THE LAW OF NOAH: ONE WORLD RELIGION part 1
Christians Ought to Respect the Jewish Right to the Land of Israel, Physical Center of the Covenant
The Repentance of the Year 2000, or the Vidouy
Toward a Noaic Religion
CONCLUSION
Christians Ought to Respect the Jewish Right to the Land of Israel, Physical Center of the Covenant
The Repentance of the Year 2000, or the Vidouy
Toward a Noaic Religion
CONCLUSION
The most important event for Jews since the Holocaust has been the re-establishment of a Jewish state in the Promised Land. As members of a biblically-based religion, Christians appreciate that Israel was promised–and given–to Jews as the physical center of the covenant between them and God.71
Christians have no other choice than to be thrilled about the presence of the Jews in the Holy Land.
Paul Giniewski analyzes the teaching of the last 40 years in the light of Jewish thought.72 He distinguishes three phases:
● the "vidouy," that is to say, the sincere recognition of the fault committed and of one's errors;● the "techouva," which signifies conversion to the contrary behavior;● finally, and most importantly, the "tikkun" or the reparation.
The Jewish writer asks himself which phase we have reached. "The techouva" he replies, without hesitation. This phase will not be achieved until the day
when the teaching of respect will be formulated in didactic texts and their propagation will have raised up numerous vocations of students and teachers of the new doctrine. The objective is ambitious: to cause a teaching to be heard and accepted that is contrary to the one that was previously taught....Thus the crucifixion of the Jews will come to an end.
Finally, the Church will have to make reparation. Certain authors have already described what the "tikkun" will be.
Then the Jews will once again assume their role before the nations, a role that is clarified in a number of works including a brochure destined to popularize the theme, The Mission of Israel: A Priestly People,73 by Patrick Petit-Ohayon, which contains an excellent summary.
March 12, 2000, at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, John Paul II, in the name of the Catholic Church, read a mea culpa74 for the faults of Christians over the course of history. This gesture can only be understood in the context of a new consciousness of the Church's persecution "by the Inquisition"75 (a system of violence and constraint) of the people of the Covenant, long despoiled and persecuted. Thus Christians have accomplished their "vidouy."
Furthermore, so that these actions would be sufficiently clear to both parties, namely to Christians as well as to Jews, the text of repentance was slipped by John Paul II himself into a crack in the Wailing Wall,76 part of the ruins of the Temple of the Old Covenant. A wall that awaits only to be reconstructed in the religious capital of the renewed Covenant: Jerusalem dethroning Rome, the usurper.77
If the Church is no longer the verus Israel, what does she become in the new theology of salvation?
This study is already lengthy, and is not the place to present all the aspects of the Noaic religion. This religion, introduced with Vatican II, is destined to supplant Catholicism.78 The subject is so vast that a colloquium could easily be consecrated to it. We will give a few historical markers and point out various aspects of this new "Catholicism."
After the French Revolution, which emancipated the Jews and permitted them to enter civil societies, the rabbis and Jewish thinkers considered the religious aspect of the world they were bringing into being. It would also be necessary to resolve the religious problem that would most certainly arise. What was at stake in these theological debates between the rabbis of the 19th century can be summarized as follows: "When we will have recovered our role as a people called to bring salvation to the Gentiles, what will be the religion of Christians, who imagined themselves to be the new Israel?"
Elijah Benamozegh, the rabbi of Livorno, the Plato of Italian Judaism and "one of the masters of contemporary Jewish thought,"79 proposed a solution that he published in 1884 in his master-work Israel and Humanity.80 The sub-title is evocative: A Study on the Problem of a Universal Religion, and Its Solution. Benamozegh's solution, around which would rally little by little the supporters of Judaism, can be summarized as follows:
The Catholic Church should reform her teaching on three points. She should:
● change her way of looking at the Jews, rehabilitating them as the elder people, a priestly people "who was able to maintain the primitive religion in its original purity." It is a people neither deicide nor rejected by God. No curse weighs upon it. On the contrary, it is destined to proposed happiness and unity to all of humanity. "To recognize its function," writes Gerard Haddad,81 citing Benamozegh, "which Paul82thought he could eliminate."● "Renounce the belief in the divinity of Jesus, the Son of Man, as He called Himself." Jesus was a simple rabbi, and so He remained. Preach Jesus Christ, but a human Jesus Christ, come to bring a certain moral code for the happiness of all men.● Accept a reinterpretation–not a suppression–of the mystery of the Trinity.
On these three conditions, "the Catholic Church is the Church of true Catholicism," a true Catholicism that Benamozegh names Noachism, the religion for all those who belong to the "Christian sphere," as Lustiger calls it. This Noachism83 possesses a morality that the Church is called to reveal to the peoples of the earth. The American Judeo-Episcopal Declaration of August 12, 2002, refers to it explicitly:
Judaism assumes that all people are obligated to observe a universal law. That law, spoken of as the Seven Noahide Commandments, is applicable to all human beings. These laws are: 1) the establishment of a court of justice so that law will rule in society; and the prohibitions of 2) blasphemy, 3) idolatry, 4) incest, 5) bloodshed, 6)robbery, and 7) of eating the flesh of a living animal.
