Diocese of Cleveland Steps Up Its Losing War Against "The Passion of the Christ"

The Diocese of Cleveland issues a warning to Catholic parishes that seeing a movie which illustrates the events of the Gospels, may lead to the rise of anti-Semitism in churchgoing Catholics. Meanwhile, a local Catholic university allows the production of the "Vagina Monologues" on campus with proceeds going to a pro-abortion group. The diocese's response when told about this immoral play supporting the murder of babies? "No comment."

Evidently, according to the Diocese of Cleveland, the greater threat to society is a movie about the Crucifixion of Jesus Christ, not a play that promotes sexual immorality and the funding of pro-abortion groups.

"Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe (in me) to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into the sea." (Mark 9:42)

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Now, the Diocese of Cleveland is at again.

The Diocese is bringing to town Sister Mary Boys perhaps the most hyperbolic and ridiculous critic of "The Passion of the Christ."

And if you don't believe me, the Catholic League has the quotes to prove it.

But first, brought to you by the Diocese of Cleveland website, here is the information on the upcoming diocesan sponsored appearance by Sister Mary Boys:

http://www.dioceseofcleveland.org/parishlife/schedule_and_events.htm

Catholic-Jewish Colloquium, Monday, April 19, 2004, 7:30 pm at Tifereth Israel

Sr. Mary Boys of Union Theological, as part of the Catholic-Jewish Colloquium, will speak on Monday, April 19, 2004 at 7:30 pm. The presentation will be at Tifereth Israel, 26000 Shaker Blvd., Beachwood. She will speak on the theme of the challenge of dealing with anti-Semitism in dramatizing the passion narratives of the Gospels on stage and screen. In part, this will be a Catholic response to the Jewish communities questions concerning Mel Gibson's movie, Passion. For more information, contact the Interfaith Commission at (216) 696-6525, Ext. 5110.

WHAT SISTER MARY BOYS HAS TO SAY ABOUT "THE PASSION" AND MEL GIBSON

Cybercast News Service, November 7, 2003;
Sister Mary C. Boys:

"Boys noted that the movie is already 'dividing evangelicals and Catholics—Catholics and Catholics, and Christians and Jews.

"'I don't believe that [given the divisive] result that he [Mel Gibson] could claim that the Holy Spirit is behind this. ...

"'Our concern is what happens after people see the film? Will anti-Semitic actions happen or will attitudes against the Jews be exacerbated by this film?'"

The Jewish Week, September 19, 2003; Sister Mary C. Boys:

"'One of the problems is people are going to see this film and are going to conclude that's the way it is because they don't know anything different, it's part of the religious illiteracy in our country,' Sister Boys said. 'We really have to find ways to educate them about interpreting Scripture more thoughtfully.'"

The Times Union (NY), September 19, 2003;

Sister Mary C. Boys:

"'It's not understanding,' she said of Gibson's script. 'He wouldn't know a scholar if he ran into one.'"

The Evangelist (Diocese of Albany, NY), September 11, 2003;

Sister Mary C. Boys:

"The average Christian goes to see this film, which is going to be incredibly graphic, and [thinks] the people that do this to Jesus are the Jews. This does not do well for Christian-Jewish relations."

National Public Radio, "All Things Considered," September 3, 2003; Sister Mary C. Boys:

"Will this film exacerbate divisions between Christians and Jews? Will this film exacerbate differences between traditionalist Catholics and those who see themselves more in the mainstream? Will this film exacerbate divisions between, say, Catholics and evangelicals? And I think if it does any of those, then I find it difficult to believe that the Holy Spirit is at work."

Associated Press, August 9, 2003; Sister Mary C. Boys:

"For too many years, Christians have accused Jews of being Christ-killers and used that charge to rationalize violence.... This is our fear."

Kansas City Star, August 9, 2003; Sister Mary C. Boys:

"Our fear is that if the film is based on the script we read—which is possible but not necessarily the case—it could promote anti-Semitic sentiments."

The New York Times, August 2, 2003; Sister Mary C. Boys:

"When we read the screenplay, our sense was this wasn't really something you could fix. All the way through, the Jews are portrayed as bloodthirsty. We're really concerned that this could be one of the great crises in Christian-Jewish relations."

Dramatizing the Death of Jesus: Issues that Have Surfaced in Media Reports about the Upcoming Film, The Passion; by Mary C. Boys, Philip A. Cunningham, Lawrence E. Frizzell, John T. Pawlikowski, June 17, 2003:

"We understood from the outset of our review of the script that our report did not represent an official statement of the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops….

