When a Pope Needs Friends

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By: Rabbi Shmuley Boteach
Since the public announcement of my upcoming meeting with Pope Benedict this Wednesday at the Vatican, courtesy of my friend Gary Krupp, many of my close Jewish friends have expressed not approval but disappointment. ‘They blamed the pedophile priest scandal on Jews and compared the attacks on the Church to anti-Semitism. How could you, Shmuley?’ ‘The Pope was in the Hitler Youth and he wants to make Pope Pius XII, who never condemned the holocaust, into a saint.’ ‘The Church has always been anti-Semitic. You’re being used.’
Come now. Jewish insularity is the ultimate obstacle to the dissemination of Jewish values, while Jewish contempt for the non-Jewish world because of its past immorality and Jew-hatred is itself immoral and hateful. Pope Benedict is being kicked to the curb in nearly every part of the world. But I as a Jew do not forget that for all his failures in properly handing the abomination of pedophile Priests, for which the Church must atone and repent, Benedict has been a great friend to the Jewish community, visiting an unprecedented three Synagogues in four years as well as the State of Israel. And whom does it benefit to see a mighty Church fall? The millions of orphans the Church tends to worldwide? The schools it runs and the pupils it teaches? The hope its Priests give to the poor, especially in the third world?
More…
wabcradio.com/Article.asp?id=1784613

I think he probably should re-examine his views on Pope Pius XII, but found his suggestions interesting. Anyone else?
 
God Bless Rabbi Shmuley Boteach!

i applaud his idea of a ‘Turn Friday Night into Family Night’ initiative, the push for a global family dinner night. Imagine if all the world’s families – Catholic, Jewish, Islamic, Atheist, Agnostic – sat down every Friday night and embraced our ‘Triple Two.” Parents giving their children two uninterrupted hours every Friday night, inviting two guests to teach the children sharing and hospitality, and discussing two important subjects rather than a movie or celebrity gossip.

Although his quote “The pedophile priest scandal” is sadly misinformed, as most (over 80%) of the abuse victims were adolescents who were betrayed by the secular society’s mantra of “there is no wrong”, as they should have known better & said “NO!” to any improper advances.

His criticism of Pius XII is also horrific!

The Israeli consul, Pinchas E. Lapide, in his book, Three Popes and the Jews (New York: Hawthorn Books, Inc., 1967) critically examines Pope Pius XII. According to his research, the Catholic Church under Pius XII was instrumental in saving 860,000 Jews from Nazi death camps (p. 214).

We must remember that the Holocaust was also anti-Christian. After Hitler revealed his true intentions, the Catholic Church opposed him. **Even the famous Albert Einstein testified to that. According to the December 23, 1940 issue of Time magazine on page 38, Einstein said:

Being a lover of freedom, when the revolution came in Germany, I looked to the universities to defend it, knowing that they had always boasted of their devotion to the cause of truth; but, no, the universities immediately were silenced. Then I looked to the great editors of the newspapers whose flaming editorials in days gone by had proclaimed their love of freedom; but they, like the universities, were silenced in a few short weeks…

Only the Church stood squarely across the path of Hitler’s campaign for suppressing truth. I never had any special interest in the Church before, but now I feel a great affection and admiration because the Church alone has had the courage and persistence to stand for intellectual truth and moral freedom. I am forced thus to confess that what I once despised I now praise unreservedly.
**

The charity and work of Pope Pius XII during World War II so impressed the Chief Rabbi of Rome, Israel Zolli, that in 1944 he was open to the grace of God which led him into the Catholic faith. As his baptismal name, he took the same one Pius had, Eugenio, as his own. Later Israel Eugenio Zolli wrote a book entitled, Why I Became a Catholic.

Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, Ora Pro Nobis Peccatoribus!

mark
 
Although i applaude some of your ideas, some are not so good ideas.

I think it has been proven by the situation we found ourselves today in that is not such a good idea to mix religion. to visit as guess yes, but dont be surprise if evangelization is the end.

our Lord said: go into the whole world and teach all the I commanded you. this is still valid today. mixing with the crowd and pretend that we all get along and there is nothing to say about Jesus so we can all get along is dilusional.

youtube.com/user/RealCatholicTV#p/a/u/0/IIkAvjpGSiw
 
I think he probably should re-examine his views on Pope Pius XII, but found his suggestions interesting. Anyone else?
Whatever his views are on Pope Pius XII and however anyone may disagree with him, Rabbi Boteach did say that “Benedict is not Pius”. So, I am grateful that he extends support to the Holy Father. .
our Lord said: go into the whole world and teach all the I commanded you. this is still valid today. mixing with the crowd and pretend that we all get along and there is nothing to say about Jesus so we can all get along is dilusional.
What does pretension have anything to do with what was proposed by Rabbi Boteach? Working with other faith communities does not mean we forget Jesus. I do not find anything amiss with the values the Rabbi speaks of and the need to work on that together. When he spoke of:

"The Church should embrace the same straightforward rule. No priest should be allowed to be in alone with a child. Period. If a Priest needs to speak to a child alone, the door must never be locked and there must always be the possibility that they can be intruded upon by outsiders. If they walk in a park, it cannot be one that is empty of people. This way we’ll know that any Priest who breaks the guidelines will be punished whether or not they abuse a child. It would significantly curb the potential for any act of child molestation and might even discourage pedophiles from entering the priesthood in the first place.",

Rabbi Boteach is actually echoing the rule of Don Bosco.
 
i see that another thread has been started to discuss the good rabbi’s comments. 🤷
 
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