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A Saint And A Sinner
CATHY SHAF RAN
Special to The Jewish News
T
he Catholic
Church has
designated the
Shrine of the
Little Flower in Royal
Oak a national shrine,
prompting concern
among some local Jews
that the move could be
seen as sanctioning the
anti-Semitism of the
church's founder, Father
Charles Coughlin.
The shrine is one of
only five of such holy
sites in the United States,
and local Catholic leaders
say the church will likely
draw pilgrims from across
the country at the same
time the Pope is calling
for increased pilgrimage
to help celebrate the new
millennium.
But Janis Braun-Levine
of Farmington Hills said
she was concerned mostly
by what the Catholic
church failed to point
out. "I'm not saying the
honor shouldn't have
been given," she said,
"but people should
understand that it's being
Exterior of the Shrine of the Little Flower.
given to a prominent
church in Detroit that
had a very dark past."
Coughlin gained
celebrity status in the
mid-'20s with his nation-
wide radio broadcasts and
his sermons helped raise
enough money to build
II. His broadcasts, some scholars sug-
the monumental Shrine of the Little
Flower Church. It was named in honor gest, inspired hate mobs that began to
plot the downfall of the federal gov-
of St. Therese of Lisieux, a young
ernment and disenfranchisement of
French Carmelite nun nicknamed the
American Jews.
Little Flower. The edifice stands today,
By the 1940s, the Catholic Church
as it did in its inception, at the corner
stepped
in, silencing Coughlin's pro-
of Woodward and 12 Mile.
Nazi
messages.
By the '30s, Coughlin's broadcasts
"I think people need to understand
from his Royal Oak church were heard
this
is what happened in the past, and if
in over a third of all American homes.
the
church
is being given this distinc-
In the mid-'30s, however, the broad-
tion, they must recognize what hap-
casts began to take on an anti-Semitic
pened in the past and say 'we regret' and
and pro-Hitler tone.
show some remorse, said Braun-Levine.
Coughlin blamed Jews for every-
Her concerns were shared by the
thing from the Great Depression to
Anti-Defamation
League in Michigan.
American involvement in World War
"I was disturbed that a
decision like this was made
without any apparent sen-
sitivity to the history to
the Jewish community in
the context of the history
of Father Coughlin," said
Don Cohen, head of the
Anti Defamation League's
Michigan chapter.
"An important part of
Coughlin's legacy was his
virulent and influential
anti-Semitism," said
Cohen. "On the face of
it," he said, the designa-
tion "appears to be mis-
guided."
"I don't believe it was
designated as a shrine to
recognize Coughlin," he
said, "but I think it could
have the effect of legit-
imizing his work that
came from this building."
He said he intended to
talk with officials of the
church and of the
Catholic Archdiocese of
Detroit about the action.
Sharona Shapiro, of the
American Jewish
Committee in Michigan,
which has been involved in
efforts to build ties between
the local Catholic and
Jewish communities, notes
that over the past 20 years,
the Shrine of the Little
Flower has made efforts to
overturn Coughlin's "legacy
of hate.
"I hope they point out,"
she said, "that during a spe-
cific period of time, Father
Coughlin perpetuated anti-
Semitic rhetoric to the masses and dur-
ing that time, it was a sad and distressing
part of the shrine's history," said Shapiro,
A spokesman for the archdiocese
downplayed any need to address the
Coughlin issue in the context of the
church's national shrine designation.
"This is not to glorify Coughlin
or call attention to him," said Father
John West, a theologian in the edu-
cation department of the archdio-
cese. "This was intended to glorify
St. Therese. It's a Catholic matter. If
there was any sense it would offend
sensitivity, then the issue would have
been raised." PI
Does honoring Shrine of the
Little Flower sanction
Fat her Coughlin's anti-Semitism?
"
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1999
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