"Mark well, we call Abraham our Patriarch, our ancestor. Anti-Semitism is irreconcilable with this lofty thought....Anti-Semitism is inadmissible; spiritually, we are all Semites."
-Pope Pius XI to Belgian Pilgrims, September 6, 1938.
"...I accept fully the teachings of Vatican Council II about the Jewish people and, with the Church, I condemn and repudiate anti-Semitism. However, since the Council did not attempt [to] define what precise views, expressions and attitudes are to count as being 'anti-Semitic,' there is clearly a certain 'grey area' there."
5 comments:
Pope John Paul II denounced anti-Semitism as a "sin against God and humanity." And Father Harrison plays these word games? Vatican II didn't "exactly define" what is meant by anti-Semitism? There is a "grey area" here? Bizarre.
I left this comment at the previous post on Fr. Harrison:
Let's see, Fr. Harrison argues that "since the Council did not attempt to define what precise views, expressions and atitudes are to count as being 'anti-Semitic,' there is clearly a certain 'grey area' there."
Grey area huh? Fr. Harrison, would the following "views, expressions and attitudes" (compiled by Paul Melanson for a previous post and made by Fr. Leonard Feeney) fall into that "grey area" you speak of:
"The Jews have taken over this city..." (Report by Grace Uberti from 14 September 1952, Feeney Collection, Archives, Archdiocese of Boston, Brighton, Mass).
"I would rather be a bad Catholic than any Jew in existence." (op. cit, 19 October 1952).
"Every Protestant hates the Jews. Harvard loathes Jews. That is why they got a new President - to keep the Jews away. I don't hate Jews for the reason he hates them. I hate them because they hate Jesus. They hate Jesus because they are Jews!" (op. cit 9 August 1953).
"Those kikes are from Hillel House. I warn you of what the Jews are going to do to the Catholic City of Boston. In every city you see a new synagogue being built in a Christian country...If I sent Catholics over to heckle Rabbi Shubow, Fingold [Attorney General] would send the police in and have them in jail. But over here in front of the picture of the sacred heart of Mary these Jews are yelling every single filthy thing - every blasphemous word, on Sunday in a Catholic city." (op. cit 31 July 1955).
"Here you have me in a Catholic city being spit at and sneered at. I would like to profess my Catholic faith in a city gone to the dogs, thanks to the Jews, Protestants and Masons, and under a cowardly leader." (op. cit 16 November 1952).
"Harvard boys are filthy. Too many Irish, too many Negroes, and too many Jews." (op. cit 8 March 1953).
How about Douglas Bersaw's expressed belief that the Jews are the "Synagogue of Satan"? Does that hateful and bigoted remark fall into your "grey area"? How about Holocaust denial which the Pope says is "unacceptable"? Does that fall into your "grey area"?
These aren't questions about black, white and grey Fr. Harrison. Not black and white. Right and wrong. There is no "grey area" here. You either condemn anti-Semitism as hateful and inadmissible - as the Catholic Church does. Or you condone it.
In the next paragraph of his address, Pope Pius XI said, "Anyone has the right to defend himself, to take steps to protect himself against anything that threatens his legitimate interest."
In reply to Michelle, of course I reject those hateful and prejudiced statements against Jews by Fr. Feeney in the 1950s, and more recent ones by Douglas Bersaw. And I am confident that today's Saint Benedict Center would likewise reject them. Also, I am not and never have been involved with SBC's "Catholic America Tour". That website page is misleading.
Fr. Brian Harrison
Fr. Harrison writes, "In reply to Michelle, of course I reject those hateful and prejudiced statements against Jews by Fr. Feeney in the 1950s, and more recent ones by Douglas Bersaw. And I am confident that today's Saint Benedict Center would likewise reject them. Also, I am not and never have been involved with SBC's "Catholic America Tour". That website page is misleading."
Does Fr. Harrison really expect us to believe that the SBC cult listed him as part of their "Catholic America Tour" without his permission? I'm told that he spoke at the 2007 SBC Conference. Evidently, Fr. Harrison has no problem associating himself with an organization which has "no affiliation" with the Catholic Church and which has made statements which Bishop McCormack has said are "offensive to all people of good will."
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