As he steps down as moderator of Jewish affairs for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Cardinal William Keeler has some advice for his successor: Keep your ears open.

“I saw this most recently on a conference call that we had with Jewish and Catholic leaders on the document “Covenant and Mission,” he tells The Baltimore Jewish Times. The statement by the bishops’ Committee for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs initially characterized interfaith exchange with Jews as an opportunity to proselytize the Jews.

“We agreed that we would change the two sentences from that which were a concern” Keeler tells the Jewish Times. “Put that into historical context and I just have to say that the relationships are superb and that we are making progress all the time.”

Keeler says he told Pope Benedict XVI that Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York was “the ideal person” to succeed him. He also discusses his appreciation of his faith’s Jewish roots:

I say the Psalms every day and I’m very conscious of their Hebrew authorship. I also think of the Church’s document on the Hebrew Scriptures that was prepared by the present pope and the introduction that he wrote for it is important and something that we live by.

I read every day from this book, “The Liturgy of the Hours,” as all priests are supposed to do. We read Psalms. Not all of them. There are a few that are so angry that they are omitted from the office, which is what we call the book — “The Divine Office of The Office Of Prayer.” It’s a marvelous source. Right now we’re reading from the Second Book of Maccabees.

Read the story at jewishtimes.com.

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Virtually every American Muslim or Arab that I asked on Friday about the shootings at Fort Hood said his or her first concern was for the victims and the survivors. Some said they were also concerned that the incident would feed negative perceptions of their community.

"I feel nervous when I see a Muslim name or an Arab name," Imam Awni Qudah, the spiritual leader of the Islamic Society of Annapolis said after Friday at the Makkah Learning Center in Gambrills. Qudah said he meets and speaks regularly with his Jewish and Christian counterparts

"What worries me is our neighbors, our reputation," he said. "Whenever something happens, everybody looks at us, and we do not want that barrier."

But others expressed confidence that Americans are unlikely to blame the alleged actions of shooting suspect Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan on his Palestinian roots or his Muslim faith.

"Maybe a few years ago, backlash would have been higher on my list, but the U.S. has really kind of matured on this point," Baltimore attorney and author Alia Malek said. "If there were ever a reason to brace ourselves for a really tremendous backlash, it was after 9/11. And, you know, it wasn't our greatest moment as Americans, but we've come through that with some more curiosity, more openness and more willingness to look at the different communities that make up the United States."

Continue reading "Muslims, Arabs express condolences, confidence" »

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We're trying something new this morning. We were invited to sit down this week with the Right Rev. Eugene Taylor Sutton, the 14th bishop of the 228-year-old Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, to hear his thoughts on plans announced by the Vatican last week to make it easier for Anglicans (called Epsicopalians in the United States) to join the Roman Catholic Church.

The surprise announcement comes amid a growing divide between conservatives and liberals in the worldwide Anglican Communion over the ordination of women, acceptance of gay clergy and the celebration of same-sex relationships.

As attention has focused on disaffected Anglican conservatives "crossing the Tiber" -- slang for joining the Roman Catholic Church -- Sutton, who is firmly on the side favoring greater acceptance of women and homosexuals, wanted to make clear that Roman Catholics also are joining the Episcopal Church.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore has declined to comment on the Vatican announcement until hearing more details.

The interview with Sutton yielded a story in Friday's paper. But because we found the entire discussion interesting, we're posting the complete transcript here, after the jump.

Continue reading "Episcopal bishop: Church switching goes both ways" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 10:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

We noted yesterday that the Council on American-Islamic Relations was condemning a shooting at an Orthodox Jewish synagogue in Los Angeles. Now the most vocal of the Muslim advocacy groups is demanding that HBO apologize for an episode of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” in which the main character inadvertently splatters urine on a painting of Jesus.

That puts CAIR in the unusual position of seconding Bill Donohue’s Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, which condemned the episode earlier in the week. Muslims believe Jesus was a prophet, but do not believe, as Christians do, that he was the incarnation of God.

“It is beyond tasteless to insult the religious sensibilities of billions of people in America and around the world with such a cheap and vulgar publicity stunt,” CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad wrote in a letter to HBO CEO Bill Nelson. “Jesus, peace be upon him, is loved and revered by both Christians and Muslims. Muslims view him as one of God's greatest messengers to mankind.

“The Quran, Islam’s revealed text, states: ‘Behold! The angels said: ‘O Mary! God gives you glad tidings of a Word from Him. His name will be Jesus Christ, the son of Mary, held in honor in this world and the Hereafter and in (the company of) those nearest to God.’’ (The Holy Quran, 3:45)

“The Prophet Muhammad said: ‘Both in this world and in the hereafter, I am the nearest of all people to Jesus, the son of Mary. The prophets are paternal brothers; their mothers are different, but their religion is one.’

Continue reading "CAIR now siding with Catholic League" »

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The Los Angeles office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an outfit best known for calling attention to attacks on Muslims in the United States, has condemned the shooting of two worshippers Thursday morning at a North Hollywood synagogue.

“We condemn this attack near the Adat Yeshurun Valley Sephardic Orthodox synagogue in the strongest possible terms and offer our prayers for the victims and their families,” CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush said in a statement.