The new end of the Church will be the evangelization of the nations to this Noaic humanitarianism, as well as their unification.84 The primacy of Rome will be redefined to facilitate the unity of Christians. Noachism will be "the religion of natural morality"! For in no way must the non-Jew seek to convert to Judaism or Talmudic Mosaism, a religion that is reserved for the Chosen People. Benamozegh's solution, long neglected, is now being adopted by the authorities of the Jewish world. The chief rabbi Rene Samuel Sirat, for example alluded to the status of non-Jews at the funeral of a young Frenchman of 24, victim of a terrorist attack against the cafeteria of the Hebraic University of Jerusalem, July 31, 2002:
David, my dear David, you had chosen to draw near to our Jewish community spiritually and culturally, and to claim for yourself the beautiful title of guer toshav,denoting one who is at once stranger and citizen to Judaism, such as was praised in the Bible and marvelously rendered explicit in the last century by the rabbi Elijah Benamozegh, in his book Israel and Humanity. It is a question of a free decision to draw close to the tradition of Israel, and to observe the seven laws–called the Noaic laws–of natural morality revealed long ago to Noah, father of all the living....For is it necessary to repeat that one is not obliged to convert to Judaism in order to merit eternal salvation.85
The new religion that came from Vatican II ought to be understood in the light of the struggle–ancient, but always new–between Jesus (Mary) and Satan; the Church and the Synagogue. In the 20th century, Satan seems to have found his Trojan horse (Vatican II) full of Achaeans bent on subversive theology.
At the heart of this movement [of conversion]–and this has been taught explicitly by Christian theologians such as Louis Bouyer, Yves Congar and Henri de Lubac...86–lies the rediscovery of faith....This is the task which the Catholic Church and many Christians want to carry out today.
No, your Eminence. We are Roman Catholics, and our faith is in Jesus Christ, true God and true man, born of the most pure womb of the Virgin Mary through the operation of the Holy Spirit; our faith is in Jesus Christ, Savior of man, crucified under Pontius Pilate and raised from the dead, come to fulfill the Law and the Prophets in founding the Church of Rome–Catholic and Apostolic–the new and eternal Covenant. This is not the Covenant that you are preaching. With the help of God, and with the help of the magisterium of the Church and her Tradition of 2000 years, we will not die Noaic.
This fidelity may obtain for the Jews to accept the precious graces of the Redemption–graces that the Virgin Mary is able to bestow in abundance–just as Drach, Libermann, Ratisbonne, Lemann, Zolli, and so many others have already accepted them: true converts, true sons of the Roman Church, and true sons of Mary.
God of goodness, Father of mercy, we beg You by the Immaculate Heart of Mary, through the intercession of the patriarchs and the holy Apostles, to cast Your eyes with compassion on the remains of Israel in order that they might come to know our only Savior, Jesus Christ, and that they might participate in the precious graces of the Redemption. Lord, forgive them, for they know not what they do. (Prayer indulgenced by Leo XIII and St. Pius X)
Translated exclusively by Angelus Press. For as many footnotes as possible, Angelus Press has located authorized English sources and translations, which are very important to this article. Originally published in Le Sel de la Terre. Autumn 2003, No.46. Michel Laurigan is the pseudonym of a history professor in Francespecializing in modern Church history. He assists at the Latin Mass.
1. Noaic (or Noahide) Law: The law given by Noah after the Flood. The plan in question, revealed by Elijah Benamozegh in his work Israel and Humanity (1884), will be elaborated in the present article. Allow us simply to cite here what Jacob Kaplan, the great Parisian rabbi, declared on the subject in 1966: "According to our doctrine, the Jewish religion is not the only one that assures salvation. Non-Jews are also saved if they believe in a supreme God and have a moral code, thus obeying the so-called Noaic Laws, those that the Creator handed down to Noah....Consequently, our rabbis teach that the just of every nation have the right to eternal salvation. It is uniquely for the Jews that, in addition to the Noaic Laws, there exist the precepts of the Torah and the Law of Moses, which have their reason for being in the divine project of forming a people destined for religious action in the world. The hope of Israel is not therefore the conversion of the human race to Judaism but to monotheism. As for Biblical religions, they are, according to our greatest theologians, creeds whose role is to prepare alongside Israel the coming of the Messianic Age announced by the prophets. Thus we desire most ardently to work in common with them toward the realization of this essentially Biblical ideal... .In this way we may hasten the coming of the Messianic Era, which will be one of love, justice and peace." Jacob Kaplan, Dialogue avec le père Danielou, S.J., le 10 fevrier 1966 au theatre des ambassadeurs à Paris [Conversation with Fr. Danielou, S.J., Feb. 10, 1966, at the Ambassador Theater in Paris] (Paris: 1966). Translator's note: Information on Jacob Kaplan as well as photographs are available at: http://www.sdv.fr/judaisme/histoire/ rabbins/kaplan/index.htm.
