Cardinal reaffirms Nostra Aetate’s centrality in Catholic-Jewish relations
Breakaway Bishop Williamson dismissed as “crazy”
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PrintEven as Kurt Cardinal Koch was delivering the annual John Paul II Honorary Lecture in Interreligious Dialogue at the Angelicum in Rome, members of the Society of St. Pius X, the traditionalist Catholic breakaway group that the Vatican seeks to bring back into the fold, were delivering quite a different message.
Bishop Bernard Fellay, superior general and one of the bishops of the Society of St. Pius X, said the relationship between Jews and Christians is a fundamentally antagonistic one. Jews, he said, were at fault for the Holocaust. He did not attribute such an attitude to “every Jew, as a people,” but to “the religion, Judaism, which is something different.” Others within the conservative society offer similar messages. One member, Bishop Bernard Williamson, was convicted of being a Holocaust denier. He also has made anti-Semitic remarks in the past. The Vatican’s attempt to bring the society these men claim to represent back into the church has many Jewish leaders worried.
Rabbi Jack Bemporad, who was a child refugee from the Shoah in Italy, said he is unconcerned. People should trust Benedict’s judgment, he said, regarding whether to readmit the society into the Catholic fold.
“I think that Pope Benedict XVI in many ways really understood the Holocaust because he was in the German Army. He deserted [the army], his family was anti-Nazi, He was completely opposed to Hitler….How could he in any way accept or welcome someone who denies that Hitler did anything wrong?”
The rabbi said Williamson is “one person who is really crazy” and “knows nothing.” The rabbi does not believe that Williamson speaks for the vast majority of society members and added, “The mistake is to take a few people and make them somehow representative of everyone without realizing that that just isn’t true. I think only a small part of this group is so radical. I think the vast majority are very happy and would love to be part of the church.”
In recent negotiations with the society, the Vatican has insisted that it accept all the documents of the Second Vatican Council.
Koch said that on this issue, “the Holy Father has already clarified his position….Denying the Holocaust, he pointed out, is unacceptable both in the Catholic church and in a fair and honest historical analysis.”
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Talk sponsored by the Russell Berrie Foundation
A rabbi from Alpine last week hosted a cardinal from Basel in a program held in Rome funded by an Englewood-based philanthropy.
On Wednesday, May 16, the rabbi, Jack Bemporad, invited the cardinal, Kurt Koch, to present the prestigious John Paul II Honorary Lecture in Interreligious Dialogue at the Angelicum, the more popular name for the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas. A pontifical university is one under the direct control of the Vatican.
Bemporad is director of the John Paul II Center for Interreligious Dialogue. The Bergen County resident is also the executive director of the Center for Interreligious Understanding (www.faithindialogue.com) in Englewood, and the scholar-in-residence at Chavurah Beth Shalom in Alpine. He teaches an annual course in Judaism to seminarians at the Angelicum.
