I don’t understand it. I’ve never understood it.
If there are Catholics out there who hate the Jews or discriminate against them in any way, then they are in big trouble, or, at least, their souls are.
To inflict racial, sectarian (or homosexual) hatred against your fellow man is to be in breach of the fifth commandment and that means, to be in a state of mortal sin.
Surely no Catholic would wish to enter into such a state?
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| A Jew died to save the world - so how can we "hate" them? |
Aah….of course, I was forgetting that certain Bishop. Now I am the last person to be an apologist on his behalf but….has he actually expressed hatred?
Certainly he has cast doubts over the existence of the gas chambers but does that constitute racial hatred or sectarianism? I doubt it.
It may show an irrational mind and it may be a screen for something worse but, on its own it hardly merits coverage.
We used to sing our Lent and Easter hymns quite happily once, chirruping away about “…while Jews deride..”and in our liturgy we spoke of "perfidious Jews". Well, it was a perfidious act was it not?
Is that racial hatred?
I always thought that we were just recognising that it was the Jews that gave Our Lord up for Pilate’s judgement.
The Jews schemed, pushed and started proceedings and the Romans concluded the affair.
Or, have I got it wrong?
When we condemn Mao Tse Tung or Stalin for the various genocidal purges that they carried out are we being racist? Or just objective and honest?
If we then lay the blame for the death of Christ largely on the Jews are we not again being honest and objective.
There is one blogger who believes that I am a racist because I have expressed a dislike of the practice or recruiting priests from Africa and India (in particular) to come and work in parishes in England and Wales, permanently, that is.
I think that is wrong. For a start their own countries, who have funded their training, desperately need them.
I also believe that they can offer a limited amount to the British parishes they are appointed to. And I have good proof of that.
I also believe that they can offer a limited amount to the British parishes they are appointed to. And I have good proof of that.
I can also recall an unholy row a few years ago because the Health Service and some schools were “poaching” doctors, nurses and teachers from third world countries, giving them a brief bit of updating training and then using them to plug the gaps in health and education.
That was wrong because it deprived the developing world of badly needed highly skilled people.
So, I dislike the practice, not the individuals; I dislike the homosexual system, not the individuals.
I am not too keen on Jews either; again, not the individuals or the race.
It is more an issue of behaviour, characteristics, if you will. I certainly would not work for a Jewish company but I don’t think that means that I am anti-semitic in any way.
There are several nationalities or faiths that I would not wish to find myself beholden to.
To me that is no different from stating that you would not wish to work for X company because you dislike their method of operation. Racism does not enter into it. Preference is not the same as hatred.
Maybe it would be better put to state that I prefer not to mix commercially with certain races.
I am happy to have them as my friends although, in truth, I do not seek them out.
I veer towards Catholic friends, with a few notable exceptions. Life is easier and more relaxed if, forgive me, you are all singing off the same plainchant score.
And it does appear to be anathema for anyone to "hate" Jews when we owe our very existence to one.
Dear Richard,
ReplyDeleteWell and truly said. God bless Israel and the People Israel. Without them we are nothing.
-- Mack in Texas
If you mean who I think you might mean when you referenced a certain Bishop and his doubts of the existence of the gas chambers, did he? I'm just curious, is all. I'm not that up on it but I think I'd read somewhere or other that what he has actually doubted was the number of victims, postulating that they might have been more in the hundreds of thousands as opposed to millions.
ReplyDeleteI'm not going to be an apologist for him either, but I was surprised to read that he denied the actual existence of the gas chambers.
I guess I'll look further into it to satisfy my curiosity.
God bless you.
Th
Hi Richard
ReplyDeleteI totally agree that anti-Semitism (like hatred of any other group) is completely evil. I am not qualified enough to speak about a certain Bishop; but wish certain bishops would sometimes follow maxim: "It's better to keep quiet and be though a fool, than to speak and...". (I need to follow that one more, myself!)
I also agree about certain aspects of the situation we find ourselves in re missionaries to the West.
If I remember correctly, Pope Benedict XVI once spoke of the need - except in new missionary lands or when being transferred to Rome, of course - for priests to remain in their native dioceses. He also said that it was wrong for a priest to leave his people in order to make life easier for himself.
It would seem to me that you were reiterating the Pope's views (I wish I could find the address - it must be out these somewhere; it was probably in 2005).
When it comes to priests per capita, Britain has the third best supplied Catholic community in the world. Compared to many Catholic countries, and poor ones at that, we're both well off in the number of priests we have and in terms of financial wealth. So why do we need priests from abroad? (We actually aren't that 'vocationally challenged' compared to other lands.)
