By Connecticut Catholic Corner The moving story of a Jewish child saved by the family's Catholic cook.
Published on Aug 5, 2014 Daisy Gross is a holocaust survivor born in 1939 in Slovakia. While her whole family was being deported by the Germans, she was hidden by the family's cook who was a devout Catholic.
I’ve been watching the media coverage of the funeral (that never
was) for former Nazi Erich Priebke.
"ROME —
Former Nazi SS captain Erich Priebke, who died on Friday aged 100, never
understood why he was found responsible for a wartime massacre when all he had
done was obey orders."The
order came directly from Hitler in Berlin," he told the Italian military
tribunal which staged his first trial in Rome in 1996. "Anyone who refused
to obey would have been tried by the SS."Priebke
was sentenced to life in prison in 1998 for his role in the massacre at Rome's
Ardeatine caves in March 1944, which left 335 people dead, including 75 Jews." [source:HERE]
The Catholic Church formally and officially refused Priebke a
Catholic funeral. I’m OK with that. It’s Canon Law (#1184) and I actually think
the Church should go further in actually following Canon Law #1184- more on
that later.
Preibke (according to most sources, though not all) never
repented of his role in the deaths of just over three hundred people. About as close to any sort of remorse I could
find is his comment [from the same source as above]:
"He later
described the massacre as "a horrible thing, a personal tragedy" in a
long letter written at the time of his failed appeal.But he
stopped short of real remorse. "If I could have stopped this horror I
would have. My death would not have allowed for those innocents to be
saved," he wrote."
Preibke says he was “just following orders”.
“…Berlin
ordered the Rome SS chief Herbert Kappler to draw up a list of prisoners, Jews
and Roman citizens to be arrested.Kappler
delegated the task to Priebke, who drew up the list and checked off those who
went to their deaths. Priebke later admitted killing two of them himself.”
So Priebke follows evil Nazi orders, makes a list that results in
the death of hundreds of people and actually kills two of them himself. He’s a murder. He’s broken the Fifth Commandment…
THE FIFTH COMMANDMENT
You shall not kill.54You have heard that it was said to the men of old, "You shall
not kill: and whoever kills shall be liable to judgment." But I say to you
that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment.55
2258 "Human
life is sacred because from its beginning it involves the creative action
of God and it remains for ever in a special relationship with the Creator, who
is its sole end. God alone is the Lord of life from its beginning until its
end: no one can under any circumstance claim for himself the right directly to
destroy an innocent human being."56
And sadly he is an UNREPENTING murderer- according to sources anyway. So why won’t the
Catholic Church perform a funeral for an UNREPENTING murderer? Because of Canon Law 1184
Can. 1184 §1.Unless they gave some
signs of repentance before death, the following must be deprived of
ecclesiastical funerals:1/ notorious apostates, heretics, and
schismatics;2/ those who chose the cremation of their bodies
for reasons contrary to Christian faith;3/ other manifest sinners who cannot be granted
ecclesiastical funerals without public scandal of the faithful.§2. If any doubt occurs, the local ordinary is
to be consulted, and his judgment must be followed.
Now there are more ways to be a "murderer" than actually committing the crime with your own hands. If you voluntarily- yet indirectly cooperate with the murder of someone, that murder is on your hands. Such is the case with abortion and helping someone have an abortion.
2268The
fifth commandment forbids direct and intentional killing as gravely
sinful. The murderer and those who cooperate voluntarily in murder commit a sin
that cries out to heaven for vengeance.69Infanticide,70
fratricide, parricide, and the murder of a spouse are especially grave crimes
by reason of the natural bonds which they break. Concern for eugenics or public
health cannot justify any murder, even if commanded by public authority. 2269The
fifth commandment forbids doing anything with the intention of indirectly bringing
about a person's death. The moral law prohibits exposing someone to mortal
danger without grave reason, as well as refusing assistance to a person in
danger. The acceptance by human
society of murderous famines, without efforts to remedy them, is a scandalous
injustice and a grave offense. Those whose usurious and avaricious dealings
lead to the hunger and death of their brethren in the human family indirectly
commit homicide, which is imputable to them.71Unintentional killing is not morally imputable. But one is
not exonerated from grave offense if, without proportionate reasons, he has
acted in a way that brings about someone's death, even without the intention to
do so. 2272Formal
cooperation in an abortion constitutes a grave offense. The Church attaches the
canonical penalty of excommunication to this crime against human life. "A
person who procures a completed abortion incurs excommunication latae
sententiae,"77 "by the very commission of the
offense,"78 and subject to the conditions provided by Canon
Law.79 The Church does not thereby intend to restrict the scope of
mercy. Rather, she makes clear the gravity of the crime committed, the
irreparable harm done to the innocent who is put to death, as well as to the
parents and the whole of society.
