When someone like Foxman tells people to stop linking abortion w/ the holocaust perhaps I have reason to be concerned. And when I say he’s using Jewish supremism, it is not being uncharitable towards anyone. What part of “go and baptize all nations” don’t you understand? Are we not our brothers keeper? We can’t be politically correct and give evil the appearance of good.
You’re getting what I have advocated all wrong. I’m saying if Jews, and please remember Foxman doesn’t represent all Jews - there are many he does not represent and yet they TOO have an issue with the word - so if Jews, as a group, are offended by the use of the word ‘holocaust’ in connection with abortion because THEY think it takes away from their message, then I say ~ let them have the word. We can use another word. There are lots of words.
We don’t have to go around the world offending people, hurting their feelings, to make a point. If “holocaust” offends someone, we can use another word. We can be more creative. As other posters have clearly pointed out, if you use the word holocaust in its most purely defined sense, it doesn’t fit “abortion” because abortion doesn’t involve fire. I’ve been as guilty as anyone about this. I’ve referred to the “abortion holocaust” countless times. I’m going to stop because I can. I can express myself differently and still make the point.
When I asked for my fellow Catholics to observe some charity in this case, I wasn’t asking anyone to endorse any sort of supremacism. I was asking everyone to look beyond polarizing figures such as Foxman and the ADL and look and some of the posters in this very forum who are Jewish and who are offended by the appropriation of the word “holocaust” to describe every sort of genocide.
That THEY (that great word “they” covering so many but in this case in refers to Jews & not just Foxman & the ADL) are offended
doesn’t have to make sense to us. Not everything in life has to make sense to us for us to show some sensitivity. And NO this is not a comment born of some “new age” clap trap. This is just common sense. Sometimes the best thing to do is to just keep still and if your mother or grandmother didn’t teach you that, well, it’s time to learn.
I understand the words “go and baptize all nations”. That’s not at issue with what I am saying. I also understand that I AM my brother’s keeper. That’s why I came back here, after deleting my subscription to the thread to ask you to reconsider.
Sometimes we have to go beyond the headline. We don’t live in headlines, we live in the real world. If we decide to call abortion “genocide” instead of a “holocaust” it doesn’t make abortion any less than the murder it is. If that simple change of terms means that we Catholics don’t offend millions of Jews - NOT Foxman, NOT the ADL - but millions of ordinary people just like us, then what is the harm and what, if not for pure and simple stubbornness and a total absence of charity, is the getting in the way?
Examine your conscience. I submit that your conscience, with the assistance of the Holy Spirit, will tell you that it is not necessary to offend people who have suffered greatly in the past in order to be clear about your concerns about current problems. As Catholics, we’re lucky to have such an examination as a Sacrament. We can be thankful for that.