A Jewish Defense of a Catholic Preacher

Yesterday’s Jerusalem Pos t features an op-ed by Alon Goshen-Gottstei n that defends Fr. Raniero Cantalamessa’s Good Friday sermon last week at St. Peters in Rome. The sermon was in the news because Fr. Cantalamessa drew parallels between the recent media treatment of the pedophilia scandals in the Catholic Church with anti-semitism. Various Jewish commentators and organizations expressed widely quoted outrage.

Goshon-Gottstein urges readers of the Jersualem post to actually read the sermon, which has many important affirmations of the integrity of Judaism, affirmations that Goshen-Gottstein notes are all the more important because made on Good Friday, a day once characterized by attacks on Jews. “To all this,” he writes, “there is only one appropriate response, recognition and acknowledgement of the quiet yet profound significance of the moment, and so Thank you, Fr. Cantalamessa.”

Of course, the news industry didn’t pick up the important affirmations, because it’s oriented toward conflict, crisis, and scandal. Therefore all men and women of faith face a common challenge. “The battle against selective and superficial representation of our religious message is a common battle,” Goshen-Gottstein writes,” on which thoughtful religious voices from all religions must collaborate.”