TIA,

I have been studying the subject of Jews and the Church and one of the things that has been bothering me is the charge of the Church being anti-Semitic. This charge makes no sense to me because the Church and the princes of Europe have always protected Jews.

Among the Jews I've talked to, it's common sentiment that the Nazis killed Jews in the name of Christ. I can't help but believe this was pounded into their head in the anti-Christian proselytizing Jewish tradition.

Moreover-and this is the most baffling thing to me - is this notion that "Historians agree that the break between Judaism and Christianity followed the Roman destruction of the Temple of Jerusalem in the year 70 AD," and that "the Gospels diminished Roman responsibility and expressed Jewish culpability in the death of Jesus both explicitly (Matthew 27:25) and implicitly. Jews were depicted as killers of the Son of God." This I took from the anti-Semitism article in the Britannica, which I always thought was suppose to be reputable.

This seems to me as mere speculation with the motive of blaming the Church for planting the seed of Jew hatred that culminated in the Holocaust. But in the secular world, it's accepted as being the most likely thing, even though it's just an assumption.

My assessment is that secular liberalism as it began in the early 19th century is trying to vindicate itself by pinning the blame elsewhere for all the 20th century evils it caused.

But I would like your opinion because it's always insightful and this subject is consuming me.

     E.M.


TIA responds:

E.M.,

It would be good to distinguish between what is opposition to Judaism as a religion and what is opposition to Judaism as a race.

As a religion, Judaism like any other false religion - Protestantism, Buddhism, Islamism, Spiritism, etc. - can and must be opposed by Catholics. As a race, Jews have the same rights as any other race. They must be respected like the Africans, Asians or any other people.

Anti-Semitism is a word that was created to characterize the racial persecution of the Jews by the Nazis, and therefore had this clear connotation. After the war in 1947, however, two scholars of the Jewish School of Frankfurt - Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno - wrote the book Dialectic of Enlightenment pretending that any previous opposition to Judaism as a religion should be qualified as anti-Semitic and would have indirectly contributed to the killing of Jews in World War II.

This anti-Catholic propaganda maneuver was made by international Judaism with the support of Progressivism inside the Church, especially the German theologians. After Vatican II, with the conquest of the Catholic Church by Progressivism, the maneuver spread far and wide.

Its final goal is to change everything in Church teaching - including the Scriptures - that could possibly oppose Judaism as a religion. In other words, if this maneuver succeeds, we would have the conquest of the Church by the Jewish religion.

You may find more arguments on this topic here, here, here, here and here.

Under the present circumstances, we believe the best thing to do is to strike down Progressivism inside the Church. Otherwise, we would be attacking an external enemy - Judaism - whose cooperator is at our back.

We hope this may be of some assistance,

      Cordially,

      TIA correspondence desk

Dear TIA,

For those Catholics who do not yet fully appreciate the enemy identified by Pope Saint Pius X as destroying our Church from within, I would like to point out the following evidence. For all those with eyes to see, as published by the Vatican Information Service (VIS, Vatican City, Feb. 4, 2009), the following has been uttered by Joseph Ratzinger, Pope Benedict XVI:

"I once again affectionately express my full and indisputable solidarity with our Brothers and Sisters who received the First Covenant, I trust that the memory of the Shoah will induce humankind to reflect upon the unpredictable power of evil when it conquers the heart of man."

Now I would ask the good readers of TIA to grant me literary license so I may rephrase the above papal quote:

"I once again affectionately express my full and indisputable solidarity with all you Christians of the True Faith who receive the Blood of the New and Eternal Covenant. I trust that the memory of the Crucifixion will induce humankind to reflect upon the unpredictable power of evil when it conquers the heart of man."

Surely that is what he meant. He is the pope, after all.

What is most transparent here is the rather aggressive attempt to supplant in the hearts of the Faithful an alternate sacrifice, the Shoah, where the True Sacrifice of the Jewish Messiah, Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, should rest. It won't work.

     Tolle Causam!

     Dr. Pamela Dettman

Dear Sir,

My husband is reading a book that says at Vatican II the Church said that anti-Semitism is a sin. Can you tell me if that is true please?

Thank you.

     Sincerely,

     A.O.


TIA responds:

Dear A.O.,

We don't believe that to attack Judaism as a religion is a sin. On the contrary, we think it is an act of virtue. For distinctions on this topic, please read the answer above and other works cited in it.

     Cordially,

     TIA correspondence desk

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