Vatican To Complaining Jews: Oy Vey! Shut Up Already!
Well alright, it is a colloquial paraphrasing of what they said, but that certainly is the intent.
VATICAN CITY – The Vatican says Jewish complaints about Pope Benedict XVI’s commitment to dialogue with Jews are “excessive.”
The Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, highlighted Benedict’s record in meeting with Jews and visiting synagogues in response to the criticism.
Earlier this week, the Assembly of Italian Rabbis said it was pulling out of the Italian Catholic Church’s annual celebration of Judaism, saying the pope’s recent decisions were “canceling” 50 years of interfaith progress.
The chief rabbi of Venice cited the decision to restore a prayer for the conversion of Jews in Easter Week services of the old Latin Mass.
L’Osservatore said Benedict’s contribution to interfaith dialogue was irrevocable.
Once again, the ostensibly derogatory perfidious has been removed from the prayer. The assembly of Italian Rabbis (bigger than a breadbox?) is complaining about being prayed for, period. Too bad, we can pray for whoever we want. Truth is so can they and they do. But let’s not go down this road again.
Damian Thompson reminds that in order to be Christians, we pray for conversion. It is what we do.
But if you ban all prayers for the conversion of the chosen people, then you end up misrepresenting the founder of Christianity. It’s an inconvenient fact that Jesus of Nazareth called loudly for the conversion of the Jews. Indeed, according to many biblical scholars, his message was primarily directed at his own people.
Leaving all that aside, the interesting thing for me is put this way. How annoying do you have to be to have the Vatican ask you to shut up already?
The delightfully undiplomatic Mr. Thompson extends the Vatican request for tied tongues to the left leaning Catholics who usually try to make hay of such pretense of offense.
Meanwhile, let’s not forget the Catholic liberals, who are absolutely loving this controversy, because they’ll use any tactic, however cheap, to discredit Summorum Pontificum and the 1962 Missal. When it comes to this particular argument, they suddenly become terribly anxious about Jewish sensibilities. Call me a cynic, but I find that a bit suspicious, given that as soon as Israel comes under threat they start whining about “Zionist aggression”.
I second that. Shut up already. I don’t want to write about this story ever again.
January 20, 2009 at 3:04 am
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January 20, 2009 at 3:41 am
Anonymous
I’m a Jew and this writer hasn’t written anything deserving of your shameful comment. If you are Jewish, you have done yourself (and people like me) a great disservice.
January 20, 2009 at 4:55 am
Wouldn’t it be “anti-Semitic” for Catholics to stop praying for the Jews?
Catholics believe that Jesus Christ is the “Way, Truth, and the Life” (Jn 14:6). Therefore, not believing (perfiditas) is a spiritual danger.
Whether or not one agrees is a completely different argument. It’s only natural to want to save those whom you care about. Evangelization is an act of mercy, not an act of aggression.
The argument that this prayer could stir up actual anti-Semitism in the Church is similarly absurd. Even if the sentiment were there, the prayer is said for one specific liturgy during the year, in Latin, and by a minority in the Church. One must conclude, then, that it is not this prayer itself that is offensive, but rather the idea. The idea is should not be construed as offensive for reasons that are already clear.
I think we can all accept that Jews are Jewish, and will pray and believe in a way proper to Judaism. Catholics should not interfere with that practice of faith. (And making the truth of Catholicism available through proper evangelization ought not to interfere with that either.) It is time for the Italian rabbis to accept that Catholics will pray and believe in the way proper to Catholicism.
January 20, 2009 at 10:59 am
Patrick – as I said in the other post on the subject, all across Europe there is a huge backlash against Judaism and Israel (difficult to separate the two at times). This may indeed be the last time you hear about this story, since the Jew will realise he needs all the allies he can get. And whether he wishes to admit it or not, his survival in Europe may (once again) rest on the shoulders of the Vatican.
But those Jews sure do enjoy a good kvetch. don’t they?
January 20, 2009 at 5:03 pm
Thanks for posting this, Patrick.