like Edith Stein, as well as Catholic heroes of the Holocaust.
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