We Remember: Exploring the Holocaust and Antisemitism, A Seminar for Catholic School Educators

Date: July 23-26, 2025

Location: New York City, New York

Dates and information about our 2026 seminar for Catholic School Educators will be posted soon!

This four-day seminar takes its name from the 1998 Vatican document, We Remember: A Reflection on the Shoah, and will not only reflect on the Holocaust, but also confront the tragic history of Jewish-Christian relations and the work done towards healing as we commemorate this year the 60th Anniversary of Nostra Aetate. Catholic school educators will explore the profound responsibility of teaching the Holocaust within the context of faith, morality, and human dignity through an agenda that includes expert-led sessions, survivor testimonies, interactive workshops, the latest pedagogy, and opportunities for prayer and reflection.

Who Should Attend: Middle and High School Teachers; College Faculty; Educators from all disciplines (especially Theology and Religion, Social Studies, History, Fine Arts, English/Language Arts); Campus Ministry; Those who seek to deepen their knowledge, confidence, and skills for teaching challenging content.

  • Keynote speakers 
    • Father Dennis McManus PhD, a priest with the Archdiocese of Mobile, Alabama and the USCCB consultant for Jewish Affairs  
    • Rabbi David Fox Sandmel PhD, President of the International Council of Christians and Jews
  • Experience reflective writing as a method to process complex content
  • Engage in interfaith learning, including scripture reading and discussion
  • Learn content from experts and develop practical strategies for engaging students

In partnership with Bearing Witness Institute at Marist School.

Presented with the Encouragement of:

2025 Program Report:

Our 2025 seminar for Catholic School teachers took place at the TOLI Memorial Library in New York City.

Titled “We Remember: Exploring the Holocaust and Antisemitism,” the seminar brought together Catholic School educators from across the US for a professional development program, where they gained the foundational knowledge and skills to teach the Holocaust and interfaith dialogue in their classrooms.

The seminar deepened participants’ understanding of the Holocaust; past and present antisemitism; Jewish history, faith, and tradition; the role of the Catholic Church during the Holocaust; and Catholic teachings on human dignity, compassion, and justice.

Participants engaged in educational sessions, interfaith dialogue (with joint scripture readings and discussions by Father Dennis McManus and Rabbi David Fox Sandmel), presentations by experts (including Abraham Foxman and Kenneth Jacobson), religious site visits (to St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Park Avenue Synagogue), and reflection and practice.

Educators left with enhanced knowledge, resources, and strategies to teach about the Holocaust and antisemitism within a Catholic framework – and foster empathy, memory, and interreligious understanding in their school communities.

What Teachers Said

Gail Tigere was recently hired to teach Grade 6 and 7 English, Social Studies, and Religion at Saint Catharine Academy in Bronx, New York. Her new principal told her about our seminar for Catholic School educators, and she submitted a last-minute application to attend. We are so fortunate that she did!

As an African American raised in the 1980s, Gail’s parents would tell her many stories of Black-Jewish activism and alliances during the Civil Rights struggle for justice in the United States. She has always felt moved by those stories, and curious about the forgotten legacies of those alliances today. Gail brought her curiosity towards these intertwined histories to our seminar, with a particular interest in Jewish/Christian relations.

Prior to her new teaching role, Gail, who has a PhD in Teacher Education, taught African American Studies, Teacher Education, and Counselor Education across the CUNY system and Montclair State University, and worked as a community educator with youth-serving nonprofit agencies in New York City. She also previously taught high school English, Global Studies, and Religion at a Catholic girls’ school. In that role, she collaborated with her colleagues to develop a semester-long Human Rights and History unit for Grades 9 and 10, which included the novel “Night” and conversations with a Holocaust Survivor at the Holocaust Museum in Rockland County, New York.

In her new position, Gail aims to continue her collaborative and interdisciplinary work with an emphasis on civil and global human rights, humanitarian issues, theology, and issues of human rights and justice across the scriptures.

Leaders

  • Corey Harbaugh

    Corey Harbaugh retired as a school curriculum administrator in 2025 to move into Holocaust education full time as Faculty Advisor for The Olga Lengyel Institute and Curriculum Specialist for the Anne Frank Center at The University of South Carolina. He served as a member of the Governor’s Council on Holocaust & Genocide Education and co-authored the model curriculum in support of Public Act 170 of 2016 that mandates Holocaust and genocide education in Michigan schools. Corey helped organize and co-facilitate the pilot of this seminar in 2024 at the Cathedral of Christ the Light in Oakland, CA.

  • Donna Tarney

    Donna Tarney is the Education Specialist at the Anne Frank Center at USC, Columbia. Using  Anne’s story, she helps university students, school groups, and community organizations prepare themselves to stand up and speak out against hate in all its forms. Donna also facilitates virtual and in person workshops to help people recognize bias and prejudice in their own lives and work toward appreciation of diversity. Prior to this, Donna was the Education and Outreach Specialist at the Stan Greenspon Holocaust and Social Justice Education Center in Charlotte, NC. In that capacity, Donna created and facilitated Holocaust and human rights programs for schools and community groups throughout North and South Carolina. Donna taught Theology, History, and Holocaust courses for thirteen years at Charlotte Catholic High School, with an emphasis on lessons that would help her students make informed choices to build strong communities. Donna holds a master’s degree in religious education from Loyola University and earned a Certificate in Holocaust Studies from Georgetown University. She attended TOLI NY in 2014, and has been co-leading our Summer Satellite Program for eight years, including last year’s pilot seminar of We Remember.

  • Brendan Murphy

    Brendan Murphy is an award-winning educator and sought-after presenter; Brendan is the founding director of the Bearing Witness Institute for Interreligious and Ecumenical Dialogue at Marist School. He has taught history at Marist since 1994 and continually demonstrates for his students and colleagues a strong commitment to fostering understanding and collaboration among diverse communities of faith. Murphy is a thought leader on religious solidarity and an advocate for combating hate and prejudice by drawing communities together. His contributions to education and interfaith dialogue are widely recognized. Murphy has received numerous awards, including the Outstanding Educator Award from the Anne Frank Center in New York, the ADL’s Abe Goldstein Human Relations and Unsung Hero Awards, on the state level, with the Distinguished Service Award from the Georgia Independent School Association and twice with the Georgia Outstanding Educator of the Year Award from the Georgia Commission on the Holocaust. He also has been recognized as Teacher of the Year by the University of Notre Dame.  Murphy is actively involved in developing educational initiatives and created a compelling “History and the Holocaust” seminar at Marist that is complemented by co-curricular international field trips to sites in Europe that were significant during the Holocaust.