Also, why don't these men (generally speaking) - if there are so many of them available for the Western missions - not seem to choose a life as a missionary priest in, let's say, a similarly placed or poorer (in terms of material wealth) country than the one they were born and raised in?
There was a time when choosing to be a missionary or to work as a priest abroad meant taking a deliberate and sacrificial step into poverty. Nowadays, though - and, of course, not always - it actually seems to be about moving up in the world.
I once new a priest from a Third World country who was paid by his people to come and study here in the UK, so that he could return and educate them and their children. He is now living here, incardinated into a very middle class, middle English, diocese. Maybe this is God's will, but I wonder how those poor people from his homeland must have felt when he gained an education at their expense and then seemed to abandon them.
When Jews are admitted out of pity into familiar intercourse with Christians, they repay their hosts, according to the popular proverb, after the fashion of the rat hidden in the sack, or the snake in the bosom, or of the burning brand in one’s lap.
ReplyDeleteUngrateful for favours and forgetful of benefits, the Jews return insult for kindness and impious contempt for goodness.
ReplyDeleteWith great sorrow and mortal anxiety, We have heard that the Jews have in a Christian land the same rights as Christians, that Christian men and women live under the same roof with these traitors and defile their souls day and night with blasphemies
ReplyDeleteThe wicked perfidy of the Jews - from whose hearts Our Saviour did not remove the veil because of their enormous crimes but caused them justly to continue in their blindness, commit acts of shame which engender astonishment in those who hear, and terror in those who discover it.
ReplyDeleteWe therefore renew in this canon, on account of the boldness of the offenders, what the Council of Toledo providently decreed in this matter: we forbid Jews to be appointed to public offices, since under cover of them they are very hostile to Christians.
ReplyDeleteIt has come to my ears that certain men of perverse spirit have sown among you some things that are wrong and opposed to the holy faith, so as to forbid any work being done on the Sabbath day. What else can I call these but preachers of Antichrist, who, when he comes, will cause the Sabbath day as well as the Lord’s day to be kept free from all work. For, because he pretends to die and rise again, he wishes the Lord’s day to be had in reverence; and, because he compels the people to judaize that he may bring back the outward rite of the law, and subject the perfidy of the Jews to himself, he wishes the Sabbath to be observed.
ReplyDeleteBesides usury, through which Jews everywhere have sucked dry the property of impoverished Christians, they are accomplices of thieves and robbers.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, by means of their particular practice of commerce, they amass a great store of money and then by an exorbitant rate of interest utterly destroy the wealth and inheritance of Christians.
ReplyDeleteAll the world suffers from the usury of the Jews, their monopolies and deceit. They have brought many unfortunate people into a state of poverty, especially the farmers, working class people and the very poor. Their ethical and moral doctrines as well as their deeds rightly deserve to be exposed to criticism in whatever country they happen to live.
ReplyDeleteWe decree and order that from now on, and for all time, Christians shall not eat or drink with the Jews, nor admit them to feasts, nor cohabit with them, nor bathe with them. They cannot live among Christians, but in a certain street, separated and segregated from Christians, and outside which they cannot under any pretext have houses.
ReplyDeleteOur ways of life and those of the Jews are utterly different, and Jews will easily pervert the souls of simple folk to their superstition and unbelief if such folk are living in continual and intimate intercourse with them.
ReplyDeleteHowever, we received a short time ago through credible reports knowledge to our great alarm, that various Jews of both sexes in Cafas and other cities, lands and places overseas, which fall under the jurisdiction of Christians, are of obstinate mind and, in order to conceal swindling and wickedness, wear no special sign on their clothing, so that they are not recognisable as Jews. They are not ashamed to give themselves out as Christians before many Christians of both sexes of these cities, districts and places mentioned, who could not in fact identify them, and consequently commit shameful things and crimes.
ReplyDeleteIt is too absurd and pointless that the Jews, whom their own guilt condemns to slavery, under the pretence that Christian piety suffers and tolerates their coexistence, pay back [with wickedness] the mercy received from Christians.
ReplyDeleteI have as neighbours a Muslim family on the right and a Jewish family on the left. They both do things which annoy me, they both have better cars than I have but we all worship the God of the Old Testament and I couldn't think of better or kinder people to live in harmony with. I would always put myself out to help them.
