2024-03-22-eEdition

PAGE 4 THE CATHOLIC WEEK MARCH 22, 2024 George Weigel THE CATHOLIC DIFFERENCE wenty-four years ago this week, I was in Jerusalem to cover Pope John Paul II’s epic pilgrimage to the Holy Land for NBC. After going to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre to pray at the 11th and 12th stations, I went to dinner with a graduate school classmate, Father Michael McGarry, then the director of the Tantur Ecumenical Insti- tute.We drove through East Jerusalem to “Philadelphia,” a Palestinian restaurant Father McGarry recommended, where we had a fine meal of local specialties, prepared and served by friendly people who were evidently grateful for our trade (much of East Jerusalem being as dead as a doornail that night).The one discordant note was struck when, on the way out of the restaurant, I noticed a large color poster featuring a photo-shopped picture of John Paul II and PLO leader Yasser Arafat under the headline, “Welcome to the Palestinian Holy Land,” a variant on the “Palestinian Jesus” theme Ara- fat had been retailing. Insofar as there was any religious content in this crude, not-altogether-subtle attempt to de-Judaize the one whom Christians recognize as the Messiah — the Messiah prom- ised to the Jewish people and born of a Jewish woman — it hearkened back to the ancient heresy of the Marcionites: a second-century sect that re- jected the Old Testament in its entirety. Marcion and his fol- lowers claimed that the Creator God of Genesis and the God of the Jewish people’s Exodus was not the “Father”God to whom Jesus prayed; in fact, the Marcionites claimed that Jesus’s mission, as he under- stood it, was to overthrow and displace this “God of the Law” with the “God of Love.”Mar- cion rejected three of the four canonical gospels, accepting only an edited version of the gospel of Luke. And therein lay this heretic’s one positive contribution to Christianity: he forced the Church to clarify its own canon of Scripture, which of course includes the gospels Marcion rejected. Over the past 1,800 years, other deviant Christian think- ers have tried to “take the Jew- ish out of Jesus,” so to speak. And lest we think that such perversions today are limited to politicians, consider that, in recent months, some politicized Christian leaders have repeated the canard that Jesus was a “Palestinian” or “Palestinian Jew.”Which, I suggest, makes as much sense as referring to Jesus as a Latvian Jew or a Luxembourgish Jew, since “Palestine” as conceived today did not exist at the time of Jesus, any more than did Latvia or Luxembourg. Lent is a good time to reflect on the indisputable fact that Jesus of Nazareth, whom we believe to be the incarnate Son of God, was a son of the Jewish people. He was circum- cised on the eighth day (Luke 2:21) and presented to the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Moses in the Temple (Luke 2:22ff.) He was raised within the temporal rhythms and ritu- als of Judaism and learned its sacred writings (Luke 2:41-52). He lived as a faithful Jew and taught as a faithful Jew (“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill” [Matthew 5:17]). He was mocked by the Romans who crucified him as “the King of the Jews” (Matthew 27:37 and parallels). And he died as a faithful Jew, invoking Psalm 22 and its confession of the ulti- mate reign of the God of Israel (“All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord; and all the families of the nations shall worship before him. For dominion belongs to the Lord…”) Writing as a historian using modern critical tools, Anglican biblical scholar N.T. Wright describes the Jewish self-understanding of Jesus in these terms: “Jesus of Nazareth was conscious of a vocation: a vocation, given him by the one he knew as ‘father,’ to enact in himself what, in Israel’s scriptures, God had promised to accomplish…He would be the pillar of cloud and fire for the people of the new exodus. He would embody in himself the returning and redeeming action of the covenant God.” Or put another way (again by Wright), “Jesus believed that it was his vocation to be the embodiment of that which was spoken of in the Jewish sym- bols of Temple, Torah,Word, Spirit and Wisdom, namely, [God’s] saving presence in the world, or more fully, in Israel and for the world….”Thus, in his passion, death and resurrec- tion, the “name and character” of the God of Israel “would be fully and finally unveiled, made