From most media reports, Preibke never repented or showed true remorse
for the murders of hundreds of people aside from admitting it was a “horrible
thing”. Presuming that is correct, he was RIGHTLY denied a Catholic funeral.
That said, I find it sort of hypocritical that the Church
doesn’t ALSO refuse funerals for pro-abortion supporters (public politicians specifically) when they die. They indirectly help in the slaughter of millions of children. Murder is murder. A beating heart is stopped by the abortionist. A life ended. Now you might say "But you don't know if they repented just before death" and you would be right. But the "sin of scandal" still holds. The Church by providing a public funeral for such a person is a "cause for scandal among the faithful" (see Canon Law above). It's causes confusion. To any non-Catholics or Catholics who don't know to "cause public scandal" is in itself a sin. It must be confessed. But that's an entirely different discussion for another time. People who dedicate a good part of their "public service" life to ending the lives of others are indirect murderers.
Oh you know, folks like "Catholic" Senator Kennedy:
Kennedy (like Pelosi and Biden today) supported the murder of
MILLIONS of infants. He spent YEARS working FOR abortion. He publicly rejected Church teaching and worked for abortionists to murder millions of children. Indirect murder is still murder.
These “Catholic” pro-choice politicians are either
personally supporting abortion OR (as we often hear) “just doing what their
constituents” want. In other words, “just
following orders” (like Priebke taking orders from his Nazi superiors) from other people (Kennedy from his voters). Just "taking orders" doesn't mean you haven't directly or indirectly murdered someone.
So WHY does the Catholic Church SEEM to pick and choose which
unrepenting MURDERERS to have funerals for and which ones to deny? It seems to me the “scandal” caused by the Church having a
funeral for someone like Kennedy or Priebke is very different. SOME Catholics were offended and even scandalized by Kennedy's Catholic funeral (myself included here), while other Catholics and the secular world CHEERED it. Calling it 'beautiful' and 'fitting' because Kennedy advocated for "so many Catholic issues like immigration reform" etc., completely ignoring the butchered little bodies of the infants his politics caused. While direct and indirect murderer Priebke is openly hated for his crimes in the secular world and among Catholics, all objected to his having a Catholic funeral and it was refused. Is it right to treat them differently according to the Catholic catechism on direct and indirect murder, abortion, or Canon Law? Personally, I don't think so, but clearly those in the Church disagree, so perhaps I am wrong here. In my opinion, IF Kennedy died without repenting (the public can only go by what we see and heard from him publicly) Kennedy WRONGLY got a funeral that
looked like the Church was declaring him a Saint, while Priebke RIGHTLY is
denied a Catholic funeral. Should have been NO for both.
How about we say 'NO' to all of them? Saying "no" to all such unrepenting murderers would accomplish to very important things, 1) stop a scandal and 2) allow for teaching of Catholic doctrine on abortion. People don't seem to understand INDIRECT murder. Deny unrepenting pro-aborts Catholic funerals and TEACH the faith. If the Church doesn't we are left to wonder why did the Church provide an amazing funeral
mass with all Catholic “honors” to a man with the blood of MILLIONS of aborted
babies on his hands, while denying the man with the blood of hundreds of
innocent people on his hands? Both were murderers (directly or indirectly).
One difference, is one man had influence, money and power in the United
States. Other did not. Is that what we are think? I honestly don't know, but I have heard others say that is why Kennedy was "allowed" so much from the Church. There could be another reason, so no one should 100% presume to know the full truth- after all, we only have what we see and hear publicly to go on. The key is REPENTING. Did the Nazi murderer repent? Most sources say no, but one source I found seems to lean to a different conclusion...
In a statement, the society [schismatic Society of St. Pius X ] said it agreed to perform the funeral at the family's request because "no matter what the guilt or sins" anyone who dies reconciled with God and the Church "has the right to celebrate Mass and a funeral."
Did he repent before his death? I don't know. Does any of us know for sure? We (the general public) have decided that the former Nazi must not have repented so does not deserve a Catholic funeral, while just a few years ago many held a very different view for the funeral of an indirect murderer that we also had no idea if he ever repented. But we judged one as unrepentant and the other as repentant or not in need of repenting because he was so well liked in secular society.
Now I have to point out here NO ONE but Kennedy's priests know if he decided to repent at the end of his life. If he did, WONDERFUL. If he did, he deserved the full Catholic funeral. And perhaps he did, I hope for his sake that he DID repent before his death. But even if he repented and "deserved" a Catholic funeral, the SCANDAL it caused among the Catholic faithful might not have been worth it. But if he didn't... if he died as he lived supporting abortion... than he was an indirect murderer. An unrepenting murderer is an
unrepenting murderer.
