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June 05, 2007
That's Right, We Bad, We Perfidious: The Upside of the Latin Mass
I read recently that Pope Benedict wants to revive the Latin, or Tridentine, Mass. That's caused an uproar in interfaith circles because the Latin Mass mentions Jews in an unflattering light. According to CBS News,
Rabbi David Rosen, who is in charge of interfaith relations at the American Jewish Committee, said he wrote to several cardinals in March expressing concern about a prayer for the "unfaithful" in the Mass, as well a prayer used during the church's Holy Week liturgy which had contained references to "perfidious," or faithless, Jews.He was assured by Cardinal Walter Kasper, who is in charge of the Vatican's relations with Jews, that the Tridentine missal used now doesn't contain the reference to the "perfidious" Jew.
I don't know what the fuss is all about. I rather like being called "perfidious." It makes me feel like Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor in Stir Crazy, when they strut along and proclaim, "That's right, we bad!" Doesn't it sound hip and edgy, in a theological sense, to be perfidious?
Alarm about the Latin Mass assumes people understand Latin. How many do? Wouldn't that signal a widespread return to classical learning in the West, instead of a threat to Jews, if Latin revived? If Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ couldn't ignite pogroms, then I hardly think a few Latin references, however troubling, will cause outbreaks of violence. That only happens when the culture is already well fertilized with Jew hatred. If a society is primed to despise Jews, well, that's going to happen whether the Mass contains a few references to us or not.
In the great continuum of threats to the physical and mental safety of Jews, the Tridentine Mass ranks right up there banana peels on the sidewalks of Columbus Avenue. My concerns circle back to guys who dream of a Second Holocaust and shoot up JCCs, or proclaims Jews monkeys and pigs -- and act on their lunacy. Let's put our anxiety where the real threats are and not get bent out of shape about Latin.
Et tu, Rabbi Rosen?
Van | 06/05/07 at 06:57 AM | Categories: - Comparative Religion
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Comments
Jews have been called worse things, but intolerance still is with us sad to say !
Paul | June 5, 2007 07:14 AM
Perfidious, stiff-necked, stubborn, that's us. And don't forget the relatively new one: intransigent. I love being intransigent; I get up in the morning resolving to be even more intransigent than yesterday.
Alex Bensky | June 6, 2007 08:03 AM
You're intransigent?
They beg and plead and cajole and make plenty of offers trying to convince me to become intransigent, but I refused, still refuse, and always will refuse. No way will I ever become intransigent.
Ben
Ben | June 6, 2007 11:33 AM
Heck, my whole country is perfidious and proud of it. Perfidious Albion, or perhaps Perfidious Albino (= You Can't Trust Whitey").
I always loved the name of the Tridentine Mass. Three teeth? Man, that must suck.
I always loved the name of the Tridentine Mass
I've always liked the phrase 'Holy Primate'. A holy primate leading a three-teeth mass..
I always loved the name of the Tridentine Mass
I've always liked the phrase 'Holy Primate'. A holy primate leading a three-teeth mass..
