Roman Catholic Blog

SSPX and continued Anti-Semitism

Bishop's blog raises tensions

between Jews and the Vatican

Richard Williamson, who has previously denied existence of gas chambers during Holocaust, accuses Jews of killing Jesus

Riazat Butt, religious affairs correspondent

The Guardian, Wednesday 19 October 2011

" Relations between Jews and Catholics are under immense strain after a bishop made controversial remarks on his blog.

Richard Williamson, who has previously denied the existence of gas chambers and the murder of 6 million Jews during the Holocaust, accused the Jews of killing Jesus, a charge that divided the two faiths for centuries until Pope Benedict XVI declared this year that Jews could not be held responsible for Jesus's death.

In his weekly post, Williamson wrote that "the killing of Jesus was truly 'deicide' " and that "only the Jews (leaders and people) were the prime agents of the deicide because it is obvious from the gospels that the gentile most involved, Pontius Pilate, … would never have condemned Jesus to death had not the Jewish leaders roused the Jewish people to clamour for his crucifixion."

His comments have angered Jewish leaders and Holocaust survivors, who are urging Rome to cease reconciliation talks with the ultra-traditionalist splinter group to which Williamson belongs, the Society of St Pius X. Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt of the European Council of Rabbis said: "We call upon the Catholic church to suspend negotiations with extremist Catholic tendencies until it is clear that these groups show a clear commitment to tackling antisemitism within their ranks."

Last month, Régis de Cacqueray,(pic above) the head of the French SSPX chapter, also accused Jews of deicide. To the despair of Jewish groups, there has been increased dialogue between the Vatican and SSPX.

Goldschmidt said: "Comments like these take us back decades to the dark days before there was a meaningful and mutually respectful dialogue between Jews and Roman Catholics. There must be no rapprochement within the Catholic church for those of its flock who seek to preach words of hate."

The Vatican has said SSPX will have to sign up to core teachings if they are to reintegrate, although it has not stated what these are. Four SSPX bishops, including Williamson, were excommunicated in 1988 when they were illegally ordained.

But the Vatican lifted Williamson's excommunication on the very day that his Holocaust-denying remarks were aired. The decision appalled Jewish leaders, with many suspending contact with the Vatican as a result. The Vatican said it did not know Williamson held such views.

Williamson has repeatedly ignored pleas to retract his remarks and not even the pope has managed to get the cleric to recant.

The fresh row will embarrass the pope, who is preparing to host a summit of world faith leaders in Assisi, Italy, next week as part of his interreligious outreach programme."

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Twenty five plus years ago, as a young man exploring religious vocation I visited the SSPX Seminary in Ridgefield, CT. I arrived on a weekend, after being shown to my room, and having some time before communal prayer, I wandered about finding a bookstore run for families that attended the Tridentine mass at the seminary chapel. While perusing books at that bookstore I was horrified to find copies of the "Protocols ofthe Elders of Zion" on sale. I believe that Fr. Williamson was a superior there at that time. I immediately went back to my room, packed, called a taxi and got the heck out of there.

I have never been able to understand the rampant and vicious anti-Semitism that seems to imbue SOME (luckily a small number) traditional Catholics.

How can Benedict XVI have a doctrinal rapproachment with groups espousing such vile hatred and lies?

Rush Limbaugh Comments On Pope Benedict XVI's Address To Seminarians And Young People, St. Joseph's Seminary, Dunwoodie, New York, Saturday, April 19, 2008

Rush Limbaugh: Pope Benedict XVI Speaks Truth

Text of Rush Limbaugh's commentary after the jump...

Time Magazine - Joe Kennedy's First Marriage: Still On

The Holy See has overturned the declaration of nullity granted to Joe Kennedy of his marriage to Sheila Rauch.

The original declaration of nullity created quite a bit of controversy, as well as accusations that the annulment process is really just "divorce Catholic-style", once Sheila Rauch began an effort to demonstrate the marriage was, in fact, valid.

And Sheila Rauch was right.

Here's the story: Joe Kennedy's First Marriage: Still On

Here's a section of the article:

The most controversial "marriage that never was" in recent U.S. political history is back. Sources tell TIME that the Vatican has reversed the annulment of Joseph P. Kennedy II's marriage to Sheila Rauch. The annulment had been granted in secrecy by the Catholic Church after the couple's 1991 no-fault civil divorce. Rauch found out about the de-sanctification of their marriage only in 1996, after Kennedy had been wedded to his former Congressional aide, Beth Kelly, for three years.

