Monday, July 09, 2007

"Pope's move on Latin mass 'a blow to Jews' "

Pope's move on Latin mass 'a blow to Jews' World The Observer:
Obnoxious and ignoring the point:

'We are extremely disappointed and deeply offended that nearly 40 years
after the Vatican rightly removed insulting anti-Jewish language from the Good
Friday mass, it would now permit Catholics to utter such hurtful and insulting
words by praying for Jews to be converted,' said Abraham Foxman, the group's
national director, in Rome. 'It is the wrong decision at the wrong time. It
appears the Vatican has chosen to satisfy a right-wing faction in the church
that rejects change and reconciliation.'

Actually getting the point:
The liberal French Catholic magazine Temoignage Chretien published an editorial
in Latin explaining that it was not concerned about the language in which the
mass was celebrated but by 'the view of the outside world held by most
supporters of the traditional rite ... of a church that sees itself as the sole
holder of the truth. Forty years after the Second Vatican Council, this stand is
untenable'.
Thank you, French magazine I'd admittedly never heard of, for actually discussing the problem rather than having a typical knee-jerk reaction.

Although, I must admit to a bit of eye-rolling over the whole thing. Wait...the Pope is giving a tacit okay to the conversion of Jews?!?!?! Why, that's....the reason for his religion! How perverse can you get? Come on, people...criticize Ratzinger's dogmatism or Nazi past or unwillingness to acknowledge anti-Semitism. His evangelism is a stupid target, since, hello, basis of the Christian doctrine. Which is not to say that I agree with it, but I am utterly unsurprised and unperturbed by it, assuming it accords with other doctrinal principles like not burning people and generally not making an ass of oneself.

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