2. Translator's note: "B'nai B'rith: A fraternal Jewish organization founded in the United States in 1843. In Hebrew, B'nai B'rith means 'the sons of the Covenant.' The goal of this association is to maintain Jewish tradition and culture and to fight against anti-Semitism... .The members call themselves 'Brothers'; they receive an initiation and reunite in lodges."Dictionnaire Universel de la maçonnerie [Universal Dictionary of Free-Masonry] (Evry: Presse Universitaire de France, 1987)
3. This prize rewards the individual who has worked the most efficaciously throughout the year for the reconciliation of Christians and Jews.
4. See the entire text of the declaration in Nouvelle Revue Theologique, vol. 120, no. 4, Oct./Nov. 1998, pp. 529-543. The Cardinal introduces his subject as follows: "How moving it is for me to be made to feel welcome in this famous and venerable synagogue, already over a century old!" The cardinal has just published a synthesis of his thought, which is a sort of Judeo-Christian syncretism, in a work entitled La Promesse, [The Promise] (Paris: Parole & Silence, 2002). Claude Vigee gives the following review of the cardinal's book: "Jean-Marie Lustiger shows that we cannot reject the election of Israel, under pain of destroying the very heart of Christianity. This is the key to his book. He needed great courage to write these lines, given his social and spiritual status. Christians will find it difficult to forgive him for reminding them that, without the election of Israel, there is no Christian election possible....Do you realize that if he had written the same lines during the time of the Inquisition.. .he would doubtless have been thrown to the fire!" France Catholique, no. 2857, Nov. 2002, p. 10. Translator's note: See http://www.nostreradici.it/lustiger.htm for the full text of the Cardinal's speech. For a review in English of La Promesse (not yet translated), see http://www.upi.com/ view.cfm?StoryID=20030110-075845-9182r.
7. In his most recent book, Cardinal Lustiger distinguishes two Churches, that of Jerusalem, "the Church that is, in the Catholic Church, the permanence of the promise made to Israel...and which only survived, at the very latest, until the 6th century, destroyed by the influence of Byzantium. That is one of the major losses suffered by the Christian consciousness. The memory of the grace granted to it was thus practically repressed–I would not say by the Church as the Spouse of Christ, but rather by Christians" (p. 17). Secondly, the Church of the pagano-Christians of the 6th century until Vatican II: "The sin into which fell the pagano-Christians–be they churchmen or princes or peoples–was to appropriate Christ to themselves in disfiguring Him, then to make their god of this disfigurement....Their misunderstanding of Israel is the proof of their misunderstanding of Christ, whom they claim to serve." La Promesse (Paris: Editions Parole et Silence, 2002), p. 81. Is Cardinal Lustiger still Catholic?
9. Reading these lines, it would seem that Cardinal Lustiger condemns the benefits of the Edict of Milan of the year 313. Better yet, Constantine supposedly "denied redemption the time...required" by casting aside the Jews. An odd reading of Church history!
10. For the Cardinal of Paris, the substitution of the Christian people for the people of the Old Covenant is quite simply a myth! "I am pleased to see that in your book The Promise, you reject the theology of substitution." Rabbi Josy Eisenberg to J. M. Lustiger, Le Nouvel Observateur,no. 1988, from Dec. 12-18, 2002, p. 116.
11. In the text, the information given here in parentheses is a footnote in which the author cites the Marquis de la Franquerie, Ascendances Davidiques des Rois de France [Davidic Origins of the Kings of France] (Villegenon: Editions Sainte Jeanne d'Arc, 1984), p. 79.
13. See Patrick Petit-Ohayon, La Mission d'Israel, un people de pretres [The Mission of Israel: A Priestly People] (Paris: Editions Biblieurope & F.S.J.U, 2002), p .83.
14. Translator's note: The Cardinal concludes as follows: "This is part of the movement through which humankind is being united, even at the cost of confrontations. This orientation testifies to the Catholic Church's determination to carry out her mission in the service of this world, to do the will of the Creator of Israel and Redeemer of humanity."
15. Paris, January 28-29, 2002. The speech is entitled: "De Jules Isaac à Jean-Paul II: questions pour l' avenir" [From Jules Isaac to John Paul II: Questions for the Future]. See the text of the speech in The Promise, pp. 185-188 or in the work Rencontres europeens entre juifs et catholiques organises par le Congresjuif europeen [European Encounters Between Jews and Catholics, organized by the European Jewish Congress], Jan. 28-29, 2002 (Ecole Cathedrale: Editions Parole et Silence, 2002).
Translator's note: For an account of the meetings, see www.jcrelations.net, "News." This site is sponsored by the International Council of Christians and Jews, "with 38 Christian-Jewish and interreligious member organizations in 32 countries."
16. Brussels, April 22-23, 2002. "Juifs et Chretiens. Que doivent-ils esperer de leur rencontre?[What Can Jews and Christians Hope for When They Meet?]" Speech published in The Promise, pp. 189-202. See the paragraph smacking of heresy entitled: "La liberté religieuse, cle de la democratic. [Religious Liberty: The Key to Democracy.]"
Translator's note: This text and the following are available on the site www.jcrelations.net, under "Observations, Experience."
17. Washington, May 8, 2002. "Que signifie, dans le choc des cultures, la rencontre des chretiens et des juifs? [What Do Christian-Jewish Encounters Mean as Civilizations Clash?]" inThe Promise, pp. 203-218.