“No worshiper -- whether Jewish, Muslim, Christian, Buddhist, Sikh, or other -- should be made to feel unsafe or intimidated at a house of worship. We also appreciate the LAPD’s investigation and enhanced security in response to the attack.”

The two victims, each of whom was shot in the leg, were in good condition at local hospitals, according to Baltimore Sun sister The Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Police are investigating the shooting as a hate crime.

The Times describes Adat Yeshurun as “the heart of the San Fernando Valley's Orthodox Jewish community,” within walking distance of kosher markets and other synagogues. Los Angeles police have alerted area synagogues about the shooting and stepped up patrols outside Jewish institutions, The Times reports.

Read more on the shooting at latimes.com.

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More interesting, perhaps, then the fact that Houda Ezra Ebrahim Nonoo is the first Jewish ambassador from the Persian Gulf state of Bahrain is that the 45-year-old diplomat rose to her post despite being one of only three dozen Jews in the Arab nation.

The Baltimore Jewish Times has a story about Nonoo’s visit this month with a group of Baltimoreans visiting Washington as part of the Jewish Muslim Dialogue coordinated by the Baltimore Jewish Council.

“We have a visible Jewish community in that we have 36 people and we are all related,” said the British-educated Nonoo, the Bahraini ambassador to the United States.

She says her family’s history in Bahrain goes back more than a century, when her grandfather arrived from Iraqi to start a financial business. She described a climate of relative harmony among Jews and Muslims.

“During the festivals, we go to each others houses and our non-Jewish friends come to wish l’shanah tova,” she said. “We wish them well and visit their houses on the Muslim Eid Festival, too.”

Bahrain does not recognize the State of Israel. Nonoo says her country’s role in resolving the conflict is limited.

“We are inviting Israeli journalists to Bahrain, but being a small country we can’t take that first step of making peace,” she said. “It’s going to take a long time.”

Read the rest of the story at jewishtimes.com.

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Over at Read Street, the Baltimore Sun books blog, they're giving away a copy of The Book of Genesis Illustrated by R. Crumb.

The jacket copy describes the anatomically comprehensive work by the underground comic artist as "THE FIRST BOOK OF THE BIBLE GRAPHICALLY DEPICTED! NOTHING LEFT OUT!" And there's a warning on the cover: "ADULT SUPERVISION RECOMMENDED FOR MINORS."

Sun colleague Nancy Johnston says: "It's gorgeous, graphic and much more seriously handled than you might expect from the irreverent Crumb." Details on how to win are at Read Street.

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Categories: Christianity, Culture, Interfaith, Islam, Judaism, People
        

The New York Times has convened an august panel of Vatican watchers to comment on the moves this week to make it easier for Episcopalians to cross the Tiber.

“ 'Cafeteria Catholic' is about the worst epithet that conservative Catholics can hurl at liberals, with its implications of a pick-and-choose faith rather than a consistent fidelity to every jot and tittle of the catechism," writes David Gibson, author of "The Rule of Benedict." "But after the news that the Vatican is effectively carving out a special church-within-a-church to shelter traditionalist Anglicans upset at gay priests and women bishops in their own church, one has to wonder if the cafeteria line isn’t forming to the right.

"While both Pope John Paul II and his successor Benedict XVI have been known as staunch conservatives, they have in fact shown a remarkably liberal willingness to bend the rules when it comes to certain groups."

"The news that the Vatican will create special structures for disaffected Anglicans will likely be criticized in some quarters as 'anti-ecumenical,' meaning a blow to good relations between the Anglican Communion and the Catholic Church," writes John L. Allen Jr., author of "The Rise of Benedict XVI." "That’s because Anglicans already seem on the brink of schism over issues like women priests (and bishops), gay marriage and the ordination of gay clergy, and now the conservative opposition has a Vatican-sanctioned exit strategy.

"Such criticism, however, tends to presume that the Vatican’s choice was between accepting these Anglicans and keeping them at arm’s length. In truth, the latter was never a serious option, because Catholicism is in the business of encouraging converts, not spurning them."

Read more at nytimes.com.

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Muslim leaders in the Philippines are condemning the kidnapping of a Catholic priest, saying the act is contrary to the religious values of both Islam and Christianity, zenit.org is reporting.

The Rev. Michael Sinnott, a 79-year-old Columban father who moved from Ireland to the Philippines four decades ago, was abducted Oct. 11 from his home in Pagadian City, zenit.org reports. Sinnott has been frail and in need of medication since an open heart surgery he underwent in July.

The National Ulema Conference of the Philippines, a body of Muslim leaders, issued an appeal for the release of the priest, according to AsiaNews, stating that the act "contrary to the principles of Islam, Christianity and other religions.”

The Filipino government, meanwhile, has appealed to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, a Muslim rebel group, for help in finding the kidnapped priest, zenit.org reports. Although there has been violent conflict between the two forces that resulted in hundreds of deaths only months ago, they agreed last week to work together to rescue Sinnott.

The Inquirer Mindanao has reported that the Moro Islamic forces are closing in on the location and identities of the kidnappers, zenit.org reports. The Muslim forces plan to surround the captors and cut off escape while allowing the government authorities to take the lead on the final confrontation.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 9:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Rabbi Yaakov Menken is the Director of Project Genesis, a Jewish cyber-outreach organization based in Baltimore.

