Rabbi Yehuda Levin: 'When you Catholics sneeze, the rest of us get a cold...'

A defence of the Holy Father from Rabbi Yehuda Levin- another Rabbi who supports what the Holy Father is trying to do.

Zenit has the article, from which I have cut'n'pasted below:


Rabbi Yehuda Levin, spokesman for the Union of Orthodox Rabbis of the United States and Canada, visited senior curial officials last week to lobby the Church's support in opposing a gay pride march to be held in Jerusalem later this year. He hopes the Vatican and the apostolic nuncio to Israel can help him build a coalition of other religions and denominations to block the march.

"People who are saying that Pope Benedict is anti-Semitic and insensitive -- that's ridiculous," he says. "He [the Pope] has a decades-long track record of anti-Nazism and sympathy for the Jews." Levin also says he understands what the Pope is trying to do in reaching out to traditionalists as they have some "very important things" to contribute to Catholicism.


"I absolutely support him. Why? Because he understands the big picture, which is that the Catholic Church has a problem with a strong left wing that is doing immeasurable harm to the faith."

The Left," Levin says, "are helping to destroy and corrupt the values of the Church and that has a trickle-down effect on every religious community in the world." He points out that a Church of 1.25 billion members cannot be easily ignored. "When you [Catholics] sneeze," he warns, "the rest of us get a cold – we are affected by what happens."


Rabbi Levin also apologises for the reaction of some of his fellow Jews. "My guys have not acted with great sophistication," he says. "If he [the Pope] inadvertently includes somebody who's prominent in that movement and who says some strange things, is that a reason to throw out the baby with the bathwater and start to condemn Pope Benedict right away?" he asks. "Absolutely not."


That 'trickle down effect' line reveals, I think, a perceptive and healthy attitude to the Church.

'The Press got it wrong'

Thank God that some sanity is starting to filter through despite the misrepresentations in the media regarding the lifting of the excommunications of four SSPX bishops.


Gary Krupp, founder and president of the Pave the Way Foundation, an organization dedicated to bridging gaps between religions, affirmed that "the full story has not been told […]; the media got it wrong."


Krupp observed: "The media often focuses on one action without researching the details. This omission has made headlines, fueled a controversy and promoted negativity."

He affirmed that the public Holocaust-denial of Bishop Richard Williamson, one of the reconciled prelates, seemed to imply an affront against Jewish-Catholic relations.

But, the Jewish founder explained that his organization researched the matter "in depth, and inquired with Vatican officials in Rome and knowledgeable experts in canon law, in order to have a clear picture of what was done and why it was done."Krupp concluded by asking, "Should we allow the bizarre statements and beliefs of this one man, and media omissions, [to] damage Jewish-Catholic dialogue, which has consistently been highlighted as a major focus for the Catholic Church and this papacy?"

He answered, "We say no!"


Read the full article here
Thanks to Fr Z

Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor expresses dismay...

The Daily Telegraph online reporting on the Bishop Williamson affair quotes from a letter apparently written by H.E. Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor to the Chief Rabbi, Dr. Jonathan Sacks.

Here is what the Daily Telegraph says:
The Cardinal, in a letter to Dr Jonathan Sacks the Chief Rabbi, a copy of which has been released to The Daily Telegraph, expressed his deep regret at the effect of the Vatican's move.

In the letter the Cardinal wrote: "I am writing to express my dismay at the effect of the Vatican decree... Specifically I naturally deplore the comments made by the Englishman, Rev Williamson, in his denial of the full horror of the Holocaust. His statement and views have absolutely no place in the Catholic Church and its teaching." Dr Sacks, in his reply to the Cardinal, warned that the episode has done "great damage" to relationships between the Jewish and Catholic faiths.

To add some balance, here is the view of another Rabbi, and here the observations of the Archbishop of Toronto, H.E. Most Rev. Thomas Collins, both links courtesy of Fr .Z.

I am at a loss to understand what Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor means by expressing 'dismay' at the courageous act of his, and my Pope, in lifting the excommunications of the four bishops of the SSPX. It seems to me that the reprehensible views of Bishop Williamson concerning the holocaust are a separate issue from that of the lifting of excommunications.

The Holy Father's actions are a praiseworthy and necessary step towards unity and reconciliation within Catholicism.

It saddens me to see the Holy Father criticised by those who should be leading our support.

