Teaching under Fire: The mission of the Catholic Church in Gaza
Despite the ongoing conflict in Gaza, Father Gabriel Romanelli is working to create a sense of normalcy through education. The parish priest of the Holy Family Church in Gaza City has made it a priority to ensure that children in the community continue to receive “remedial” schooling.
It has been more than ten months since the start of the war in Gaza. The few Christians who remain in the territory are exhausted and traumatized.
“The situation is bad, very bad, in all of the Gaza Strip, but especially in Gaza City,” said Father Gabriel Romanelli, the parish priest of the Holy Family Church in Gaza City, in an audio message to Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). The priest recently decided to return to Gaza, having been caught outside the territory when the war began and prevented from coming back for several months.
Despite a climate of absolute uncertainty, the Catholic Church is committed to making what plans it can for the future, especially with regard to education, said Sami El-Yousef, the CEO of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, during an ACN delegation’s recent visit to the Holy Land.
“Since Father Gabriel returned, he has prioritized education. Our initial plan is to provide basic education, given that August is the beginning of a new school year. This will be the second year without proper education. There are some teachers, but others left. We have lost contact with those remaining in the north. We are looking to rent the land across from the parish, and maybe locate containers to use as temporary classroom space.”
Father Gabriel himself described their attempts at classes for the children, despite all difficulties: “We began to have classes for the children, with the help of teachers from kindergarten to the first year of secondary school, teaching them Arabic, English, Math, and Science. We had to suspend lessons because there were so many rockets landing nearby, but we began some of them again.”
“We never suspended adoration, the rosary, or Mass, and we continue to pray for peace,” he said, emphasizing the spiritual commitment of the Church.
During an ACN visit to the Holy Land, representatives of the LPJ, which oversees the operation of a Catholic parish in Gaza, said that less than 400 Catholics remain in the territory, which has been mostly leveled by the Israeli response to a terrorist incursion on October 7th, 2023.
The Catholic compound currently houses 416 Christians, both Catholic and Orthodox, plus 63 children with disabilities who are looked after by the Missionaries of Charity. An additional 204 people, all Orthodox, are in the adjacent Orthodox compound.
The Latin Patriarchate already operated a second school in Gaza, besides the one in the Catholic Compound, which is being used as a refuge center. There were hopes that it could be reactivated upon the establishment of a ceasefire, but it was recently hit by a missile strike. There is no guarantee that it will ever be operational again.
“Every week, we lose somebody”
George Akroush, the Director of the Projects’ Development Office at the LPJ, explained to ACN representatives that the living conditions in the Catholic compound are difficult and crowded, with up to three families living in a classroom. “There is no privacy for families or for couples. Some of the families are lodged in the lower levels, near the septic tanks, but that is unhealthy, so they rotate every few weeks. But with this atmosphere, naturally, tensions run high, and arguments can break out.”
Although the Christian compounds in Gaza are relatively safe, compared to the rest of the region, there have already been several casualties. Some were killed by sniper fire and rocket strikes from the Israeli offensive, others while trying to salvage their belongings from their homes. But most have died due to lack of medical treatment. “Every week, we lose somebody, not necessarily because of military action, but because of a lack of medication,” said Sami El-Yousef. “The elderly pass away senselessly. We estimate that about 35 people have died, and approximately 300 more have left the Gaza Strip. When things quieted down, several families decided to return to their homes, if there were homes left to go back to. But with the return of military action in the north, they returned to the compound,” he told the ACN delegation.
Currently, the only way to leave Gaza is through its border with Egypt, when the border is open. But doing so requires having a foreign passport or bribing officials, and that is not to mention the immense danger of even reaching the border. Once in Egypt, refugees are given 48 hours to leave the country.
“There are many who want to leave. They don’t because they can’t take their belongings, and because it is dangerous,” said Bishop William Shomali, the Patriarchal Vicar for Palestine and East Jerusalem. Sami El-Yousef added that “many of the Christian families are deeply rooted in Gaza.”
– Filipe d’Avillez and Maria Lozano