I am honored that Professor David Neipert, one of the faculty members who initiated the EEOC complaint against Belmont Abbey College, saw fit to respond to my earlier article on this topic. Given his personal involvement in this case, it is obvious that he begins with a far greater knowledge of its particulars, and I appreciate his sharing his perspective of the facts.

Here are the key points that he has made, to the best of my understanding:

1. The status of Belmont Abbey College as a religious institution is questionable. This is buttressed by the fact that the college "advertised itself as an equal opportunity employer and freely accepted funding that was not available to religious institutions." Additionally, the majority of its faculty, staff, students, and alumni are not Catholic.

2. The college offered coverage for these services for 26 years, "indicating that this was a change of a deliberate policy." It was then done immediately, unilaterally, and without discussion, and the college refused to negotiate.

3. It is not the eight faculty members, but the school, that is attacking religious freedom. "Forcing us to abide by a Catholic approved health plan makes no more sense than prohibiting a Catholic plumber from eating a Pork sandwich for lunch if he works at a Jewish hospital." Professor Neipert was assured that he would "not be expected to adopt Catholic practices and that not being Catholic would not affect my career in any way."

Let us address each of these in turn.

Continue reading "Guest post: Belmont Abbey, continued" »

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Pope Benedict XVI has created a new church structure for Anglicans who want to join the Catholic Church, responding to the disillusionment of some Anglicans over the ordination of women and the election of openly gay bishops, the Associated Press is reporting.

The new provision will allow Anglicans to join the Catholic Church while maintaining their Anglican identity and many of their liturgical traditions, Cardinal William Levada, the Vatican's chief doctrinal official, told a news conference in Vatican City.

The move comes weeks after 10 of 12 Episcopalian nuns and their chaplain at a Catonsville convent left their church en masse to become Roman Catholic, citing the stability of church teaching and the unananimity of its leaders on social issues as factors.

From the Associated Press:

The new church structure, called Personal Ordinariates, will be units of faithful within the local Catholic Church headed by former Anglican prelates who will provide spiritual care for Anglicans who wish to become Catholic.

"Those Anglicans who have approached the Holy See have made clear their desire for full, visible unity in the one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church," Levada said. "At the same time, they have told us of the importance of their Anglican traditions of spirituality and worship for their faith journey."

Levada said the new canonical structure is a response to the many requests that have come to the Vatican over the years from Anglicans who have become increasingly disillusioned with the ordination of women, the election of openly gay bishops and the blessing of same-sex unions in the 77-million strong Anglican Communion. He declined to give figures on the number of requests that have come to the Vatican, or on the anticipated number of Anglicans who might take advantage of the new structure.

Continue reading "Catholic church makes it easier for Anglicans to join" »

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Rabbi Mark G. Loeb, who was spiritual leader of Beth El Congregation in Pikesville for 28 years until his retirement last year, died suddenly Wednesday evening in Milan, Italy, where he was serving a congregation as an interim rabbi. Further details were not available. He was 65.

Known both within and beyond the local Jewish community for a powerful and wide-ranging intellect, Loeb was deeply engaged in public affairs, from activism for civil rights in the 1960s to service on the gubernatorial commission last year that recommended the abolition of the death penalty. He was national president of MAZON: A Jewish Response to Hunger, chaired the board of Baltimore Hebrew University and promoted interfaith dialogue as a co-founder of the Institute for Christian & Jewish Studies.

"Rabbi Loeb's life and good works were an inspiration both to his own congregation, and to our entire state," Gov. Martin O'Malley said Thursday. "He spent his time on this earth living the timeless Talmudic notion that 'the highest form of wisdom is kindness,' always standing up for our most vulnerable citizens, always fighting for social justice, always pursuing Tikkun Olam, repair of the world."

Read the rest of the story at baltimoresun.com.

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Israel's foreign minister declared Thursday that there is no chance of reaching a final accord with the Palestinians any time soon, and suggested instead that the two sides come up with a long-term interim arrangement that would ensure prosperity, security and stability, the Associated Press is reporting.

Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman recommended leaving the toughest issues — such as the status of disputed Jerusalem and a solution for Palestinian refugees who lost homes amid war — "to a much later stage." He did not elaborate or give a timeline.

"Anyone who says that within the next few years an agreement can be reached ending the conflict ... simply doesn't understand the situation and spreads delusions, ultimately leading to disappointments and an all-out confrontation here," Lieberman told Israel Radio.

Other conflicts have been defused with the sides making a "dramatic decision" to renounce violence and enter into a period of calm that would allow an accord, Lieberman said.

"People have learned to live with it," he said.

Read the Associated Press report here.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 10:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

I've been away the last couple of days, and will be back to posting full-time on Thursday. In the meantime, we did have a couple of stories in the newspaper on Sunday that you might have missed.

In the first, a Muslim scholar told a Baltimore conference on Saturday that the use of Islam to justify killing is "an innovation" in the religion, and added: "Most innovations lead to hellfire."

"The Satan always has people that he will be able to deceive," Dr. Waleed Basyouni told hundreds at Ilm Fest 2009, an Islamic education conference making its first appearance in Baltimore. "The good news," he said during a presentation he called "Reclaiming Islam from the Jihadists," is that "the nature of the Muslim community is to fight terrorism. The nature of the Muslim community is to reject extremism."

Read the rest of the story at baltimoresun.com.