The annulment was the subject of Rauch's 1997 book Shattered Faith, which lambasted her ex-husband and was severely critical of the Catholic Church's proceedings, which made the marriage (which had produced twin boys) null and void in the eyes of the church. Rauch argued that Kennedy was able to unilaterally "cancel" nearly 12 years of marriage because of his clan's influence in the church. Kennedy argued at the time that the annulment was the right thing to do in religious terms. Few observers thought the appeal to Rome by Rauch, an Episcopalian, had a chance against the well-connected Kennedy. With women's groups loudly on Rauch's side, the controversy may have contributed to Kennedy's decision to give up his plans to seek re-election to Congress in 1998.

Reached by TIME in her Massachusetts home on Tuesday, Rauch said that she had just recently been informed by Boston Archdiocese officials of her successful appeal. "I am very pleased," she told TIME. "There was a real marriage. It was a marriage that failed, but as grown-ups we need to take responsibility for that. The [annulment] process was dishonest, and it was important to stand up and say that." But Rauch says she worries that the practice, particularly in the U.S., of giving what she called "easy annulments" will continue. "They don't give people a fair defense. The Boston Archdiocese doesn't even tell you that you can appeal to Rome." Reached by TIME, Kennedy's office provided no reaction from the former Congressman.
Erroneously dubbed "Catholic divorce," an annulment in fact holds that a failed marriage was never valid in the eyes of the Church. With divorce strictly prohibited in Catholicism, annulments allow Catholics to remarry before a priest and continue receiving the sacraments. Several years after his 1991 civil divorce to Rauch, Kennedy obtained an annulment from a Church tribunal in Massachusetts so he could have a Church ceremony with Kelly. The couple had already been married in a 1993 civil ceremony, but needed the Roma Rota appeals tribunal at the Vatican to uphold the Massachusetts annulment verdict before they could be married by a priest. Now with Rauch's successful appeal, that cannot happen, unless Kennedy wins a counter-appeal.

The Roma Rota's ruling, written in Latin, was reached in 2005, and had been kept secret while the official written notice was being prepared, said a source in Rome familiar with the case. Rauch's successful appeal effectively reinstates the Kennedy-Rauch marriage in the eyes of the Vatican. The case once again highlights this unique Catholic Church proceeding. Some 75% of annulments each year are from the United States, where there are an estimated 8 million divorced and remarried Catholics. The subject came up in the 2004 Presidential campaign after word spread that John Kerry had obtained an annulment of his first marriage. Another prominent Catholic who has had a marriage annulled is former New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, who is now running for the Republican Presidential nomination.

This decision is a very good thing.

The Holy See under both Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI has long maintained that the annulment process has been abused, especially in the United States.

I personally know orthodox Catholic priests and lay people who sit on marriage tribunals where they have witnessed these tribunals declaring marriages that are most probably valid as invalid, despite their own objections.

In the Diocese of Orange, the former head of the tribunal left the priesthood to get married.

Although the abysmal catechesis in the United States has wreaked havoc, it is puzzling how Catholics can frequently enter invalid marriages if they are properly prepared by the priest who marries them (barring dishonesty on the part of one or both parties when entering the marriage).

If so many priests are incompetent in assisting couples in their preparation for marriage, how else might they be failing in terms of transmitting the authentic teachings of the Church?

Apparently Joe Kennedy was initially able to get something King Henry VIII was unable to get, the dissolution of a valid marriage with the official sanction of legitimate Church authority.

That's something to think about.

Thanks be to God that the Holy See has rectified the matter.

Any thoughts?

From "Sacramentum Caritatis": Pope Benedict XVI Upholds Celibacy For Priests, Ban On Communion For Remarried Divorced, And Discipline For Pro-Choice Politicians, & Makes Concrete Suggestions About The Mass

Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday repeated the Church's constant teaching on matters of faith and morals, including the ban on Communion for divorced Catholics who remarry, and told Catholic politicians that Church teaching against abortion and gay marriage is "not negotiable."

Here's the story: Pope Upholds Celibacy For Priests, Ban On Communion For Remarried Divorced, And Discipline For Pro-Choice Politicians

The Holy Father also articulated some concrete suggestions for the Mass: Pope reflects on Eucharist, makes concrete suggestions for Mass

Here's his reflection on the Sign of Peace:

Pope Benedict said the sign of peace at Mass "has great value," especially in demonstrating the church's responsibility to pray for peace and unity in a world too often troubled by division, violence and hatred.

While Catholics at Mass should exchange a sign of peace with those near them, he also called for "greater restraint" to ensure the moment does not become one of irreparable distraction.

The pope said, "I have asked the competent curial offices to study the possibility of moving the sign of peace to another place (in the Mass), such as before the presentation of the gifts at the altar. To do so would also serve as a significant reminder of the Lord's insistence that we be reconciled with others before presenting our gifts to God."

You can read the actual document here: Sacramentum Caritatis

Any thoughts?

'Mama's Boys' Unfit To Stay Wed, Says Rome

Over-dependence upon a parent has been ruled grounds for annulment by the Roman Rota.

