Jews and Presbyterians

It’s a tricky thing–how do you speak for justice in the Middle East, criticizing Israeli policy, while not sounding antisemitic? The upcoming General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (USA) will consider a statement on this subject. The initial draft was praised by Jewish leaders, but the revision (whose appearance surprised many on both sides) has…

The SSPX and Antisemitism

Thanks to one of my UK Catholic readers for sending me this link to Britain’s Catholic Herald: Lefebvrists face crisis as bishop is exposed as ‘dangerous’ anti-Semite. A senior bishop of the Lefebvrist Society of St Pius X (SSPX) has endorsed the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a notorious anti-Semitic forgery that enjoys widespread…

Robert Sungenis and the Jews

Longtime readers of this blog will recall that soon after I started this blog in 2002 a matter arose to which I gave much attention. Catholic apologist Robert Sungenis had begun to write disturbing things about Jews; I saw that he quoted an “Adolf Schmalix” on FDR’s ancestry. This had an unpleasant odor about it,…

Antisemitism?

Catholic University of America canceled a lecture series that included E. Michael Jones, editor of Culture Wars, after a complaint from the Southern Poverty Law Center that Jones is a purveyor of antisemitism. Diogenes of Catholic World News is not convinced. Neither is one of his readers, Gil, who says he searched for twenty minutes…

Antisemitism in Lithuania

Christianity Today points to an article in The Forward about the pre-Lenten traditions in Lithuania. Instead of pancakes or beads and licentiousness, the tradition is ugly–people dressing up as caricatures of Jews (and as gypsies) in parades, and children going door-to-door (as they do here on Halloween). When Simonas Gurevicius, the 26-year-old executive director of…

Antisemitism Today

Taking Stock: Combating Anti-Semitism in the OSCE Region, by Rabbi Marvin Hier of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Testimony before the US Helsinki Commission on the contrast between actions of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and those of the United Nations. As an NGO, we have successfully collaborated with UNESCO in a series…

Pope Pius XII and the Jews

The Catholic League is no longer just defending Pope Pius XII, but is actively promoting his beatification. I’m revising a lecture on the Holocaust to present to my world religions class tomorrow night, and I came across my notes on one of the most important books on the subject, Saul Friedlander, Pius XII and the…

“Those Who Do Not Remember the Past …”

Pope Benedict XVI eulogized St. John Chrysostom in a letter released today, the 1600th anniversary of the historical preacher’s death, upon the opening of a conference on the saint. The pope praised him as a preacher (his rhetorical ability earned him the sobriquet, “Chrysostom,” or “golden mouthed”). Yes, Chrysostom preaching some moving sermons. But how…

Sungenis and the Jews

Robert Sungenis tells us that he was sat down by some Catholic church officials and given a talking to regarding his writings on the Jews. And he says he’s going to listen. Via Mark Shea. It’s about time there was some action.

Polish Priest Denies Antisemitism

Fr. Tadeusz Rydzyk of Radio Maryja denies he’s antisemitic, and is backed by his superior. Well, rarely do you meet an antisemite who accepts the term. Catholic antisemites like the SSPX will play word games and restrict the term, in their definition, to racial theories, and then say that since they have theological objections to…

More on Poland

As I’ve mentioned before, a Polish priest, Tadeusz Rydzyk, is under fire for antisemitic comments he has made. He’s been likened to Fr. Charles Coughlin (American radio demagogue in the 1930s) because of his high profile radio broadcasts. The New York Times reports of the concerns expressed by the Simon Wiesenthal Center, which has urged…

Trouble in Poland

Polish radio preacher Father Tadeusz Rydzyk is fuming against Jews again. Someone referred to him as the “Charles Coughlin of Poland.” Problem is, he’s a strong backer of the Kaczynski twins, who have been caught in the middle of the controversy. President Lech Kaczynski is calling on the Redemptorist order to reign him in. The…

Simon Wiesenthal Center on Benedict’s Motu Proprio

Good points are raised by a press release from the Simon Wiesenthal Center. The real concern is the antisemitism of the SSPX–that’s the elephant in the living room. Against the backdrop of Pope Benedict XVI’s Motu Proprio that invites greater use of pre-Vatican II Latin Mass liturgy, the Wiesenthal Center reiterated its grave concerns over…

Many “Traditionalists” Are Not Pleased

Tom Droleskey of Christ or Chaos rants about the decree of “Father Joseph Ratzinger” (whom he does not recognize as either bishop or pope). He’s particularly unhappy that the Triduum won’t be celebrated: Second, absent those “personal parishes” established by a conciliar bishop for the daily offering of the modernized version of the Immemorial Mass…

Kittel, Althaus, et al

Every person who has study theology knows the name Kittel–sometimes as the name of a man, Gerhard Kittel, and sometimes as shorthand for his magnum opus, the ten volume Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. When a one volume abridgment was published, it quickly became known as the “Little Kittel.” Althaus, of course, is Paul…

Antisemitism and the Catholic Right, continued

Catholic Voice (UK) is one of the more extreme antisemitic “Traditionalist” sites I’ve seen.The heading of the website reads, “Combating the antichristic conspiracy of the Khazar ‘Jew’ supremacists in honour of the Sacred Head of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Seat of Divine Wisdom.” And the link to the recent SPLC report on Traditionalist antisemitism…

Can We Remain Silent in the Face of Antisemitism?

Five years ago I documented the plagiarism of antisemitic sources by apologist Robert Sungenis. Since then, several men who worked for him at that time and since (Michael Forrest, Jacob Michael, Ben Douglass), and who once defended him, have left his organization and are making their own criticisms of his anti-Jewish writings, building upon what…

Antisemitism on the Catholic Right

The Remnant bookstore is selling one of the most odious examples of 20th century Catholic antisemitism–Maurice Pinay, The Plot against the Church, of which Sandra Miesel has written: In 1962, a singularly vicious specimen of Catholic anti-Semitism was published just before Vatican II, reportedly by a team of twelve clerics—probably Latin Americans and one said…

More RadTrad response to SPLC

Fringe sources continue to blast the Southern Poverty Law Center‘s report on antisemitism among Traditionalist Catholics. At “Tradition in Action,” one Atila Sinke Guimarães blasts the Arrogant Harassment against Our Catholic Rights (What a choice of words! Worthy of George Wallace!). Atila’s main point is that you can’t confuse religious opposition to Jews with the…

Antisemitism and the Catholic Right

It was five years ago that I started looking at Antisemitism and the Catholic Right. Some folks who used to defend the person I was investigating at that time now acknowledge that I was correct. I’ve chosen not to step back into that fray, but there are discussions going forward led by others that you…