"Anyone who composes a script for a dramatic presentation of the death of Jesus must draw upon four distinct passion narratives in the four gospels in the New Testament. One cannot assume that by simply conforming to the New Testament

The Jewish Week, March 28, 2003; Sister Mary Boys:

"As a member of the Catholic Church, I regard his thinking as bizarre and dangerous, and suggest that Jews judge them similarly. ...

"We seem to have at best fringe Catholics if not heretical with ... a tragically twisted understanding of the relationship between Judaism and Christianity. It is compounded by the arrogance great wealth makes possible in producing a film that will reopen wounds of history."
that antisemitism [sic] will not be promoted."

Knock, this was previously posted, but fits in here:

http://www.exceptionalmarriages.com/weblog/BlogDetail.asp?ID=13486

CANT FROM THE CLEVELAND CHANCERY? ACTION NEEDED! [Kevin Miller]
	2/26/2004
	Please read this narrative, then send the email and make the phone call suggested at the end. The other week, a reader emailed me an item from CWN about the Diocese of Cleveland's respective reactions to Passion and The V Monologues. The reader added some further information about the latter, and suggested emailing various folks at JCU and the Cleveland Diocese to complain. I blogged his note. The first two sentences of the CWN item were as follows: The Diocese of Cleveland issues a warning to Catholic parishes that seeing a movie, The Passion of the Christ, which illustrates the events of the Gospels, may lead to the rise of anti-Semitism in churchgoing Catholics. Meanwhile, a local Catholic university allows the production of the "Monologues" on campus with proceeds going to a pro-abortion group. The other day, I linked back to that earlier post from another one about another apparent abomination at JCU. Enter another reader, a priest from the state of Washington. Yesterday, he emailed the various Cleveland chancery officials noted in the original post, citing the above-quoted sentences, and asking, "is this true?" He received a reply from Father Lawrence Jurcak, who appears from the diocese's web site to be the recently-named Secretary and Vicar for Clergy and Religious. He forwarded the correspondence to me. Fr. Jurcak's reply read: You details are not true at all. There is no "warning issued by the Diocese" about not seeing The Passion of the Christ." My first thought was that this seemed to be somewhat of an evasion. The claim, quoted above, had been that there was a warning not that one shouldn't see the movie but rather that doing so might lead to anti-Semitism - i.e., that one should be cautious about what conclusions one draws from the movie if one does see it. I then followed the links from my original post, as provided by the reader who'd sent it. The CWN item links to a Cleveland newspaper article, "'Passion' movie raises religious fervor, fears," which describes the diocese's warning/"memo." Paragraph 4 of that article reads: "The Diocese of Cleveland sent a February memo to all its parishes asking Catholics to be aware of the potential for anti-Semitism." The CWN item struck me as containing a reasonable paraphrase of that description - a call for awareness for the potential for anti-Semitism surely reflects concern that anti-Semitism might be one of the movie's effects and could therefore reasonably be described as a "warning" that the movie might lead to anti-Semitism. The article goes into somewhat more detail about the memo further down. Of course, a newspaper account may well be inaccurate. So I poked around the diocesean web site a bit more until I found what appears to be the "memo" in question. It's headed, "Movies About the Passion of Jesus Christ." It begins, "In the next few months there are at least two movies to be released about the passion and death of Jesus Christ." Now, those two would be Gibson's Passion and, I gather, The Gospel of John. Since no one that I know of has expressed concerns that the latter might stir up anti-Semitism - presumably at least partly because of the translation it uses - it's obvious, I think, that the warnings about anti-Semitic accounts of responsiblity for Christ's suffering and death that make up the bulk of the memo reflect concern about Passion. In short, I think that the newspaper account of the memo is accurate, and that the CWN description of it is, too. (When I bounced these thoughts off my Washington priest reader, he replied, "Your interpretation seems correct to me.") So, when we've dealt with the diocese's evasion and quibbling, we're left with the question: Why were they more concerned about the effects that Passion might have than about the effects that JCU's presentation of Monologues might have? Why haven't we seen at least a "memo" about the possibly bad effects of the latter? (Never mind whether the warning about Passion is the best way to deal with that movie to begin with.) My Washington reader forwarded my comments to Fr. Jurcak and told me he'd keep me posted if he gets a reply. I suggest you contact Fr. Jurcak also. As well as Bishop Pilla - (216) 696-6525 ext. 2030. Ask them why Fr. Jurcak is being evasive about what the diocese said about Passion - and why they're expressing concerns about it, but not, apparently, about Monologues.

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Saturday, March 13, 2004