Jewish friends and family

[RCSoCal]

What is the correct way for me to deal with my Jewish husband concerning evangelization?

I have heard conflicting ideas. Should I pray for him and also try to tell him about the Church? Or should I just say nothing and pray for him? I have heard some things that make me think that if I try to witness to him I may be putting him in a worse situation than if I just let the Holy Spirit do His work.

Are there any priests that can reply?

Thanks,

 

[Sepharad]

What is the correct way for me to deal with my Jewish husband concerning evangelization?

I have heard conflicting ideas. Should I pray for him and also try to tell him about the Church? Or should I just say nothing and pray for him? I have heard some things that make me think that if I try to witness to him I may be putting him in a worse situation than if I just let the Holy Spirit do His work.

Are there any priests that can reply?

Thanks,

Why do you feel a need to bring him into your religion? Does he know you are discussing this on this forum?

Do you know that your church teaches that Jews have a separate Covenant with God? Do you know that even according to your own religion, they do not “need” to be Catholics?

Do you realize that if you try to push your beliefs on him, you may jeopardize the marriage itself? Most Jews do not like to have someone else’s religion pushed onto them, esp. from a family member.

This Catholic website might be helpful to you in understanding the correct Catholic approach to the Jewish people:

centerforcatholicjewishstudies.org/index.html

 

[dessert]

What is the correct way for me to deal with my Jewish husband concerning evangelization?

I have heard conflicting ideas. Should I pray for him and also try to tell him about the Church? Or should I just say nothing and pray for him? I have heard some things that make me think that if I try to witness to him I may be putting him in a worse situation than if I just let the Holy Spirit do His work.

Are there any priests that can reply?

Thanks,

I suggest you ask Father Vincent Serpa at ask an apologist at top of the home page, put the question to him.

 

[Cathdefender]

What is the correct way for me to deal with my Jewish husband concerning evangelization?

I have heard conflicting ideas. Should I pray for him and also try to tell him about the Church? Or should I just say nothing and pray for him? I have heard some things that make me think that if I try to witness to him I may be putting him in a worse situation than if I just let the Holy Spirit do His work.

Are there any priests that can reply?

Thanks,

I was married to a wonderful Jewish man who treated me dearly. He was good to me and my son. He loved Christmas, and Easter and most Catholic holidays. He found great delight on Christmas morning putting toys together and the like. I even had a Menorrah for him and tried many Jewish cuisine like gefilte fish in which I detested…but I was young and didn’t want to be married. This was all before I knew God or anything about him.
Personally, I couldn’t marry out of my faith now at this stage in my life, to many debates and so on…but my ex was pretty leniant and understood I was a Catholic. Not a great Catholic, but a Catholic. He wanted me to convert but I didn’t. He truly was very good to me. Jewish men are very good to their women.

 

[RCSoCal]

Why do you feel a need to bring him into your religion? Does he know you are discussing this on this forum?

Do you know that your church teaches that Jews have a separate Covenant with God? Do you know that even according to your own religion, they do not “need” to be Catholics?

Do you realize that if you try to push your beliefs on him, you may jeopardize the marriage itself? Most Jews do not like to have someone else’s religion pushed onto them, esp. from a family member.

This Catholic website might be helpful to you in understanding the correct Catholic approach to the Jewish people:

centerforcatholicjewishstudies.org/index.html

Hello, I am afraid you have misinterpreted. I don’t think I need to bring him into my religion. Your points are exactly why I am asking this question; I have made some starts in studying this; he is the one that has indicated he is open to hearing about Christianity so I need to know what my obligations are. I am not trying to push anything - on the contrary, but sometimes I feel like I want to share my happiness. I want to understand exactly what the Church teaches about this. I understand it is a valid Covenant. But he has interest. Thanks,

 

[Sepharad]

Hello, I am afraid you have misinterpreted. I don’t think I need to bring him into my religion. Your points are exactly why I am asking this question; I have made some starts in studying this; he is the one that has indicated he is open to hearing about Christianity so I need to know what my obligations are. I am not trying to push anything - on the contrary, but sometimes I feel like I want to share my happiness. I want to understand exactly what the Church teaches about this. I understand it is a valid Covenant. But he has interest. Thanks,

It might be important to find out why he has an interest. Is it academic? Truly spiritual? Something else?

