Anti-Semitism ranks high among Church's worst failures

"Christian persecution of its sibling has been, through the centuries, the Church's greatest sin," said Rev. James Dallen, professor of religious studies at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington. "The Holocaust was simply the outcome of an attitude that has been relatively constant throughout Christian history."

He recommended that "not only should the Church confess its sins in specific terms, but it should also use this as the occasion to take concrete steps that it will never again discriminate against, or persecute any group."

Rev. William McConville, OFM, professor of religious studies at Siena College in Loudonville, stated that "the Church's sustained campaign of vilification and its countenancing of the discrimination and violence [of anti-Semitism] is horrifying. The Church must continue to confess its sinfulness in this regard and energetically remind Christians of the intimate bonds which exist between Judaism and Christianity."

Holocaust

"Defenders of the pope and Vatican have often pointed to Pius's efforts on behalf of the Jews and to the thousands he saved in Rome and elsewhere. But compared to the six million who died in the gas chambers, the figure is less than overwhelming."

Prof. Dwyer said that "it seems clear that Pius hesitated out of fear of the consequences for the institutional Church in Germany. But the Church is not here to protect itself and its structures, nor to assure the safety and freedom from persecution of its ministers and members. It is here to witness to the love of Christ for men and women of all religious persuasions, and of none, and, in the name of that love, to protest every violation of fundamental human rights.

"It is not a question of assigning guilt, either to the pope or to those who advised him. It is a question of noting an objective failure of appalling proportions: the failure to act resolutely against the most profound evil the world had ever seen. The Church should admit this today, categorically, unequivocally and publicly."

Violence against Jews

"The problem began as early as the writing of the Gospels when the growing split between the early Jewish-Christian communities and orthodox Judaism resulted in an exaggerated description of the failings of 'the Jews' and their collective responsibility for the death of Jesus," he explained. "Overlooking the fact that crucifixion was a Roman method of execution, Christians over the centuries have perpetrated or acquiesced in the persecution and killing of Jews.

"The culmination of such horrors occurred during the Shoah (Holocaust) of the Nazi period when many Christians (Protestants and Catholics alike) supported Hitler's program of extermination of Jews (and others)."

Dr. Barnett said that "a beginning toward making amends would be for the Vatican to open its archives for the reign of Pope Pius XII and place a hold on his cause for canonization until the complete record of his pontificate can be openly examined. The Vatican should also issue a formal confession of the failure of the Roman Catholic Church to resist sufficiently the Nazi 'final solution' and should beg the forgiveness of God and the Jewish people." (JB)

(06-03-99) [[In-content Ad]]