18. Lustiger believes in Jesus Christ, the Messias, but as a Jewish Messias. Reread the very pertinent article "Dieu est-il anti-semite, 1'infiltration judaique dans 1'Eglise conciliaire" [Is God Anti-Semitic? The Jewish Infiltration in the Conciliar Church] by Hubert le Caron, Fideliter,1987. The author studies the "attempt to Judaize the Roman Church" and the cardinal's interview with France Soir, Feb. 3,1981: "I am Jewish. For me, the two religions are one and I have not betrayed that of my ancestors," pp. 83-115. However, not all Jews belong to this Judeo-Christianity. See the article entitled: "Non, Monsieur le cardinal [No, Your Eminence]" by Rabbi Josy Eisenberg, Le Nouvel Observateur, no. 1988, p. 116. [Available on-line, in French.] The cardinal's near silence concerning the Virgin Mary is eloquent. True converts, such as the Frs. Lemann, have preached magnificently on Mary, Co-Redemptrix.
19. The unfaithful Jews became the instruments of Satan in his battle against the Church and the Mother of God. In the Gospel according to St. John, 8:24, 39, 41-42, 44, we read: Jesus said: '"If you do not believe that I am He [the Messias], you will die in your sin....If you are the children of Abraham, do the works of Abraham ....But you do the works of your father.' They therefore said to Him, 'We have not been born of fornication; we have one Father, God.' Jesus therefore said to them, 'If God were your Father, you would surely love Me. For from God I came forth and have come... .The father from whom you are is the devil, and the desires of your father it is your will to do.'"
20. Monsignor Delassus, La conjuration anti-chretienne [The Anti-Christian Conspiracy] (Bruges: Desclee de Brouwer, 1910), III, 116.
21. See in particular the small work by Theodore Ratisbonne, La Question juive [The Jewish Question] (Paris: Editions Dentu, 1856), p.31. The French text is available on the internet at www.gallica.bnf.fr.
22. Josue Jehouda, L 'Antisemitisme, miroir du monde, preface by Jacques Soustelle (Geneva: Editions Synthesis, 1958), 283pp. Jehouda figures himself as the successor of the rabbi of Livorno, Elijah Benamozegh. His other books are of greater interest: La Terre promise [The Promised Land] (Paris: Rieder, 1925), 122pp.; Les Cinq etapes du juddisme emancipe [The Five Stages of Emancipated Judaism] (Geneva: Editions Synthesis, 1946), 132 pp. (extract from the Jewish review of Geneva, 1936-1937); La Vocation d'Israel [The Vocation of Israel] (Paris: Zeluck, 1947), 240pp.; Le Monotheisme, doctrine de l'unite [Monotheism: Doctrine of Unity] (Geneva: Editions Synthesis, 1952), 175pp.; Institut pour l'etude du monotheisme [Institute for the Study of Monotheism], Cahiers (I.E.M.), vol.1, March 1952; Sionisme et messianisme[Zionism and Messianism] (Geneva: Editions Synthesis, 1954), 318pp.; Cahiers (I.E.M.), vol. 3, October 1954; Israel et la Chretiente. La Lecon de l'histoire [Israel and Christianity: The Lesson of History] (Geneva: Editions Synthesis, 1956), 263pp.; Israel et le monde (synthese de la pensee juive) [Israel and the World: A Synthesis of Jewish Thought] (Paris: Editeur Scientifique, undated); Le Marxisme face au monotheisme etau christianisme [Marxism before Monotheism and Christianity] (Geneva: Editions Synthesis, 1962), 71pp.; Joshua Jehouda also wrote the preface to one of the works of Elijah Benamozegh, Morale juive et morale chretienne[Jewish Morality and Christian Morality], revised and corrected edition (Baconniere, 1946), 272pp.
Translator's note: The works of Jehouda do not seem to have been translated into English, if not in citation, as in the following example: "The dogmatic exclusiveness professed by Christianity must finally end....It is the obstinate Christian claim to be the sole heir to Israel which propagates anti-Semitism. This scandal must terminate sooner or later; the sooner it goes, the sooner the world will be rid of the tissue of lies in which anti-Semitism shrouds itself." (Joshua Jehouda, L'Antisemitisme Miroir du Monde, pp. 135-136; Vicomte Léon de Poncins,Judaism and the Vatican: An Attempt at Spiritual Subversion [London: Britons Publishing Company, 1967], pp. 30-31)
23. Josue Jehouda, L'Antisemitisme, miroir du monde, pp. 161-162, cited in the Leon de Poncin's brochure, Le Probleme juif face au Concile [The Jewish Problem before the Council], p. 27. This brochure was distributed to all the Fathers of the Council in 1965 before the fourth session. See below the historical circumstances of this diffusion.