Because, you know, the last thing you’d want to do is lead someone into your religion if they are not truly joining for correct reasons, because if they leave later, you would have created another “bad Catholic” (this is why in Judaism, we never convert someone quickly, we wait it out to test their sincerity.)

The reason I mention these issues is because I volunteer with a Jewish organization that assists Jews who had converted to other faiths, and now want to return to Judaism. And often, we encounter Jews who converted to other religions to make a spouse happy, and later they divorced.

 

[RCSoCal]

I was married to a wonderful Jewish man who treated me dearly. He was good to me and my son. He loved Christmas, and Easter and most Catholic holidays. He found great delight on Christmas morning putting toys together and the like. I even had a Menorrah for him and tried many Jewish cuisine like gefilte fish in which I detested…but I was young and didn’t want to be married. This was all before I knew God or anything about him.
Personally, I couldn’t marry out of my faith now at this stage in my life, to many debates and so on…but my ex was pretty leniant and understood I was a Catholic. Not a great Catholic, but a Catholic. He wanted me to convert but I didn’t. He truly was very good to me. Jewish men are very good to their women.

My sentiments exactly! I don’t want to mislead anyone. We both respect each other and are not trying to convert one another. But he has told me he is open to Christianity so I just want to know how much I should share. We do as you do - we help each other celebrate our holidays. I love so many things about the Jewish culture. “Shalom”

 

[RCSoCal]

It might be important to find out why he has an interest. Is it academic? Truly spiritual? Something else?

Because, you know, the last thing you’d want to do is lead someone into your religion if they are not truly joining for correct reasons, because if they leave later, you would have created another “bad Catholic” (this is why in Judaism, we never convert someone quickly, we wait it out to test their sincerity.)

The reason I mention these issues is because I volunteer with a Jewish organization that assists Jews who had converted to other faiths, and now want to return to Judaism. And often, we encounter Jews who converted to other religions to make a spouse happy, and later they divorced.

Exactly. I will read your sites. I will also submit my question to the priest on the apologist site. Please read my later post. I really respect Jewish culture and God choosing the Jewish people. It is apparent to me when I look at my husband. All of this is new to me. Thanks for your post. Shalom.

 

[Eden]

My grandmother’s witness of daily faith and her private prayers of petition to Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) led, in some way, to the conversion of my Jewish aunt (who had married into our family, of course). The prayers were not revealed, I should say, until the conversion came about. One thing about my grandmother’s prayers, they have always been fruitful. She amazes us all! Perhaps that was part of the witness, too. My uncle has actually said that my aunt is more faithful now than he is, which is something they laugh about. He’s not a very active Catholic, I guess you could say. I believe she became a daily communicant.

You may want to take a look at these prayers for the conversion of Jews:

salvationisfromthejews.com/prayers.html#Prayer_to_Saint_Paul

I think your quiet witness and your private prayers are the most powerful means. I pray that the Holy Spirit will guide you on the right path.

 

[Cathdefender]

My sentiments exactly! I don’t want to mislead anyone. We both respect each other and are not trying to convert one another. But he has told me he is open to Christianity so I just want to know how much I should share. We do as you do - we help each other celebrate our holidays. I love so many things about the Jewish culture. “Shalom”

Good for you. Just be happy and learn from each other. If he is that interested, perhaps he will convert. Be patient.

 

[Cathdefender]

My grandmother’s witness of daily faith and her private prayers of petition to Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross (Edith Stein) led, in some way, to the conversion of my Jewish aunt (who had married into our family, of course). The prayers were not revealed, I should say, until the conversion came about. One thing about my grandmother’s prayers, they have always been fruitful. She amazes us all! Perhaps that was part of the witness, too. My uncle has actually said that my aunt is more faithful now than he is, which is something they laugh about. He’s not a very active Catholic, I guess you could say. I believe she became a daily communicant.

