Priest speaks in Indianapolis weeks after living through attack on Israel
Msgr. Peter Vaccari, president of the New York-based Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA) and ex-officio chair of the board of trustees for the Pontifical Mission for Palestine, CNEWA’s aid organization in the Middle East, preaches a homily on May 4 at St. Michael the Archangel Church in Indianapolis. (Photo by Natalie Hoefer)
By Sean Gallagher
On the night of April 13, Msgr. Peter Vaccari took refuge in a bomb shelter in Jerusalem as Iran launched a drone and missile attack against Israel.
The priest of the Diocese of Brooklyn, N.Y., was in the Holy Land to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of Pontifical Mission for Palestine, an aid agency in the Middle East of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association (CNEWA).
He and Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, archbishop of New York and chairman of CNEWA’s board, continued their trip to the Holy Land after the attack.
A few weeks later, Msgr. Vaccari visited a much more peaceful Indianapolis to reflect on the work of CNEWA in the Middle East during weekend Masses on May 4-5 at St. Michael the Archangel Parish on behalf of CNEWA, the New York-based agency that aids Eastern Catholic Churches in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa and India.
Msgr. Vaccari, the president of CNEWA, spoke on behalf of the organization, which was founded by Pope Pius XI in 1926. Since its founding, the archbishop of New York has served as the chairman of its board.
Msgr. Vaccari spoke with The Criterion after his visit to Indianapolis about his experience in Israel during Iran’s attacks, which came in response to the Jewish state’s continued fight against Hamas in Gaza following its raids on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
The April trip to celebrate the Pontifical Mission’s 75th anniversary, Msgr. Vaccari said, was also an opportunity for Cardinal Dolan “to reach out to let the Israeli and Jewish people know of his solidarity with them in this time of suffering, as well as the Palestinians in this time of their suffering.
“He wanted to be there for them, to let them know that he cares for and loves them and is praying for them,” Msgr. Vaccari continued.
Earlier in the day on April 13, Cardinal Dolan and his delegation celebrated an anniversary Mass in Jerusalem. Taking shelter because of the drone and missile attack wasn’t a new experience for Msgr. Vaccari, who had to do that more than once last summer in a visit to war-torn Ukraine in support of Eastern Catholic Churches there.
The day after Iran’s attack on Israel, Msgr. Vaccari and Cardinal Dolan visited a parish in Beit Jala near Bethlehem in the West Bank. They went there to celebrate the Pontifical Mission’s anniversary with Palestinian Catholics of the West Bank because the Palestinians were not permitted to travel to Jerusalem for a celebratory Mass that day at the Notre Dame of Jerusalem Center.
Despite the attacks the night before, Msgr. Vaccari noted, “the church was packed.
“It was a matter for the people there of life continuing,” he said. “It was time to get up and go to Mass or go to work—those who are able to go to work. What’s happened since October 7 has had a tremendous [economic] impact. The unemployment rate has skyrocketed, especially in West Bank towns.”
Msgr. Vaccari acknowledged that, while Catholics in the Middle East are facing tremendous challenges at present, this is not a new situation. CNEWA and the Pontifical Mission for Palestine, he said, have stood with them and people of all faiths in the Middle East in the turmoil that has marked the past several decades.
“We are engaged on the ground with the people who are going through the changes that they’ve experienced over the past 75 years,” he said. “We’re there working with the local Church, the Latin Patriarchate, and with what our mandate is, which is to the Eastern Catholic Churches. But we’re also with non-Catholics.”
Going forward from its anniversary, Msgr. Vaccari said that the Pontifical Mission “will continue to shape an identity as an agency of healing and hope.”
In his homily during the Mass at St. Michael the Archangel, Msgr. Vacarri invited Catholics in central and southern Indiana and across the U.S. to support their brothers and sisters in faith in the Middle East through the work of CNEWA and the Pontifical Mission through prayer, growing in knowledge of the situation there and through financial contributions.
He also spoke of the blessings he’s experienced in aiding the Church in the Middle East.
“I’ve been very humbled by the experience,”
Msgr. Vaccari said. “It’s very moving. I experience on a regular basis the depth of the faith life of people who are really trying to make sense out of their faith in a world in which there’s an awful lot of violence, injustice and persecution.”
(To learn more about the ongoing ministry of the Catholic Near East Welfare Association and Pontifical Mission or to donate to it, visit cnewa.org.) †
