Nutbar defences of the indefensible

Cardinal Sean P. O'Malley of Boston is praising Pope Benedict XVI's decision to lift the excommunication of four traditionalist bishops, saying the move is a step toward "unity and reconciliation" within Catholicism. But the cardinal also describes the statements denying the Holocaust by one of the bishops (Richard Williamson,) as "outrageous," says, "it certainly raises questions as to the caliber of the leadership that the Society (of Saint Piux X) has," and, in a novel defense of the pope's actions, says, "it underscores the importance for the Holy Father to have increasing influence over those communities.'' O'Malley offers an apology of sorts, saying, "We are very sorry that the people in the Jewish community have been so pained and outraged by Bishop Williamson’s statements," and he repudiates Holocaust denial, saying, "It is very important for us to always remember the Holocaust so that such an atrocity could never take place again."

What Was She Thinking? (Or Not!)

The California mother who gave birth to octuplets on Monday already has six children between the ages of 2 and 7, including a set of twins, The Los Angeles Times reports. The woman's mother told the paper that her daughter had the embryos implanted last year and refused to reduce their number after learning she was carrying multiple fetuses.

John Cleese dumps Barbie

British comedian John Cleese has dumped his 27-year-old girlfriend because he is reportedly sick about her joking about his age.
The Monty Python star, 69, has ended his relationship with US-born comedienne Barbie Orr, British tabloids reported.
The stunning blond - who has been gleefully discussing her older man's new teeth and hair plugs - says she "kept picturing him naked wondering what someone that old looks like, and would I actually sleep with them".
Orr joked: "For his birthday, I was thinking about buying him a Zimmer frame."
Orr also publicly praised comic actor's lovemaking abilities - calling him "athletic" in the bedroom and a "great kisser".
Cleese called time on the romance after he grew tired of being used as material for her gags.
An insider said of Orr: "What she did to Cleese was undignified. He was very vulnerable."
The actor is currently battling out a multi-million pound divorce settlement with third wife, US psychotherapist Alyce Faye Eichelberger, who is also demanding half of Cleese's nine properties.

Say it Ain't So: Pope Elevates Jew Baiters!

Pope Benedict's decision to undo the excommunication of Bishop Richard Williamson, an unrepentant Holocaust denier, has been met with wall to wall condemnation. Short of the launch of a new Crusade, it is hard to imagine how the Pope could have ignited such outrage with one decision. Yet there is an even greater crisis waiting in the wings that will soon be picked up by world media. Williamson's fellow travelers -- the entire network of the breakaway Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX) -- are vocal enthusiasts of a medieval religious anti-Semitism that gives the Islamist imams in Pakistan some serious competition.
The papal move to re-embrace SSPX was carefully negotiated. And if Pope Benedict was expecting any cosmetic changes in SSPX's Jew-hatred he was dead wrong. True ideologues in their hatred, their group's website remains unchanged. Jews, it tells us, are directly responsible for the crucifixion. Jews are cursed with the "blindness to the things of G-d and eternity." As a people, they stand "in entire opposition with the Catholic Church." "Christendom and Jewry are designed inevitably to meet everywhere without reconciliation or mixing." Jews "should neither be eliminated from among us, nor given equality of rights."
SSPX bookstores sell the anti-Semitic screeds -- "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," and Henry Ford's "The International Jew." But Jews, we are told in an essay by SSPX icon Fr. Denis Fahey, should not worry. He explains why he is not an anti-Semite. Anti-semites hate Jews, which he does not. He hates the Jewish naturalism, which is the plot of Jews (who have secretly abandoned God for the last two millennia) to take over the world.
Pope Benedict XVI has made a personal crusade of hastening Church unity. According to the Vatican document announcing SSPX's rehabilitation, lifting the ban against the four bishops allows the Church to talk in earnest with the four, and the tens of thousands of traditionalist Catholics they represent. Short of assigning Bishop Williamson a stint as intern in the Auschwitz-Birkenau museum it's not clear what else can be said to a man of God who just last week denied the Nazi gas chambers and that 6 million Jews were the victims of genocide.
The Pope's moves reveal a stunning blindness and deafness to the troubling reality all around him in Europe. He rehabilitated Holocaust denier Williamson in the days before both the 50th anniversary of the Convocation of Vatican II, and Holocaust Memorial day, January 27th, the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the largest Jewish cemetery on the planet. More troubling is that this Pope's outreach to this brazenly anti-Semitic group comes amidst an explosion of anti-Semitism not seen since the days before World War II. As synagogues and Jewish places of business are firebombed, as placards at demonstrations organized by extremist Muslim groups sport the slogan, "Upgrade to Holocaust 2.0" and "Jews to the ovens," the Pope has unwittingly lent credence to those who unleash hate and violence against Jews. Why now?
Some Church apologists argue that the Pope has reached out to the four in order to rein them in. He will have more control over them, more influence over what they can teach and preach, if they are brought under the umbrella of the Church. But this move has not been accompanied by declarations that there is no turning back the clock on the teachings of Vatican II that blazed the way for new understanding between Catholics and Jews. In fact, other Church observers speak more ominously, claiming that Vatican II is "not a dogma of faith," and therefore no barrier to the reintegration of SSPX faithful into the Church.
Millions of Jews, and tens of millions of mainstream Catholics, wait in dismay and anxiety. The teachings of Vatican II and Nostra Aetate were the most serious moves by any religious group to undo the effects of hundreds of years of Church-inspired anti-Semitism and persecution. They also helped bring Catholicism firmly into an age of modernity, without sacrificing its integrity. They allowed hundreds of millions of Catholics to escape the tension between modernity and sincere religious belief. They do not want tosee a return to the medieval abbey.
Both Jews and Catholics wait for the next moves of the Holy See. The Pope can repair the public relations debacle by declaring unequivocally that the teachings of Vatican II are not optional and not just tools to be taken off the shelf for interfaith op-eds. He can state that they represent the true spirit of the Church, from which there is no return.
The ultimate irony may lay in the fact that one of the intellectual architects of Vatican II, responsible for seeing that the progressive innovations of Vatican II were consistent with rigorous Church theology, was one Father Joseph Ratzinger--the future Pope Benedict XVI. Jews and Catholics can only pray that at the end of day it will be the voice and conscience of that Father which will ultimately prevail.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper is the Associate Director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein is its Director of Interfaith Affairs.
Posted by Abraham Cooper and Yitzchok Adlerstein