Acts
10:34
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
34 And Peter opening his mouth, said: In very deed I perceive,
that God is not a respecter of persons.
According to God, we are all one and the same, none above
the other. Equal. The Church should treat us
that way in life and in death. If that's how God see us, why can't Christ's Church do the same?
I received an interesting email response from Reverend Ray Dubuque a United Methodist minister here in Connecticut, commenting on my recent post "Vote Yes! On Question #1!". Here is what the good Methodist Reverend had to say to me about my post and my Catholic faith:
Liberator_Rev has left a new comment on your post "VOTE YES! On Question #1": "Because your Catholic Church was not held accountable for its huge role in the Jewish Holocaust - which I document fully at JesusWouldBeFurious.Org/RCscandal - and you have never repented of that monstrous sin, confessed it and sought forgiveness for it, you are still engaged in promoting contempt for homosexuals as you did when your Roman Catholic Hitler persecuted the Jews AND homosexuals just a generation or so ago.When are you going to get around to promoting Christ's agenda, rather than Catholicism????" -Reverend Ray Dubuque of the United Methodist Church.
My response: What does the Jewish Holocaust have to do with voting yes to question #1 on this years Connecticut voting ballot? I fail to see the connection and have come to the conclusion that sales must be slow and you are trying to self promote yourself with my blog. Well I am all for capitalism and not socialism, so I will include your anti-Catholic nonsense link and wish you the best of luck in your endeavors. But what I won't do or allow, is your blatant lies to go unchecked on my blog. Perhaps "blatant lies" is too strong a word for me to use for a Methodist minister, perhaps I should chalk your comments and views up to simple ignorance? Well, here's to dispelling your ignorance with some true knowledge to help you grow as a clergyman and not be a stumbling block to your flock by teaching errors to them. 1) Your link to "Jesus Would be Furious" is nothing more then anti-Catholic hate and lies. I wouldn't line my dogs crate with that garbage. But you know what they say about "one man's garbage is another man's treasure...". 2) What "huge role" did the Catholic Church play in the Jewish Holocaust? You mean saving lives and excommunicating ANY Catholic who was a Nazi or voted for anyone in the Nazi party? Well thanks! I think the Church did well with that too, although it cost many Catholics their very lives to do so, they still did what was morally right instead of going with the flow. 3) The fact is that the conference of German bishops excommunicated all Nazis in 1930, and in the 1932 elections forbade Catholics to vote for a Nazi. The Church did stand up to the evil that was the Nazi party and they did save many lives. 4) Some quotes: -"Being a lover of freedom, when the revolution came in Germany, I looked to the universities to defend it, knowing that they had always boasted of their devotion to the cause of truth; but, no, the universities immediately were silenced. Then I looked to the great editors of the newspapers whose flaming editorials in days gone by had proclaimed their love of freedom; but they, like the universities, were silenced in a few short weeks...Only the Church stood squarely across the path of Hitler's campaign for suppressing truth. I never had any special interest in the Church before, but now I feel a great affection and admiration because the Church alone has had the courage and persistence to stand for intellectual truth and moral freedom. I am forced thus to confess that what I once despised I now praise unreservedly."- Albert Einstein- Time Magazine- December 23, 1940 -"The voice of Pius XII is a lonely voice in the silence and darkness enveloping Europe this Christmas... he is about the only ruler left on the Continent of Europe who dares to raise his voice at all... the Pope put himself squarely against Hitlerism... he left no doubt that the Nazi aims are also irreconcilable with his own conception of a Christian peace."-New York Times-December 25, 1941 -"I should like you to take this occasion to express to His Holiness my deeply-felt appreciation of the frequent action which the Holy See has taken on its own initiative in its generous and merciful efforts to render assistance to the victims of racial and religious persecutions." Franklin D. Roosevelt to Myron C. Taylor, August 3, 1944 -" . . I told him [the Pope] that my first duty was to thank him , and through him, the Catholic Church, on behalf of the Jewish public, for all they had done in the various countries to rescue Jews, to save children, and Jews in general." Moshe Sharett, Later First Israeli Foreign Minister (April 1945)
