On Tuesday, the so-called Coalition of Catholics Against Antisemitism (CCAA) announced it will be launching its first college chapter at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio.
Simone Rizkallah, who started the organization, told EWTN that the CCAA “is proud that Franciscan University serves as the founding Catholic home of the coalition.”
Rizkallah also made clear that the CCAA is exploring the possibility of adding more chapters at other colleges and universities, provided they are initiated by students.
Colin Reitmeyer, whom Rizkallah described as a “Catholic Zionist,” is the student leader of Franciscan’s CCAA chapter. As part of his goals, Reitmeyer said he wants to “[go] beyond merely stopping antisemitism and [begin] cultivating philosemitism.”
Read more: Catholics have a golden opportunity to challenge Jewish power in the US
The Jerusalem News Service (JNS) took notice of the launch. Their headline characterized the CCAA mission as working to “combat Jew-hatred through education and dialogue.”
On X this week, Novus Ordo Watch founder Mario Derksen drew attention to a 2023 event at Franciscan focusing on “rising antisemitism,” which, in all likelihood, played a role in the formation of the first CCAA chapter at the university.
Curt Stambaugh is an associate scholar at Franciscan University’s Veritas Center for Catholic Ethics in Public Life. He will serve as the chapter’s sponsor. Stambaugh previously wrote an essay for the “Catholics for Israel” organization in which he praised Vatican II’s Nostra Aetate document as having “redefined the relationship between Christians and Jews.”
He concluded his 2025 essay with an exhortation: “Catholics must be vigilant to confront every instance of antisemitism within the Church and to stand united with the Jewish people in the face of persecution.”
The Dispatch
Rizkallah’s connections and activism
As reported previously at Integrity Magazine, Rizkallah was affiliated with the now-defunct Philos Project, a group with funding ties to Jewish billionaire and ardent Zionist, Paul Singer.
On her X account, she describes herself as having a “Catholic mind [an] Orthodox soul [and an] Evangelical spirit.”
On April 23 of this year, Rizkallah organized a highly controversial CCAA event at Benedictine College in Kansas entitled “Shoulder to Shoulder: Strengthening Jewish-Catholic Friendship in a Moment of Crisis.”
Interestingly, towards the end of the conference, Rizkallah said that her brother-in-law, Andrew Doran, was supposed to give a keynote speech but was unable to attend.
Doran, who recently married Rizkallah’s sister, describes his professional experience as follows: “[A] senior fellow and advisor with the Philos Project and [who] previously served at the Department of State.”
Readers may also recall a 2022 interview Rizkallah recorded with Montse Alvarado, Leo XIV’s choice to head the Vatican’s Dicastery for Communication. The pair’s Zionist and feminist views were previously analyzed at Integrity Magazine. Alvarado, for her part, is a founding member of the CCAA.
Rizkallah currently manages the Jewish-Christian partnerships at Tikvah, an extremely influential and activist Jewish organization. In 2025, President Trump awarded Tikvah the largest NEH Grant in history to combat the “Pathology of Antisemitism” and teach the Talmud, among other things.
Rizkallah was featured at length in a National Catholic Register article published in June, elevating her public profile.
