Genocide And The People Responsible

The Church of Saint
Blase of the Armenians
in Rome

FBI Director, James B. Comey sparked a diplomatic crisis last week when, in a speech at the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington DC, he said:

“In their minds, the murderers and accomplices of Germany, and Poland, and Hungary, and so many, many other places didn’t so something evil. They convinced themselves it was the right thing to do, the thing they had to do.”

Both the Polish President and the Prime Minister were quick to react with the assertion—and the broadly truthful assertion—that the Poles were victims of Nazi aggression and not perpetrators.  (I have to qualify “truthful” with “broadly” because while Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany, and while Poles themselves were treated as a captive nation and its people regarded as semi-slaves of the Nazi State, and while a million and a half Poles were sent to forced labor in Germany or in the Nazi Camps, and while hundreds of thousands of Poles were imprisoned in Nazi Concentration camps, and while almost 2 million Poles of non-Jewish blood were murdered by the Nazis in addition to the three million Polish Jews who perished, there were Poles who collaborated with the Nazi Regime.  While before the war only about 800,000 Poles claimed to be Germans, once the Reich had subjected Poland approximately 3 million Polish citizens who could prove German blood enrolled in the Volksdeutsche, identifying them with their German ancestry and exempting them from the discriminations imposed against their neighbors of Slavic blood.   Among Poles of Slavic lineage, only several thousand became active collaborators with the Nazis—perhaps he lowest rate among the various conquered nations.  On the other hand, a strong strain of anti-Semitism that had been woven into Polish culture over the centuries—and which had been enflamed in the 20^th century by many Polish Catholic sources including some of the publications under the editorship of Saint Maximilian Kolbe—did not encourage Polish Catholics to resist the genocide that happened in their midst.   The Poles were not responsible for the genocide but the question must remain: were they innocent of the blood spilt in their midst?

That sounds harsh—and I will admit it—perhaps it is time to rethink responsibility.

What brings this subject to the fore is that this past week Pope Francis used the word “Genocide” to describe the murder of one and a half million Armenians by the Ottoman Turks during World War I.  The Turks have reacted even more strongly to the Pope than the Poles had to FBI Director Comey.  It is a dicey subject. Due to Diplomatic Pressure and NATO politics, President Obama has yet “to grow a pair” and call the Armenian massacre for what it was.  That is a huge disappointment—akin to the disappointment many of us felt in Pope Francis for his refusing to receive the Dalai Lama earlier this year out of fear of repercussions from the Beijing government.  Even the best of leaders occasionally need a shot of testosterone.  Ironically, Angela Merkel of Germany is not backing away from the term Genocide—something that given Germany’s glass house it takes a lot of chutzpah to do, but because Germany has taken responsibility for the atrocities of the Nazi era, they certainly can do. 

The Holocaust was not the only genocide for which the Third Reich must bear responsibility.  In addition to the attempted wholesale slaughter of European Jewry, Nazi policy aimed at whipping out the Romani (Gypsy) population of Europe, resulting in the death of between a quarter and a half million of the Roma.  Some scholars estimate that proportionately to their numbers, this was even more devastating than the murder of the six million Jews.  Under the cover of their Nazi overlords, the Croat State led by Prime Ministers Ante Pavelić and Nikola Mancić undertook the systematic slaughter not only of Jews and Roma people, but the Serbian population.   Under the same conditions, the Ukrainians, led by Dmytro Klyachkivsky, initiated the slaughter of the Polish adult male population of the Ukraine and Eastern Galicia.  In the same way, the Armenians were not the only victims of the Ottoman Turks as there were programs of mass slaughter directed against both the Assyrian and Greek populations of the Empire. 

The twentieth century was marred by many “ethnic cleansing” or genocidal programs. The 1994 Rwandan genocide and the 1992-95 ethnic cleansing of Bosnian Muslims by Serbs are two more examples.  The policies of the government of Indonesia against the indigenous population of East Timor, the policies of the Beijing regime against Tibet, the policies of Sri Lanka against the Tamil people—all are cited by some sources as “genocide,” and that tragically does not exhaust the list.  Indeed, there is a danger of trivializing the whole concept of genocide by showing just how common it has been.  All too often religion has played a role in genocide and no one’s hands—be they Catholic or Muslim or Buddhist or Hindu or Jewish—can claim to be clean of their brothers’ blood. 