In the second, we reviewed preparations for H1N1 among different faith congregations. We were interested in the comments of the Rev. John Kingsbury, pastor of St. Mary's in Annapolis. He had taken precautions against the spread of the virus during Mass, but worried that the spiritual impact of the pandemic "has yet to be faced,"

"There will be less, probably, Communions to hospitals," he said. "I'm guessing the hospitals will begin to become stricter with people visiting if things become more serious.

"People dealing with mass suffering -- by which I mean, a lot of people sick -- are going to want spiritual comfort at the very time that it's going to be the most difficult to give it."

Read the rest of the story at baltimoresun.com.

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The United Nations' refugee agency is planning to include the Holocaust in a new human-rights curriculum for pupils in its Gaza secondary schools despite strident opposition to the idea from within Hamas, The Independent reports.

The director of operations in Gaza for The U.N. Relief and Works Agency told the British newspaper that he was "confident and determined" that the Holocaust would feature for the first time in a wide-ranging curriculum now being drafted.

"No human-rights curriculum is complete without the inclusion of the facts of the Holocaust, and its lessons," said John Ging, described as a "passionate advocate" for Palestinian civilians. More from the story:

The draft, to be completed within weeks and then put out for consultation with parents and the public, is built on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was agreed by the UN General Assembly in 1948 in the shadow of what it called the "barbarous acts" committed by the Nazis during the Second World War.

The one-time Irish Army officer has long been an outspoken critic of Israeli policy towards Gaza, including the conduct of last winter's lethal military offensive and what he described more than once in his interview as the "illegal siege".

Mr Ging said the curriculum would explain the genesis, and "inculcate the values" of the Universal Declaration which stipulates that "everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person". He pointed out that the UN General Assembly in 2005 unanimously urged "all countries to teach the lessons of the Holocaust to children so that we learn from history, so that we don't repeat history".

The Independent quotes religious leader Yunis al Astal, a Hamas member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, as saying that including the Holocaust in the curriculum would be "marketing a lie" and a "war crime."

Read the rest of the story at independent.co.uk.

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Adherents of the world's major religions are urging political leaders, businessmen and individuals to renounce short-term gains and greed, telling a U.N. climate conference in Bangkok that reversing global warming is a moral duty, the Associated Press reports.

"Stewardship and reverence for creation are central tenants of all faiths on Earth," said the Interfaith Declaration on Climate Change, endorsed by prominent adherents of Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Hinduism and Sikhism and handed to U.N.Climate Chief Yvo de Boer on Wednesday.

The declaration came as the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization warned that global waming could cut food production in poor countries by 21 per cent by 2050, and the Asian Development Bank said it could lead to a surge of migration into the region's already crowded cities.

"The food and energy security of every Asian is threatened by climate change, but it's the poor - and especially poor women - who are most vulnerable and most likely to migrate as a consequence," Asian Developlment Bank Vice Pesident Ursula Schaefer Preuss said in a statement.

Negotiators from around the world at the two-week conference are working on a treaty to replace the Kyoto Protocol that expires in 2012. They are working on an agreement for a major climate forum in Copenhagen in December.

Religious leaders chastised governments for placing national advantage ahead of preserving the human species and negotiators for lacking a sense of urgency.

Continue reading "Faith leaders urge U.N. action on climate change" »

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The Vatican has lashed out at criticism over its handling of its pedophilia crisis, saying the Catholic Church was ''busy cleaning its own house'' and that the problems with clerical sex abuse in other churches were as big, if not bigger, The Guardian is reporting.

The British newspaper describes a "defiant and provocative statement" issued after a meeting of the U.N. human rights council in Geneva in which the Holy See says most of the Catholic clergy who committed such acts were not pedophiles but homosexuals attracted to sex with adolescent males:

The statement, read out by Archbishop Silvano Tomasi, the Vatican's permanent observer to the United Nations, defended its record by claiming that ''available research'' showed that only 1.5 per cent to 5 per cent of Catholic clergy were involved in child sex abuse.

He also quoted statistics from the Christian Science Monitor newspaper to show that most US churches being hit by child sex abuse allegations were Protestant and that sexual abuse within Jewish communities was common.

Speaking after a representative of the International Humanist and Ethical Union accused the church of covering up child abuse and violating several articles of the Convention of the Rigts of the Child, The Guardian reports, Tomasi said sexual abuse was far more likely to be committed by family members, babysitters, friends, relatives or neighbors.

The newspaper says representatives of other religions were "dismayed by the Holy See's attempts to distance itself from controversy by pointing the finger at other faiths."

Read the story at theage.com.au.

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Robert Barnes has a story on the cover of Tuesday's Washington Post about a World War I memorial cross on federal land in California's Mojave National Preserve that will give the Superme Court under Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. its first major opportunity to interpret the constitutional separation of church and state.

The piece begins:

It would be easy to miss among the yucca and Joshua trees of this vast place -- a small plywood box, set back from a gentle curve in a lonesome desert road. It looks like nothing so much as a miniature billboard without a message.

But inside the box is a 6 1/2 -foot white cross, built to honor the war dead of World War I. And because its perch on a prominent outcropping of rock is on federal land, it has been judged to be an unconstitutional display of government favoritism of one religion over another.

