The Jewish Reaction to the Pope's Welcoming Back Holocaust Denying Bishop: Disproportionate!

The official Jewish response to Pope Benedict XVI recent decision to reach out to the St. Pious X Society and to revoke the excommunication (though not yet determining the status) of four bishops says a great deal about the psycho-social state of American Jewish leadership -- or at least the leadership that claims to speak for American Jews. The admittedly unnerving if not hurtful Holocaust denying views of one of those bishops, British born Richard Williamson -- an obscure, irrelevant, cranky old man, offered on Swedish television -- evoked the wrath of no less than the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, the B'nai B'rith International, the International Jewish Commission on Interreligious Consultations and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

"The decision undermines the strong relationship between Catholics and Jews", they protested. "We are stunned that the Vatican has ignored our concerns", they proclaimed. This will have "serious implications for Catholic-Jewish relations" and there will be a "political cost for the Vatican" they threatened. And the Chief Rabbinate in Israel, one of the most corrupt religious establishments in Western democracies, entered the fray calling into doubt the Pope's impending visit to Israel. All this hubbub and anxious lashing out about an internal Church matter regarding the sort of crabby, crotchety, trivial, unknown sort of jerk -- the ratty uncle who embarrasses you every time he is in public -- who we all recognize exists in our communities.

As an eighth generation rabbi and someone who lost much family in the Holocaust, it could just be me, but this official Jewish response seems outrageously over the top. Do millions of American Jews sufficiently care that the Pope revoked the excommunication of this unheard of bishop such that major Jewish organizations should devote so much energy and attention to this and turn it into a cause célèbre worthy of front page attention? And is this the way we speak to each other after decades of successful inter-faith work on improving our relationship?

How is it that the view of some cranky bishop -- one who has no power -- evokes calls of a crisis in Catholic-Jewish relations, despite the revolutionary changes in Church teachings regarding Jews since Vatican II? Where is the "proportionality", where is the giving the benefit of the doubt -- a central religious and spiritual imperative -- in response to something that is admittedly upsetting but in the scheme of things is less than trivial especially given this Pope's historic visit to Auschwitz in which he unambiguously recognized the evil perpetrated upon Jews in the Holocaust and in his way "repented" for any contribution distorted Church teachings made to create the ground for such evil to erupt.

Something is off kilter here. Is it possible that the leadership of Jewish defense agencies, people with the best of motivation who have historically done critical work in fighting anti-Semitism, have become so possessed by their roles as monitors of anti-Semitism, so haunted by unresolved fears, guilt, and even shame regarding the Holocaust, and perhaps so unconsciously driven by how these issues literally keep their institutions afloat, that they have become incapable of distinguishing between a bishop's ridiculous, loopy, discredited views about the Holocaust and a Church from the Pope down which has clearly and repeatedly recognized the evil done to Jews in the Holocaust and called for that evil to never be forgotten.

Perhaps, this called for a little understanding of what it must be like to actually run a 1.2 billion person spiritual community (one with which I disagree on many issues) and to be trying to create some sense of unity from right to left, from extreme liberalism to extreme traditionalism -- sort of like the liberal Barack Obama inviting Rick Warren, despite his hurtful views on homosexuality, to give the invocation at the inauguration.

How about cutting a Pope -- who we know along with the previous Pope is probably amongst the most historically sensitive Popes to the issues of anti-Semitism, Holocaust, and the relationship to Judaism and Jews -- a little slack given how he is trying to heal his own community. And is it possible that the Pope's desire/hope/need to reintegrate the Church -- (he has also reached out to Liberal theologian Hans Kung) -- may be of more importance both to the Church and actually to religion on this planet than whether we Jews are upset about the lifting of excommunication of one irrelevant bishop.

Would we Jews like to be judged by the crankiest, most outlandish, hurtful, and stupid thing any rabbi in the world said about Catholics or Christians? We Jews are no longer organized to excommunicate and a rabbi can't be defrocked the way the Church does with its clergy but surely there are individual rabbi's who say things so abhorrent about the "other" that though we still call the person rabbi we would not want to be taken to task for doing so. And isn't it possible that bringing Richard Williamson back inside the Church may actually influence him to see how wrong he is on this issue given how clear the Church is regarding the Holocaust and its commitment to Catholic -Jewish relations?