This brings me to the point.  Instead of trying to fix the blame for genocide on one nationality or religion or other “grouping,” perhaps we all need to own our collective responsibility for the occurrence and reoccurrence of this heinous crime against God and against the human race.  Turkey’s refusal to acknowledge responsibility is pathetic but is not significantly different, in this world that has become a global village, from your and my denial of complicity.  I was not yet born during the Nazi atrocities and granted, I can’t take responsibility for what happened in those years. I have, however, lived through Rwanda and Kosovo and Bosnia and Cambodia and how many other mass slaughters over the last half-century.  Given the “global village” created by our mass media, how do I differ from the villager in Oswiecim who saw the trains roll by day and night, who saw the smoke by day and the sky lit by the eerie glow of the furnaces by night, who smelled the foul air of burning flesh and went on his daily life of Mass in the village Church, of going to work, of eating his supper, of making love to his wife?  The problem is not simply that some government people in Ankara won’t take responsibility or some officials in Warsaw are offended by a remark that hits too close to home.  The problem is that we all are cynical enough to say to God at the end of the day, “Am I My Brother’s Keeper?”

Same-Sex Marriage and The Bully Pulpit of El Paso




Saint Pedro de Jesús Maldonado was

a priest ordained in the Cathedral of

El Paso in 1918 and martyred for the

faith during the Mexican Persecutions

in 1937

Well, another tempest in the ecclesiastical teapot.  Father Michael Rodriguez has been reassigned to a parish outside the city of El Paso Texas by his Diocesan bishop, Armando Xavier Ochoa because Father Rodriguez had become somewhat of a political activist in city politics in regard to the issue of same-sex marriage.  Critics of the bishop claim that the reassignment is to protect the Church from losing its tax-exempt status—not for profits being required by federal law not to be directly involved in political action.  From what I have read, this seems to be an accurate surmise on why the bishop transferred Father Rodriguez from a parish within the city where the debate is raging to a parish outside the city where he can devote himself to the spiritual concerns of the people entrusted to his care.  To Father Rodriguez’s credit, he explicitly recognized in his statement to the press that trying to be a good priest he would obey his bishop and he departed to take up his new assignment.  It does raise the question of what is the role of the clergy in political debate. 
     The next several Sundays parking lots in many Catholic churches will be leafleted with partisan literature advocating one candidate or another because this candidate is pro-life and anti-same-sex marriage or because this candidate’s opponent is pro-abortion or pro-same-sex marriage.  Some pastors will try to stop the leafleting  squads, others will invite them into the rectory for coffee and rolls.  Many people don’t see the issue with the Church endorsing a particular political candidate.  Unfortunately the United States tax code does.   What is the role of the Church when it comes to politics? 
      There are serious moral issues and the Church must struggle to maintain its right to speak on moral issues even when those moral issues have political repercussions.  There is much debate about the role of Pope Pius XII and the Nazi Holocaust.  Some claim that the Pope “did what he could.”  Others claim that he did nothing.  From the viewpoint of history, even if Pius did “all he could” he did not do enough.  I am not a foe of Pius; in fact I would rank him as one of the greatest popes of the 20^th century, perhaps even the greatest.  He was not indifferent to the suffering of the victims of the Nazi regime.  He took particular interest in saving the Jews of Rome and was proactive in that cause.  The Italian Jews in general and the Roman Jews in particular suffered fewer deportations and subsequent murders than Jews in the rest of Axis and occupied Europe.  This was due to a number of factors but not least of these factors was the role of the Catholic Church and of the Pope.  Nevertheless, Pope Pius XII  still failed to meet the moral challenge. He was very unwise not to speak more clearly both in condemning the racial policies of National Socialism and in warning the peoples of Europe of the exact nature of the Nazi Holocaust. 
      There were courageous churchmen who did speak out against the Nazis.  Konrad von Preysing was the Bishop of Berlin from 1935 until his death in 1950.  He was an outspoken opponent of the Nazi Regime and both its policy of eugenics and extermination of the Jews.  Bernhard Lichtenberg, provost of von Preysing’s Cathedral in Berlin, was arrested and sent to Dachau for his public prayers for the Jews. He died on his way to the camp.  Clemens Augustus Graf (Count) von Galen, bishop of Münster was another vehement oppose of the Nazi Regime.  He had openly supported the Protestant candidate, Paul von Hindenburg, for the Reichs presidency  in 1925 in the hopes of preserving the Weimar Republic and he actively opposed the Nazi party in the 1933 elections.  During the Nazi regime he regularly preached against its policies.  There are times when regardless of the restrictions of civil law, those entrusted with preaching the gospel must speak up and speak out.
     Nevertheless, I am not sure that Father Rodriguez falls into the same league as the Cardinals von Preysing and von Galen or even Canon Lichtenberg.  No one can legitimately  complain about a sermon upholding the traditional view of the sacred nature of marriage between one man and one woman any more than we could fault a sermon on the sanctity of human life.  In the same way priests and deacons need to speak up not only against abortion but against the death penalty, against wars that the Catholic Church has declared acts of unjust aggression, against funding the training of assassins in our military installations,  against torture, and other attacks on human life and dignity.  I defend priests and religious demonstrating at the gates of Fort Benning where the notorious Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (formerly known as “The School of the Americas”) and so I need to defend priests and religious marching or praying in front of abortion mills.  I think Catholics were far too slow to get into the Civil Rights movement and the anti-war movement of the ‘60’s and ‘70’s and so I need to applaud those Catholics who come out in defense of life every January.  Churchmen—and Churchwomen—don’t lose their rights to voice their political views as individuals even if the tax-exempt organization to which they belong must abstain from overt political activity.  It is a fine line.  But I do not think that the clergy or religious should go to public gatherings and give political opinions.  I don’t believe that a priest or religious belongs addressing a city council meeting or other governmental body unless they are called as an expert witness to give testimony—in which case they are not there as a member of the clergy but as a sociologist, psychologist, lawyer, or whatever their field of expertise is.  Catholic doctrine qua Catholic doctrine does not belong in the political forum any more than does the doctrinal teachings of any other religion.  If the clergy are doing their job of informing their laity, educating their laity in the teachings of the Church, it is the role of the laity not the clergy to participate in political life.  I believe—and I am speaking only as an individual—but I believe that it is the work of the clergy to change hearts and it is the apostolate of those changed hearts to change the laws.  So I think Bishop Ochoa is right.  Keep Father Rodriguez in a pulpit, but get him out of City Council Meetings.  Oh, and by the way, remind him that according to the norms of the Third Plenary Council of Baltimore, the cassock is proper to church property, not to public appearances whether of duty or recreation. 