I'll be praying for him and for the Cardinal.

Bishop Herman: 'I thought you should know'

Lifesite news has the following words of the Administrator of an Archdiocese, St. Louis, in the U.S.,
Bishop J. Herman.

The Bishop is talking about the Culture of Life and a new evangelisation, Catholics rediscovering their faith and identity as Catholics, and unashamedly living it.His words, though addressed to his own archdiocese, are relevant to Catholics everywhere and especially in the West; they are inspiring and I take them very much to heart.

By Bishop Robert J. Hermann, Archdiocesan Administrator

January 27, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - I was very edified this past Saturday to see the Cathedral almost filled for the Pro-Life Mass. Then to see such a large contingent, on a very cold day, make a pilgrimage to the abortion clinic, praying the Rosary for Life, was truly heartwarming.

At the very moment I am writing this, our new president, Barack Obama, is being sworn into office. We congratulate him, and we pray for him, but we cannot condone his pro-death policies, even while we are happy that so many people feel they have new hope. We must do everything we can to oppose his pro-death-to-children efforts.

Joseph Bottum, in an article entitled "Abortion after Obama," writing in the January 2009 edition of First Things, pages 13-15, tells us, "Now the 2008 election has brought us the presidency of Barack Obama, the most consistent supporter of legalized abortion ever nominated by a majority party."

When asked about making decisions as to when a baby gets human rights, President Obama answered that "is above my pay grade." He also stated that he would not want his daughters "punished with a baby."

He has made it known that, upon taking office, he will remove all federal restrictions on funding embryonic stem-cell research. He also intends to sign the Freedom of Choice Act. Seldom has our nation ever been confronted with such an extreme measure. The Freedom of Choice Act will invalidate for the entire country all restrictions on abortion before viability, including parental notification, waiting periods and partial-birth abortion bans. President Obama has no problem supporting legislation that would even kill a child who survived a botched abortion.

If at this stage our anger is directed at President Obama, our anger is misdirected. Obama is not the enemy. He needs and deserves our prayers, not our condemnation.

As Catholics, we are not guiltless. It seems to me that when President Kennedy compromised Catholic teachings and accommodated political pressures in order to be elected to the highest office in the land, he set the tone for many Catholic leaders to follow and to compromise their Catholic principles to get ahead.

In our Supreme Court and in our Congress, we have a plethora of so-called Catholics who are failing to live their Catholic identity. Over 50 percent of our electorate voted for a president who is one of the most pro-culture-of-death candidates from a major party to run for the highest office of the land.

Yes, we can thank one-half of our Catholics for bailing out on their faith!

After almost 50 years of having 50 percent of Catholics abandoning their Catholic identity, we cannot expect to turn this culture around by short-term political efforts.

In order to bring about a transformation from a culture of death to a culture of life, we have to restore our Catholic identity.

This means that all of us, as Catholics, have to undergo a profound transformation. It means that we have to take a good look at every facet of our Catholic life, including the serious study of life issues, the regular and devout use of our Sacramental system, especially the devout and weekly attendance at Mass, the regular reception of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the devout praying of the daily Rosary, and then the faithful, loving and firm witness to lax Catholics about our Catholic beliefs and practices.

We have to live our lives in such a way that we will be unafraid to witness to what we believe and live.

I may courageously say that I am willing to die to end abortion, but am I equally willing to say that I am ready to let my ego get ruffled daily for the same cause? Yet … that is where I need to arrive if I am to be a credible witness.

What a glorious opportunity we all have to make a difference in the pro-life cause. Until we are willing to be politically incorrect in order to be biblically correct, we will never convince anyone that our religion is worth living.

It does not take 100 percent of our Catholics to transform this country. If 75 percent of our Catholics were steeped in Catholic identity, the abortion issue would be over for our entire country. We have many, many evangelicals on our side in the culture of life. Look at how many more of them would flock to our side if we really lived our Catholic teachings! They, too, are looking for changeless principles lived out in practice.

But there is more! Our laxity in living our Catholic life has blinded us into not seeing the role of Satan in the culture of death. Satan is having a heyday in our midst, because he has managed to remain invisible in the culture of death, and our laxity has granted him that luxury. Since we are not steeped in the Word of God as we should be, we do not recognize his darkness in our society. Our first reading from Hebrews tells us, "The word of God is living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating even between soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and able to discern reflections and thoughts of the heart."

