Florida Catholic | Bearing Witness: Educator travels to Israel

Bearing Witness: Educator travels to Israel

PAT LANGFORD AND LINDA REEVES | FLORIDA CATHOLIC

Published: 08.29.08

On a visit to the Mount of Olives, Mary Castronuovo poses for a photograph. Castronuovo was selected from educators across the country to participate in the Anti-Defamation League’s “Bearing Witness” program for Catholic teachers.

On a visit to the Mount of Olives, Mary Castronuovo poses for a photograph. Castornuovo was selected from educators across the country to participate in the Anti-Defamation League’s “Bearing Witness” program for Catholic teachers.
Courtesy Photo

NORTH PALM BEACH | Mary Castronuovo, a parishioner of St. Paul of the Cross and educator from the Diocese of Palm Beach, traveled with 23 other educators to Israel this summer as part of an advanced course of study sponsored by a Jewish organization.

“Approximately 55 teachers applied for (the study program) advanced Bearing Witness,” said Ed Alster, national education director for the Anti-Defamation League, a group founded in 1913 to fight discrimination against the Jewish people and ultimately secure justice for all sects.

The program gives educators an opportunity to learn about Israel, Jewish history, the Holocaust and Catholic-Jewish relations, and takes Catholic educators overseas. Castronuovo’s trip was nine days, starting with three days in Baltimore preparing for the journey through programs and talks.

“Six days was not enough time to see everything we would have liked to have seen in Israel, but that nine days was a very long time for me to be away from my husband and kids,” said Castronuovo. “My husband took two weeks vacation so that I could participate in this wonderful opportunity, and I so appreciate the sacrifice my whole family made so that I could do this.”

Castronuovo is a former teacher at All Saints School in Jupiter.

“I was the director of religious education and middle school religion teacher for four years,” she said. “I am currently teaching for the diocesan School of Christian Formation, an adult continuing education program in our diocese under the direction of Sister Vivian (Gonzalez).

“I will also be staying involved on a volunteer basis in supporting our local and regional Anti-Defamation League’s education efforts with the Bearing Witness program and training for ‘Echoes and Reflections,’ the league’s curriculum on the Holocaust.”

Castronuovo was chosen for this summer’s program by a selection committee organized by the Bearing Witness national advisory board.

“We gained new insights into the current status of Catholic-Jewish relations, as well as the history of the development of the state of Israel from its inception to present day,” she said. “It was meaningful to me as a Catholic, but it was also meaningful to me as somebody who’s interested in what’s going on in the world and peace in the Middle East.”

Marcie Shaughnessy, Florida director of education for the Anti-Defamation League, said the educators were selected based on what and how they teach in the classroom.

“What kind of lessons did they incorporate in relation to Holocaust education? What curriculum did they use?” Shaughnessy asked, outlining some of the criteria considered by the selection committee. “Mary was chosen based on all the things that she did. She was a great representative.”

As part of the guided trip in Israel, the teachers toured biblical sites including the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes in Tabgha, the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, Mount of the Beatitudes and Capernaum, the town in which Jesus lived during his Galilean ministry.

“We actually went out on the Sea of Galilee in a boat and turned off the engines and had kind of a prayer experience. Beautiful.” said Castronuovo. “The most powerful moment for me was when we celebrated Mass in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher in the old city of Jerusalem.”

The group also took a field trip to Yad Vashem, the Jewish people’s Holocaust memorial, “which was very powerful,” Castronuovo explained.

Father Daniel Petsche of the Order of St. Benedict of Conception Abbey, a Benedictine monastery in Missouri, was selected as chaplain for the trip.

“We all had a great time,” he said. “It was a wonderful learning experience and a time of spiritual pilgrimage as well.”

“Mary is the typical teacher,” he added. “She wanted to know how things came together and be able to share that information with her classes. She was … (a) very conscientious teacher.”

Return to Diocese of Palm Beach Front Page