FEATURED JOBS
Comments (0)As most readers of the BALTIMORE JEWISH TIMES now know, on January 24th Pope Benedict XVI removed the excommunication of four bishops, one of whom, Bishop Richard Williamson, has made public statements that amount to a denial of the Holocaust.
Without unnecessarily complicating the matter, it should be pointed out that these four bishops have not been brought back into full communion with the Church; rather, the door has simply been opened for them to receive the sacraments of the Church like any ordinary layperson does.
In any vent, much attention in the Jewish community has understandably been focused on Bishop Williamson and his comments.
Abraham Foxman of the ADL fairly well summarized Jewish reaction when he said that the move “sends a terrible message to Catholics around the world that there is room in the church for those who would undermine the church’s teachings and who would foster disdain and contempt for other religions, particularly Judaism.”
As for messages sent; if nothing else has been made clear to Catholics around the world and others since this event took place it’s that Williamson’s comments on the Holocaust are not in any way shared, much less endorsed, by the Pope or the Catholic Church. In fact, his statements have been repeatedly and publicly denounced by Benedict and other Vatican officials who have taken the opportunity to reaffirm the Church’s stance against anti-Semitism.
I wonder how many people know that this same Bishop Williamson also made public statements supporting the theory that the U.S. government staged 9-11 as an excuse to invade Afghanistan.
Given this information, which was reported by the N.Y. Times, would anyone reading this consider it reasonable to conclude that the Church now supports this crazy notion too? Of course not. Would reasonable people conclude that Williamson’s idiotic opinion of 9-11 should disqualify him from being Catholic? I should hope not.
In answer to Mr. Foxman’s concerns I will plainly concede that there is “room in the church” for idiotic opinions; yes, even hurtful ones. I dare say - if you will allow some levity in the midst of a serious discussion - this is yet another trait that our faith traditions have in common.
All of which brings me to what I consider the crux of the matter; we need to remain focused on what truly unites us; faith - not in the character or wisdom of any one of our members, whether bishop or rabbi or ordinary layperson, but faith in the Lord.
At the end of the day, the relationship between Catholics and Jews has true meaning because we share, as a fundamental matter of identity, a covenantal relationship with God. Take that away and our dialogue could hardly be considered “interfaith” and would thereby be reduced to little more than diplomatic relations between secular states.
We – both Catholics and Jews - cannot allow that to happen, especially at the hands of one member who holds an idiotic opinion that neither of us share.
Louie Verrecchio writes from Hampstead, MD and is a columnist for The Catholic Weekly in Sydney, Australia.