A controversy has erupted over the request by the Rabbi of the Western Wall, Shmuel Rabinovitch, that Pope Benedict XVI take off his cross before a visit to the wall in May. Rabinovitch stated “My position is that it is not fitting to enter the Western Wall area with religious symbols, including a cross. I feel the same way about a Jew putting on a tallit and phylacteries and going into a church.”
Actually, asking someone to remove a cross is more like asking them remove yamaka in a church, which would be an outrageous demand. As someone raised as a Catholic, I would also never ask a Jewish person to remove a tallit or phylacteries.
In 2000, Pope John Paul II prayed at the Western Wall without removing his cross. Rabinovitch has made headlines in recent years by blocking clergy wearing crosses.
In November 2007, he blocked a group of Austrian bishops led by the Archbishop of Vienna, Christoph Schonborn, stating that “crosses are a symbol that hurt Jewish feelings.” That seems less of a view of religion than prejudice. I am married to a Jewish woman as is one of my brothers and they clearly do not view crosses in such a way. I would view a Jewish person praying in a church to be a sign of respect and interfaith connection.
It seems to me that the symbol of intolerance in this controversy is Rabbi Rabinovitz as when he barred access in May 2008 to a group of Irish prelates from both Catholic and Protestant churches. The Rabbi has converted a symbol of faith and tolerance into a place of exclusion and prejudice. I would be interested in hearing particularly from our Jewish bloggers as to whether Rabbi Rabinovitz’s views are shared by the mainstream of the Jewish community.
The politics of the wall has been marred in past years by attacks on Jewish women who seek to hold prayer sessions at the wall, here and here and here.
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I am only interested in what you stated regarding the 9-11 attacks. The reinstatement of the Bisphops is common knowledge. Where is this information to be found?
gregory:
If you’d get your nose out of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John, and check out the New York Times you’d know it was some of the bishops who made those absurd statements. Your Pope just ratified and validated their words by overturning their excommunications and welcoming them back to you and the rest of the flock.*
Here let me do your research for you:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/25/world/europe/25pope.html
* As Christopher Hitchens says, that word “flock” should tell you all you need to know about how the Church views its members.
I am unaware of these intelligences you claim are known. Please provide me with the website or periodical in which Pope Benedict the XVI allegedly made this statement, concerning the attacks of 9-11. If you cannot, you will once again stand convicted by your own words mespo77.
Please let me know what periodical you are referring to, that quotes our Pope making this allegation, concerning the 9-11 attacks. Lest you once again stand convicted by your own words.
gregory:
“Pope Benedict the XVI, has condemned the application of liberation theology in the Church.”
Ex-Hitler youth Benedict XVI also reinstated 4 bishops who denied the holocaust and said our government staged 9-11 to justify an attack on Afghanistan. I wouldn’t put too much stock in what Heir Benedict says and does concerning human rights.
Pope Benedict the XVI, has condemned the application of liberation theology in the Church
Yeah, Mike A., nice stick!
Mike Appleton:
If there was a crown for king of troll bashing, you’d get it.
Mike Spindell and Mike Appleton bless you both. I know I wasn’t stoned the whole time I spent with the Benedictine Sisters, Resurrection Brothers and a handful of semesters with the Jesuits, because your intelligent replies illuminate my understanding of those years.
This is not a protest, as I consume every word that you gentleman deliver. But to respectfully quote Cicero directly, “Save your breath it’s like arguing with a loud speaker.”
Are you near Agapetus? The HOLY HAND GRENADE PLEASE !
Be sure to let us all know how that “corner on the truth” thing works out for you. Enjoy your slavery to a man-made institution, because that’s all you’ve demonstrated – a slavish devotion to dogma.
The truth can be quite sobering.
The pedophilia problem in the Church is due in large part to the ordination of homosexual priests. In overflow numbers, they have been ordained since Vatican II. Yes, even prior to Vatican II, this problem existed. The Church needs to ensure that young men who are entering the seminary are not inclined to homosexuality. It is a grave scandal when a young man, studying to be a cleric, comports himself in such a manner. If you look at the statistics, over ninety five percent of molested children have been males. All acts of pedohilia are horrific, on both males and females, and I am hopeful that the Church will ensure that “all” children and adults are protected from these perpetrators in the future.
Coincidentally Mike A., my assertion is only that the Catholic Church has a monopoly on “truth”. That “truth” being the truths of religion. As I have stated earlier, on matters of faith and morals her decision is final. Our Lord stated that “Upon this Rock I build my Church”. Our Lord never said “churches”. There was no plurality in His statement. All other churches are false, save the one statred by our Lord in the year 33 in Jerusalem.
