Coalition of Catholics Against Antisemitism expands to college campuses
The Coalition of Catholics Against Antisemitism (CCAA) will launch its first college chapter at Franciscan University of Steubenville in fall 2026. The initiative was inspired by a friendship between a former antisemite and a Catholic Zionist Gen Z student, leading to a campus group aimed at countering antisemitic propaganda. The chapter’s objectives include engaging students influenced by antisemitic narratives, promoting the Church’s stance on the Jewish people, raising awareness of rising antisemitism, and fostering philosemitism. The chapter will be sponsored by Associate Scholar Curt Stambaugh and managed by CCAA founder Simone Rizkallah, with student leader Colin Reitmeyer as chapter president.
2 months ago
The Coalition of Catholics Against Antisemitism (CCAA) is launching its first college chapter at Franciscan University of Steubenville, marking the group’s expansion from a 2023‑originated network into higher‑education campuses. The new chapter, led by student president Colin Reitmeyer and sponsored by scholar Curt Stambaugh, aims to confront antisemitic propaganda, raise awareness of rising antisemitism, and promote genuine appreciation of Jewish culture and “philosemitism” among students 1
CCAA was founded in October 2023 during a Franciscan University conference on “Nostra Aetate and the Future of Catholic‑Jewish Relations” 1. Its purpose is to counter antisemitism within Catholic contexts and foster dialogue and friendship between Catholics and Jews.
Simone Rizkallah, a founding member and manager of Jewish‑Christian partnerships at the Tikvah Fund, describes the coalition as open to additional campus chapters when student leaders take initiative 1.
The inaugural chapter will begin in fall 2026 at Franciscan University of Steubenville, the “founding Catholic home” of the coalition 1.
The chapter’s inspiration stems from two Gen Z students—one a former antisemite and the other a Catholic Zionist—whose friendship illustrates the possibility of conversion, dialogue, and authentic friendship 1.
The group plans to start conversations that challenge antisemitic propaganda, helping participants see why such ideologies are “deeply flawed” and encouraging alignment with the Church’s position on the Jewish people 1.
Beyond stopping antisemitism, the chapter seeks to cultivate “philosemitism” by increasing appreciation of Jewish culture among the student body 1.
Activities will include awareness campaigns about the rise of antisemitism and workshops designed to equip students with tools to combat hate on campus 1.
The CCAA’s expansion to Franciscan University signals a broader strategy to embed Catholic‑Jewish partnership initiatives within academic environments, leveraging student leadership to address antisemitism and build lasting interfaith solidarity 1.*
Examine the Catholic Church’s historic teaching on Jewish‑Christian relations
The Catholic Church’s “historic teaching” on Jewish–Christian relations is best understood as a development in emphasis: from a long period in which Christians often read Scripture through polemical lenses and sometimes tolerated or justified hostility, to a clear post–Second Vatican Council insistence that Jews must be treated with respect, not contempt, and that catechesis must avoid teaching that Jews are collectively rejected by God.
Catholic teaching begins with the basic fact that the Christian Bible is rooted in Jewish revelation: it includes the “Holy Scriptures” Christians call the Old Testament, and the New Testament is written as a further collection that still preserves close relations with Israel’s sacred Scriptures. The Pontifical Biblical Commission frames this as “many close relations” alongside a complex relationship marked by “perfect accord” in some areas and “great tension” in others.
The Pontifical Biblical Commission explicitly highlights a positive statement in John’s Gospel: “Salvation comes from the Jews” (Jn 4:22).
At the same time, the same Commission explains that the Fourth Gospel often describes “the Jews” as hostile to Jesus, yet this does not equal anti-Jewish sentiment. It argues that this usage reflects the separation of early Christian and Jewish communities, and that the negative language concerns particular opponents, not Jews “in general.”
One of the most direct “how-to” teachings appears in the Commission’s pastoral orientations:
This means the Church’s historic trajectory is not simply “the Bible says X”; it is that the Church increasingly taught that Scripture must be interpreted with historical and literary context, so that disagreements about Christ and the Gospel do not mutate into contempt for Israel “as such.”
A major Catholic element in any “historic teaching” is not ignoring the past. In We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah (1998), the Commission for Relations with Judaism describes relations between Jews and Christians as “tormented” and says that “the balance” over two millennia was “quite negative.”