St. Paul tells us that our warfare is not against flesh and blood but against the power and principles of darkness. He also tells us that we should not let the sun go down upon our anger so as to give Satan a foothold. These readings are wake-up calls for us all. I bring this up deliberately, because I do not want us to fall into Satan's trap of getting us to hate President Obama or any of the pro-choice Catholic legislators in Congress. Being pro-life means that we engage far more in spiritual warfare than in political warfare.

That Satan is very alive in influencing all of us is his best-kept secret. Becoming steeped in the Word of God and the teachings of the Catholic Church exposes his evil machinations.

President Obama, pro-choice legislators and Planned Parenthood are not our enemies. Our enemies are the invisible forces masked behind these people. Most of them do not have a clue that they are being deceived by our common enemy, the devil. They are used by our common enemy, Satan, and his evil forces, to get us to hate so that we, too, will end up in a culture of death. President Obama and all pro-choice and pro-abortion legislators, as well as members supporting Planned Parenthood (and we have in our own state a national legislator who has received over $900,000 from groups that advocate for abortion rights) — these are not our enemies. They are used by the evil one to get us to hate them in our efforts to be pro-life and thereby ditch our pro-life efforts. We cannot fall for that trap!

We owe all of them prayers and fasting for their conversion. At one point, Gov. Reagan was California's very pro-abortion governor. Yet he became a very pro-life president. He repented and regretted the evil he supported.

We must bravely witness against supporting pro-choice and pro-abortion candidates in political elections, but pray daily for their conversion.

This is a great time to be a Catholic. This is a great time to witness to such a clear choice, the choice of Christ or the anti-Christ.

We have only one life to live, and Jesus is it!

If our focus consists only in counting votes, we will be discouraged. If our focus is on giving ourselves and our activities totally to Christ so that He can use our witnessing as He wishes, our hearts will be throbbing and radiating with life and joy.

This is a great time to wake up from our slumber of simply calling ourselves Catholic, and wage war against the forces of darkness in ourselves first and then in our culture, a culture which is resting on the premise that God does not exist.

Our actions and our lifestyles have to radiate the inner presence of Christ in the home and in the marketplace.

This is a glorious day and a glorious opportunity for any follower of Christ! We need to recover our Catholic identity, and we can do it!

The People's Republic of Britain?

I sometimes wonder how far off we are from the kind of totalitarian regime that exists in China.
'Big government' in the UK has led to ever deeper inroads into the privacy of individuals and particularly, families and their children, for whom our beloved government seems to believe that 'it knows best'.

The chilling words of Helen Brook, founder of the Brook organisation could almost be described as government policy:

'It is now the privilege of the parental state to take major decisions-objective, unemotional, the state weighs up what is best for the child'.

And now Jonathan Porritt who chairs the government’s Sustainable Development Commission has chipped in:

“I think we will work our way towards a position that says that having more than two children is irresponsible. "

Well why two, Mr. Porritt, why don't you just forbid anyone to have any children unless they have your permission?

I hope that no-one in the Catholic Church is going to equivocate on this...

Sad to say, but I have have had comments of the 'what, another one' sort in my time, from a Catholic priest and fear that I once embarrassed my Bishop by asking for a blessing for an expectant mother.

...however, if there is equivocation, I'll, I'll,

I'll either move to Blackfen, or Brighton!

Snow

Having gained a day off school, owing to the weather, our children went to the playing field to make the most of the snow.


One of our sons is among the three lads by the hedge, pelting a group of girls. And the girls are good shots, too!


My husband (not in view) is on our side of the hedge, lobbing a few at our son, and ducking..

The Holy Father

The Holy Father doesn't, I'm sure, have time to read the Catholic blogs. If he did ever have time,
he would surely choose from some of the excellent ones that I have found so helpful and inspiring, I'm thinking particularly of blogs written by priests in the UK, USA, Ireland and elsewhere, (though only God knows how they find time to maintain blogs!)

But if the Holy Father ever did chance upon my blog, I'd want him to know that:

I pray for him daily,
giving thanks to God for the great blessing of his pontificate,
that the Holy Spirit will continue His work through His courageous and faithful Servant, Benedict,
our beloved Vicar of Christ.

(The picture was shamelessly lifted from Rorate caeli.)