Amid war, it's 'kind of business as usual' in Jerusalem with 'a certain fearfulness,' priest says

(OSV News) -- As the Israel-Hamas war edges toward the one-year mark, OSV News spoke with Jesuit Father John Paul, rector of the Tantur Ecumenical Institute in Jerusalem, ahead of his return to Israel following a brief visit to the U.S. in early August.

Initiated by St. Paul VI, and committed to fostering both ecumenical and interfaith encounter, Tantur is part of the University of Notre Dame, offering lectures, study programs, conferences, pilgrimages, prayer and community life.

With its 40-acre hilltop campus located between Bethlehem and Jerusalem, the university evacuated its students Oct. 10, 2023, four days after Hamas militants from the Gaza Strip stormed into approximately 22 locations in Israel, gunning down more than 1,200 people -- most of them civilians -- and taking over 240 civilians and soldiers hostage.

The ensuing war -- which, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry, has claimed over 40,000 lives in Gaza -- is now poised to become a regional conflict amid soaring tensions throughout the Middle East.

OSV News previously spoke with Father Paul days after the start of the war, and asked for his updated perspective. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

OSV News: Since we last talked in October 2023, what has it been like at Tantur?

Father Paul: It's been very quiet, mainly because we've had to cancel our programs due to lack of participants, and also because many participants, given the conflict and the uncertainty of what's going to happen or if something's going to happen, have chosen to either reschedule for 2025 or to just simply cancel.

So our programs are pretty much shut down until mid-February 2025, when we're still scheduled to have our spring program begin.

OSV News: What has it been like in Jerusalem itself?

Father Paul: Overall, I would say that in most of Jerusalem, you would never know a conflict was going on, because it's really kind of business as usual.

However, you can still feel the tension and the anxiety and a certain fearfulness, perhaps a real frustration. You just sense it in people that you meet on the street or that you talk to. So much of it is (a sense of), "How long is this going to go on? Is it going to break into a regional war?"

So there's anxiety and frustration, and I would say maybe even a certain amount of anger towards the Israeli government and Hamas for being in a deadlock with any sort of progress on a ceasefire.

OSV News: How is your staff, comprised of both Israeli and Palestinian members, holding up?
Father Paul: Our staff, Palestinian and Israeli, are really holding up pretty well.

Since most of them are from Bethlehem, our Palestinian staff are really happy that the checkpoint is open, even though there are restrictions. They've increased security so that you have to check in each day when you come through from Bethlehem. … But then you have to leave by 2:30 in the afternoon. Otherwise, you can have your work permits suspended or withdrawn. So that's kind of one more added complication.

But they're just really happy to be able to come to work, and both the Israeli staff and the Palestinian staff still come to work daily.

I think everybody gets along well at Tantur. But again, when you ask, "How are you doing?" there still is, just under the skin, that heaviness and sadness and frustration.

OSV News: As several nations, including the U.S., have now urged their nationals to leave Lebanon over fears of an expanding conflict, do you have an increased sense of fear or concern about going back to Tantur?

Father Paul: That's a very good question. Do I have any fears about going back? No. The only fear that I have is whether my airline will still be flying in at that time. Hopefully I've not gotten a cancellation notice, even though they have suspended flights.

I have strong hopes that it will not become a regional conflict, but I think there is some anxiety that it could very easily go that way, especially because of some of the rhetoric of the politicians involved locally, from Hezbollah, from the Israeli government, from the Houthis, and even from Iran and Hamas.

But fears of going back? No, not really. Part of me just says, that's where I really feel like I most need to be.

OSV News: Given the mission of Tantur to promote encounter and understanding, how do you look at this situation?

Father Paul: Right now, my staff and I … kind of sit together regularly several times a week and just simply say, "OK, how do we really continue to provide? Our mission is still in place, but how do we expand it so that it really includes much more local people? If we don't have international participants, how do we provide some of the same programs, either in terms of lectures or excursions, to open it up to local people, especially right in the area next to Tantur?"

So we're still continuing to build and deepen the relationships with the other Christian denominations in Jerusalem that we have been dealing with for a number of years.

There's been some changeover in terms of the personnel that we're dealing with, but it's really deepening and establishing the whole sense of relationship, because so much of ecumenism is based on personal relationship, as well as institutional relationship.

We've continued our Tuesday at Tantur lectures. It really depends on the person who's giving the presentation, what kind of turnout we get, but it varies from anywhere from 15 to 55 or 60 local people.

We've also talked about investing in the right type of camera so that we can record the lectures properly and put them up on our Facebook or YouTube site, so that it's much more available to international people who are part of our overall mailing list.

OSV News: What is your prayer in this moment, when you speak to the Lord regarding the sadness, the anxiety, the tension, the fears?

Father Paul: I just simply bring it to him and say, "Lord, continue to give us signs of your presence in the midst of all of this. Continue to strengthen our hope that life is emerging out of all of this destruction and chaos."

Because I really do believe that part of the way that the Lord works is that through chaos, through destruction, through major disruptions, through major devastating effects. Just like in nature, with earthquakes or volcanic eruptions, life emerges.

At the same time, there's always a prayer for not only peace, but a just and lasting peace that is rooted in the faith that does justice. There is a prayer for the victims and the families of all of those impacted, as well as a prayer for our staff and for their families and what they are feeling and what they're struggling with, including the economic devastation from the lack of tourism due to the war.

At the same time, we also try to stay away from really zeroing in on just the heaviness, the conflict. We focus on how we manage as life goes on, and how we let people know that in the midst of all of this, there are some really good things that are still happening.

And so I think my prayer is just, "Lord, I know you're present in all of this. And I know that you are working through other human voices and other human hearts. So help us to really continue to trust."