September 2026

To Our Jewish Brothers and Sisters in the Atlanta Metropolitan Area,

As you gather with family and friends to welcome Rosh Hashanah, I extend to you, on behalf of the Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta, my warmest wishes for a sweet and blessed New Year.

This sacred season of self-examination and renewal speaks to something all people of faith recognize: the need to pause, take stock of the year that has passed, and turn again toward God and toward one another with humility and hope. The sound of the shofar, calling your community to reflection and repentance, resounds beyond the walls of any one tradition–it is a summons we would all do well to hear.

Since his election, Pope Leo XIV has spoken of his intention to continue and strengthen the Church’s dialogue and cooperation with the Jewish people in the spirit of the Second Vatican Council’s declaration Nostra Aetate–a commitment I share wholeheartedly as your neighbor here in Atlanta. The Catholic community of this Archdiocese of Atlanta is grateful for the long friendship we share with our Jewish neighbors–in works of charity, in interfaith dialogue, and in the quiet, ordinary bonds of civic life we build together.

May the Book of Life hold your names and the names of those you love. May this New Year bring health, peace and the sweetness of the honey and apple to your homes and to the city we share.

L‘shanah tovah tikatevu – may you be inscribed for a good year.

With fraternal esteem and prayerful good wishes,

+ Most Reverend Gregory J. Hartmayer, OFM Conv., Archbishop of Atlanta