I am currently reading Jesus of Nazareth, volume II, and was struck by what is said about the evangelization of the Jews. Pope Benedict XVI states fairly clearly in the first book that he is writing these books not as the Pope, but as a theologian – as Joseph Ratzinger, not Pope Benedict XVI. Nonetheless, he is one of the greatest theologians of our day, and he is also the Supreme Pontiff, so his opinion carries a certain weight.
Somehow or another (maybe through CatholicCulture.org , I forget) I came across a great blog post on this topic by Msgr. Charles Pope of the Archdiocese of Washington. The author expresses well what I felt upon reading the passages in question, and the comments that people have posted are also intelligent and informative, giving varying perspectives on the topic. I highly recommend it, if you are interested in these issues.
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About Fr Matthew Green
Currently parochial vicar at Holy Family Parish, on Cape Ann (serving the churches of St. Ann, St. Joachim, and St. Anthony). I moved to the area in early August '11, and am very happy to be in such a welcoming community and beautiful location!
One of my hobbies is photography. You can see my photos
on Flickr and buy prints of some of them
on Fine Art America.
I am a daily contributor to
GoodMorningGloucester (GMG for short), a blog by and about the community of Gloucester specifically and Cape Ann in general. The content is diverse, ranging from the beautiful and sublime to the earthy and occasionally offensive. I hope my contributions are of the former kind, not the latter. So, while I cannot endorse all the content that is posted there, I am grateful to Joey (the founder and admin of the blog) for giving me space to make my contribution.
I also have my own blog,
Perpetual Learner, which mostly includes my homilies and some re-posts from GMG, but also sometimes has other content, such as my personal reflections, videos I like, etc.
I would like to know more about what “struck” you about the evangelization of the Jews. I’ve not read the book, but am curious.
To summarize (somewhat inaccurately, because it’s too complex to summarize in one sentence): at first glance, it seems that Ratzinger is saying that we don’t have to concern ourselves with encouraging Jews to convert to Catholicism. What he says was a real surprise for me. It brings up all sorts of questions, and the blog post I linked to (and the commentaries) says it very well, so I recommend reading what Msgr Pope says.
Just to add to what I said: what Ratzinger really means, how correct it is, and the authority we should grant to it, are all up for some debate.