Pope Benedict XVI’s decision last month to revoke the excommunications of several renegade bishops from the Society of St. Pius X sparked outrage on the part of Jews and concerned Catholics alike. Most of the news reports on the controversy have focused on the Holocaust-denying comments of Bishop Richard Williamson, as well as similar remarks made by Father Floriano Abrahamowicz.
But the Holocaust denial of a pair of clergymen is not the only aspect of this episode that should alarm those who care about Jewish-Catholic relations. Deep currents of theological antisemitism run through the Society of St. Pius X, a schismatic group that rejects the Catholic Church reforms enacted in the 1960s at the Second Vatican Council. Welcome as it was, Pope Benedict’s clear repudiation of Williamson’s Holocaust denial does not adequately address the more fundamental questions raised by his decision to revoke the excommunications.
At Vatican II, the church rejected centuries of Christian antisemitism. The church’s historically antisemitic theology — often referred to as the “teachings of contempt” — included the charges that Jews were responsible for the crucifixion and were thus eternally cursed. These theological positions helped create an environment that nourished violence and discrimination that lasted into the 20th century, and ultimately contributed to the Holocaust.
It was Vatican II, particularly through the document Nostra Aetate, that finally broke with that tradition. The document stated that Jews today cannot be blamed for the death of Jesus, and said that the church “decries hatred, persecutions, displays of anti-Semitism, directed against Jews at any time and by anyone.” While the document seems mild today, it served as the starting point for a historically unparalleled revolution that, over the past 44 years, has moved Jewish-Catholic relations forward, despite some difficult obstacles that are still not resolved.
The Society of St. Pius X, however, rejects the Vatican II reforms, including those aimed at making amends for past mistreatment of Jews. This we can see from a pair of essays that were until recently posted on the Web site of the society’s American branch. (Both have disappeared in the wake of the controversy over the pope’s actions on the bishops.) The essays seem to illustrate the society’s general theology on Catholic-Jewish relations and its desire to turn back the clock.
In one essay, the Vatican II teaching that “the Jews should not be spoken of as rejected or accursed as if this followed from holy Scripture” is described as “outrageous.”
The other essay claims that “Judaism is inimical to all nations in general, and in a special manner to Christian nations” and that “the unrepentant Jewish people are disposed by God to be a theological enemy, the status of this opposition must be universal, inevitable, and terrible.” There are claims that “the Talmud, which governs Jews, orders enmity with Christians” and that the “Jewish people persecute Christendom,” “conspire against the Christian State,” commit “usury” and even “are known to kill Christians”! Thus the essay defends the notion that Jews should not be “given equality of rights” but rather should be forced into ghettos (“isolated into its own neighborhoods”).
The issue of the Holocaust denial of a few individuals associated with the society is thus only the tip of the iceberg. To concentrate on that aspect of the story ignores the bigger picture. In fact, it allows the Vatican and the society a cheap escape route. It is too easy for them to disavow such extremist statements by individuals and think that they have then put the issue to rest.
True, Pope Benedict has now said that any reconciliation with the Society of St. Pius X is contingent upon the society embracing Vatican II. While this was an important statement, the acceptance of Vatican II must be more than a box that can simply be checked off for readmission into the church’s good graces. It must require a commitment to a renewed theology of dialogue that respects Jews and Jewish self-determination, and embraces the documents and teachings that have circulated from the Vatican and the Catholic Church over the almost half a century since Nostra Aetate was published. These guidelines need to become part of the society’s teachings and the curriculum in its seminaries. The Vatican should make this clear.
But there is also a broader lesson that must be drawn from this controversy. The improved relationship between the Catholic Church and the Jewish people is not one that can be taken for granted, and the work begun at Vatican II in this regard is not yet complete. To be truly meaningful, the commitment to building this relationship must be internalized, so that it would not require the intervention of a German chancellor or thousands of outraged Catholics and Jews for the church to recognize the obvious. It is not a stretch to say that if anyone with sensitivity to the issue of Jewish-Catholic relations had bothered (or been requested) to look at the full spectrum of the society’s teachings, this blow-up could have been avoided. That it was not points to a blind spot in the thinking of the Vatican and raises questions about its priorities.