Barnes goes on to describe what's at stake:

If the court reaches the constitutional issues at hand, all sides agree it could provide clarity to the court's blurry rules on church-and-state separations. It could also carry important implications for the fate of war memorials around the country that feature religious imagery -- the Argonne Cross in Arlington National Cemetery, for instance, or the Memorial Peace Cross in Bladensburg.

Defenders of the cross include veterans groups and the federal government. In an effort to protect it, Congress has designated the site as the country's only official memorial to the nation's World War I dead, which, as Barnes points out, elevates it to an exclusive group of national treasures that inlcudes the Washington Monument and Mount Rushmore.

Critics include Jewish and Muslim veterans and the American Civil Liberties Union, which says the congressional action "necessarily will reflect continued government association with the preeminent symbol of Christianity."

Read the story at washingtonpost.com.

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Some 3,000 Muslims attended a Juma prayer service on the grounds of the Capitol last week, The Washington Times reports, a gathering that participants called historic.

"Islam is part of America," Amina Haqq said. "It is not a Judeo-Christian society; it is a Judeo-Christian-Muslim society."

Rally organizer Abdul Malik praised American freedom.

"What we've done today, you couldn't do in any Muslim country," the Brooklyn imam said. "If you prayed on the palace lawn there, they'd lock you up."

The Washington Times story refers to "the taunts of Christian evangelists on the surrounding sidewalks" but provides no details; the comments section, though, has plenty.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 8:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (25)
        

The Institute for Christian & Jewish Studies has announced what look to be several strong programs in October, including a local appearance by the renowned scholar of early Christianity Dr. Paula Fredrikson.

Fredrikson, the author most recently of “Augustine and the Jews: A Christian Defense of Jews and Judaism,” will deliver the 2009 Bernard Manekin Lecture at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 15 at Chizuk Amuno Congregation, 8100 Stevenson Road, Baltimore. Her topic: “God Was Not Odd To Choose the Jews: Augustine on the Jewishness of Jesus.” The event is free and open to the public; those interested in attending are asked to call 410-494-7161 to reserve seats.

Beth El Congregation Senior Rabbi Steven Schwartz and Dr. Christopher Leighton, executive director of the Institute of Christian & Jewish Studies, will present “Finding God as Jews and Christians” at 8 p.m. Oct. 8 at Beth El Congregation, 8101 Park Heights Ave., Baltimore. Again, free and open to the public; RSVP to 410-484-0411.

A succession of Jewish, Christian and Muslim clergy will present “Children of Abraham in the 21st Century” at 7 p.m. Wednesdays in October at St. James Episcopal Church, 1020 W. Lafayette Ave., Baltimore. According to the Institute’s Web site, Schwartz, Dr. Rosann M. Catalano and Imam Sulayman Nyang will discuss “what makes us more similar than different.”

Dinner, at a cost of $5, is served at 6 p.m.; lectures begin at 7 p.m. RSVP with the St. James Episcopal Church office at 410-523-4588.

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The Dalai Lama says his visit to the site where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated was sad but also inspirational, the Associated Press is reporting.

In Memphis on Wednesday to receive the International Freedom Award from the National Civil Rights Museum, the Tibet spiritual leader toured the site with the Rev. Samuel Kyles, who was with King when he was gunned down, and Museum Board Chairman Benjamin L. Hooks.

The Dalai Lama draped a white shawl over a wreath that hangs over the balcony that marks the spot where King was standing when he was shot in 1968.

 Associated Press photos

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A Swedish television program airing Wednesday claims that top Vatican officials knew that Bishop Richard Williamson was a Holocaust denier when they lifted his excommunication in January, the Associated Press is reporting.

The report comes on the eve of reconciliation talks between the Vatican and the traditionalist Society of St. Pius X, whose leaders were excommunicated in 1988 after they consecrated Williamson and three other priests as bishops in defiance of Pope John Paul II.

Pope Benedict XVI has made a priority of reconciling with the society, whose members seek a return to the church as it was before the Second Vatican Council. But the effort provoked a furor in January when Sweden’s SVT aired an interview taped in November 2008 in which Williamson denied key elements of the Holocaust. The British bishop disputed the commonly cited figure of 6 million Jews killed by the Nazis during World War II, saying the actual number was no more than 300,000, and said none were gassed.

Vatican officials have said they were unaware of Williamson’s beliefs when his excommunication was rescinded in January. But SVT says Catholic officials in Sweden knew of his remarks in the interview in November and made a full report to the apostolic nuncio in Stockholm, the representative of the Vatican in Sweden, who passed the information on to Rome.

“Naturally we passed all the information that we had on to the nuncio,” Bishop Anders Arborelius of Stockholm told SVT, according to the AP. “After that I don’t really know how it moved along.”

In a statement Wednesday, the AP reports, the diocese reiterated that it had sent a report about the interview to the Vatican last November. The SVT program says the nuncio, Archbishop Emil Paul Tscherrig, confirmed off-camera that he had contacted several people in the Vatican, including Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, who was then leading the effort to reconcile with the Society of St. Pius X.

The report contradicts the statement of Castrillon Hoyos, who told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera in January that no one at the Vatican knew of Williamson’s beliefs until after his excommunication had been lifted.

Continue reading "Report: Vatican knew of Holocaust denier" »

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Categories: Catholicism, Interfaith, International, Judaism, People, Politics
        

Pope Benedict XVI has announced a special meeting of bishops next year to discuss Middle East peace efforts and the role of the Catholic Church in the region, the Associated Press is reporting.

