March 23, 2026
During the Easter Triduum, Catholics celebrate the central events of our faith, the passion, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is himself the word made flesh. In the mystery of the Holy Eucharist instituted on Holy Thursday, we are invited to share in Christ's total gift of self so that we might join him one day in eternal life. The focus of our celebration is the paschal mystery of Christ and what God has done for all of us.
There has been a tendency at times to put the focus elsewhere. Sadly, the celebration of Easter has at times been the occasion for outbursts of hatred and even violence against Jews. The Catechism of the Council of Trent teaches that the Jews do not bear the collective guilt for the death of Jesus. The church made this teaching explicit at the Second Vatican Council in Nostra Aetate: "What happened in his passion cannot be charged against all the Jews without distinction then alive nor against the Jews of today. Although the church is the new people of God, the Jews should not be presented as rejected or accursed by God, as if this followed from the Holy Scriptures." The Catechism of Trent is particularly poignant when it notes that the guilt for the suffering of Jesus is especially great in us because we who profess to know Christ deny him with our sins. Indeed, Good Friday ought to be an occasion for us to return to the Lord, not to scapegoat others.
Holding the Jews collectively responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus represents a profound misunderstanding of what took place on Good Friday. It is also one of the causes of a great deal of the hatred for the Jewish people that we have seen in history and continue to see today. As Catholics, we are called to walk in the truth and so to reject the conspiracies and lies that lead to harassment and even violence against our Jewish brothers and sisters. There is a strong connection between religious freedom and working to counter antisemitism. As Nostra Aetate puts it, "In the rejection of every persecution against any man, the church, mindful of the patrimony she shares with the Jews, and moved not by political reasons but by the gospel's spiritual love, decries hatred, persecutions, displays of antisemitism directed against Jews at any time and by anyone." The Jewish community is attacked at a far higher rate than any other religious group in the United States.
If we Catholics, in truly living out the gospel, are to defend religious freedom with integrity, we must clearly speak out against antisemitism.