The Church, now and then

It is unusual for The Southern Cross to use this space to take issue with letters to the editor. Today’s letter on this page by Brian Rutter, however, deserves a sincere and candid response.

Mr Rutter is at pains to emphasise that his letter should not be read as a denunciation of the Catholic community in general. His comments are rather directed at some of those who lead the Catholic Church. These include the Holy See’s secretary of state, Cardinal Angelo Sodano, and the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, Michel Sabbah.

Both men, and other Catholic leaders, have spoken out against the violence in the Holy Land, calling on world leaders to acknowledge the Palestinian cause as valid. Both men, and other Catholic leaders, have spoken out against the violence in the Holy Land, calling on world leaders to acknowledge the Palestinian cause as valid.

Mr Rutter, a secular Jew, is quite entitled to denounce the diplomatic policies of the Holy See and individual Church figures. One may suppose that Patriarch Sabbah’s sympathies inherently lean towards the Palestinian position, and that his viewpoint informs much of the Holy See’s foreign policy in this regard. Whether or not these policies are justifiable is a matter for further debate. In this light, Mr Rutter’s contribution is to be welcomed.

Mr Rutter is mistaken, however, in ascribing the Holy See’s position to an intrinsically anti-Judaist agenda. Many of those who have led and followed the Catholic Church over two millennia bear a grave and incontrovertible responsibility for having helped to fertilise the soil of anti-Semitism which would ultimately give growth to the Shoah (even though that abomination was conducted by the Nazi adherents to paganism). The Church is shamed by the pogroms that would invariably follow Good Friday pageants, the forced conversions, the liturgical references to “perfidious Jews,” the establishment of ghettos and more. These are historical facts, and may they never be forgotten.

Mr Rutter is mistaken, however, in ascribing the Holy See’s position to an intrinsically anti-Judaist agenda. Many of those who have led and followed the Catholic Church over two millennia bear a grave and incontrovertible responsibility for having helped to fertilise the soil of anti-Semitism which would ultimately give growth to the Shoah (even though that abomination was conducted by the Nazi adherents to paganism). The Church is shamed by the pogroms that would invariably follow Good Friday pageants, the forced conversions, the liturgical references to “perfidious Jews,” the establishment of ghettos and more. These are historical facts, and may they never be forgotten.

Mr Rutter is mistaken, however, in ascribing the Holy See’s position to an intrinsically anti-Judaist agenda. Many of those who have led and followed the Catholic Church over two millennia bear a grave and incontrovertible responsibility for having helped to fertilise the soil of anti-Semitism which would ultimately give growth to the Shoah (even though that abomination was conducted by the Nazi adherents to paganism). The Church is shamed by the pogroms that would invariably follow Good Friday pageants, the forced conversions, the liturgical references to “perfidious Jews,” the establishment of ghettos and more. These are historical facts, and may they never be forgotten.

Since Vatican II, however, the Church has repeatedly expressed its profound contrition and sought forgiveness from the Jewish community. Pope John Paul in particular has stated, in the name of the Church, his anguish at this dismal, now thankfully closed, chapter of our history.

This, then, is the Catholic Church of today: deeply aware of the inequities committed in its name in the past, and determined to address social injustices on their merit now.

It is ironic that Mr Rutter should invoke the notion of collective guilt in his censure of the Church leaders. In effect, Mr Rutter suggests that the past history of the Catholic Church should preclude its leaders from ever taking a position contrary to the aggregate of Jewish interests. Yet it was the very concept of collective guilt those deeply misguided Christians applied when branding generations of Jews as “Christ-killers.” The automated transmission of culpability from one generation to the next is indeed a dangerous fallacy.

In the Middle East conflict, the Church leaders are moved by what they perceive to be a social injustice and the resultant suffering. Their position is not informed by latent anti-Judaism, but by a yearning for justice and peace.