We Remember notes that interpretations of the New Testament “regarding the Jewish people as a whole” circulated and engendered feelings of hostility. It adds that such interpretations have been “totally and definitively rejected by the Second Vatican Council.”
This is important historically: it ties the later Church teaching to a critique of how texts were historically read, not only to the texts themselves.
Catholic opposition to persecution is not brand-new in the modern period. Pope Benedict XIV (1751), for example, condemns violent zeal against Jews. He recalls a medieval monk whose preaching incited Christians to destroy Jews, and then rejects that model of religious hostility. He cites St. Bernard’s counsel that Jews “are not to be persecuted… not… slaughtered… [nor] driven out,” and he also emphasizes the Church’s universal prayer that God remove the “veil” from Jews’ hearts toward “light of truth.”
While this is not the same level of doctrinal development as Vatican II, it shows that Catholic moral teaching has included (at least in some authoritative moments) a rejection of violent anti-Jewish treatment long before the modern dialogue era.
The Second Vatican Council’s Nostra Aetate is the cornerstone for the Church’s modern historic teaching. It does three things especially relevant to “historic relations”:
Nostra Aetate states that the Church “remembers the bond that spiritually ties” the New Covenant people to Abraham’s stock, affirming that the Church cannot forget it received the Old Testament revelation “through the people with whom God… concluded the Ancient Covenant.”
It also acknowledges that Christ’s cross “reconciled Jews and Gentiles… making both one in Himself,” and recalls that apostles and early disciples “sprang from the Jewish people.”
Nostra Aetate is candid that “Jerusalem did not recognize the time of her visitation” and that many did not accept the Gospel, but it then draws a crucial conclusion:
This is one of the most decisive “historic teaching” developments: Vatican II explicitly blocks teaching that treats Jewish unbelief or refusal to accept Jesus as a sign of divine rejection for all Jews across time.
Nostra Aetate also states that the Church “decries hatred, persecutions, displays of anti-Semitism, directed against Jews at any time and by anyone.”
And it adds a catechetical discipline: in preaching and catechetical work, Christians must ensure nothing is taught that does not conform to “the truth of the Gospel and the spirit of Christ.”
Post-Vatican II Catholic teaching does not stop at prohibitions; it pushes toward dialogue and reconciliation.
In 1975, Pope Paul VI speaks to a liaison committee with world Judaism and references the “Guidelines and Suggestions” for applying Nostra Aetate. He remarks that remembering past difficulties is “salutary and indispensable,” while also insisting that there were elements beyond confrontation, including Catholic efforts during the war to save Jews.
We Remember calls for “moral and religious memory” of the Shoah and asks Christians to reflect seriously on what gave rise to it.
It explicitly links the Shoah to the problem of Christian attitudes: the fact it occurred in Europe—countries with long-standing Christian civilization—raises the question of how relations between Jews and Christians had been shaped “down the centuries,” and it emphasizes that the Church must turn awareness of past sins into a “firm resolve” to build a new future without anti-Judaism among Christians or anti-Christian sentiment among Jews.
In 2005, Pope Benedict XVI describes Nostra Aetate as opening “a new era” for relations with the Jewish people and notes that it stressed the need to overcome “past prejudices, misunderstandings, indifference, and the language of contempt and hostility.”
He also calls for continued enrichment of dialogue—both theological and in everyday contacts—so that Christians and Jews offer a “shared witness” to God and justice.
Benedict XVI’s 2010 address at the synagogue in Rome ties the Council’s teaching to ongoing commitments: it references repeated gestures (including John Paul II’s visit), and it states that the Church deplores failures of her sons and daughters that contributed to “the scourge of anti-Semitism and anti-Judaism.”
In 2009, he similarly emphasizes that dialogue is “necessary and possible” because of a “common rich spiritual patrimony,” and it roots this relationship in Nostra Aetate (n. 4).
Across the sources given here, Catholic “historic teaching” on Jewish–Christian relations can be summarized as:
The Church’s historic teaching therefore is not merely a record of past attitudes; it is an evolving effort to ensure that differences of faith do not become collective denigration of Israel, and that Scripture and preaching are interpreted in a way consistent with Christ’s Gospel spirit.