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Dry Bones
A Shrine To What?
EC
is is one of the best-known names in the
annals of Detroit Jewry — sadly.
Just as Nazi Germany's Adolf Hitler
was whipping up the Aryan masses
against Jews, gypsies, homosexuals and
other perceived scourges of society, Father
Charles Coughlin of Royal Oak drew a
national radio audience to his anti-Jewish
rants, fueled in part by Henry Ford's similar outra-
geousness in the Dearborn Independent newspaper.
Significantly, people, publications or groups like
Woodrow Wilson, the Michigan Catholic and, to a
degree, the Archdiocese of Detroit criticized Father.
Coughlin's demeanor toward Jews during the dark
days preceding the Holocaust.
It was hardly just "Coughlin versus the Jews."
That's why we can't figure out why the clergy and
board of the National Shrine of the Little Flower, a
Royal Oak landmark, won't openly apologize for
Father Coughlin's strident verbal attacks on the Jew-
ish people. Such an apology would mark a major
stride toward coming clean some 65 years after
Father Coughlin, the church's founder, began to
spew his invective.
Even Cardinal Adam Maida, in a taping to be
aired on the Catholic Television Network of Detroit,
has courageously branded Father Coughlin's speech-
es anti-Semitic and "not where we're at today." His
clear apology follows a historic apology last year at
Temple Shir Shalom in West Bloomfield, where he
sought forgiveness for the Roman Catholic Church's
failure to defend the rights of Jews, especially during
the Shoah.
field-based Ecumenical Institute for Jew-
ish-Christian Studies. The service itself,
coming so near Passover, Easter and Yom
HaShoah, was not only timely, but also a
noble encounter. As the Ecu-
menical Institute's David Blewett
put it: "All of us Christians need
to confront issues, such as com-
plicity, indifference, apostasy,
wrong theologies and outright sinful
behavior towards Jews and Judaism."
Again, the service proved heart-rending for
those who were there.
Still, the service took place in the same
building where a historical display honoring
the Archdiocese of Detroit's 300th anniver-
sary contained a panel devoted to Father
Coughlin's 40-year career there: 1926 to
1966. The oft-quoted text on one of the
panels relates, in part, that Father Cough-
lin's "political involvement and passionate
rhetoric opened him to accusations of anti-
Semitism."
Not said is that the "accusations" were
true. Better wording would be: Father
Coughlin's "political involvement and pas-
sionate rhetoric projected the depth of his
anti-Semitic feelings." Putting it that way,
coupled with a sincere apology, would ele-
vate the display to something truly momen-
tous during the archdiocese's tricentennial
year.
EDITO RIAL
More Than Accusations
On March 25, the National Shrine of the Little
Flower hosted the second annual Christian Holo-
caust memorial service sponsored by the South-
Related coverage: page 27
Reaching Across The Aisle
This year's Christian Holocaust memorial service is
over. But before its uplifting message fades, the
National Shrine of the Little Flower's leaders should
reach across metro Detroit's spiritual aisles, condemn
Father Charles Coughlin's blatant anti-Semitism,
seek community forgiveness and correct the histori-
cal display's phrasing. By doing so, they, as represen-
tatives of one of our most prominent houses of wor-
ship, would bring Christians and Jews markedly
closer.
To duck reality in the display, and ignore it at the
service, is to veer sharply off the path of ecumenism
that Cardinal Maida has been so careful to blaze.
Should the church deliver a sincere apology,
Detroit Jewry must be willing to accept it in the
spirit of ecumenism and as an incentive to further-
ing Jewish-Catholic relations. ❑
Respecting Intermarriage, Too
Newton, Mass.
am dismayed at the news ("The Way We
Marry, " March 16, page 5) that a group of
Jewish leaders is organizing to promote the
importance of in-marriage.
Don't get me wrong. I'm not opposed to in-mar-
riage. It's just that many Jewish leaders have shown
in the past that their way of promoting in-marriage
is to condemn and seek to prevent intermarriage,
and to oppose outreach to the intermarried. If that's
I
Edmund C. Case is publisher of
InterfaithFamily.com , a nonprofit Internet maga-
zine produced by Jewish Family & Life!, of which he is
vice president.
3/30
2001
what happens again, this new
effort will be destructive and a
disservice to the Jewish commu-
nity.
Our Web site
InterfaithFamily.com attracts
thousands of monthly readers
who are seeking and finding
content that informs them how
their interfaith families can live
EDMUND C.
Jewishly and that welcomes
CASE
them to the Jewish community.
Special
That there is a strong desire
Commentary
to live Jewishly among many
interfaith families is evident from reader comments
like these:
• " [my main reason for visiting IFF is] to better
learn how I can blend into my fiance's Jewish family
and beliefs, and how we can create a cohesive and
healthy Jewish home."
• "I am 28, and my fiance is Jewish. We don't
belong to a synagogue right now, but we want to
have a Jewish home and raise our children as Jews,
so we have begun looking around at various syna-
gogues."
The Jewish community should do everything it
can to encourage the Jewish journeys of these inter-
faith families, and to encourage more interfaith fam-
ilies to make Jewish choices like these families have.
INTERMARRIAGE on page 29