God Squad - Column by - ArcaMax Publishing

ArcaMax Publishing > Religion & Spirituality > God Squad

Your email address is safe with us. View our Privacy policy.

Wedding Guide:

Get advice on planning your big day with our wedding guide

The Funnies:

Get free jokes, comics, and more! See them all on
our funnies page

Author Bio:

Rabbi Marc Gellman began his studies in 1969 at the University of Wisconsin, and went on to attend the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of ...

Read more about By Rabbi Marc Gellman, Tribune Media Services.

Books:

Read the classics online or by email. More details on the books page

Games:

Fun online games, quizzes, hangman and more on the games page

READERS: THANKS FOR YOUR TRUST

By Rabbi Marc Gellman, Tribune Media Services

Q: I'm constantly amazed at how many Roman Catholics write to you about Catholic matters. As a priest for more than 50 years, I know most of the questions could be answered by almost any parish priest. Do you and Monsignor Hartman ever discuss this phenomenon?

That Catholics want to learn about "Catholic stuff" is admirable. Is the problem that many have been turned off by the few priests they've met, or is it that they don't know any priests or even the location of their parish church? I'm intrigued. -- A faithful reader (via an actual letter with, if I might say, exceptional penmanship)

A: Thanks for your personal and heartfelt letter. Father Tom and did indeed speak about this often when he was well and we wrote the column together. We discovered that some readers asked us questions they were embarrassed to ask their own clergy because they felt they'd appear ignorant of basic Jewish and Catholic teachings.

However, when I explained some Jewish belief or practice to a Christian reader, the audience for that answer included many Jews who didn't know the real reasons for what they did, and what they were supposed to believe.

After Tom's Parkinson's disease became so severe that he could no longer participate in the column and asked me to carry on, I immediately sought out expert advisors and now have many of them.

Of particular importance to me is my friend Father Anthony Ciorra, Dean of the Department of Religion at New York's Fordham University. I go to him, and then I go to you. I must say that after all these years, my knowledge of Catholicism is not bad for a rabbi.

For Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, Evangelical and Pentecostal issues, I consult other scholars and sources, but the legacy of my friendship with Tommy has established a very special bond between me and my Catholic readers.

Sometimes, a refreshing new point of view is brought out by a sympathetic outsider to discussions of one's own religious practices. One of the best histories of rabbinic Judaism was written by the Christian scholar George Foot Moore. The Catholic scholar Karen Armstrong has written a wonderful introduction to the life of the Buddha.

I am in awe of the majesty and spiritual power of the Catholic faith. However, because I'm not on the payroll, I can also offer a defense of some Catholic rituals that I believe are being unfairly criticized. In this defense, people, hopefully, will realize that I'm under no compulsion to carry water for the church. I am defending what I think is holy, right and ennobling about Catholicism. I've always believed, for example, that defenses of Israel offered up by Christians are far more powerful and important than pro forma defenses of Israel offered up by Jews.

Finally, I think that when we limit ourselves to insights about our own faith, we limit the scope of our religious life. Christianity, in all its denominations, does not see itself as only speaking to Christians, nor does any other faith.

We're all about trying to bring our broken world and our broken souls to a greater level of spiritual wholeness. This is a universal quest, not a mere parochial concern. I deeply respect those who believe their faith teaches them a way to salvation that's not just good for them but necessary for the world.

I will leave it to God and to God's messiah when he comes (or comes again) to sort out who's right and who's wrong. My spiritual concern is only to point out who is kind and who is not, who is compassionate and who is not, who is hopeful and who is not. Judging who is saved and who is not is above my pay grade.

READERS: I want to thank those of you who've trusted me to answer questions you could have asked your priest, rabbi, pastor or Imam.

Let me urge each of you to try to find a spiritual teacher who will help you preserve and deepen your knowledge of your faith and the rituals and traditions of your ancestors. Lastly, I pray that each of you might find a house of worship that can truly be your home. For what I can never provide in this column -- with or without my best friend -- is a religious community where you can pray together and fix the world together and teach your children together.

(Send QUESTIONS ONLY to The God Squad, c/o Tribune Media Services, 2225 Kenmore Ave., Suite 114, Buffalo, NY 14207, or email them to godsquadquestion@aol.com.

(c) 2008 THE GOD SQUAD DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.

This news arrived on: 09/11/2008

Share this Story