Maybe I'm the only one who does this, but often there are articles or Op-Ed's in the paper that I don't get a chance to read, so I rip them out and save them for later. Well I just read an Op-Ed from James Carroll who is a regular contributor to the Boston Globe. I love his stuff.
The piece entitled "Reviving an old insult to the Jews" was published on Feb 18th and is a great read. In it Carroll talks about the Vatican's recent decision to reauthorize the "so-called Tiedentine Mass. This "what was old is new again" Latin mass again portrays Christianity as superceding Judaism and calls for Jews to convert. The original text that the Vatican approved "resuscitated the conversion insult, praying on Good Friday that God 'lift the veil' from 'Jewish Blindness'. Catholics and Jews objected and the language was modestly scaled back to say that Catholics should still pray that God may "enlighten" the heart of the Jews "so that they may recognize Jesus Christ, Saviour of all Mankind". Yeah, that's a lot better.
It's amazing to me that in today's day and age where Catholicism is on the decline and multi-culturalism is flourishing, that Pope Benedict XVI is trying to return to the 1600's to try to keep Catholicism relevant, as if by repudiating the legitimacy of other religions will strengthen his own. I think that many will have the opposite response. Carroll finishes the article nicely stating:
"Something is wrong with that development [Vatican II's Nostra Aetate condemning the idea that jews could be blemed for the murder of Jesus, and affirmed the permanence of God's Covenant with Israel], now say Vatican reactionaries. To which the people reply, "No, What's wrong is you'."