24. The review Unite des Chretiens, no. 109 (p. 34) published a photograph of all of the participants.
25. See: Mes souvenirs de la Conference de Seelisberg et de I'abbe Journet [My Memories of the Seelisberg Conference and of Fr. Journet] by Rabbi A. Safran as well as "La Charte de Seelisberg et la participation du cardinal Journet" [The Chart of Seelisberg and the Participation of Cardinal Journet] by Monsignor P. Mamie, at the Colloquium of the University of Fribourg, March 16-20,1998, whose theme was "Judaism, Anti-Judaism and Christianity," published asJuddisme, anti-juddisme et christianisme, Benedict Viviano (Saint Maurice: Editions Saint Augustin, 2000), pp. 13-35. Fr. Journet was invited to the conference by the Reverend Fr. de Menasce, O.P., a converted Egyptian Jew. As for Jacques Maritain, he was invited by the pastor of Geneva, Pierre Visseur.
26. The whole of the text was published by the review Nova et Vetera, 1946-47, pp. 312-317. It was entitled "Contre 1'anti-semitisme" [Against Anti-Semitism]. We read there: "Christians will also understand that they must attentively revise and purify their own language, where routine–not always innocent, and in any case singularly careless of rigor and exactitude–has allowed absurd expressions to slip into usage, such as that of 'deicide race,' or a way of reciting the history of the Passion that is more racist than Christian, and encourages Christian children to a hatred of their Jewish companions."
27. Translator's note: The text containing these points and an account of the conference can be found at: www.jcrelations.net.
28. Andre Kaspi, Jules Isaac, historien, acteur du rapprochement judeo-chretien (Paris: Plon, 2002), p.215. Translator's note: Kaspi is a professor of history at the Sorbonne. Jules Isaac: Historian and Actor in the Judeo-Christian Reconciliation has not yet been translated into English; the following site contains excerpts in French, with a photograph of Jules Isaac: http:// www.uejf.org/tohubohu/culture/julesisaac.html.
31. John XXIII's famous inspiration at St. Paul Without the Walls remains troubling. It would be interesting to know if Jules Isaac or the various Jewish organizations played a role in the decision taken by John XXIII. We know that in 1923 the cardinals advised Pius XI against such a convocation. Cardinal Billot even had the clairvoyance to tell the Pope: "Ought we not fear to see the council 'hi-jacked' by the worst enemies of the Church, the modernists, who, according to clear indications, are already preparing to take advantage of an Estates-General of the Church in order to launch their revolution, a new 1789?" Cited by Bishop Tissierde Mallerais in Marcel Lefebvre (Etampes: Clovis, 2002), p. 289.
33. Egyptian newspapers were the ones to publish the rumors. See Augustine Cardinal Bea's work: L'Eglise et les Juifs (Paris: Cerf, 1967), [Published in English as The Church and the Jewish People (New York: Harper and Row, 1966)] and the article by J. Cardinal Willebrands, "La contribution du cardinal Bea au mouvement oecumenique, à la liberté religieuse et a l'instauration de relations nouvelles avec le people juif" [Cardinal Bea's Contribution to the Ecumenical Movement, to Religious Liberty, and to the Establishment of New Relations with the Jewish People], Documentation Catholique no. 79, 1982, pp. 199-207.
Translator's note: Documentation Catholique offers a French version of texts and news releases issued by the Vatican; in general, the same texts can be found in the corresponding edition of L'Osservatore Romano. For an interesting appreciation of the role of Cardinals Bea and Willebrands, see the speech delivered at Boston College, Nov. 6, 2002, by Walter Cardinal Kasper, "Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews: A Crucial Endeavor of the Catholic Church," available at: http://www.bigbrother.net/ ~ mugwump/ FAITH/. This site also contains links to a number of resources on Jewish-Christian relations.
34. See the article "How the Jews Changed Catholic Thought," by senior editor Joseph Roddy, in the review Look, Jan. 20, 1966, vol.30, No.2–translated and published in full in Le Sel de la Terre, no. 34, Autumn 2000, pp. 196-215. These few lines rely heavily on this article.
Translator's note: The entire text of this famous article has been posted at:http://www.abbc.com/aaargh/fran/actu/actu03/doc2003/vaticanll.html.
35. Léon de Poncins, Le Judaisme et le Vatican, une tentative de subversion spirituelle (Paris: Editions Saint Remi, 2001), p. 204. [For the English edition of this work, see note 21.] The similarity of expression in the American Judeo-Episcopal declaration of Aug. 12, 2002, is absolutely staggering: "Ought Christians to invite Jews to baptism? This is a complex question not only in terms of Christian theological self-definition, but also because of the history of Christians forcibly baptizing Jews. In a remarkable and still most pertinent study paper presented at the sixth meeting of the International Catholic-Jewish Liaison Committee in Venice twenty-five years ago, Prof. Tommaso Federici examined the missiological implications of Nostra Aetate. He argued on historical and theological grounds that there should be in the Church no organizations of any kind dedicated to the conversion of Jews." "Reflections on Covenant and Mission, Issued by the Bishops' Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs Committee and the National Council of Synagogues, Says Targeting Jews for Conversion not Acceptable," Washington, August 13, 2002.
38. Histoire du concile Vatican II, under the direction of G. Alberigo (Paris: Cerf/Peeters, 1997), I, 440-441.
39. Joseph Roddy writes: "Bea wanted neither the Holy See nor the Arab League to know he was there to take questions the Jews wanted to hear answered." Op. cit., p. 202.
