Sungenis: “Suffice it to say, Mr. Schoeman is on a mission…This is not about “ethnic” acceptance of Jews, but about Schoeman’s attempt to revise Catholic theology for the sake of the Jews.”
I certainly never got this impression from Schoeman’s book at all. In fact all he really says is that Catholicism is post-Messianic Judaism, and that the Jewish people as a bloodline, in particular the ones outside of it, will experience some kind of mass conversion soon before “the End” after the fullness of Gentiles come in, and that they have a unique place in Catholic history.
The first part is not at all new, but is pretty standard within Catholic theology going way back, that the Church is the New Israel. The second part is a bit of recent speculation, but not particularily controversial. Then-Cardinal Ratzinger actually put forward the same basic view in some of his writings, also refering to Romans 11.
Sungenis: “Then, by a strange twist on predictive prophecy never before seen, Schoeman posits that the “abomination” spoken of by Daniel occurs when these cultic sacrifices are interrupted by the Antichrist. In other words, because the re-institution of Temple worship, as it was practiced in the Old Testament, is, according to Schoeman, from divine favor upon the Jews, anyone who would attempt to stop it is of the Antichrist! Suffice it to say, this is the ultimate Judaizing of the Catholic Church – Temple worship under the auspices of Catholicism.”
I honestly don’t recall what Sungenis is talking about here. Unfortunately I don’t have the book in front of me, but this contradicts one of Schoeman’s main details from the book, and one of the most powerful, namely the “Miracle of the Scarlett Thread” recorded in the Talmud. In brief, every year at Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement for all the people, a red thread was tied around a curtain in the Temple. If the thread turned white after the Atonement Sacrifice was performed by the High Priest, then the people knew their sins had been forgiven. If it did not, then they knew they had not. It happened intermittenly from the time of its institution, some years not working, some years working, but the Talmud records the unprecedented fact that for 40 years straight before the destruction of the Temple it never changed color. The interesting point for Catholics is that the Temple was destroyed circa 70 A.D., 40 years after the death of Christ. Schoeman extrapolates from this that the thread stopped changing because the Temple Sacrifice was no longer effective, and had lost its “sacramental” character once the True Sacrifice had been made. Since the Temple sacrifice was designed to point to Christ, after Christ it had no mystical function and the miracles ceased.
Such an interpretation of events would seem to preclude what Sungenis is putting forward here, but since I don’t have the book with me any longer (I gave it to a Jewish friend wants to become Catholic) I can’t check it precisely. I’ll see if I can find someone at my parish with a copy and I’ll check on this point.
Sungenis: “That these Temple sacrifices necessitate the formal return of Judaism (or perhaps some type of Judaistic-Catholic hybrid) as the pinnacle of divine favor doesn’t seem to bother Schoeman in the least.”
Here I believe Sungenis is confusing Schoeman’s own view with the view of Orthodox Jews, who DO look forward to the return of the Temple as part of the Messianic promise. It’s possible that this is also the case with the previous point, as Schoeman frequently reports the Jewish understandings of matters in his book to compare and contrast them with the Catholic ones.
Sungenis: “In reality, Schoeman’s attempt to resurrect Old Covenant sacrifices and theocratic worship is one of the most audacious pieces of private interpretation ever seen in the history of Christianity.”
This is just a hack job, IMO, as I seem to recall that Schoeman is actually not among those who favor even cultural Jewish practices within a Catholic context. He’s not opposed to them per se, just that he feels that the Catholic Church itself is fulfilment of the Jewish Faith and culture, and that beyond personal cultural ties there’s not really a big place for things like “Catholic Seders” and such. His view is that the Catholic Church is the most Jewish thing in the world today, precisely because it is the fruit of God’s Messianic work that centered in the Jewish people and grew out of the Faith He gave to them.
I recommend
salvationisfromthejews.com/ to get an understanding of his real perspective on the matter, and I’ll try to find a copy of the book.
Peace and God bless!