Never Forget

A mural on a wall in Kazimierz, the

old Jewish quarter of Krakow where

a vibrant Jewish community thrived

until destroyed in the Holocaust.

The Jewish Community of Krakow is an orthodox Jewish community the range of which is the south-east part of Poland. Currently the Community numbers about 100 members. The main synagogue which is functioning is the orthodox Remuh Synagogue. Additionally, sometimes two other synagogues are used for services, the Kupa Synagogue and the Tempel Synagogue. Apart from that the Congregation is the legal owner of the following synagogues in Krakow: the Old Synagogue (Alte Shul; currently a museum), Isaac Synagogue, High Synagogue, Popper Synagogue, Mizrachi Shul and other buildings located in the Małopolska area, such as synagogues in Bobowa, Grybów or Słomniki. Also, the Congregation is takes care of the following cemeteries: the New Cemetery (the only functioning Jewish cemetery in Krakow), the Remuh Cemetery and the Abraham Cemetery in Krakow; cemeteries in Tarnów, Nowy Targ, Zakopane, Bochnia, Nowy Sącz, Krynica, Łabowa and Gorlice. The congregation also holds a kosher lunchroom, seniors' club and a mikveh. The Chief Rabbi of Krakow is Rabbi Boaz Pash. An important part of the Jewish life in Krakow is the Jewish Community Centre (JCC Krakow) which was established due to an initiative of His Royal Highness, Prince Charles of Wales, the Jewish Religious Congregation in Krakow and with the support of World Jewish Relief and American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee. The Jewish Community Centre in Krakow is a vibrant and living place, and educational and cultural centre, and the meeting place for the Jewish community.

        I found this information on a website about the Jewish Community in Krakow while researching another topic and it struck me to the heart.  I have been to Krakow several times; it is one of my favorite cities in Europe.  it was only on my third visit to the city, however, that I went to Kazimierz, the old Jewish Quarter and saw the remains of a once vibrant culture that was all but destroyed—indeed I think one can say was destroyed—by the ravages of the Holocaust.  Look at the number of synagogues once needed: The Remuh Synagogue, the Tempel Synagogue, the Kupa Synagogue, the Alte Shul, the Issac Synagogue, the High Synagogue, the Popper Synagogue, the Mizrachi Shul –all these synagogues and now only one hundred Jews in Krakow!!!  As best as I can determine there were approximately 64,000 Jews in Krakow before the Nazi invasion of 1939, and now there are a hundred.  It is sobering to think of such loss of life.  
       I have been twice to Auschwitz I (the work camp) and Auschwitz Birkenau (the extermination camp) on the edge of Krakow. One should never go to these places more than once.  The camps are seared into your memory.  There was absolutely nothing that I saw the second time that I had not remembered in horrid detail from my first visit.  We must ask ourselves how this sort of hatred could have existed.  We must ask ourselves why we failed as Christians and as a Church to protest it.  anyone who says it could not happen again, is either naïve or disingenuous.  It may not be the Jews, but it could be anyone.  Hatred and prejudice run strong in cultures under economic or political stress.  At some point I want to do some entries on Catholicism and anti-semitism as well as Catholicism and the Third Reich.  The stories are very complex.  But for today, I just think of the tens of thousands of ghosts of Kazimierz—the children, the women, the old men, the pregnant, the ill, the poor and the rich, the believers and the non-believers—whose lives and heritage were snuffed out.