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Northern California’s Weekly Catholic Newspaper
Pope pleads for interreligious effort for Middle East peace By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service ROME — As Rome’s Jewish community celebrated the 100th anniversary of its monumental synagogue, Pope John Paul II pleaded for new interreligious efforts to bring peace to the Middle East. “The God of justice and peace, of mercy and reconciliation calls us to collaborate without hesitation in our modern world, which is lacerated
by confrontations and hostility,” the pope wrote in a message to the community. Cardinal Camillo Ruini, papal vicar for Rome, read the pope’s message at the May 23 anniversary celebration, which the city’s Jewish community marked by honoring those who survived past injustices and by renewing its commitment to dialogue with Christians and Muslims. The synagogue, built between 1901 and 1904, MIDEAST PEACE, page 16
A Palestinian woman clings to a family portrait in front of her demolished house in the Brazil neighborhood of the Rafah refugee camp in Gaza May 21. Israel pulled tanks and troops out of the camp under international pressure to end three days of fighting in which 41 Palestinians were killed. Hundreds of residents of the Brazil neighborhood returned to find about 25 homes had been destroyed while they had taken refuge from the violence.
The last acceptable prejudice in America THE NEW ANTI-CATHOLICISM: THE LAST ACCEPTABLE PREJUDICE by Philip Jenkins. Oxford University Press (New York, 2003) 258 pp., $27.00 ANTI-CATHOLICISM IN AMERICA: THE LAST ACCEPTABLE PREJUDICE by Mark S. Massa, S.J. The Crossroad Publishing Company (New York, 2003) 245 pp. $24.95
Global Christianity. Professor Jenkins gave the Paul Wattson Lecture here in San Francisco earlier this year. The New Anti-Catholicism is a compelling account of anti-Catholicism during the past 30 years. Professor Jenkins draws a clear difference between the historical and contemporary expressions of anti-Catholicism. After a brief but concise review of the traditions of antiCatholic bigotry in America, Jenkins devotes the remainder of the book to a
Reviewed by Maurice E. Healy Within the past six months, two important new books have been published on the subject of anti-Catholicism in America. But don’t look for large display stacks of either volume at retail book stores. While books with antiCatholic themes often are heavily reviewed and promoted, books about anti-Catholicism must be searched out. Well worth the search are The New Anti-Catholicism by Philip Jenkins and Anti-Catholicism in America by Jesuit Mark S. Massa. A quarter century ago, Father Andrew Greeley described anti-Catholicism as “an ugly little secret” of American history. Since then, a number of scholars have turned their attention to what Arthur Schlesinger Sr. called “the deepest bias in the history of the American people.” Author Michael Novak notes that
“Most of us get used to the contempt heaped upon the Catholic Church by nice, liberal people, so we stop thinking of it as the gross deformity of soul that it is.” Philip Jenkins is Distinguished Professor of History and Religion Studies at Pennsylvania State University. His books include Pedophiles and Priests: Anatomy of a Contemporary Crisis, Mystics and Messiahs: Cults and New Religion in American History, and The Next Christendom: The Coming of
tour de force analysis of forces shaping contemporary anti-Catholicism. Jenkins writes, “For many people in the United States, particularly for opinion makers in the mass media and in the academic world, Catholicism neither needs nor deserves the kind of protections that apply to other religious traditions. To the contrary, many observers hold the view that Catholicism, and specifically the organized Church, is itself a problem …. and it deserves little sympathy when it is attacked.” He notes that modern antiCatholicism differs in significant ways from earlier forms, which were “primarily nativist, xenophobic, and politically right-wing.” Now-a-days, he writes, contempt for Catholicism “primarily is found on the left/liberal side of the spectrum.” Michael Novak praises Jenkin’s diagnoses of the “black legends” about Catholicism, which everyone “knows” are true — the Crusades, the Inquisition, the deceit of popes, and the inner agitation of “anti-Catholic Catholics,” who have internalized the world’s contempt. Professor Mark S. Massa is a Jesuit priest and Program Director of the Center for American Catholic Studies at ANTI-CATHOLICISM, page 16
INSIDE THIS WEEK’S EDITION News-in-brief. . . . . . . . . . 4-5 Campion graduation . . . . . 8 Walk for life . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Wedding guide . . . . . . . . 7-9 Columnists . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Scripture and reflection . . . 14
Pope on Africa
Million Dollar Priest
World War II Memorial
‘Shrek 2’ review. . . . . . . . . 18
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May 28, 2004
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VOLUME 6
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