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Ed. This talk was given at the first historic Hebrew Catholic conference, Jews in the Church, on December 11, 2004. It was included in The Hebrew Catholic #81. All rights reserved. Homily for Votice Mass of St. Edith Stein
I did not bring my own chalice with me today from Montreal, because of its size for travelling carry-on, but I did bring the paten that holds the Body of Christ. Perhaps you can see the design I had put on the bottom at the time of my ordination in 1998. There is a cross with rays coming from it in the centre of a Star of David. I choose this design because it best expressed, given the confines of this small area, who I am and how I see my faith, and if it required a caption, it could well be “Salvation is from the Jews”. The cross emerges from the Star of David, as it were, and yet is also at the heart of it, just as the Christian faith of those born Jewish emerges from that Jewish faith in a natural way and at the same time, in a mysterious way, is somehow already there.. The origin of our faith is clearly there. One thinks of the dictum that the Old Testament is fulfilled in the new, and the New prefigured in the Old. As we heard in our Gospel, John the Baptist was the new “Elijah”, preparing the way for the coming of Christ by preaching a baptism of repentance and renewal. Two thousand years later, that same message needs to be brought not only to those who do not know Christ, but to so many in this country and elsewhere who have forgotten or sidelined him from life and from society. For example, the recently signed first constitution of the European Union was the occasion for considerable debate because of the refusal of the member countries to acknowledge the Christian heritage of Europe, and the values that [are] indicated. In my own country, the Supreme Court has just helped to pave the way for Canada to become (only) the third country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage. And in my own parish, the school board is pushing, against the wishes of almost all the parents, to remove the word “Catholic” from the name of our local high school, and the words “Sacred Heart” from our middle school, now that they are no longer officially Catholic schools, but linguistic (schools, that is, simply English and French schools). The silver lining of that cloud is that it is bringing many of our families back to Church because that is the only place now that they can get preparation for their sacraments. At the same time, the priests are no longer welcome in the school. The discussion of Elijah in the Gospel follows the descent from the mount of Transfiguration. All Jewish converts perhaps all converts have experienced in one way or another the transfigured Lord (some encounter with Christ that called them to Him). I have to say that I have not (always) been fully convinced of all the goals of some of the organizations of Jewish Catholics or Hebrew Catholics, the Association of Hebrew Catholics for instance, perhaps because I did not come from a very observant home. Yet being here today, and having recently read Roy Schoeman’s very wonderful important book, I am now convinced, at least, that Jewish Catholics must not disappear into the Church. I am not saying that there has to be a formal recognition, or what kind of recognition there should be, but our witness is too important to not be heard, or at least seen in some way. And I really thank Roy for helping me to see that. That’s why I think this conference today is so important, perhaps historic in some ways. It’s not just another gathering, and gatherings are important, but it’s saying something very important, I think, that will come out in some of the talks this afternoon by David and by Ronda. Many people are moved when they find out my background a Catholic priest who was born Jewish just as they think it’s wonderful to know about Cardinal Lustiger, for instance, but often it does not go beyond that: How wonderful, but it’s not too clear to many why it’s wonderful. Somehow this conference is going to begin the process continue the process begun by Frs. Friedman and Klyber and others, the Association of Hebrew Catholics, the Remnant of Israel and is going to help us all to articulate why it’s wonderful that a Jew becomes a Catholic, recognizes Jesus as the Messiah, and how that fact can lead the way for others. We are not just curiosities, I myself am learning, we are called, perhaps, in the words today of Sirach-to “re-establish the tribes of Jacob”. Perhaps the full meaning of the life and canonization of Edith Stein, whom we call upon today in our Mass, has hardly begun to be known. She and we have recognized him: let us now humbly offer the true sacrifice, and receive the unimaginable gift of his body and blood. Blessed be the Holy Name of Jesus ... now and forever. | ||
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Like Fr. Klyber, the founder of the Remnant of Israel, I too am proud to be a Jewish priest. And in fact, since the fall of the temple in the first century, there is no other kind of Jewish priest than one who is Catholic in God’s mysterious providence.