-"When fearful martyrdom came to our people, the voice of the pope was raised for its victims." Golda Meir, Israeli Foreign (October 1958) -". . . the Catholic Church, under the pontificate of Pope Pius XII was instrumental in saving at least 700,000, but probably as many as 860,000, Jews from certain death at Nazi hands." Pinchas E. Lapide, Three Popes and the Jews (1967) -"In his 1942 Christmas message, which The New York Times among others extolled, the pope became the first figure of international stature to condemn what was turning into the Holocaust." Kenneth Woodward, Newsweek (March 30, 1998) -". . . Pius XII was, genuinely and profoundly, a righteous gentile." Rabbi David G. Dalin, The Weekly Standard, February 26, 2001 5) And from Zenit news: "No one knows exactly how many Jews were hidden and saved by the Church, but according to "Three Popes and the Jews" by Jewish historian Emilio Pinchas Lapide, then consul general in Milan, "the Holy See, the nuncios, and the Catholic Church saved between 740,000 and 850,000 Jews from certain death." It is estimated that more than 80% of the Jews in Italy escaped the Nazi genocide. In Rome alone, the Jewish community has certified that the Church saved 4,447 Jews from the Holocaust." source: http://www.zenit.org/article-12040?l=english
6) Here is what Pope John Paul II had to say; The words of the ancient Psalm, rise from our hearts: "I have become like a broken vessel. I hear the whispering of many -- terror on every side -- as they scheme together against me, as they plot to take my life. But I trust in you, O Lord: I say, 'you are my God."' (Psalms 31:13-15) In this place of memories, the mind and heart and soul feel an extreme need for silence. Silence in which to remember. Silence in which to try to make some sense of the memories which come flooding back. Silence because there are no words strong enough to deplore the terrible tragedy of the Shoah. My own personal memories are of all that happened when the Nazis occupied Poland during the war. I remember my Jewish friends and neighbors, some of whom perished, while others survived. I have come to Yad Vashem to pay homage to the millions of Jewish people who, stripped of everything, especially of human dignity, were murdered in the Holocaust. More than half a century has passed, but the memories remain. Here, as at Auschwitz and many other places in Europe, we are overcome by the echo of the heart-rending laments of so many. Men, women and children, cry out to us from the depths of the horror that they knew. How can we fail to heed their cry? No one can forget or ignore what happened. No one can diminish its scale. We wish to remember. But we wish to remember for a purpose, namely to ensure that never again will evil prevail, as it did for the millions of innocent victims of Nazism. How could man have such utter contempt for man? Because he had reached the point of contempt for God. Only a godless ideology could plan and carry out the extermination of a whole people. The honor given to the 'Just Gentiles' by the state of Israel at Yad Vashem for having acted heroically to save Jews, sometimes to the point of giving their own lives, is a recognition that not even in the darkest hour is every light extinguished. That is why the Psalms and the entire Bible, though well aware of the human capacity for evil, also proclaims that evil will not have the last word. Out of the depths of pain and sorrow, the believer's heart cries out: "I trust in you, O Lord: 'I say, you are my God."' (Psalms 31:14) Jews and Christians share an immense spiritual patrimony, flowing from God's self-revelation. Our religious teachings and our spiritual experience demand that we overcome evil with good. We remember, but not with any desire for vengeance or as an incentive to hatred. For us, to remember is to pray for peace and justice, and to commit ourselves to their cause. Only a world at peace, with justice for all, can avoid repeating the mistakes and terrible crimes of the past. As bishop of Rome and successor of the Apostle Peter, I assure the Jewish people that the Catholic Church, motivated by the Gospel law of truth and love, and by no political considerations, is deeply saddened by the hatred, acts of persecution and displays of anti-Semitism directed against the Jews by Christians at any time and in any place. The church rejects racism in any form as a denial of the image of the Creator inherent in every human being. In this place of solemn remembrance, I fervently pray that our sorrow for the tragedy which the Jewish people suffered in the 20th century will lead to a new relationship between Christians and Jews. Let us build a new future in which there will be no more anti-Jewish feeling among Christians or anti-Christian feeling among Jews, but rather the mutual respect required of those who adore the one Creator and Lord, and look to Abraham as our common father in faith. The world must heed the warning that comes to us from the victims of the Holocaust, and from the testimony of the survivors. Here at Yad Vashem the memory lives on, and burns itself onto our souls. It makes us cry out: "I hear the whispering of many -- terror on every side -- but I trust in you, O Lord: I say, 'You are my God."' (Psalms 31:13-15) -Pope John Paul II - March 23, 2000-Yad Vashem, Israel's main Holocaust memorial-
The Catholic Church is promoting "Christ's agenda" in my opinion, but I have a feeling you Reverend see "Christ's agenda" as something else. To me "Christ's agenda" is the Gospel message. That is telling people that Jesus Christ is the Savior and putting into action the Great Commission (Matthew 28:8 "Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit,"). Let's see, hmmm... there are approximately over a BILLION Catholics worldwide and how many Methodists? I do thank you for sharing your views with myself and my blog readers. It's always enlightening and eye opening to see how others view things. May God bless you.