Mike A., thank you for the compliment regarding your impression that I sound “like a dog eared copy of the Baltimore Catechism”. Sadly, I wish more Catholics would read the Baltimore Cathechism. It’s simple beauty and truth is evident on every page.
Mike A., I had a chance to read yout statement. I am certain that if you were to read the works of G.K. Chesterton, you will find very little that advocates the likes of liberation theology. Also, Cardinal Newman was a fervent apologist and devout Catholic. He was a convert from Anglicanism, and left this heresy, to embrace the fulness of Grace offered by our Lord. These graces are found in there totality only in the Catholic Church. I would suggest you go back and study the writings of Cardinal Newman, as you will find much of what I wrote has been influenced by his very writings. In regards to C. S. Lewis. He was a member of the Church of Ireland, which is a branch of the Anglican communion. He remained a heretic his live long life, despite the efforts of his friend J.R.R. Tolkien to convert him. Tolkien you see was a convert to Catholicism as well. In light of what you shared regarding the fact that pedophile priests live in the southwest, I am still unclear what that has to do with what I have shared regarding my faith and beliefs as a Catholic. Could you elaborate on why you made this rather “odd statement”.
“You are rather like one who professes familiarity with the great literature of the world by having read every issue of Classics Illustrated.”
Mike A.,
Great line, great comment, but beware as I was made to be, taking up this cross does not return dialogue, but diatribe. Good luck, you’ve got the “chops” to break through the fog, it depends on the listener though.
P.S. I must admit that Classic illustrated got me through some rough tests in school, but I was prudent enough not to use them in debate with people who had actually read the book.
Gregory, I have been following the comments on this thread for several days and have declined to jump into the fray, considering it pointless. However, I feel compelled to offer several of my own humble observations. First, in the interests of full disclosure, you should know that I was born and raised a Catholic, attended a Jesuit high school and spent a brief period of my life in a Jesuit seminary. I spent most of my formative years in the southwest, where I met a number of Franciscans, some of the gentlest, most loving individuals I have ever encountered. It was during those years that I also came to realize that west Texas and New Mexico were a favorite dumping ground for “problem priests,” alcoholics and pedophiles dispatched by people like Cardinal Cushing of Boston and Cardinal Spellman of New York to what was considered mission territory. We all know the effects of that policy. During my college years I was privileged to have become acquainted with some very dynamic Catholic intellectuals and activists, including the Berrigan brothers, Dom Helder Camara (the then Archbishop of Recife, Brazil) and assorted proponents of the Catholic liberation theology movement. I still consider myself a Catholic by tradition and theological inclination, but view the Church, at least in America, as having abandoned its commitment to the poor in favor of embracing the extremist ideology and political platform of the most ignorant and spiritually bankrupt branches of Christian fundamentalism.
Reading your comments has been an embarrassing exercise. You completely fail to understand the distinction between expressing and explaining a point of view and spouting dogmatic assertions that read as though they were lifted wholesale from a dog eared copy of the old Baltimore Catechism. The overall impact is that of an angry preacher castigating his flock to ante up for the second collection so that the church construction loan can be retired. You make impassioned statements lacking passion and exhortations to love your God which are void of charity. You assert doctrine without understanding Catholic theology and your knowledge of the history of the church is abysmal. You are rather like one who professes familiarity with the great literature of the world by having read every issue of Classics Illustrated.
If you truly wish to become accomplished at apologetics, I have some reading suggestions, in no particular order: Augustine (specifically the “Confessions” and “City of God”), G.K. Chesterton, John Henry Newman, C.S. Lewis. If you wish to understand Catholic commitment, you need only read Dorothy Day. If you wish to engage in constructive exchanges with others on this site, it is best to begin with the assumption that none of us has a monopoly on the truth.
Mespo72:
Lamb should only be served rare to medium rare and please make sure you use rosemary so that I may inhale the godly essence of that wonderful herb.
Also if it is not asking too much can you include a bottle of Domaine d’Aussières, Corbières (France) 2003 in your offering as it is good company for lamb.
Agapetus:
I am even now scouring the fields for a suitable sacrificial lamb to serve as a burnt offering. Do you like medium rare or well-done?
Only slightly off topic: Free Will & Physics
I found this to be quite interesting from both a physics and a theological standpoint. Elementary particles may have free will.
http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S23/69/84A24/index.xml?section=announcements