Pope Expresses Solidarity with ADL?

(www.RemnantNewspaper.com) On October 12, 2006, Pope Benedict XVI gave a private audience to leaders of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai Brith (ADL) at the Vatican, during which he assured the delegation of Jewish leaders that he would “be a strong, constant voice against anti-Semitism."

According to an ADL press release, Pope Benedict personally assured Abraham H. Foxman, ADL National Director, that “I will always be there for you in fighting anti-Semitism”.

"The church deplores all forms of hatred or persecution directed against the Jews and all displays of anti-Semitism at any time and from any source," the Pope said, adding that he plans to carry on the positive interfaith relationship that Jews had with Pope John Paul II.

Mr. Foxman, a Holocaust survivor, shared his story of being hidden by his Polish Catholic nanny, Bronislawa Kurpi, who had him baptized.  Pope Benedict, in an unprecedented response, said, "You have touched my heart."  A longtime Vatican expert said that it was the first time he has ever seen the Pope leave his prepared remarks to offer a personal word to a private Jewish audience.

Pope Benedict also used the meeting as an opportunity to express regret over the recent controversy surrounding his remarks on the Prophet Mohammed and Islam. He told ADL leaders that his remarks were intended as an invitation to dialogue between Islam and other religions, and that his quoting from a medieval text that characterized some of Mohammed's teachings as "evil and inhuman" was misunderstood by many in the Muslim world.

"May the Eternal One, our Father in heaven, bless every effort to eliminate from our world any misuse of religion as an excuse for hatred or violence," the Pope said. He added that the Vatican is making interfaith dialogue a top priority with an aim to, "build relationships not just of tolerance, but of authentic respect."

Mr. Foxman said: "In offering his most forceful words yet against anti-Semitism, and in expressing remorse for the reaction to his remarks about Islam, Pope Benedict has shown that he is greatly sensitive to the need for a new level of openness and dialogue among the major faiths."

While in Rome, the delegation of ADL leaders also met with Cardinal Walter Kasper, the president for the Commission for Religious Relations with the Jews, and Father Norbert Hoffman, the secretary of the Vatican's Commission for Relations with Judaism. Cardinal Kasper discussed the need for fostering programs to teach the lessons of Nostra Aetate, the landmark document that repudiated the centuries-old "deicide" charge against all Jews, stressed the religious bond shared by Jews and Catholics, and reaffirmed the eternal covenant between God and the People of Israel.

Comment: In June of 2000, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) issued a press release praising a U.S. Supreme Court Decision to strike down a law in Nebraska which banned partial-birth abortions. The release stated that the ADL, along with 53 other organizations, filed an amicus curiae or "friend of the court" brief which claimed that the Nebraska law “unconstitutionally interfered in matters of individual choice and religious significance and impermissibly advocated certain beliefs over others.”

The year before that, the ADL awarded a judicial achievement award to Judge William P. Sargeant III of the Mariposa County Superior Court in Arizona for authorizing a late-term, out-of-state abortion for a 14-year-old ward of the state. ADL regional board chairman Marc Lieberman said Judge William P. Sargeant III upheld "the finest traditions of the bench ... in doing what (he believed) was right ... public consensus be damned."

In 1998, the Anti-Defamation League Resources for Classroom and Community promoted "It's Elementary: Talking About Gay Issues in School,” a 78-minute film aimed at elementary school teachers nationwide. The film was produced by Women's Educational Media to promote the inclusion of “gay and lesbian issues” in elementary and junior high school curricula.

In 1980, the ADL presented pornography pioneer Hugh Hefner with its first “Torch of Freedom” award, praising the Playboy founder’s “unique idea for a magazine and a philosophy of social change” and his “far-reaching impact, not only on the publishing industry, but on the mores of American society as well.”

A June 7, 2006 press release announced that the ADL was “pleased that the Senate could not muster enough votes to approve the so-called ‘Marriage Protection Amendment’." The ADL, which had previously written to Senators urging them to reject any constitutional amendment banning “gay” marriage, also expressed “dismay that the Senate would even attempt to vote on a measure that would discriminate against gay Americans.”

And, in 2003, Abraham Foxman complained that a proposed bill to ban partial-birth abortions "wrongly intrudes on an individual's most personal decisions" and said that "the government should not interfere in matters of individual conscience." This prompted an article in the Jewish World Review (Nov. 5, 2003) by Rabbi Avi Shafran, director of public affairs for Agudath Israel of America, a movement whose aim is “to establish the sovereignty of Torah in all problems facing the Jews as individuals and as a nation.” Shafran referred to the ADL as “the bigotry watchdog group” which resolutely supported “the right to kill a child who is already born.”

These few examples are merely the very tip of a gargantuan, rotting iceberg representing the ongoing agenda of the group to whom the Vicar of Christ said, “I will always be there for you in fighting anti-Semitism.” The lyrics to an old Grateful Dead song go, “A friend of the devil is a friend of mine.” Sounds like Garcia and company were singing about today’s Vatican.