After all the Pope himself said, "I hope my gesture is followed by the hoped-for commitment on their part to take the further steps necessary to realize full communion with the Church, thus witnessing true fidelity, and true recognition of the magisterium and the authority of the pope and of the Second Vatican Council." There is no way to read this other than to conclude that to be fully reinstated in the Catholic Church, all those who have passed the first test must now clear the big hurdle: either accept what the Catholic Church teaches or remain on the sidelines. And what the Church teaches, among other things, is the necessity of respecting Jews.

Moreover, shouldn't the Jewish defense agency leadership, which to its credit is probably the most effective at its work of any ethnic and religious group in this country, try to understand the inner categories of the other, especially after decades of inter-faith and inter-group work? In this case, that there is a difference between heresy -- an accusation from which the Pope is trying to heal part of his community- and stupidity. And what is the cost of not seeing the difference between heresy and stupidity?

Finally, when the Pope as well as key Vatican officials said within a day that Williamson's views are "absolutely indefensible" and that in the Pope's own words, the Church feels "full and indispensable solidarity with Jews against any Holocaust denial" where was a little humility in response? Wouldn't it have been interesting, yet alone ethically compelling, for those who initially lashed out to have acknowledged that perhaps they did overreact and that they do know that the Church and specifically this Pope are very sensitive to these issues.

But that we ask the Pope and church hierarchy to please understand that, whether fully justified or not, we are still very very raw and very vulnerable regarding the Holocaust and so we are sorry if we did over react and we are deeply grateful for the Pope's unambiguous reiteration of that which we do know is his view and is contemporary Catholic teachings.

Comments

[rtcoffeegirl]

I want to amend my earlier post...I wonder what Williamson thinks about what happened in Bosnia? or Darfur? Rwanda? The Congo? Clearly atrocities are still happening against beautiful people across the world; but wait, maybe because some of those folks are Christian, it must be real. My mistake.

[freakmind]

Come on dude, He's the freakin POPE.

If anyone is supposed to speak for catholicism it's him, and it's not a very forward thinking message to be honoring someone who doesn't believe in the holocaust

[antaeus]

I'm an agnostic Christian, but I think Benedict's move is troubling when put in context. There is nothing magical in the air that prevents forgetfulness and backsliding. Recent changes in Europe have brought an uptick in xenophobic, anti-semitic, and homophobic incidents. I have participated in gay rights events in Budapest in recent years, and it's getting uglier out there, not better.

If this were 1968, and a Pope Paul were "reaching out," then maybe we could handle it. But seen in the context of current trends, it strikes me as a stupid move.

[freakmind]

lol, what's an agnostic Christian?

I don't get it.

[tzvee]

Who made Kula the overreaction policeman? The criticism and response will find its own proper level as this scandal unfolds -within the free market of political give and take. Instead of talking about the talk - what does Kula think about the trajectory that this church is on? Seems to me like some loopy uncles ought not be invited to the family gathering at all... if the loopiness is seen by the family as obscene. And Holocaust denial is an obscenity no matter how loopy the guy who utters it really is. So no we have to question the judgment of this Pope for inviting uncle Richard to dinner. The points I see in this discussion are two:

First, there is worldwide a combined psychological, political and social aversion to anyone who abets a Nazi apologist. Support of a Holocaust denial is directly equivalent to an apologetic for the Nazi genocide of the Holocaust. Add into this the suspicions about the Pope's past as a Hitler Youth and German soldier and that magnifies the public's distaste for his awful decision.

Second, there is a strong majority of people within the Church who understand that by definition a traditional religion cannot be quickly modernized but still want to see evidence that it is moving forward, not backward. The Pope's rehabilitation of retrograde theologians sends signals to the laity that the Vatican has shifted gears into reverse.

[Reuben18]

As a Jew, born and raised, I loved this article. I honestly wish that we Jews would denounce members of our own tribe whenever they spout hate about Catholics - at the very least we should reciprocate the respect we demand from Christians and especially Catholics.
I was raised hearing demeaning things about Christians and about the man they believe to be savior. The memory of those things echoing in my ears sounds about the same as any anti-semitic slur I have ever heard. Let's treat them the way we wish to be treated.

