What about Hebrew Catholics . .?

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What about them? Their site navigation isn’t the most intuitive, hard to find out what they really do other than keep a list? of people of the Jewish race who are also Catholic.
 
I am a Jew. I converted to Catholicism as an adult, but I can’t “un-Jewish” myself. I don’t officially belong to any Hebrew Catholic organization because I don’t feel the need for that, but I still think of myself as Jewish, just like Jesus and Mary.

I really like how Jewish many Catholic rituals are – much more so than Protestant forms of worship. I was very worried about telling my mother, who is fully Jewish though not very observant, that I was converting. It turns out she was fine with it because “if you have to go and become a Christian, at least you became Catholic which is still very Jewish in most respects…”
 
Go to the site & download their MP3’s of Lecture Series for free & create audio CD’s.
It’s, OK by them.👍
 
The Knanaya are Jewish as well, they are present in both the Orthodox and the Catholic churches.
 
Why not? You worship one.😉
Actually, Jesus was not Roman Catholic, nor was He a member of the Roman Catholic Church. Instead, He was Jewish from the moment of His conception until the day He died. He underwent the ritual of Bar Mitzvah, a ritual I also undertook at age 13. He grew up under the laws of Judaism.
Later, while teaching, he told His Disciples that He came not to abolish the Laws of Judaism, but to fulfill them. As He said, “Not one iota of the Law shall pass away”.

As you can tell from my screen name, I am a convert, but to this day I am…and will forever be… a Jew, thanks to having been born of a Jewish mother… as was Jesus, I might add!

Peace.
 
The Hebrew Catholics actually have permission from Rome to incorporate certain elements of their Jewish spiritual heritage into their Catholic practices and identity (almost a “rite” if you will).

They are comprised not only of Jewish converts to Catholicism, but also those who have discovered their Jewish ancestry and the like. They will also use Hebrew in their prayers, such as when making the Sign of the Cross: “B’shem ha’Av, vhaBen, vRuach Hakodesh, Elohim Echod, Amen!”

As has already been well stated, there are many Jewish elements, as could be expected, in the traditions and rites of Christianity.

The Ethiopian Orthodox Church (which has a Catholic branch as well) is perhaps the most “Jewish” of the Churches. Ethiopian Christians are circumcized at their baptism, they honour both Saturday and Sunday as the one Sabbath, they honour Old Testament Saints very highly (the feast of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is a national day in Ethiopia) and they remove their shoes in church (as do other Oriental Orthodox). They also wear fringed prayer shawls in Church (I have such a one, decorated also with crosses at the fringes).

Most interestingly, they construct and highly honour a copy of the Ark of the Covenant in their Churches (such arks are always named after a saint). Their priests and bishops hold hand Crosses and at the end of the handles there is always a square with ten dots or symbols on it to signify that it represents the Ark of the Covenant - they honour both the Cross and the Ark as bearing the “Shekinah” or Presence of God. They venerate our Lady, the Mother of Zion, very highly and see her as the Ark of the New Covenant. They also honour “Seven Covenants” six from the Old Testament and then the New Testament.

Last weekend, I visited a local Ethiopian Orthodox parish here in Toronto where I was met with the parish priest. He stood arrayed in a purple robe and held a large and very beautiful bronze Cross which he held out to me to kiss and he then pressed it to my forehead. He also asked me to remove my shoes. I noticed they also have musical instruments and perform liturgical dance before their Arks, as did David of old.

The Assyrian Church of the East likewise has many Judaic elements and I believe they do refer to their priests as “Rabbi” - I don’t know if the Catholic Chaldeans do the same.

Also, in Florence, the magnificent Church of Santa Croce has a large Star of David over the main entrance - this was purposely constructed by the church’s architect and builder who was a Jewish convert to Catholicism.

In the Russian Orthodox Church, there is a much venerated priest, Father Alexander Men, who was a Jewish convert to Orthodox Christianity. He adopted numerous Judaic practices, including the use of a Menorah in his private Icon shrine. He helped many Jews into the Church. He was found dead at a train station, having been killed with an axe, as he waited to be taken to Moscow to celebrate the Divine Liturgy.

A Russian New Martyr under the bolsheviks, St Alexander Jacobson, was a doctor who worked among victims of the communist terror. A Jewish convert, he placed little icons of the Mother of God at the bedside of his patients and frequently made the Sign of the Cross. Several of his bewildered patients would notice this and would ask him whether he was Jewish or Orthodox. . . He would often reply, “I am an Orthodox Jew . . .”

As he refused to curtail his outward expressions of his Christian piety, and insisted on keeping icons of our Lady out in rooms when he performed operations, he died a martyr for Christ.

Shalom Aleichem!

Alex
 
Here is sort of a unique story:

When I was elected as Grand Knight for my Knights of Columbus Council, I phoned the State Deputy, a gentleman who I admire greatly.
After our usual “hellos”, I asked him if he knew of any other Jews in this state who had ever been elected as Grand Knights. I was totally stunned when he said (and I quote this!) “Well, you can start with me.” (meaning, himself!)
Needless to say, this was positively shocking to me, as I had never given any thought to the possibility of his being a Jew. He was Bar Mitzvah in 1942, and converted to Roman Catholic in 1949…the year I was born.
After that, he and I became better friends than before, as we now learned of our common ancestry.
Two years later, I was elected as Faithful Navigator for my Fourth Degree Assembly. This was after finishing two wonderful years as Grand Knight. During my opening “speech” at the Installation ceremony (optional on the part of the new Faithful Navigator), I commented on my Jewish background, which was known by just about all of our members. Sadly, one of them had the nerve to argue that “You can’t be both Roman Catholic and Jewish!” What he did not understand was that I never said I was still Jew-ISH! Rather, my remark was that I was still a Jew, which is my birthright reghardless of any religion I might practice. It took him almost a year to finally get that through his noggin, but eventually he came to understand.
Suggestion: If you are not already, please consider joiing our Honored Order. You will find it to be the experience of a lifetime!
 
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