40. "Chapters IV and V on the Jews and on religious liberty were to raise the most heated debate between innovators and traditionalists. What is at stake is none other than the Church's renouncement of its monopoly over a unique truth." Henri Tincq, L'Etoile et la Croix. Jean-Paul II-Israel: L'explication [The Star and the Cross: John Paul II-Israel: The Explanation] (Paris: J.C. Lattes, 1993), p. 30. The Eastern patriarchs were to be among the most courageous in defending the theology of the Church, notably Cardinal Tappouni, the Syrian Patriarch of Antioch; Maximos IV, the Melchite Patriarch of Damascus; Stephen I Sidarous, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem.
41. In addition, they distributed Les Hebreux et le Concile [The Hebrews and the Council] by a certain Bernardus. See Rene Laurentin, L'Eglise et les juifs à Vatican II [The Church and the Jews at Vatican II] (Casterman, 1967).
42. A subject for study: "Deicide and the Council." In fact, the debates on the subject were extremely lively and impassioned. Thus Cardinal Bea: "Granting that the Sanhedrin of Jerusalem represented the Jewish people, had it fully understood the divinity of Christ? If the response is no, then there was no formal deicide"; or Cardinal Ruffini, Archbishop of Palermo, who took the floor to exclaim: "We cannot say that the Jews are deicide for the one good reason that you can't kill God." See Henri Tincq, op. cit., p. 36, and R. Braun "Le people juif est-il deicide?" [Are the Jewish People Deicide?] an article published in the review Rencontres chretiens et juifs, no. 10, supplement, 1975, pp. 54-71. The subject remains a burning question, with the polemic surrounding Mel Gibson's film The Passion, scheduled for release over Easter of 2004.
43. These meetings, kept officially secret, worried the good bishops. Roddy confides: "It was undercover summit conferences of that sort that led conservatives to claim that American Jews were the new powers behind the Church." Ibid., p. 206.
44. Henri Fesquet made the following commentary on the preparatory schema: "Ninety-nine Fathers voted no, 1,650 voted yes, and 242 voted yes with reservations. The Eastern bishops intervened as a group to declare their opposition to any declaration on the Jews by the Council. However, the final vote will take place at the end of the fourth session, in 1965." Le Monde,November 27, 1964.
46. Monsignor Luigi Carli, faithful friend of Archbishop Lefebvre at the Coetus Internationalis Patrum, published in his diocesan review of February 1965 that "the Jews of Christ's era and their descendants until this day were collectively guilty of the death of Christ." [Translator's note: Coetus Internationalis Patrum was an association founded by Archbishop Lefebvre reuniting 450 bishops at the Council for the defense of orthodoxy.]
47. Andre Chouraqui, La Reconnaissance. Le Saint-Siege, les juifs et Israel [Recognition: The Holy See, the Jews, and Israel] (Paris: Robert Laffont, 1992), p. 200. Translator's note: Although a number of Chouraqui's works have been translated, this title does not seem to exist in English.
49. Colloquium at the University of Fribourg, March 16-20, 1998, whose theme was Judaism, Anti-Judaism and Christianity, op. cit., p. 129.
51. Le Dialogue avec I'Eglise est-il bon pour les Juifs? [Do Jews Benefit from Dialogue with the Church?] (Brussels: September 1997).
52.Paul Giniewski, L'Anti-judaisme chretien: la mutation (Paris: Salvator, 1993 [new edition in 2000]), p. 506. This book is a must-read for anyone who would like to understand events in the light of the struggle between the Church and the Synagogue.
53. Cardinal Lustiger, during his speech before the European Jewish Conference in Paris in 2002, was able to resume the history of Judeo-Christian relations between 1945 and 1965: "The signers of Seelisberg were hopeful. Jules Isaac knocked on the door. Vatican II opened it by the declaration Nostra Aetate." It would be difficult to formulate a better synthesis. La Promesse, p. 187.
55. The expression is also Lustiger's, taken from his speech at the New York synagogue (see above). "This new awareness was condensed for the Catholic Church in the Second Vatican Council's Nostra Aetate Declaration. In the last 30 years it has given way to many comments, especially on the initiatives of Pope John Paul II. However, this new understanding still has to remodel in depth the ideas of many peoples who belong to the Christian sphere but whose hearts have not yet been purified by the Spirit of the Messias." What precisely is "the Spirit of the Messias"?
56. F. Lovsky, Le Royaume divise: juifs et Chretiens [The Kingdom Divided: Jews and Christians] (Editions Saint Paul, 1987).
57. The reviews Istina and Sens have reproduced a large part of these debates and the new theological principles. See among others: "Essai de programme pour une theologie apres Auschwitz," by Franz Mussner, Istina, no. 36, 1991, pp. 346-351. Translator's note: "Theology after Auschwitz: A Provisional Program." Available in English at www.jcrelations.net, under "Scholarly Contributions."
