A fried sent me an email that she thought I would be interested in.  I am not certain if she was aware of previous similar posts to this blog or thought my interest would be because I am Jewish.  But it does not really matter.  It is something that I will comment on.

I thing the title of the article is a little misleading.  I don't believe that Jews in general are upset by the latest statement by the Vatican.  It is only one more in a series of bizarre declarations from a former Nazi who has attacked every other culture which conflicts with his own.  In a sense, it was expected.  I am not shocked or dismayed by this latest relevation.  I am just disappointed that a spiritual leader for so many sould be so short-sighted and bigoted.

From http://www.jta.org/cgi-bin/iowa/breaking/106834.html

A coalition of Jewish groups expressed disappointment at the new text of the Catholic Church's Prayer for the Jews.

The prayer removes language considered offensive to Jews, including a reference to Jews’ “blindness” and a call that God “may lift the veil from their hearts,” but still prays for the salvation of the Jews exclusively through conversion to Christianity.

Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday unveiled the replacement for the Good Friday prayer in Latin, which is not used by most of the world's 1.1 billion Catholics.

"We had hoped that the prayer in the Latin rite would be the same as that of the universal Catholic liturgy in use since 1970," said Rabbi David Rosen, the chairman of the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultations. "This new version for the Latin rite appears to be a regression from the path advanced by the declaration of the second Vatican Council. We urge the Catholic Church to deepen its exploration of the full implications of Nostra Aetate's affirmation of the eternal validity of God’s Divine Covenant with the Jewish People."

IJCIC, a coalition of Jewish organizations representing world Jewry to other world religious bodies, is the formal Jewish partner of the Vatican.

Ney York Times Article here (requires registration)

United Press International here

Reuters here