DelsonJacobs,
I’ll summarize my argument by pointing out that poor application and understanding of the Church’s teaching is not equivalent to a change in it. I’ve shown pretty clearly what the Church said and that they did not, in fact, override those teachings at Vatican II. There is little more I can do other than continue to point to Church documents.
God bless.
The Fourth Council of the Lateran states that Jews and Muslims must wear special dress to enable them to be distinguished from Christians (Canons 68, 69). If this is still applicable, why aren’t you making sure that Catholics ensure this is carried out? Do you believe that Jews and Muslims should be made to do this? What if they don’t want to?
How about quoting from Cum Nimis Absurdum? It was issued by Pope Paul IV in 1555. Under the bull Jewish males were required to wear a pointed yellow hat, Jewish women had to wear a yellow kerchief or badge, and all the Jews were to be forced to live in ghettos away from the rest of the public, required to attend compulsory Catholic sermons on the Jewish Sabbath instead of going to Temple.
Quoting texts and understanding/applying them according the rules governing canon law are two very different things. The Church has made many statements about the treatment of the Jews which meant something for the time they were made, but they don’t apply anymore.
The Church has the authority to change its laws issued in such statements, but not the Gospel of God. The gospel that St. Paul preached was that God’s call and selection of the Jews is “irrevocable.” (Romans 11:29) The Church has not always understood how to apply this and, being subject to human sinfulness, has not always lived up to this part of the gospel either. We are a Church of sinners. We are not perfect.
In the past the Church even called for persecution of the Jews. There are actual documents with names of some of my ancestors who were tortured and murdered in the Spanish Inquisition despite the fact that members of my same family hold a Catholic heritage that goes back to Jerusalem of the 1st century. (So if you wish to continue the fight, get in line with the others who failed over the centuries.)
If I can hold on to the Catholic faith despite Anti-Semitic actions it now regrets and strives never to repeat, you can too. Otherwise if we held on to everything the Church once said about the Jews you would be obligated to round me up into a ghetto, enforced laws that would keep me from owning private property, and perhaps worse.
If Mexican-American Catholics can (and will in a few days) celebrate Dia de los muertos by making ofrendas (offerings of favorite foods and other items to their dead relatives) with the Church’s approval, how it is that Jewish customs are forbidden? Are the pagan trappings of Halloween, Saturnalia, and the Day of the Dead–which come from unbelievers yet have been incorporated into All Saints, Christmas, and All Souls Day okay but customs which our very Lord and the Blessed Mother of our Lord observed are accursed?
If your interpretations are correct, then you need to hold to all of them. If you fail in the least then you fail in the greatest. (Compare Luke 16:10) Your opinions do not make you a faithful Catholic, your actions do. (James 2:17) If you believe it is wrong for a Catholic to observe Jewish customs, then your belief is powerless if you do not force me to stop and keep me from teaching this.
Jewish customs cannot save, anymore than Irish, Polish, Italian, etc. I am saved not by observance of the Mosaic Law or its days, but by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.
However, the Bible promises at Romans 11:26 that “all Israel will be saved.” But how will it be known to the nations that God’s word be true if you stop the Jews from being Jews? If you make the Jews assimilate and you destroy their customs, then how can you tell if Israel is saved? If you destroy the identity of Israel, is Israel really saved?
But that is off the subject.
Back to the subject. It is okay, according to Church authority, to pray out of a Jewish prayer book as long as a Catholic follows the Church’s direction as I pointed out before. If you don’t argue with these directions, you argument is not with me but with today’s Church.
