Judaism
Christ and Covenants
Wednesday, September 9th, 2009In the July/August 2009 issue, Lay Witness ran an article on the relationship between Christians, Jews, and God, especially as it pertains to the Old Covenant, the New Covenant, and evangelization (“All in the Family: Christians, Jews, and God”). Authors Michael Forrest and David Palm respond to two common errors and show that Christians have [...]
No Longer “Eternally Valid”
Wednesday, August 13th, 2008We have commented in previous posts concerning the controversial sentence in the U.S. Catechism for Adults that says, “Thus the covenant that God made with the Jewish people through Moses remains eternally valid for them.” While susceptible of an orthodox interpretation, the wording was ambiguous, giving the impression that Jews have their own independent means [...]
Salvation for the Jews
Wednesday, April 16th, 2008Pope Benedict’s amazing itinerary this week includes a meeting tomorrow in Washington with 50 Jewish leaders as well as a visit to Park East Synagogue in New York on Friday. Certainly these opportunities for dialogue are important for the Church’s cordial yet delicate relationship with Judaism, especially in light of the recent controversy concerning the [...]
By Sungenis Alone
Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008Last month at this site I published a short piece entitled “Bishop Rhoades, Sungenis, and the Jews.” The idea was to give Bishop Kevin Rhoades, the Bishop of Harrisburg, a forum in which to present clearly the Church’s teaching regarding her relationship with the Jewish people. This was against the backdrop of defamatory statements made by [...]
Another Prayer for the Jews
Friday, March 21st, 2008Much has been written in recent weeks concerning the revised prayer for the conversion of the Jews that Pope Benedict XVI wrote for the Good Friday service. The revised prayer, of course, is for the extraordinary form of the Latin liturgy, but a similarly worded prayer has been in effect in the ordinary, so-called ”Novus Ordo” form [...]
Bishop Rhoades, Sungenis, and the Jews
Saturday, February 23rd, 2008In recent months, Catholic apologist Robert Sungenis has made defamatory statements concerning his bishop, Most Reverend Kevin C. Rhoades of Harrisburg. These statements have arisen in the context of Sungenis’ writings concerning Judaism and the Jewish people, which many, including Bishop Rhoades, have found to be hostile, uncharitable, and un-Christian in their tone and erroneous in their [...]
Prayer for the Jews
Thursday, February 7th, 2008When Pope Benedict XVI issued his motu proprio allowing for a broader use of the “extraordinary form” of the Latin liturgy, one concern that was raised was the prayer for the Jews in the Good Friday service. The concern was twofold. First, the language of the Tridentine liturgy referred to the blindness and faithlessness of [...]