We are reminded of the difficulties this pontiff has had with both Muslims (his decision in a 2006 address to quote a 14th century Byzantine emperor critical of Islam inspired riots) and Jews (who are wary of his interest in reinstating elements of the pre-Vatican II church), and wonder how receptive the region is likely to be to the Vatican’s counsel.

From the Associated Press:

Addressing bishops and patriarchs from Eastern rite churches, Benedict said Saturday that the meeting will take place Oct. 10-24, 2010, and will be titled "The Catholic Church in the Middle East: communion and testimony."

The meeting of bishops, called a synod, will gather church leaders from the Middle East and around the world.

The pope and the Vatican have long been active on the Middle East diplomatic front, seeking to protect Christians in the Holy Land and elsewhere in the region while supporting efforts to solve the Israel-Palestinian dispute.

Read the Associated Press story here.

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The Society of Saint Pius X must respect Judaism, other Christian denominations and other religions before it may be fully reintegrated into the Catholic Church, Reuters is reporting.

On the eve of reconciliation talks with the traditionalist society whose bishops were excommunicated by Pope John Paul II in 1988, Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn of Vienna said these Vatican II reforms were “not negotiable.”

"It's not the case that Rome will let the Lefebvrists off easy for everything," Schoenborn told the German daily Passauer Neue Presse, calling the traditionalists after their founder Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre, Reuters is reporting.

The Vatican appears to be treading carefully after the condemnation that followed the decision of Pope Benedict XVI to rescind the excommunication of Bishop Richard Williamson, a society member who has denied the Holocaust. Benedict later said the Vatican handled the case badly.

Read the rest of the story at reuters.com.

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A week after Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.) shouted “You lie!” at President Barack Obama during Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress, faith leaders will gather in Washington on Tuesday to pray for an “end to hateful rhetoric that creates a toxic environment for immigrant families.”

Participating in the vigil outside the Capitol will be Bishop John Wester of Salt Lake City, who chairs the Committee on Immigration of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; Bishop Prince Singh of the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester, N.Y.; Bishop Minerva Carcaño of the Desert Southwest Conference of the United Methodist Church and Dale Schwartz of the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.

They are to be joined by Reps. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) and Jared Polis (D-Colo.).

From the release:

On September 15th and 16th, the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) – a designated Hate Group by the Southern Poverty Law Center – will be in Washington for their annual lobby day and “radio row,” where an estimated 47 extremist radio talk show hosts will broadcast live from DC. In response to the divisive rhetoric and extreme anti-immigrant agenda of FAIR, leading faith leaders will gather in prayer to recall the humanity and dignity of immigrants, and the need for policies that will uphold our nation’s best values, not its worst instincts.

While we’re on the subject: With his outburst, Wilson was challenging Obama’s assertion that “the reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally.” Was Wilson correct? According to the nonpartisan fact-checking operation Politifact, no.

Continue reading "After 'You lie!' Prayers to end 'hateful rhetoric'" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 11:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (33)
        

So concludes Newsweek’s Lisa Miller, after reviewing recent polling data. She’s not referring to immigration or conversion, but ways about thinking of religion:

The Rig Veda, the most ancient Hindu scripture, says this: "Truth is One, but the sages speak of it by many names." A Hindu believes there are many paths to God. Jesus is one way, the Qur'an is another, yoga practice is a third. None is better than any other; all are equal. The most traditional, conservative Christians have not been taught to think like this. They learn in Sunday school that their religion is true, and others are false. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the father except through me."

Americans are no longer buying it. According to a 2008 Pew Forum survey, 65 percent of us believe that "many religions can lead to eternal life"—including 37 percent of white evangelicals, the group most likely to believe that salvation is theirs alone. Also, the number of people who seek spiritual truth outside church is growing. Thirty percent of Americans call themselves "spiritual, not religious," according to a 2009 NEWSWEEK Poll, up from 24 percent in 2005. Stephen Prothero, religion professor at Boston University, has long framed the American propensity for "the divine-deli-cafeteria religion" as "very much in the spirit of Hinduism. You're not picking and choosing from different religions, because they're all the same," he says. "It isn't about orthodoxy. It's about whatever works. If going to yoga works, great—and if going to Catholic mass works, great. And if going to Catholic mass plus the yoga plus the Buddhist retreat works, that's great, too."

Read more at newsweek.com.

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Categories: Christianity, Culture, Hinduism, Interfaith
        

Businessman Bernard Manekin, a former chairman of both the Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore and the Jewish Community Center of Baltimore and a co-founder of the Institute for Christian and Jewish Studies, died Saturday. He was 95.

Read the obituary at The Baltimore Jewish Times.

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For attempting to rally employees to boycott a postage stamp that honors a Muslim holiday, the mayor of Clarksville, Tenn., has won: A free Quran.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations said on Friday it would send copies of the Muslim text to Mayor John Piper and members of the Clarksville City Council. According to media reports, Piper forwarded an e-mail to friends, colleagues and employees urging “patriotic Americans” to protest the stamp.

From The Leaf Chronicle:

The e-mail asks readers to remember a series of what it calls “Muslim” terrorist attacks. For example, “Remember the MUSLIM bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993!”

