Tag: Jesuit

By Carol Burns, Leeds Pax Christi

I was very pleased to be alerted by a friend to a webinar hosted by the Canonesses of the Holy Sepulchre led by Father David Newhaus SJ.

Born into a German Jewish family in South Africa, who had fled the Holocaust, he was sent to Jerusalem aged 15 by his parents so he could avoid military service in South Africa. His parents opposed the apartheid regime and thought he was safer in Israel. He became an Israeli citizen at the age of 17 and has lived most of his life in Israel. After obtaining his Ph. D. in political science from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, he decided to become a Catholic and entered the Society of Jesus in 1992.

He now teaches Scripture in several institutions including in Israel and Palestine.

It was a thoughtful and very engaging session from someone with a unique perspective.

The title of Father David’s talk was:

Must we still hope? Is it right to continue hoping despite Gaza?

Perhaps there comes a time for despair.

Father David put the Palestine situation in the context of his own heritage and the struggle against apartheid in South Africa.

He referenced those who had resisted the Nazis such as Irena Sendler and the Ulma family, a Polish Catholic family living in Markowa, who hid Polish Jewish families in their own home. The whole family including 6 children were executed by the Nazis for this bravery.

A reminder of those who resisted in South Africa, Archbishop Dennis Hurley, Desmond Tutu, Steve Biko and of course Nelson Mandela.

Resistance is vital but can we continue hoping after the devastating events of October 7th and all that followed with the genocide in Gaza.

Father David invites us to go through a number of stages that might bring us to the possibility of Hope.

• Awakening to pain
• A sober look around
• A cry (lament)

It is ok to lament for all the suffering around us

• Stepping into the breach, in other words speaking out, being prophetic
• A prophetic imagination ( citing Walter Breugmann) this is our chance to look for our vision for fulfilling God’s Plan
• Remembering, how God has worked in history
• Hoping because we have the hope of the resurrection

He shared that in April 2025 an ecumenical group including himself, members of Sabeel and Michael Sabah Latin Patriarch emeritus issued a statement, offering specific support to Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

We refuse to simply pass you by. We not only do not forget you, but commit ourselves to solidarity with you. We carry you in our prayers. We cry with you. We seek to make your cries heard in a world which needs to be shaken out of its complacency.

Finally, to those Jews and Christians who have been led to believe that God wants Israel to annex our homeland:

We want to state clearly that you have been misguided. All, Palestinians and Israelis, are created in the image and likeness of God. They are all equal in dignity and rights. Furthermore, our God is a God of love who abhors violence and loves all God’s children. The Palestinians are your “neighbor”. The inviolable commandment in the word of God we share is this: “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18, Matthew 22:39, Mark 12:31, Luke 10:27, Roman 13:9). To expel the Palestinians from their homeland is not only an act of violence; it is sacrilege.

The full statement is here https://www.sjesjesuits.global/2025/04/02/a-jerusalem-voice-for-justice-an-ecumenical-witness-for-equality-and-a-just-peace-in-palestine-israel/

Father David ended his talk with this: we can be hopeful even in the most difficult times because of the Resurrection.

“The experience of Easter obliges us to proclaim: The Risen Lord has triumphed over death and evil and we are witnesses to this. (…) The resurrection is not our response to violence; it is our very identity as Christians, called to preach hope when hope seems impossible, to witness to life when our day-to-day reality seems to promise only death. This hope, in our smallness, in mustard seeds, leaven in bread, translates into our stubborn insistence on continuing to imagine a better common future and then setting out the work of living it now.”

Justice and Peace Commission, Message for Easter 2024.

Father David shared a whole range of resources, encouraging us to listen to Jewish writers who support justice for Palestine.

Links to other talks/articles by Fr David include:

 

Kairos Palestine

Recently issued the document "Kairos Palestine II" - essential reading for us! With talks from its launch in Nov 2025 at https://kairospalestine.ps/index.php/about-kairos/kairos-palestine-ii

Sabeel Kairos

UK charity partnering both Kairos Palestine and Sabeel and adding UK perspectives like Call to suspend UK-Israel trade deal over death penalty

Do join it!  https://www.sabeel-kairos.org.uk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdO8msPmAFQ