Shared heritage
The Catholic Passover seder offers an occasion for faith formation
By Kathleen Ogle
Managing Editor
NORTH PLAINFIELD — The Last Supper — the meal that Jesus shared with his disciples on the night he was betrayed, in which he established the Eucharist as a sacrament — is believed to have been a Passover seder, the ritual meal that commemorates the Israelites’ Exodus from Egypt.
But if Catholics commemorate the Last Supper, not just on Holy Thursday but with every Eucharistic Liturgy, one may rightly ask why would Catholic parishes then choose to celebrate the Passover seder?
At St. Luke Parish, the answer would be that it helps Catholics connect to their Jewish spiritual roots in a way that traditional adult faith formation programs often fail.
“What we take from here is a new look at our Jewish heritage,” said Ken Phillips, co-director of the parish’s RCIA team, which coordinated the seder. “Christ was a Jew, and if we don’t buy into that we’re missing something very important.”
About 70 parishioners attended the seder March 27 at the parish center.
By taking parishioners out of the classroom and gathering them around the table, the seder provides an ideal setting for adult learning, said Phillips, who is now retired but worked as a counselor and administrator in the field of rehabilitation.
“A teacher may give information, but a good educator sets the stage or an environment for learning,” Phillips said.
“Whether you call it catechesis, faith formation or education, adults need opportunities to share their life experiences. You have to open the door for their participation, their sharing in faith,” he said. “The whole process of adult education percolates through that.”
And who better to lead a Catholic Passover seder than a Jewish convert to Catholicism?
Meredith Gould, who describes herself as “a Jew by identity, a Christian by faith and a Catholic in practice,” is the author of Come to the Table: A Catholic Passover Seder for Holy Week. Phillips invited Gould to lead the seder at St. Luke’s after attending her lectures on the Jewish roots of Catholicism at the Diocese of Metuchen’s annual Catechetical Congresses.
“Our Lord, Jesus Christ, was a Jew. He lived and died a Jew,” Gould said, noting that several important events in the life of Jesus occur at Passover, including when the child Jesus taught the elders in the Temple and when the adult Jesus drove the moneychangers from the Temple.
A Catholic seder is similar to a Jewish seder in that the same ritual foods — symbolic of the various aspects of Exodus and salvation history — are used, such as a roasted shank bone, horseradish, parsley, a roasted egg, matzot and charoses (a mixture of apples and nuts).
However, some liturgical elements had to be changed, according to Gould, because they are at odds with the Catholic belief in Jesus Christ as the Messiah.
In the Catholic seder, the traditional hand-washing ritual is accompanied by a reading from John’s Gospel in which Jesus washed his disciples feet (13:2-7).
Also, the recognition of Elijah’s Cup is accompanied by an account of the transfiguration from Matthew’s Gospel (17:1-8).
Gould said she was aware of several parishes that use her book for their seders, but the St. Luke’s seder was the first time she had witnessed its use and had read from the book in public.
*The attached/referenced article was originally published in The Catholic Spirit, the official newspaper of the Diocese of Metuchen, and is protected under U.S. and international copyright law