After listing a series of similar comments, the e-mail concludes, “To use this stamp would be a slap in the face to all those AMERICANS who died at the hands of those whom this stamp honors.”

"I don't see any reason why it would be inappropriate," Piper told the newspaper, and added that he thought the e-mail was neither anti-Muslim or anti-Islamic.

Snopes.com has a thorough discussion of the e-mail, which has circulated since shortly after the U.S. Postal Service first issued the stamp in 2001. According to The Leaf-Chronicle, the version forwarded by Piper claims erroneously that the stamp was created at the order of President Barack Obama.

Continue reading "Give this man a Muslim holy book" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 4:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (43)
        

Churches and whole dioceses have left the Episcopal Church since the 2003 consecretation of an openly gay bishop brought a lonstanding divide over homosexuality within the nation's sixth-largest Protestant denomination out into the open.

But on Thursday, 10 Episcopal nuns from a Catonsville convent took what scholars say is the unprecedented step of joining the Catholic Church. At a Mass celebrated by Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien, each vowed to continue their tradition of consecrated life, now as a religious institute within the Archdiocese of Baltimore.

"We know our beliefs and where we are," Mother Christina Christie, superior of All Saints Sisters of the Poor, told sun colleague Mary Gail Hare. "We were drifting farther apart from the more liberal road the Episcopal Church is traveling. We are now more at home in the Roman Catholic Church."

In a statement, Bishop Eugene Taylor Sutton of the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland wished them God's blessings.

"Despite the sadness we feel in having to say farewell, our mutual joy is that we remain as one spiritual family of faith, one body in Christ," he said.

Read the story at baltimoresun.com.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 12:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (53)
        

President Barack Obama continued his Ramadan-timed Muslim outreach with a White House dinner on Tuesday. But this time, he invited some prominent Israeli and Jewish leaders to join their Muslim counterparts at the fast-breaking meal called Iftar.

The guest list included Michael Oren, the Israeli ambassador to the United States, Nathan Diament, director of public affairs of the Orthodox Union, and Rabbi David Saperstein, director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.

They joined diplomats from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and other Muslim countries and the chief of mission of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Also on hand were Reps. Keith Ellison and Andre Carson, the first Muslims to serve in Congress, and other prominent American Muslims.

"I want to welcome all the American Muslims from many walks of life who are here," Obama said. "This is just one part of our effort to celebrate Ramadan, and continues a long tradition of hosting iftars here at the White House.

"For well over a billion Muslims, Ramadan is a time of intense devotion and reflection. It's a time of service and support for those in need. And it is also a time for family and friends to come together in a celebration of their faith, their communities, and the common humanity that all of us share. It is in that spirit that I welcome each and every one of you to the White House.

"Tonight's iftar is a ritual that is also being carried out this Ramadan at kitchen tables and mosques in all 50 states. Islam, as we know, is part of America. And like the broader American citizenry, the American Muslim community is one of extraordinary dynamism and diversity -- with families that stretch back generations and more recent immigrants; with Muslims of countless races and ethnicities, and with roots in every corner of the world.

"Indeed, the contribution of Muslims to the United States are too long to catalog because Muslims are so interwoven into the fabric of our communities and our country. American Muslims are successful in business and entertainment; in the arts and athletics; in science and in medicine. Above all, they are successful parents, good neighbors, and active citizens.

"So on this occasion, we celebrate the Holy Month of Ramadan, and we also celebrate how much Muslims have enriched America and its culture -- in ways both large and small."

Following is the White House transcript of Obama's remarks.

Continue reading "Obama invites Jewish leaders to Ramadan dinner" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 4:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)
        

Major Jewish groups and rabbis from the three largest branches of American Judaism say their relationship with Roman Catholic leaders is at risk because of a recent U.S. bishops' statement on salvation, the Associated Press is reporting.

Jewish groups are interpreting the new document to mean that the bishops see interfaith dialogue as an opportunity to invite Jews to become Catholic, AP religion writer Rachel Zoll writes.

In a letter to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Jewish leaders say they do not object to Christians sharing their faith, but warn dialogue with Jews becomes "untenable" if its goal is to persuade Jews to accept Christ as their savior. The signers were the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee and rabbis representing Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Jews.

"A declaration of this sort is antithetical to the very essence of Jewish-Christian dialogue as we have understood it," they wrote in the letter Thursday.

Their protest is the latest in a series raised by Jewish leaders during the pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI. Jews were angered in 2007 when Benedict endorsed a long marginalized version of the Latin Mass that included a prayer for the conversion of the Jews, and again earlier this year when the Vatican rescinded the excommunication of a Holocaust denier.

Continue reading "Jewish groups: Bishops' statement threatens ties" »

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Bethel A.M.E. Church, the large, predominantly African-American congregation that has been holding Christian worship services in a synagogue since a July 1 lightning strike damaged its historic building, plans to head back home next week.

The church is set to return to the landmark sanctuary at 1300 Druid Hill Ave. in time for Holy Convocation, the annual event with which it welcomes members back at the end of summer, spokeswoman Crystal Lowe said. The four-day event, which includes guest speakers, financial seminars and a lunchtime "Hour of Power" daily, is scheduled for Aug. 24 through 27.

The first communion service is set for Sunday, Aug. 30 -- less than two months after the church sustained fire and water damage in the lightning strike.