ReplyDeleteThis said, I wouldn't fancy living in Pakistan or Isreal (like them). I've no desire to convert to Islam or Judeism and they certainly aren't harbouring desires to become Catholics.
I would be a shocking example of the Faith if I were to hold their religious beliefs against them in a personal way. I would be failing to see the wood for the trees.
There is always the danger of winning the dubious title of being a wonderful Catholic but a terrible Christian.
Patrick Cannon
Amen Patrick, So much hate in some of these responses,SHAME on you,. Other wise great post and blog .Thank You,
ReplyDeleteGrant
How come you get so many (alleged) popes commenting here?
ReplyDeletePatricius - yes, bit of a puzzle really. I decided to leave them as, presumably, they are true statements.
ReplyDeleteHowever, they are out of context but I'm a believer in judging history through the times that it took place in rather than through today's eyes.
Surely anti-semitism is as erroneous as philo-semitism? We should use our Faith to discern these matters. The Church historically always spoke out against blind hatred, whilst condemning the actions, ideas and words of those who undermine Catholicism, whether Communists, Freemasons or gluttonous Capitalists. Perhaps if the social teaching of the church reverted to its "Chestertonian" roots instead of the 1960s (post V2) happy clappy Peace & Justice variety we might, as Catholics, be better placed to discern modern political and socio-economic events in the light of the teachings of Holy Mother Church, the Popes and Tradition. Just a thought. ;-)
ReplyDeleteInteresting article. I wonder how you'd define 'racism'
ReplyDeleteMr Collins:
ReplyDeleteIt is always extremely difficult to discuss this subject in modern times for the simple reason that propaganda has been rammed into our heads nonstop for decades. People cannot think straight on this matter anymore, and it is a great pity, for the Church's survival depends upon level heads and calm reflection. With your kind permission, I would like to offer several thoughts.
We must, firstly, get away from this "antisemitism" miasma, or at least define it clearly. It is a word thrown around so much these days that it scarcely has any meaning anymore. The Church condemns all forms of ill-considered racism, and hatred of semitic peoples is a form of that. So who are the semites? Well, Arabs for one, and Lebanese, Iranians, Jews, Syrians, etc. Let us start there. To call someone "antisemitic" is a rather dicey statement which calls for specifics. Is the antisemite one who hates all those people named? Distinctions are important. Now, certain powerful and influential Jews, including those who are now occupying the Holy Land, will have it that antisemitism can only mean a hatred of Jews. This is as irrational as it is dangerous - for them. Because some Jews believe they are the only true semites and are cultivating a "master race" theory in which they believe they are the only ones who can claim the dignity of being semitic. Their behavior towards the historic inhabitants of the Holy Land (many of them Christian, lest we forget), which has been barbaric, would seem to show that many of them do hold this attitude of racial superiority. To them the people whose lands they have stolen, whose olive groves have been burned to the ground, who have been ethnically cleansed from a land that held their ancestors for 5,000 years are nothing but animals and can be treated as animals.
Yet these are the same people who throw out the antisemitic accusation with such tiresome regularity.
Now the Church, vis-a-vis the Jews, has always had a very sound approach: they are to be converted to the Catholic Faith, which is their birthright in any case. Those Jews who attack the Church are to be looked upon as the Church's enemies, as the quotations from the Popes above show pretty clearly (these are hardly the only quotes that can be referenced, by the way). Yet the Church also condemns race hatred. In practice this means that while the Church could never advocate hatred of the Jewish people (or any other semitic peoples) per se it most certainly can advocate that those Jews who are the Church's enemies can and must be opposed. Her survival depends on it in fact.
Catholics who are frustrated over the actions of the Jews which attack the Catholic religion are not antisemites; they are defenders of the Church. They are within their rights to do so, just as fathers are within their rights to protect their families from danger. Yet many people will not make these distinctions, and this, combined with a misguided view of the "chosen people" concept will cause them to cast unjust slurs against any and all who fight Jewish nationalism or the Jewish revolutionary spirit. So let us be careful when we worry about anti-Jewishness among some of our brethren. There is nothing wrong or unCatholic about fighting those Jews who attack and defame the one true Faith. We must pray for them (for their conversion, specifically) but we must not let them undermine the Church, as far too many of them are wont to do. In fact the real, visceral hatred in this whole thing is more often Jewish antipathy towards Catholicism, not the other way around. It is tragic, but there it is.
You ae right, Mr Collins, to try to see history through the eyes of those who lived through it, rather than to judge historical events through modern prejudices. Would that more Catholics did the same.