The New Temple and the Old
I have long contended that Catholicism is closer to the Jewish religion of Jesus’ time than is Judaism. No one agrees with me, except a Jewish doctor in Charles Scribner III’s The Shadow of God:
The cardinal’s longtime physician in the States, a Jewish doctor, had recently retired from his American practice and had settled in Rome. Cardinal Wright was puzzled by this choice of cities. Why, he asked, did the doctor choose the center of Catholicism, a city so steeped in ecclesiastical trappings and culture? The doctor pointed to St. Peter’s as he replied: “Well, you see, we no longer have our Temple in Jerusalem. Your St. Peter’s, its successor, is the closest thing to it, along with your priesthood, and tabernacle, and Holy of Holies.”
posted by Leo Wong at 3:32 PM
1 Comments:
Another comment from 4logos, a new reader who also deplores microphones in Mass.
If you have never read Before the Dawn, the conversion story of the chief Rabbi of Rome during WWII, Rabbi Zolli, you can get it from The Association of Hebrew Catholics. They have a website. Also check out the conversion story of Rosalind Moss, in Home at Last (Catholic Answers Publ.) One thing that drew me to the Church as a Protestant was its Jewish "look". How could the church of my upbringing reject so much that was Jewish? Reading and re-reading the books of Chaim Potok has also been a huge and holy blessing, as far as the continuity of holiness is concerned. What has happened to the Seriousness, the Gravity, the Solemnity, the Fixed Gaze? I could be on a soapbox with this.
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