THE ABRAHAM J. HESCHEL CENTER FOR CATHOLIC-JEWISH RELATIONS THE JOHN PAUL II CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF LUBLIN

Below we present the dates coinciding with the most important Jewish Holidays in 2025: March 14 Feast of Purim April 12-20 Feast of Pesach June 2-3 Feast of Shavuot August 3 Feast of Tisha B'Av September 23-24 Feast of Rosh Hashanah October 2… Read more… »

An initiative with a long-standing historyEvery year, near April 19 - the date of the beginning of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in 1943 - the Polish Council of Christians and Jews organizes the March of Prayer “On the Path of the Warsaw Ghetto Monuments.” About a hundred Warsaw residents and… Read more… »

The exhibition “The Operation That Killed a City” has opened at the Catholic University of Lublin (KUL) Library. Through photographs and documents from Norbert Podleśny’s collection, the exhibition tells the story of Lublin and its Jewish community in the shadow of the Holocaust. “We are witnessing a historic event. For the… Read more… »

The University Library and the Collegium Iuridicum of the Catholic University of Lublin are linked by a painful history related to Operation “Reinhard” - the extermination of Jews under German occupation. Odilo Globocnik, one of the main organizers and executors of the criminal enterprise, had an office in Collegium Iuriducum,… Read more… »

Vatican media published an article on nuns who saved Jews, “European Day of Remembrance for the Righteous: More than 2,000 nuns saved Jews” in English, Italian, Czech, Spanish, Portuguese, German, and French, with an expert voice from Sr. Dr. Monika Kupczewska, historian at the John Paul II Catholic University of… Read more… »

On the occasion of the European Day of Remembrance for the Righteous, the State Museum at Majdanek hosted an event during which the guests were introduced to the biography of Henryk Wieliczański - a former prisoner of the Majdanek camp and recipient of the Righteous Among the Nations medal. The… Read more… »

"Over two thousand religious sisters in Poland were involved in rescuing Jews during World War II," says Sister Monika Kupczewska, Chair of the Historical Commission at the Conference of Major Superiors of Female Religious Congregations in Poland, in an interview with Vatican Radio–Vatican News. March 6 marks the European… Read more… »

Between 25 and 27 February 2025, the Dialogue and Prayer Centre in Oświęcim hosted a symposium Christians and Jews: Documents of the Catholic Church 1965-2015. Held under the auspices of the Committee for Dialogue with Judaism at the Polish Bishops’ Conference, the seminar gathered representatives of the Church, scholars,… Read more… »

Dear Readers, we present you with a list of the most important activities and actions of the Abraham J. Heschel for Catholic-Jewish Relations of the Catholic University of Lublin in January 2025. Ranging from the lighting of the Lights of Hope at the Catholic University of Lublin, through the organization… Read more… »

The small town of Opatów left a very important legacy, and for that, we are proud. We should have a moment to recognize this town and what it created," said Prof. Susannah Heschel in her message to the residents of Opatów (in the Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship in Poland), the hometown… Read more… »

The 28th annual Day of Judaism in the Archdiocese of Lublin was held at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin (KUL). Representatives from Catholic and Jewish communities, including participants from the United States, participated in the event. The university's rector, Fr. Prof. Mirosław Kalinowski, addressed them in… Read more… »

A group of students and doctoral candidates from the Catholic University of Lublin (KUL) in Poland traveled to Rome to visit significant sites tied to the origins of Christianity and locations linked to Christian-Jewish relations. The trip, organized by KUL’s Heschel Center, was awarded as a prize for the… Read more… »

The Heschel Center of the Catholic University of Lublin, together with the Institute of Biblical Studies and the Center for the Study of Second Temple Judaism of the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, invites everyone to a three-day international symposium on the topic of peace in the… Read more… »

“My Peace I Give to You” - is the motto of this year's celebration of the Day of Judaism in the Lublin Archdiocese, to be held on Wednesday, 18 January 2023, at 5 pm in Hall 1031 of the John Paul II College at the Catholic University of Lublin.… Read more… »

At Christmas time, on behalf of our entire community,we wish you a Joy that will not be extinguishedby the adversities and difficulties of our lives.It is the joy coming from the truththat, as Saint Paul says in Philippians 4:5, “the Lord is near”,he has become one of us.He brings into… Read more… »

We received the news of the outbreak of war in the Holy Land with great sadness. On behalf of the entire academic community of the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin, we extend our sympathy and solidarity to all those affected by the consequences of the hostilities," stressed… Read more… »

Prof. Abraham Skórka, Honorary Doctor of the John Paul Catholic University of Lublin and member of the Council of the Abraham Joshua Heschel Center for Catholic-Jewish Relations at the KUL, on the Celebration of Freedom, Redemption, and Divine Mercy that bridge the Christian celebration of Easter and the Jewish… Read more… »

The story of the Ulma family, martyrs who helped Jews during World War II, is an example of the heroic bravery of an ordinary family - people who "defended life at the cost of life." On September 10, an unprecedented beatification for the universal Church will take place in… Read more… »

Tishah B’Av in history and in Jewish traditionThe First Temple was destroyed during the Babylonian invasion in 586 B.C. The rabbis teach that the cause of its fall was the people's spiritual laziness. Midrash Eichah Rabbasi 1:35 relates the following story: “A man would approach his friend in Jerusalem… Read more… »

On May 29, 2023, John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin concluded an agreement with the Argentine Seminario Rabinico Latinoamericano. The agreement envisages e.g. student mobility, joint seminars, workshops, and joint academic publications. The long-term Rector of the Seminary was Rabbi Abraham Skórka, who along with Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio,… Read more… »

Fr. Prof. Mirosław S. Wróbel has been appointed Representative of Rector of the Catholic University of Lublin for Catholic-Jewish Relations and Research in the Holy Land. He will be replaced as Director of the Abraham J. Heschel Center for Catholic-Jewish Relations at the Catholic University of Lublin by Fr.… Read more… »

The John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin - On Wednesday the authorities of the Catholic University of Lublin in the person of the Rector, Fr. Mirosław Kalinowski, and the university's academic community - commemorated the Jewish insurgents from the Warsaw Ghetto. In front of the Main Building of… Read more… »

During the Holocaust help to Jews were offered by nearly 100 religious orders and congregations in over 500 venues and over 700 diocesan priests in at least 580 locations across the territory of Nazi-occupied Poland. These are the findings of the lawyer and documentalist Ryszard Tyndorf, who on 23… Read more… »

Poles and Jews lived together for centuries on the same Polish soil, worked and prayed together, created together a common Polish culture, of which Jews are prominent representatives - recalled the rector of the Catholic University of Lublin, Rev. Prof. Miroslaw Kalinowski, on the occasion of the Day of… Read more… »