Bill Donohue comments on an article written by Rabbi Arthur Waskow of The Shalom Center that appeared yesterday on the Huffington Post:
Rabbi Waskow is no friend of the Catholic community, and now he is back with another screed, “The Pope, the Church, Rabbis, and Women.” For starters, he is pro-abortion and pro-gay marriage. Fine. That’s his business. But Waskow is not prepared to simply disagree with the teachings of the Catholic Church on these issues—he “condemns” them.
In particular, he objects to the Church’s teaching on ordination. “We condemn the Pope’s and the Church’s ideas and actions in regard to women precisely because it reverses their theology toward the Earth.”
Now it may come as a shocker to Waskow, but the pope’s ideas and the Church’s ideas are one and the same. Here is how Pope Francis recently put it when asked about his position on sexual issues: “The position of the Church. I am a son of the Church.”
Regarding Waskow’s comment that the Church’s teachings and actions on women “reverses their theology toward the Earth,” I give up: I have no idea what he is talking about. But neither does he.
Waskow acknowledges that a fellow rabbi recently took him to task when he demanded that the Synod of Bishops should ordain women. The rabbi chastised him for getting involved in an “internal issue of the Catholic Church.” That rabbi is right.
When it comes to a public policy issue such as abortion, that is one thing—the Church is fair game for criticism. However, when it comes to a purely internal matter such as ordination, that is no one else’s business. House rules need to be respected. Waskow, unfortunately, does not respect boundaries, and he definitely has a hard time showing respect for Catholicism.