58. See "Catholiques et Juifs: un nouveau regard. Notes de la Commission du Saint-Siege pour les relations avec le judaisme" [Catholics and Jews: A New Consideration. Reflections of the Pontifical Commission for Religious Relations with Judaism], Documentation Catholique, no. 82, 1985, pp.733-738. See also the "Discours de Jean-Paul II aux delegues des conferences episcopales pour les relations avec le judaisme" [Discourse of John Paul II to the Delegates of Episcopal Conferences for Relations with Judaism], Documentation Catholique, no. 1827, April 4, 1982, pp. 339-340.
59. See the site of the S.I.D.I.C.: Service International de Documentation Judeo-Chretiens. The home page presents the site as follows: "What is the S.I.D.I.C.? It is a Catholic organism animated by the Sisters of Sion. Its objective? To bring into the lives of Christians the directives of Vatican II concerning the relations between the Church and the Jewish people. Who is concerned by this? Every Christian who wishes to delve into his faith even to its Jewish roots, to struggle against anti-Semitism, and to know and recognize his Jewish brothers." What has happened to the Catholic spirit of the Ratisbonne brothers, who wanted to lead the Jews to Christ, the Redeemer? Translator's note: The International Service of Jewish-Christian Documentation is available in English at: http://www.sidic.org/english/aboutus.htm, with a link to Reflections on Covenant and Mission.
60. "Reflections on Covenant and Mission, Issued by the Bishops' Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs Committee and the National Council of Synagogues, Says Targeting Jews for Conversion not Acceptable," Washington, Aug. 12, 2002, op. cit.
61. Paul Giniewski, L'Anti-Judaisme chretien, la mutation, p. 391. The following citations are extracts from this book.
62. Rev. Fr. John Dujardin, in a speech delivered on the occasion of a "youth gathering," March 1998, published in the review Sens, no. 12, p. 533.
63. Alan Marchadour, study paper at the Colloquium Proces de Jesus, proces des juifs? Nov. 1996 (Paris: Cerf, 1998), p. 11.
64. Charles Perrot: "La situation religieuse d'Israel selon Paul," in Proces de Jesus, proces des juifs?, pp. 134-136.
65. Translator's note: See Roger Cardinal Etchegaray's article "Why the Christian Faith Needs Judaism" in the Vatican magazine Jubilee or Jubilaeum AD 2000, no. 5, Nov., 1997, part of the colloquium's "Dossier: The Roots of Anti-Judaism in the Christian Environment," available on-line at: http://www.vatican.va/ jubilee_2000/index.htm.
68. Account of the day found on the site of the Sisters of Our Lady of Sion. A second day of encounters between Jews and Catholics took place in Paris, March 11-12, 2003.
69. Documentation Catholique, no. 1985, pp. 733-738. Translator's note: L'Osservatore Romano, July 1, 1985. The entire text of the declaration can be found at: www.us-israel.org/jsource/anti-semitisrn/Commission_For_ Religious_Relations_With_the Jews.html, or the website of the Center for Catholic-Jewish Studies.
70. Allocution of John Paul II at the synagogue of Rome, in Juifs et Chretiens (Paris: Cerf, 1986), pp. 54-55. See Documentation Catholique, no. 1986, pp. 433-439. The serious problem that this text poses is the esteem it expresses for the unbelieving Jews, who have not recognized Jesus Christ as the Messias, nor the Catholic Church as the sole ark of salvation.
Translator's note: See L'Osservatore Romano, April 13, 1986, or find a link to the entire text, as well as other Church documents on Jewish-Christian relations since Vatican II, at: www.ccju.org/ccju_official_docs.htm, the website of the International Council of Christians and Jews.
71. Dabru Emet–A Jewish Statement on Christians and Christianity, from the National Jewish Scholars Project, Sept. 2000. See the site www.chretiens-et-juifs.org. [For the English text, see the site mentioned in note 14, www.jcrelations.net.] Andre Paul, Biblical scholar and theologian, seems to reproach Cardinal Lustiger for his "Zionism" (La Promesse): "To the disjointed stream of exegesis, dripping with pathos, in which the cliches are spread around freely like some Judeo-Christian secret code, succeed the perfectly legitimate calls to a 'mutual understanding' (p. 189) between Jews and Christians–but it is only in order to affirm, this time in no uncertain terms, that the political sionism put in place in 1948 is something 'necessary' (p. 182); better yet, it is a gift of God." L'Express, no. 2683, Dec. 5-11, 2002, p. 96. For the Jews, their presence in the Holy Land is evidently a theological issue. Furthermore, the project for the restoration of the Temple is well underway.
73. La Mission d'Israel, un people de pretres. If the Jewish people are a people of "priests," what becomes of the Catholic priest, that other Christ, in the new theology? Shouldn't he disappear? Or should he change in nature? We know that Satan has always detested the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and that he seeks by every means to eradicate the priest and the sacrifice of the New Covenant. The year 1988 was therefore a defeat for Satan: Archbishop Lefebvre saved the episcopacy and the priesthood by the consecration of true Catholic bishops, who alone can "create" true Catholic priests. The redemptive sacrifice can be perpetuated, and can continue to save souls.