You may want to take a look at these prayers for the conversion of Jews:

salvationisfromthejews.com/prayers.html#Prayer_to_Saint_Paul

I think your quiet witness and your private prayers are the most powerful means. I pray that the Holy Spirit will guide you on the right path.

I loved Edith Stein, she was so brilliant and loved God so much. I read all her books. One was sooo long but it was worth it. She was extremely intelligent. I think every Jew should read it.

 

[Eden]

I loved Edith Stein, she was so brilliant and loved God so much. I read all her books. One was sooo long but it was worth it. She was extremely intelligent. I think every Jew should read it.

God always manages to shine a light in the darkness. St. Edith Stein and St. Maximilian Kolbe were two brilliant lights in the darkness of the Holocaust.

 

[Sepharad]

God always manages to shine a light in the darkness. St. Edith Stein and St. Maximilian Kolbe were two brilliant lights in the darkness of the Holocaust.

Are you aware of some of the things Maximilian Kolbe felt about Jews?

 

[Eden]

Are you aware of some of the things Maximilian Kolbe felt about Jews?

From the following:

consecration.com/antisemite1.html

In the end, perhaps the most significant witness to Father Kolbe’s attitudes toward Jews come from a man who shared concentration camp life with him. Sigmund Gorson, now producer of his own television variety show In Wilmington, Del., knew Father Kolbe well in Auschwitz where he was imprisoned for his Jewish faith. In a recent letter to American Jewish leaders, the major broadcasting network and several Jewish organizations, Gorson wrote “To utter or to even think for one second that Kolbe was anti-Semitic and a known Jew-hater is absolutely ludicrous. . . . Kolbe was never. . . anti-anyone. If there would be more like him, no Jew would be harmed, no Jew would suffer and no Jew would be killed. He loved the Jewish people, he suffered with them, he cried when they cried and smiled with them… I know, because I lived with him In Auschwitz-Hell… He was a shining and indeed a brilliant example of decency and bravery, a great credit to my beloved homeland, Poland, and to his Catholic Faith.”

Is defamation your only hobby?

 

[Valke2]

I’m aware that he took in 2,000 jews from Poland.

jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Kolbe.html

 

[Sepharad]

From the following:

consecration.com/antisemite1.html

In the end, perhaps the most significant witness to Father Kolbe’s attitudes toward Jews come from a man who shared concentration camp life with him. Sigmund Gorson, now producer of his own television variety show In Wilmington, Del., knew Father Kolbe well in Auschwitz where he was imprisoned for his Jewish faith. In a recent letter to American Jewish leaders, the major broadcasting network and several Jewish organizations, Gorson wrote “To utter or to even think for one second that Kolbe was anti-Semitic and a known Jew-hater is absolutely ludicrous. . . . Kolbe was never. . . anti-anyone. If there would be more like him, no Jew would be harmed, no Jew would suffer and no Jew would be killed. He loved the Jewish people, he suffered with them, he cried when they cried and smiled with them… I know, because I lived with him In Auschwitz-Hell… He was a shining and indeed a brilliant example of decency and bravery, a great credit to my beloved homeland, Poland, and to his Catholic Faith.”

Is defamation your only hobby?

Are you familiar with the late antisemitic Catholic priests, Father Charles Coughlin and Father Leonard Feeney?

Father Feeney, in the 1950s, had a magazine called The Point, in which he published articles that quoted some anti-Jewish religious attitudes of Maximilian Kolbe. They centered around the belief that the Jews killed Jesus, and needed salvation.

If I can find it available online, I will link to it, but not here, this is not the proper thread for it.

Whoa…I just read more carefully the site you linked to in your post. Look what is there!

Schlafly and Green acknowledge that "Five of the 14 references to Jews in Father Kolbe’s writings reflect the stereotype of the Jews depicted in the Protocols of the Learned Elder’s of Zion (an apocryphal Russian book which claimed to describe a plot by International Jewry to undermine the existing order and to establish a world state through hatred, sabotage, etc.). One can find phrases such as “Jewish-Masonic conspiracy,” “cruel clique of Jews,” and “their work (the Talmud) which breathes hatred against Christ and the Christians.”

