Two weeks after the horrific attack on Israel of October 7, 2023, I attended a meeting of New York City interreligious leaders with survivors of the massacre and family members of the hostages. In the midst of this moving encounter, the senior rabbi of one of Manhattan’s prominent Jewish congregations stood up and said, “I stand with Israel. And I stand with Palestine. And I stand against terrorism.” I have thought very often in this past year of that rabbi’s words. She articulated being able to live in a tension that seems challenging, if not impossible, in an increasingly polarized world.

As a Christian, a Catholic priest, and someone privileged to serve in interreligious work, my faith calls me to live—and hold sometimes seemingly opposite things—in tension. Christians have always been a “both/and” people. This call to live in the tension comes from the example of Jesus: He who came to reach out to the rich and poor, the saint and sinner, the Jew and Gentile. As the world marks and mourns the first anniversary of the October 7 attack, my Catholic Christian faith—Jewish in its roots—calls me to echo the clear words of that New York rabbi, “I stand with Israel. And I stand with Palestine. And I stand against terrorism.” Those things I can hold in tension, and I wonder if others might be able to do so as well.

To be clear, I mourn every life lost to senseless violence on each side of the Israel-Hamas conflict and in all those many places across the globe gripped by war. Terrorism and antisemitism can never be justified, and, as Pope Francis so often reminds us, religion can never be used to legitimize violence. Jesus had a special solicitude for the most vulnerable, and so the Catholic Church has an understandable concern for all those innocent men, women, and children who are in danger. We worry night and day for those who continue to be held hostage in Gaza, and our faith spurs us to action in calling upon world leaders to do all in their power to secure their release. We unite with our Jewish and Muslim brothers and sisters in calling for peace, and we have a special place in our hearts for the small, beleaguered Christian community that calls Palestine home.

One day after last year’s tragedy, the Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Timothy Dolan, spoke clearly in condemnation of the attack and offered the poignant reminder that “a secure and safe home [is] surely intended by God for all his children, wherever they may be.” Several months later, in April 2024, I was present when Cardinal Dolan experienced the insecurity of that homeland during a drone attack on Israel while the Cardinal was on a pastoral visit to Israel and Palestine. With his actions, Cardinal Dolan showed us how to live in the tension: the Cardinal met with the Presidents of Israel and Palestine; the Cardinal met with families of hostages, including the parents of American citizen Hersh Goldberg Polin, and with religious sisters caring for the poor in Bethlehem; the Cardinal met with Israeli survivors of October 7th and with refugees in the West Bank. Closer to home, our Jewish and Muslim neighbors in New York are more than that; they are our friends, and those bonds of friendship call us to live in the tension. Whereas the past year has led to a fracturing of relationships between Jews, Muslims, and Christians in so many places, I have marveled at watching those relationships deepen in my work in New York City.

Modern logic tells us that we must pick sides: Republican or Democrat, conservative or liberal, black or white. But things are so often gray. I acknowledge the tremendous complexity of the situation in Israel and Palestine, and I admit that such complexity cannot be reduced or simplified. Yet, on this somber first anniversary, I find myself living in the tension. Jesus lived in that tension; he stood with anyone who was in need, with all those who were suffering. I believe we would be wise to emulate his example. How our world needs more voices to echo that rabbi’s words: “I stand with Israel. And I stand with Palestine. And I stand against terrorism.” May the God of peace bring peace—shalom, salam—swiftly to Israel and Gaza and to all those war-torn corners of the globe.

Reverend Ryan A. Muldoon, STL, is the Director of the Office of Ecumenical and Interreligious Dialogue for the Archdiocese of New York.