Here's the story: 'Mummy's boys' unfit to stay wed, says Rome

Here's a quote:

Officials ruled on several cases of men and women who were judged to be so dependent on a parent that they were unfit for marriage.

Judges on the Roman Rota, the top Catholic tribunal in the Vatican, agreed for an undisclosed number of marriages to be annulled on such grounds, according to a review of the judicial year.

They ruled that the "overbearing influence of a mother or father meant that the psychological autonomy needed for marriage was lacking".

Here's more:

According to the statistics released for 2005, the judges approved just 67 marriage annulments after looking at 1,637 cases. Appeals for marriage annulments were increasing and that, although they arrived from 27 countries, the largest number, 127, came from Italy.

Pope Benedict XVI appealed to judges on the panel not to grant annulments freely and said: "Marriage is not a legal structure than human desire can manipulate at its will."

Any thoughts?

The KGB's Assault On The Holy See

The Myth of Hitler's Pope is just one of many ways in which the KGB sought to discredit the Holy See, according to a new and excellent article from the National Review Online. The article has far-reaching implications, and actually connects a lot of dots.

Here is the article: Moscow’s Assault on the Vatican

Here is the opening section of the article:

The Soviet Union was never comfortable living in the same world with the Vatican. The most recent disclosures document that the Kremlin was prepared to go to any lengths to counter the Catholic Church’s strong anti-Communism.

In March 2006 an Italian parliamentary commission concluded “beyond any reasonable doubt that the leaders of the Soviet Union took the initiative to eliminate the pope Karol Wojtyla,” in retaliation for his support to the dissident Solidarity movement in Poland. In January 2007, when documents disclosed that the newly appointed archbishop of Warsaw, Stanislaw Wielgus, had collaborated with Poland’s Communist-era political police, he admitted the accusation and resigned. The following day the rector of Krakow’s Wawel Cathedral, the burial site of Polish kings and queens, resigned for the same reason. Then it was learned that Michal Jagosz, a member of the Vatican’s tribunal considering sainthood for the late Pope John Paul II, has been accused of being a former Communist secret police agent; according to the Polish media, he had been recruited in 1984 before leaving Poland for an assignment to the Vatican. Currently, a book is about to be published that will identify 39 other priests whose names have been found in Krakow secret police files, some of whom are now bishops. Moreover, this seems to be just scratching the surface. A special commission will soon start investigating the past of all religious servants during the Communist era, as thousands more Catholic priests throughout that country are believed to have collaborated with the secret police. And this is just Poland — the archives of the KGB and those of the political police in the rest of the former Soviet bloc have yet to be opened on the subject of operations against the Vatican.

Catholic News Agency has this article on the same topic: KGB intent on linking Pius XII with Nazis, says former spy

Please take the time to read this article and share your thoughts and insights.

You may also be interested in this article: How Pius XII Protected Jews

Andrzej Cartoon Site

Andrzej has done many excellent cartoons that have been featured for some time on Roman Catholic Blog (and other blogs, as well). Now there is a MySpace page with a collection of Andrzej cartoons. (The one featured above is one of my favorites.)

Here's the main page: Andrzej Cartoon Site

Here's the page with all the cartoons: Cartoons

Vocations Crisis: Another Must Watch Video

You can also see this video here: Vocations Crisis

Francis Eugene Cardinal George: On Meeting With Pope Benedict XVI

Cardinal Francis George of Chicago had a surprise meeting with Pope Benedict XVI. Cardinal George reported that Pope Benedict XVI expressed some concerns about the state of the Church in the United States.

Here's a quote:

"He was very concerned about the seminary system and the morale of priests who have been ordained for some years, especially in the current crisis," he said.

Any thoughts?

"Womenpriest" Press Conference & Ordination

It is so sad that so many people see the priesthood in terms of power. Bitterness and frustration are the only fruits that can come from having one's will so fixed against the Divine order.

The thing is: the priesthood isn't a "right". Men who feel called to the married state and who wish to have children are generally not admitted to holy orders (except in rare circumstances – at least in the Latin Rite).

Additionally, many, many men are turned away as candidates for the priesthood, for various reasons.

When considering the natural order, it should not surprise us that God calls men and women to different vocations.

Consider the fact that only women can be mothers. Only women can carry their babies in their womb, breastfeed them, and develop a maternal bond with their children.

Sadly, many women do not respect the vocation to motherhood, instead preferring to violently destroy the life they carry in the womb, again using arguments involving false notions of "power" and "rights" to justify their "choice".

Consider the assortment of dissenters these women describe as being aligned with them, and to whom these women want to reach out – not in loving correction, but rather in affirmation of their rejection of the Gospel.

What an unhappy lot! We must pray for these poor, unfortunate souls. They are so very lost and confused. (Their theology is appallingly misinformed.)

What do you think?