Hopefully that will prove my point to you, without even needing to look up Fr Feeney’s magazine online. If you’d like to carry this on further, let’s start a new thread so we do not derail this one.

 

[Eden]

Are you familiar with the late antisemitic Catholic priests, Father Charles Coughlin and Father Leonard Feeney?

Father Feeney, in the 1950s, had a magazine called The Point, in which he published articles that quoted some anti-Jewish religious attitudes of Maximilian Kolbe. They centered around the belief that the Jews killed Jesus, and needed salvation.

If I can find it available online, I will link to it, but not here, this is not the proper thread for it.

Whoa…I just read more carefully the site you linked to in your post. Look what is there!

Schlafly and Green acknowledge that "Five of the 14 references to Jews in Father Kolbe’s writings reflect the stereotype of the Jews depicted in the Protocols of the Learned Elder’s of Zion (an apocryphal Russian book which claimed to describe a plot by International Jewry to undermine the existing order and to establish a world state through hatred, sabotage, etc.). One can find phrases such as “Jewish-Masonic conspiracy,” “cruel clique of Jews,” and “their work (the Talmud) which breathes hatred against Christ and the Christians.”

Hopefully that will prove my point to you, without even needing to look up Fr Feeney’s magazine online. If you’d like to carry this on further, let’s start a new thread so we do not derail this one.

O.K. Did you read the article I provided? It covers all of this and ends with the conclusion that he was not anti-Semitic, from the testimony of a Jewish man who was at Auschwitz with him. Were you at Auschwitz with him? The man gave his life so that a Jewish man with a wife and family could live. How could-hearted it is to defame this man in death!

"During the homily Pope Paul VI described the life of Maximilian Kolbe. He was a Polish Franciscan priest who was arrested by Nazis in February of 1941 for publishing unapproved literature. They sentenced him to hard labor at the Auschwitz concentration camp. In August of that same year a prisoner escaped. When he was not recaptured the Nazis took a reprisal. They lined up the other prisoners and picked out ten to die in the starvation bunker. One of the men selected was a farmer named Franciszek Gajowniczek. He was in Auschwitz only because he was Jew. When Franciszek was selected, he cried out, “My wife, my children!”

Hearing that cry Fr. Kolbe stepped forward. He said to the guard, “I am a Catholic priest. I have no family like this man. Allow me to take his place.” The guard hesitated, then agreed. Maximilian Kolbe, along with the nine others, was placed in the starvation bunker for a slow and agonizing death. After fourteen days, four were still alive and only one was fully conscious–Fr. Kolbe himself. The Nazis needed the starvation bunker for other prisoners so they injected Fr. Kolbe and the three others with carbolic acid."

geocities.com/Heartland/2964/good-fri.html

You could be defamed as an anti-Catholic, but you would say what you have posted has been taken out of context. Yet, you won’t give a man who was injected with carbolic acid so that a Jewish man could live, the benefit of the doubt.

You must be pulling my leg. How can you say that a man who gave his life so that a Jewish man could live, was anti-Semitic?

 

[Sepharad]

Can we please take this elsewhere, because if we don’t, we are ruining this person’s thread?
(In brief, I remember reading that the man Kolbe offered his life in exchange for was a Polish Catholic, and not a Jew…not that it matters.) In fact the name given for the man is a Polish Gentile name.

 

[Cathdefender]

Can we please take this elsewhere, because if we don’t, we are ruining this person’s thread?
(In brief, I remember reading that the man Kolbe offered his life in exchange for was a Polish Catholic, and not a Jew…not that it matters.) In fact the name given for the man is a Polish Gentile name.

Sepharad, it is YOU that is ruining this thread…as always… people know about you now…

 

[Sepharad]

Sepharad, it is YOU that is ruining this thread…as always… people know about you now…

Look back in the thread and see who first mentioned Kolbe. Hint: it was not I.

I won’t take part in the Kolbe discussion here anymore out of respect for the OP. My only intent was to correct a mistaken assumption of another poster.