Easter is a difficult time for Jews, past and present. Many churches still read aloud passages from the Book of Acts Chapter 2, which places blame on Jews for Jesus’ torture and death, often preceded on Good Friday with similar exhortations from the Gospel of John. Too few churches contextualize those passages, or read those which squarely place the blame for Jesus’ death at the feet of Pontius Pilot and the Roman empire.  

This year, we also observe anti-Jewish theological tropes being projected onto the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “Christ under the rubble,” to quote one sermon, resurrected from Christmases past for reuse in this sacred season, places modern Israel in the role of Jesus’ executioners and baby Jesus in the role of modern Palestinians.  

We might be tempted to throw up our hands in despair, were it not for the profound opportunities to renew outreach to Christian communities — notably, Catholic ones. Local dioceses and Jewish federations, whose clergy and lay leaders have formed deep friendships, are using programs to foster widespread relationships and learning between their communities. 

Fort Wayne, Ind., for example, is not known in large coastal cities as a center of Jewish institutions. But its Jewish federation, led by CEO Michael Theise, has created opportunities for friendship between Catholics and Jews that would be the envy of many more populous locales.  

In Theise’s humble recounting of events, it was Bishop Kevin Rhoades, who serves the diocese spanning Fort Wayne and South Bend, working with the former Federation CEO Jaki Schreier, who took the initiative to ensure that students in local Catholic schools and churches learned about the Holocaust. Bishop Rhoades, in turn, credits parishioners who wanted to learn more about it. But the key detail is that Bishop Rhoades was not met with closed doors or unreturned calls from his Jewish counterparts. Instead, Jewish leaders began collaborating actively on Holocaust education and opportunities about the Jewish community.  

The Fort Wayne Jewish Federation gathered and honed materials on Holocaust education for teacher trainings and for students at multiple grade levels. Its professional and lay leaders practiced teaching with these resources and now have a group which stands at the ready to go to classrooms, teacher trainings and public events.  

From there, the Catholic and Jewish communities began to imagine far wider-reaching opportunities. This year, for the second time, the Fort Wayne community is hosting Violins & Hope in collaboration with the Catholic Diocese, the Jewish Federation, the Pearl Arts Center and St. Francis University. Violins & Hope feature instruments Jews played on in the ghettos, concentration camps and death camps of the Holocaust, pieced back together and repaired by Israeli luthier Amnon Weinstein so that they can be played once more. The two-week events series — consisting of concerts, photography exhibitions, film-screenings, public conversations and other educational programing — may reach as many as 20,000 people around the region. Fittingly, it is taking place during the 40 days of Lent, when many Catholics take additional time for fasting, charity and prayer during the lead-up to Easter.  

The dual symbolism is striking: broken instruments rebuilt to make music once again are much like broken relationships carefully rebuilt to bring faith communities together once again.  

While the Fort Wayne Jewish Federation is honoring Bishop Rhoades for his unusually strong support and friendship, these efforts can be replicated elsewhere.  

They begin with one determined leader — Jewish or Catholic — who wants to ensure that their community truly sees and understands the other. They continue with genuine and reciprocal friendship. They grow with local programs to make an enduring difference for teachers and students and a focus on the next generation. They are nourished by a combination of competence and humility, as well as a sense of shared higher purpose. They crescendo with large public programs, which bring thousands of people together to  feel, think and do. They return once more to focus on personal relationships and friendships, which will endure and encourage others to join in these holy efforts. 

All of us can follow Fort Wayne’s example. Much as we might be tempted to wait for statements or initiatives from the Vatican or the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, or other major centers of Catholic or Jewish life, Catholic-Jewish collaboration now is inherently local and universally important.  

“Nostra Aetate,” the key document from the Second Vatican Accords promulgated 60 years ago next October, affirmed the possibility and inherent goodness of friendship between Jews and Catholics. It atoned for Christian antisemitism and affirmed that Jews are part of a living covenant with God. It then left us all — Jewish and Catholic clergy, laity, and professionals — to do the work of realizing its potential. 

While the painful history of antisemitism remains between our communities, we must seize upon this season of rebirth to redouble the friendships that we have with Catholic communities — and to forge new ones where they do not yet exist. 

Rabbi Joshua Stanton is the Jewish Federations of North America’s associate vice president for interfaith and intergroup initiatives.