Partial-birth abortion? Homosexual marriage and “gay” school curricula? We will know that our Catholic hierarchy has turned itself right-side up when groups like the ADL are allowed into the Vicar of Christ’s presence only on their knees – as penitents. Until then, we can only marvel at such unholy alliances.

“Hero Of Highbridge” to be Subject of Film

The Catholic weekly, The Universe, reports (Oct. 20, 2006) that film Producer Timothy Haas has acquired the rights to the biography of British Major Frank Foley, the Somerset-born MI6 undercover spy and Berlin passport control officer who saved thousands of Jews during the Nazi Holocaust.

Major Foley, from Highbridge in Somerset, is often referred to as Britain’s Oskar Schindler. Like the German businessman, he rescued many from the horrors of the Nazi extermination camps. His brave deeds, which  were carried out in Berlin during the 1930s, are believed to have been instrumental in saving the lives of 10,000 Jews who were trying to flee the Nazi reign of terror.

A deeply religious Catholic, Major Foley risked his own life and those of his family by helping Jews to escape from Germany to British controlled Palestine. He also hid refugees at his home and even visited concentration camps to assist inmates with forged passports.

Major Foley died in 1958 with his brave exploits largely unknown. It was only when a biography by journalist Michael Smith entitled The Man Who Saved 10,000 Jews was published that his selfless bravery became better known. He was posthumously recognized as a “Righteous Among the Nations”—  an award given to non-Jews who helped save Jewish lives during the Holocaust – in Israel’s Yad Vashem Museum. And in 2004, the then Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw praised the Major’s heroism following a plaque unveiling ceremony at the British Embassy in Berlin, during which he referred to Foley as “a true British hero.”

On May 8, 2005, the town of Highbridge unveiled a statue of Major Foley, which was partially funded by the Association of Jewish Refugees (AJR). Amongst the guests at the unveiling ceremony was Werner Lachs, Chairman of the AJR’s Manchester group, who arrived in Britain as a child refugee from Germany in 1939 thanks to the visas issued to his family by Major Foley. David Rothenberg, AJR Vice-Chairman, said, “We are delighted to have contributed to this worthy cause and honour the life of Major Foley. Without his bravery and initiative, many more people would have been trapped in Germany and would inevitably have lost their lives.”

Producer Timothy Haas hopes to begin filming the story of Major Frank Foley next year, with Oscar-winning actor Anthony Hopkins in the lead role. The projected title for the film is The Inside Outside Man.

Comment: Frank Foley was born on November 23, 1884, to Isabella and Andrew Foley, an engine fitter in the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway Company's locomotive works. Frank and his two brothers first attended St. John's Church of England School, which was then the Highbridge National School. When the Roman Catholic School in Burnham was opened by French Nuns at La Retraite, Isabella, a devout Catholic, sent the boys there to study.

Frank had desires of becoming a priest, and attended a Jesuit school in Lancashire when he was 14 years old, while his brothers were apprentices at the railway works in Highbridge, where their father worked. At the outbreak of the First World War, Frank took a commission in the Army and served as a Captain. His sister, Margaret, became a nun.

A poem dedicated to Major Frank Foley, “The Hero of Highbridge,” contains the lines:

When the Hitler regime came to power

Frank Foley fought his finest hour

Let us hope that the film version of his life does not neglect the courageous and noble Catholic dimension of this formerly unsung hero’s life.

Seminary Hosts Meeting With Sikh Leaders

“In an effort to get to know each other better, representatives of the U.S. bishops’ conference and the worldwide council of the Sikh faith met last week here on Long Island,” reports The Long Island Catholic (Oct. 11, 2006). The three-day meeting (Oct. 5-7) between staff members of the Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and representatives of the World Sikh Council was described as the second meeting of a long-range, open-ended process that began last May, according to Father James Massa, director of the U.S. Bishops’ Secretariat for Ecumenical and Interreligious Affairs. The first meeting took place in Manhattan near the United Nations.

The meeting on Long Island included evenings of prayer and community meals at a Sikh house of worship, prayer and discussions at Immaculate Conception Seminary, and lunch with Bishop William Murphy of the Diocese of Rockville Centre. “It was a joy being with you today,” Bishop Murphy told the Sikh delegates following lunch on Oct. 6^th at the seminary. “The dialogue has to grow,” as both the nation and Long Island become more ethnically and religiously diverse, “and I think we are all going to learn from it.”

The Sikh delegation was headed by Dr. Manohar Singh, who chairs the American region of the World Sikh Council. Begun 500 years ago, the Sikh religion has an estimated 25 million adherents worldwide and about a half million in the United States. According to Dr. Tarunjit Singh Butalia, who chairs the interfaith committee of the American Region of the World Sikh Council, there are about 100 gurdwaras (Sikh houses of worship) in the United States, with 40,000 to 60,000 Sikhs living on Long Island and approximately 100,000 residing in the New York City area.

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