Church members held their first Sunday services after the strike at Pier Six Pavilion in the Inner Harbor. The next week, Senior Pastor The Rev. Dr. Frank M. Reid III and Rabbi Steven M. Fink of Temple Oheb Shalom announced that the church would hold future services at the synagogue on Park Heights Avenue.

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 1:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: African-American Church, Interfaith, Judaism
        

Rabbi Yaakov Menken is the Director of Project Genesis, a Jewish cyber-outreach organization based in Baltimore.

“In the Mix” is the name of a monthly column by Julie Wiener, carried by The New York Jewish Week. Ms. Wiener, who is Jewish, describes herself as “married to a lapsed Catholic -- one who has encouraged me to become more involved in Jewish life.” But in her most recent column, she nonetheless grapples with her own discomfort at the thought of a rabbi entering into a relationship exactly like her own. As she puts it, “there’s something that feels, well, not kosher to me about intermarried rabbis.”

I am tempted to joke that I have been gifted with prophecy for the following prediction, but it is no laughing matter. I do predict that the Hebrew Union College, the rabbinical seminary of Reform Judaism, will be ordaining intermarried Rabbis within the next decade -- and my main concern, in terms of accuracy, is that I’m giving them too much time by half -- but that just stems from common sense and seeing the writing on the wall. To my knowledge, there has yet to be a deviance from Jewish law and tradition concerning which "a debate has swirled in progressive Jewish circles" which has not become normative "progressive" Judaism sooner or later, and usually sooner.

In most cases, the relevant conflict is between traditional Jewish values, and what today's Western society deems the morally superior position. Traditionally, men and women sit separately during prayers, men lead the service, men are rabbis, and homosexuality is prohibited.

In each of those cases, modern Western thought asserts that the contrary position is morally superior, and this becomes the position of liberal Judaism. To my understanding, similar conflicts -- and similar resolutions -- are found in the liberal wings of many other faith communities.

Continue reading "Guest post: The last taboo -- intermarried rabbis" »

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Sunday saw the first services by Bethel A.M.E. Church at Temple Oheb Shalom. Baltimore Sun colleague Stephanie Desmon had a nice story in Monday's paper:

On a typical summer Sunday, the doors of Temple Oheb Shalom are locked tight. With observances of the Jewish Sabbath taking place on Friday night and Saturday and religious school out until fall, the Park Heights Avenue building sits empty.

Not yesterday. Hundreds of congregants of a different faith poured into the sanctuary, bringing along their love of God, their upbeat music and their fervent prayer to the otherwise quiet house of worship. A fire July 1 damaged the historic Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Upton and left its flock with no place to come together. But an offer from the synagogue's leaders gave them temporary refuge as their landmark building is repaired.

"The church may have been hit by lightning," the Rev. Frank M. Reid III told church members, "but the work of the church continues in Jesus' name."

Later in his sermon, Reid continued: "We discover how our faith helps us face the fires."

If not for the symbols of Judaism - the Holy Ark storing the Torahs, the Hebrew letters on the wall - it would have been hard to tell the Bethel congregants were anywhere but home.

"It solidifies what I've always believed," said Joshua Lawton, 23, of Towson, a relatively new member of the church. "It doesn't matter what religion you are - it's all about God. Period. End of story. Everything else is just about details."

Read the rest of the story at baltimoresun.com.

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Members of Bethel A.M.E. Church, forced out of their landmark Baltimore building, will take temporary refuge at Temple Oheb Shalom, the spiritual leaders of the two congregations said Wednesday.

A week after lightning struck the steeple of the church on Druid Hill Avenue, the Rev. Frank M. Reid III and Rabbi Steven M. Fink announced that the Christian congregation would hold Sunday services at the Reform Jewish synagogue in Park Heights through Labor Day.

Fink called Reid after learning of the July 1 fire to offer Oheb Shalom’s 900-seat sanctuary to the church. The two congregations have long worked together, holding joint services in honor of Martin Luther King Jr., maintaining a community garden and engaging in the Black and Jewish Forum of Baltimore.

“We thought, in light of the hate crime that took place recently over in Washington at the Holocaust museum, with the ethnic violence going on in China at this time, that this partnership between the Jewish faith community and the Christian faith community, this partnership between the Jewish community and the black community, reestablishes a bridge that has existed between our two communities for hundreds of years,” Reid said.

“Our congregation and Bethel A.M.E. are family,” Fink said. “Our officers and board of directors decided immediately upon learning of this event to offer our facility to Bethel A.M.E.”

Continue reading "Bethel A.M.E. to worship at Oheb Shalom" »

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In an appearanced criticized by some of his fellow conservative Christians, megachurch Pastor Rick Warren told several thousand American Muslims over the weekend that "the two largest faiths on the planet" must work together to combat stereotypes and solve global problems, the Associated Press is reporting.

"Some problems are so big you have to team tackle them," Warren, author of The Purpose-Driven Life, told the annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America. He said Muslims and Christians should be partners in working to end what he calls "the five global giants" of war, poverty, corruption, disease and illiteracy.

The Christian Post quoted Warren, the founder of Saddelback Church in Orange County, Calif., as saying he was "not interested in interfaith dialogue.

Continue reading "Warren to Muslims: Let's work together" »

Posted by Matthew Hay Brown at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)
Categories: Christianity, Evangelicalsm, Interfaith, Islam