known.” Antisemitism comes in many forms these days. If those who invoke the “Palestinian Jesus” don’t grasp that, they might think again. — George Weigel’s column ‘The Catholic Difference’ is syndi- cated by the Denver Catholic, the official publication of the Archdio- cese of Denver. Remembering to follow the Jewish Jesus T Deacon Hector Donastorg HISPANIC MINISTRY ada año, la “Catholic Ex- tension Society”, una or- ganización dedicada a recaudar fondos que ayudan a garantizar que los católicos en Estados Unidos puedan practicar su fe dentro de comunidades religio- sas vibrantes, ofrece oportuni- dades de desarrollo en liderazgo para Latinas Católicas de las diferentes Diócesis que forman parte de dicha organización. De esta manera se reconoce el papel tan importante que juegan las mujeres en la evangelización, partiendo de la iglesia domes- tica hasta la formación catequé- tica en parroquias, escuelas e institutos de educación superior. Una de estas oportunidades o recursos es el programa “Mujer Valiente”, el cual reúne a lideres de todo el país con el fin de crear una red de apoyo y proveerles oportunidades de formación continua. El programa Mujer Valiente se extiende por todo un año, pero comienza con una confer- encia de tres días con las líderes latinas seleccionadas. Este año la conferencia se llevó a cabo a finales de febrero, en Miami, Florida, en el Instituto Pastoral del Sureste (SEPI). Después de la conferencia, las participantes toman cursos en línea por el resto del año, así como otras oportunidades de capacitación que les permiten crecer como líderes catequé- ticas y agentes pastorales de sus parroquias y comunidades. Este encuentro les ofrece charlas teo- lógicas, oración en comunidad, reflexión, diálogo y la oportuni- dad de compartir y aprender con otras líderes. Este año, dos mujeres valientes de la Arquidiócesis de Mobile, Maria Isabel Saavedra y Eugenia Zúñiga, catequistas comprometidas de las comuni- dades de Union Springs y Ope- lika, respectivamente, se unieron en Miami a otras lideres, que aunque con historias, edades y experiencias diferentes, tienen en común un mismo amor por la fe Católica y el deseo de ex- presarla de palabra y de acción. Le damos gracias a Dios de tener en cada rincón de la Ar- quidiócesis de Mobile a mujeres valientes, dispuestas, así como la Santísima Virgen Maria, a llevar a Jesús a sus comunidades a través de su trabajo evangeli- zador.  Every year, the Catholic Extension Society — a fund- raising organization dedicated to ensuring that all American Catholics can practice their faith within vibrant faith com- munities — offers leadership development opportunities for Latina Catholics from the different dioceses that it serves. In this way, the important role that women play in evangeli- zation is recognized, starting from the domestic church to catechetical formation in parishes, schools, and higher education institutes. One of these opportunities is the “Mujer Valiente” (Valiant Woman) program, which brings together leaders from all over the country in order to create a support network and provide them with training opportuni- ties. The Mujer Valiente program spans an entire year, beginning with a three-day conference with selected Latina leaders. This year the conference was held at the end of February in Miami at the Southeast Pasto- ral Institute (SEPI). After the conference, par- ticipants take online courses for the remainder of the year as well as other training op- portunities that allow them to grow as catechetical leaders and pastoral agents of their parishes and communities.This meeting offers them theological talks, community prayer, reflection, dialogue, and the opportunity to share and learn with other leaders. This year, two valiant women from the Archdio- cese of Mobile, Maria Isabel Saavedra and Eugenia Zúñiga, catechists from Union Springs and Opelika respectively, joined other leaders in Miami. Despite different life stories, ages and experiences, they share the same love for the Catholic faith and the desire to express it in word and action. We thank God for having valiant women in every corner of the Archdiocese of Mobile — willing — like the Blessed Virgin Mary, to bring Jesus communities through His evan- gelizing and caring mission. —Deacon Hector J. Donas- torg, is the Director of Hispanic Ministry for the Archdiocese of Mobile. He may be emailed at hdonastorg@mobarch.org MujerValiente - ValiantWoman C