[CaptD]

RIK

Do you think that Pope Benedict XVI himself believes that he is by this act trying to "reintegrate the Church" or instead better position the Church in future talks with other Religious Leaders?

This action in my "uneducated" opinion is a slap in the face of history and identifies MAJOR problems with the Church itself; as they are now choosing which historical "happenings" to include in our recent History!

As you noted, this action has opened a sore wound that many thought was healed; one that many alive today remember all too well.

[davidresponds]

Dear Rabbi Kula, I disagree. Not an overreaction, not disproportionate.
Williamson is not just one cranky, uncle. Williamson's views reflect a deepset attitude among the members of his fraternity, estimated at over half million. Look at their website, their defense of the Inquisition. An obscenity. Further, more members of this fraternity have made equally offensive statements since Williamson made his, and the "apology" of their spokesman (Fellay) was quite ambiguous.
You didn't note last year's restoration of the Tridentine Latin rite which includes a prayer for the conversion of the Jews. And the church recently silenced theologians Roger Haight and Jaque Dupuis; another Jesuit, Jon Sobrino, was threatened with censorship, and Leonardo Boff was silenced. It is speculated that Haight and Dupuis were silenced for writing favorable of religious pluralism, Sobrino and Boff for their writing on liberation theology. None of these theologians are extremely liberal, nor is silencing them an action promoting any real unity. It is not unfair to view the pope's intent as a movement backward to something pre-vatican II, rather than toward unity. This pope was never thought of as a centrist, and is thought of as someone who wants to roll back Vatican II, at least as it has been practiced.
Outraged reaction, and shame, is widespread among Catholics. The Washington Post reported that 50 Catholic members of congress requested of the pope, "a direct repudiation of Bishop Williamson's views." Certainly they think the pope has been less than unambiguous in his position.

[Reuben18]

Why in the world should Jews be offended that Catholics pray for their conversion? Why?!
This is astonishing to me! Let them say in their worship what they will. Unless you are afraid that their prayers might actually influence HaShem???

[davidresponds]

The restoration of this prayer is a setback to 40 years of work between the RC church and Jews in which the church came to accept the validity and legitimacy of Judaism. The prayer condescends, calls the Jews a people in darkness and asks that the veil be lifted from their eyes. At one time the prayer included the words, perfidious Jews. Yours is an interesting question and you should look up some of the debate and related history. Research will take you through the crusades, the Inquisition, pogroms, and the Holocaust. I am afraid their prayers have and will influence them.

[courtb]

I get offended by people trying to convert me. I feel it's disrespectful to my religion. I have many friends of many different faiths and we are all respectful of each other's beliefs, and while we are constantly learning about everyone's faith systems, no one proclaims to have the one "legitimate" religion, or the best one, or the correct one. I find the desire to convert someone to say "My faith is the correct faith, yours is not, therefore, to be correct, you must become like me."

Live and let live. One of the things that I love most about Judaism is that, in theory, we don't proselytize and respect other faiths.

[rtcoffeegirl]

I agree completely with David. While I see Rabbi Kula's point, a little more research was needed on his part to understand how deeply the anti-semitism seeds have rooted in this "sect" if you will, of the Catholic church. What is even more astonishing to me is the response of Williamson, that he will not submit his apology yet until he reviews more research. A simple visit to www.yadvashem.org (the Holocaust museum in Israel) will take him to an array or horrors committed against Jews during the Holocaust. The lampshade made of human skin perhaps? Artwork made from the gold melted down from fillings? Probably more examples than the idiot needs to "up" his numbers.

While I am a Jew, I don't think a person would have to be Jewish to feel outrage at such an insensitive buffoon. And to act as if these horrors did not happen, when millions of one race lost members then...how? They just magically vanished? And those who survived, with numbers inked on their arms, stories the likes we of our generation will (hopefully) never experience--they just reappeared with virtually the same story? And it's all a lie? Unfathomable.

So, Rabbi, THAT'S why tools like this get attention. And that's why regular folk like us get upset.