The Cardinal and the Jews.THE ARCHBISHOP of New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , John Cardinal O'Connor, last week shattered shat·ter v. shat·tered, shat·ter·ing, shat·ters v.tr. 1. To cause to break or burst suddenly into pieces, as with a violent blow. 2. a. the tradition that clerics speaking to Jewish audiences may offer only ecumenical platitudes. In a sermon to the congregation of New York's prestigious Temple Emanu-El, he addressed, and in some respects criticized, some Jews' obsession with the Holocaust. The cardinal said publicly what behind closed (Christian) doors has become a cliche: Christians increasingly resent the apparent belief of many Jews "that no suffering in the entire world in all history can in any way be comparable to the Holocaust and therefore it becomes blasphemous blas·phe·mous adj. Impiously irreverent. [Middle English blasfemous, from Late Latin blasph and sacrilegious sac·ri·le·gious adj. 1. Grossly irreverent toward what is or is held to be sacred. 2. Having committed sacrilege. sac for any of us to enunciate our suffering and compare it with yours." He told also of coming out onto the steps of St. Patrick's St. Patrick's or Saint Patrick's may refer to:
He is not the only Christian to have had this sort of experience. Christians of the post-Holocaust generation have been drilled repeatedly, often by their own pastors, to avoid any taint taint an unpleasant odor and flavor in a human foodstuff of animal origin. Caused by the ingestion of the substance, commonly a plant such as Hexham scent, or while in storage, e.g. milk stored with pineapples, or as a result of animal metabolism, e.g. boar taint. of the sin of anti-Semitism, not only in their deeds, but in their inmost in·most adj. Farthest within; innermost. inmost Adjective same as innermost Adj. 1. thoughts. Most of these Christians are not anti-Semites in any sense. But many even of these feel the Jewish obsession with anti-Semitism as an implicit accusation of a sin so insidious they might commit it without even knowing it. They resent this, and their resentment is dangerous. Accuse an innocent man of a crime often enough and he may commit it for spite. Few Christian spokesmen have had the courage to warn Jews of the danger. Yet when the cardinal spoke his mind, the response at Temple Emanu-El was entirely enthusiastic, the general feeling being that his point was well taken and somebody should have made it before. That's a good argument for frankness on a subject that has been treated with polite hyprocisy. |
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