74. See what Andre Chouraqui asked for eight years earlier (1992) in a chapter entitled: "Pour un grand pardon universel [For a Great Universal Pardon]": "Certain Christians would like the Catholic Church to organize a solemn ceremony of expiation to ask forgiveness for the crimes, the injuries, and the damages inflicted directly or indirectly on the Jews by Christians," op. cit.,p. 214. See also: Brother Johann, Juifs et Chretiens, d'hier à demain [Jews and Christians: From Yesterday to Tomorrow] (Paris: Cerf, 1990), p. 56: "The total damage caused by the attitude of Christians toward the Jews throughout History is unfortunately quite overwhelming. There is a serious and urgent need for the Catholic Church to express publicly and officially its profound sorrow before all the evil for which Christian teaching has been the principal cause." Chouraqui reveals: "Such a request for forgiveness had been suggested as early as 1945 by various influential voices, notably that of Jacques Maritain, Paul Claudel, and more recently Cardinal Etchegaray," op. cit., p. 214.
75. See the study by Michel Feretti, L'Eglise est ses Inquisitions [The Church and Her Inquisitions] (Editions Saint Remi, 2001), 77 pp. "The myths and black legends about the Inquisition are no longer taken seriously by historians. From Bennassar to Testas, the University has produced a number of serious studies on the subject. But this historical truth is far from being known or admitted by the media universe and the mainstream systems of communication (including school manuals). Hence the utility of Michel Feretti's work, which offers a clear, well documented synthesis. Michel Feretti sheds new light on ill-accepted truths and eliminates certain 'myths' once and for all." Yves Chiron, Present, Dec. 29, 2001.
76. The photo is pictured on the front page of a number of works, including Cardinal Lustiger's book. Authors and editors were quick to grasp all the symbolism of the gesture.
77. For those who would like to investigate more deeply: Abraham Livni, Le Retour d'Israel et l'Esperance du Monde [The Return of Israel and the Hope of the World] (Editions du Rocher, Hatsour collection, 1984); Paul Giniewski, Les Complices de Dieu, definition et mission d'lsrael[God's Accomplices: The Definition and the Mission of Israel] (Neuchatel: Editions de la Baconniere, 1963), 22pp.
78. "The world only functions well when it is Noaic." Gerard Haddad, during the programJudaica, Sept. 21, 1996.
79. Page 4 of a study published on the Internet entitled Le Noachisme et les sectes occultes[Noachism and Occult Sects], Biblio-Koranic studies on the site www.le-carrefour-de-lislame.com. The author is not given. See also: The acts of the International Colloquium held in the year 2000, September 10-11, at Livorno, for the centenary of the death of Elijah Benamozegh, under the patronage of the President of the Italian Republic. The colloquium was presented by Alessandro Guetta.
80. See Elijah Benamozegh, Israel et l'Humanité: Etude sur le probleme de la religion universelle et sa solution (Paris: Albin Michel, 1961). Unfortunately, the edition has been expurgated. A recently created site on Benamozegh and his work, http://www.benamozegh.info/ Benamozegh.html gives free access to the original text of Israel et l'Humanité, re-edited in 1914 (714pp.). The preface by Hyacinthe Loyson is most enlightening.
Translator's note: Israel and Humanity is available in English in more than one edition: (New York: Mahwa, 1995), translated from the French 1961-1977 abridged edition, translated and with an introduction by Mazwell Luria, and including an appendix on "Kabbalah in Elijah Benamozegh's Thought." The above site is in English and in French, but the facsimile of the French 1914 edition is only available in French; all other language versions only contain about two-fifths of the original. See also www.hebraisme.com.
81. Gerard Haddad, "Aimé Pallière et la 'vraie religion'" [Aimé Pallière and the True Religion'] in the review Histoire, no. 3, Nov. 1979.
82. For many Jewish authors, St. Paul is the great traitor who rejected the Judaizers to "invent" Christianity, scornfully called "Paulinism." See Shmuel Trigano, L'E(XC)LU, entre juifs et chretiens [Christians and Jews: Elect or Excluded?] (Paris: Denoel, 2003), ch. 4, §2: "Le paulinisme, obstacle au dialogue judeo-chretien" [Paulinism: An Obstacle to Judeo-Christian Dialogue]" (p. 157).
83. Noachism does not seem to be reserved to "the Christian sphere." The Moslems examine with interest this mutation of the Catholic religion. We can read a study of it (27pp.) that they edited for the internet, entitled Le Noachisme et les sectes occultes, see note 78.
84. "Notwithstanding, there is no steering away from the direction we are now following [in Judeo-Christian dialogue]. This is part of the movement through which humankind is being united, even at the cost of confrontations." Lustiger, "Jews and Christians, Tomorrow," Nouvelle Revue Theologique, op. cit., p. 542.
86. Hans Kung could also be named. See his extremely important book, Judaisme (Paris: Seuil, 1995), 952pp. [In English, Judaism: Between Yesterday and Tomorrow (New York: Continuum Publishing, 1995); Teilhard de Chardin as well. See also the work of Fr. Julio Meinvielle, De la Cabale au progressisme [From Cabalism to Progressivism] (French translation from 1998). (Note of the author.)
From: http://www.angelusonline.org/index.php?section=articles&subsection=show_article&article_id=2269
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