Sister Gemma Del Duca Reflects on a Life Dedicated to Holocaust Education and Improving Catholic-Jewish Relations

From early on, she knew she wanted to be a Sister. Her parents, devout Catholics, nurtured her faith, which ultimately led her to join the Sisters of Charity in 1950 and to a lifelong journey of faith and service.

Her early years with the Sisters, training with a group of 28 women, was filled with religious study and spiritual growth. Sister Gemma’s academic journey led her from Seton Hill College to Rome, Italy, where she studied theology at the Pontifical Institute Regina Mundi. Her time in Rome and subsequent travels to the Holy Land deepened her spiritual and theological understanding, especially regarding the Jewish roots of Christianity and intensified her commitment to fostering Catholic-Jewish relations.

"Being in Rome was wonderful," she said. "Toward the end of my studies there, the opportunity to visit the Holy Land came up. There I became very much awakened to the significance of Israel, not just from the point of view of scripture, but from the point of view of history and what was developing."

Making her final vows in 1956, she completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from Seton Hill University earned her doctorate in Ibero-American Studies at the University of New Mexico in 1966.

Sister Gemma returned to Seton Hill College to serve as an associate professor of history and chaired the history department at Seton Hill University during a period of significant social change in the United States. Amidst the civil rights movement, Vietnam War, and women’s liberation movement, she was inspired by the message of Vatican II and the call to renew Catholic-Jewish dialogue.In 1971, she went into campus ministry, moving from Pennsylvania to Virginia where she served at the University of Virginia for three years and then at Old Dominion University, Norfolk State University, and Wesleyan College until 1975, when her request to move to Israel to work with Father Isaac Jacob, OSB was granted.

In Israel, she collaborated with Father Isaac at Tel Gamaliel, a Benedictine “kibbutz-like” community in Bet Shemesh with the goal of fostering Jewish-Catholic understanding in Israel. Located between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, sister and brother religious, Christian families and individuals worked, prayed, and celebrated at Tel Gamaliel. Its mission: to foster a Christian presence in Israel open to speaking Hebrew and to the study of Judaism.

At the beginning, it was a very isolated, abandoned hilltop, with no water, electricity, or telephone. Sister Gemma describes it as “a space that recognized the importance of Judaism for Catholicism.” The classical texts of Judaism were brought into the learning and everyday life of the community who celebrated Shabbat and read weekly from the Torah. The vision of Tel Gamaliel was to establish a Christian presence in the Land of Israel open to the Torah-Gospel Word.

“There wasn't a big building of any kind. It was much more like a little community of the observant,” Sister Gemma recalled. “Being there, you begin to be part of Israeli life. Your friends were the local Israelis. We also participated in a Hebrew-speaking Catholic community, which was a community that celebrated liturgy in Hebrew. One became completely immersed in the life there.”

While the Catholic Church did not recognize the State of Israel until 1993, Sister Gemma said Father Isaac understood the importance of meeting at this spiritual and physical crossroads to learn from one another and was moved by the theological significance envisioned by Vatican II in “Nostra Aetate” which rejected anti-Semitism, affirmed the religious bond between Jews and Catholics and validated Judaism as a religious way of life.

“It was a very active time for dialog, so there was the opportunity to belong to different groups and to participate and work with those who were trying to establish more intense dialog with Judaism and with the Jewish people,” Sister Gemma said. “There was never a dull moment. There was always something going on.”

When Father Isaac died suddenly in 1995, the Center at Tel Gamaliel gradually ceased to exist, but Sister Gemma knows it lives on in the teaching and experience of those who visited, studied, and prayed there.

Her work in Israel extended over three decades, during which she became deeply involved with Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem. Responding to Pope John Paul II’s call to recognize the significance of the Holocaust, with the support of then Seton Hill President Dr. JoAnne Boyle, Sister Mary Noel Kernan, Sister Lois Sculco, and others, Sister Gemma founded the National Catholic Center for Holocaust Education (NCCHE) at Seton Hill in 1987.

Under their leadership, the Center launched the Ethel LeFrak Holocaust Education Conference, a triennial event that brings leading scholars and educators to Seton Hill’s campus.Other educational opportunities provided by NCCHE include an online program in genocide and Holocaust studies, and speakers and films on campus.

Perhaps most importantly, NCCHE strives to be a national resource for the Catholic educators. Every three years, NCCHE hosts a national conference, and has sponsored a 20-day educational seminar at Yad Vashem in Israel for educators.

The University honored Sister Gemma with its highest award, the Elizabeth Seton Medal, in 1998. She continues her work with the Center today as Director Emerita even after officially retiring in 2015.

Sister Gemma has been recognized by various Israeli and Jewish organizations for the impact of her work. She has received the Spirit of Anne Frank Award from the United Jewish Federation Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh and was the first non-Israeli to receive the Yad Vashem Excellence in Holocaust Education Award.

Her lifelong dedication to these causes has left an indelible mark on both Seton Hill University and the global community.

“The witness of survivors is so powerful. It is a teaching that makes such an impact on those who study the Holocaust. Their message is remarkable and unbelievable about how as human beings we can hold onto our humanity, our human intuitions, and the best of the human story even if we only have shreds of it left,” said Sister Gemma said, adding the words of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, “Just to be is a blessing; just to live is holy.”