Pope Benedict has spoken movingly and powerfully about his feelings about antisemitism, the Holocaust, Jews and Judaism. But unless the church’s deeds begin to match its words, Jewish-Catholic relations will continue their downward trajectory of recent years.
Mark Weitzman is director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Task Force Against Hate.
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The quick resolution of this matter is important. As a Roman Catholic I believe Jewish organizations should ask the Holy Father to issue an encyclical on the Shoah. This would encode the Holocaust into the permanent record and memory of Roman Catholics forever. It would also aid the long range goal of making the Holocaust an event in the historical consciences of the West. Jews need the Catholic Church more than ever because there is not another organization with the authority and the teaching apparatus, and most importantly the commitment to making the memorialization of historical events a part of an individual's character formation. One goal of Jewish Catholic relations should be to make The Shoah part of Catholic catachesis. Why? Because along with being an event of genocide, it was also an attempt to pull christian civilization up by the roots to replace it with a "racial paganism". This may not be part of the Jewish agenda but there is no reason Catholics and JEws together cannot acknowledge the different aspects of the Nazi death machine. By acknowledging this part of the Nazi murders, Jews acknowledge a Catholic interest in the Holocaust which goes beyond the guilt of the Church. By acknowledging this part of the Nazi record -- I mean the murder of priests, monks and nuns -- they partner with an organization which can assure that the event will be remembered for two thousand years. This can be done respectfully without "christianizing" the Holocaust or short changing the truth that the Holocaust was primarily an event of Jewish suffering. As a Catholic who is deeply worried about the increase in Holocaust Denial, I urge Jews to take a new look at the Vatican as a future partner in the strengthening of memory. Ask yourself what other organization can help you. Ask yourself if in the year 2300 the average goy isn't going to think of the SHoah as a kind of Irish potato famine for Jews. I say this with respect. That's where this Denial business is going to end up unless you have some great big Goyishe organization which is commmitted to tradition and memory teaching the skutzim about your victims. Of course, if there is going to be such a partnership it would be good if you didn't scream everytime we try to make someone like Edith Stein a saint. Start looking at the big picture, guys. This denial business is going to grow unless you get the big V. on your side.
as i have said in other sites, no cult can tolerate another cult, let alone gladhand it. if christians and judaists wld abandon all of their respective misteachings, the two cults might become religions and thus acquire more of a human face. alas, each of the two cults wld still keep its clashing eternal verities which wld guaranty eternal conflict; in short, eternal disagreements=eternal conflict.
all this because each of these two cults possesses apriori knowledge; i.e., knowledge comes first, experience comes after. scientists, who are not killing one another, first experience events and only after that obtain knowledge; not, however, eternal truths; just temporary truths. categories don't exist in nature. truth, morality, fairness are not found in nature. gaza massacre proves it. in nature, of which we are part, there is power. thnx
Jews are understandably obsessed with Catholicism. However, Roman Catholicism is a dying religion. It is protestantism which has been taking over the world's regions where there is still religion (there is none in Europe), so that Africa and Latin America are for all intents and purposes protestant (mainstream media forgot to tell us about it - whoops). There are no young people becoming Roman Catholic priests, so the church should be stick-a-fork-in-me-I'm-done in another generation. The end.
Yanni: Catholicism is not a dying religion. Yes, it's a faith in decline, but it is hardly dying. Last I looked, it was still the biggest part of Christianity, and there happens to be some religion in Europe; moreover, Latin America is still largely Catholic, as far as I can tell. As for Africa, it's at least part Protestant and part Muslim. In addition, there are also Buddhism, Sikhism, Hinduism, Shinto, Confucianism, and numerous smaller religions.
StGuyFawkes: Yes, the Shoah should be remembered, but so should the Irish potato famine. Both were examples of man's inhumanity to man. Unfortunately, as the Holocaust grows more remote, those who remember it will die out, and then it becomes consigned to history, a legend, a story, like all the other tragedies and massacres in human memory - the genocides of Genghis Khan, the Holodomar, the Armenian Genocide, the butchering of Jews during the Crusades, the Native American "Trail of Tears", and many many more. We should forgive, but we should never forget - keep telling the story and show how evil the genocide was, but don't blame ALL Germans for the Holocaust!