Passover Seder Guidelines

In recent years the custom has grown in many parishes to hold a Passover Seder Meal as part of the preparation for Easter. Parish priests hope that the event will help people understand the roots of the Last Supper and the Eucharistic Liturgy, but there is a danger that both the Jewish Passover meal and the Christian Eucharist will be misunderstood unless great care is taken with the preparation of the event.

The following points should be noted:

The Jewish Passover (Seder) meal is not something of the past and neither has it been replaced by the Eucharist.
The rite of the Jewish Passover (Seder) meal should not be altered by adding Christian prayers or New Testament readings. Neither should it be turned into a Eucharist. Such mergings show a lack of respect for both Christian and Jewish traditions.
Parishes should, if possible, ask a rabbi or an observant Jew to conduct the meal. A preparatory talk from someone conversant with the Jewish tradition can be very helpful.
If an authentic Jewish ritual is not being used for the Seder and a parish meal is being held to mark the ending of the season of Lent or the beginning of the Easter Triduum on Holy Thursday, the meal should be called by another name e.g. an Agape, which means “love feast”.

The Committee for Catholic-Jewish Relations draw attention to the Committee’s pamphlet Guidelines for Catholic-Jewish Relations (CTS, 1994) where there is a fuller treatment of the topic, and to the leaflet Christians and the Passover Meal published by the Christian-Jewish Resources and Library at the Sion Centre for Dialogue and Encounter, 34 Chepstow Villas, London W11 2QZ.