Too true!  Every time I need a wake-up call to how my faith is viewed by the world at large, a few minutes in the comments section of the secular media reminds me of how hated we are for any number of reasons.  It actually works to strengthen my faith as I have to keep choosing it over and over in a hostile environment, but it’s not the way I would prefer to grow in faith.
What really makes me sad, however, is when I read comments in Catholic media.  Then I see how much we hate ourselves.  Those with a passion (for the Latin Mass, female alter servers, Life Teen, novenas, Gregorian chant,  charismatic worship, women wearing skirts, the new/old translation of the Mass, pick your topic) are happy to denounce anyone who doesn’t live up to their standards of what makes proper Catholic worship and lifestyle. 
If we must pick up our swords, I would rather we do it facing outwards than inwards.

Beautifully written, Sim!

If it wasn’t for FOX News, I wouldn’t even have known it was Hanukkah.They aired a “Happy Hanukkah” greeting between the commercial breaks.
I’m dismayed by the anti-Catholic comments I see, too but I realize there’s often a world of hurt beyond the anger.When we react in kind it only fuels the flames & hardens hearts.

And thanks for the link to the Hanukkah article! That was very interesting! I’m one of those ignorant Americans who didn’t really know what the holiday was about!

I’ve been feeling rather embattled too and that’s why I loved Pope Benedict’s letter to the German bishops about the “for many” translation in the Eucharistic prayer.  Usually, one only hears Benedict quoted about a smaller, purified remnant - but this letter gives another perspective and it’s one that gives me a lot of hope.
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/letters/2012/documents/hf_ben-xvi_let_20120414_zollitsch_en.html

If you wish, I have for a long time seen it this way: Advent grows out of Hanukkah organically.

I’ve been thinking along all these lines for years.  Remember, Simcha; the pen is mightier than the sword.

@Anna Thank you so much for posting the link to the letter to the German bishops.  It’s an excellent explanation and it satisfied some of the questions I have had about the for many/for all distinction.  I’ll point people to it in the future.

@bearing: yes, I liked it for that specific explanation too.  And I find it hopeful generally, just because of that closing bit about how we *are* many, even though it’s easy to feel like the losing side!

Powerful reflection, Simcha, and thanks to Anna for the link to the Pope’s letter.  I’ve struggled with the “for many” words, and B16’s beautiful, layered explanation resolves my questions, and, indeed, gives hope.  We are many!

I don’t think its fair to say (if that’s what you’re implying) that every non-Catholic who criticizes the church is “so angry” at it and “wants to sacrifice pigs on (its) altar”. Think of every time you criticize Judaism, Protestantism or any faith that is not Catholic. I don’t think you view them as Antiochus viewed the Maccabees.
Also, as a non-Catholic, I find plenty of criticism of the church to be legitimate, just as I’m sure you have legitimate criticisms of other faiths. I"m sure there are plenty of people who just bear an irrational grudge against the Catholic church, but you don’t like it when other people make generalizations or perpetuate stereotypes about Catholics. Make sure that you aren’t doing the same.
(Please understand, I"m a big fan of this blog. This is just something that often bothers me when it comes up)

I accept.

Eva, children made in the image and likeness of God are being sacrificed on the altars of convenience.  Catholics have deplored these acts of murder since the beginning.  Now the secular powers that be won’t stop at making us tolerate this bloodshed in our midst; they want us to take part in it, and pay for it as well.  Which is the greater abomination?  The pig?—Or the child?

Also, one needs to draw the line between sinful behavior in the Church, and the actual Faith of the Church—there is a world of difference.

In the web-site where I play chess and chat in the religion/theology channel, I found out that the ag/aths like to play this game:  it is called getting the Christians to act Christiany.  They actually use that word, coined it themselves, I guess:  Christiany.  //  In his book, Orthodoxy, G. K. Chesterton says that people abuse the lion in the imagery of the lion lying down with the lamb.  He says that people picture the lion taking on the attributes of the lamb and that this is the wrong picture.  He says that the mystery and power in the image is that the lion lies down with the lamb while maintain all lion-like characteristics.—and still does the lamb no harm.  //  G. K. Chesterton really did carry a sword with him, one of those cane swords, as well as a revolver, when he went out in public.—was never known to have had to use either of them.  //  A little focus and some temper never hurt no one. 

I didn’t intend to insult the Catholic Church, and I am actually anti-abortion. I just wanted to press that not all who criticize either Catholics or Catholic theology have some kind of deep-seated, vicious anger against the Church and hope to destroy it. Many just see things about it that they see as incorrect, just as, on this blog, Simcha often talks about ideas or practices in other faiths she doesn’t agree with.
And since non-Catholic groups are often painted with a bit of a broad brush here, and things are said about them that aren’t always fair or true, its important for them to be treated with the respect that you wish Catholics were.
Again, I really like this blog for lots of reasons, but this is one thing about it that sometimes frustrates me.

I don’t own a TV but read a lot of news on the internet and watch clips from the Today Show online. The Today Show has NO Christian symbol of Christmas in the studio background—that would be an abomination!—but it does have a shamash candle directly behind the reporters. Double standard? You BET!

Then I had a revelation a few days ago. Yes, there are a significant number of persons of Jewish ethnicity in the MSM and Hollywood, and they get under my skin because they are so anti-Christian in general and anti-Catholic in particular (Andrea Mitchell is one who comes to mind). Know what? They remind me of so many fallen away Catholics—bitter, angry, resentful, with an axe to grind!

Let’s pray that these cultural Jews find, or re-find the faith of their fathers. I think that they could be a force for good like Michael Medved. Whatdayathink, Simcha?

Wow. You hit the nail right on its head, as usual. Thanks!

“All it takes for evil to flourish, is for good men to do nothing”.
.
Eva, you are correct when you say that the vast populace doesn’t have “deep seated vicious anger”, toward the Catholic Church, but isn’t it true that in our world’s worst moments, all it took was the actions of a small group of deliberate, vicious people, to seize power, and steer the masses on a ruinous path?  Evil always finds a way to inflame the masses with just enough venom to stir “righteous” anger—whether it is class warfare or “righting” historical “wrongs”. At present, we have watched an unprecedented decline in the building block of stable society, which is the family.  The Church continues to hold fast to her teachings on traditional marriage, sanctity of life, and life giving love.  It condemns behavior that destabilizes marriage, parents, and children.  It now has 30 years of track-able statistics to prove that the behaviors she condemned have indeed led to the break down of marriage and the abuse of children that she predicted in the momentous (visionary) Encyclical “Humanae Vitae”.  Instead of taking note, the secular world is now pushing back *hard*.  It is so intoxicated with the perceived “freedoms” of licentiousness, it guards *licentiousness* viciously.  (The church continues to preach that this is slavery, not freedom) No longer does society reflect on whether it is moral to use another human being as something to be consumed and disposed of, they angrily point at *us*, demanding that our teachings be put away and even prosecuted as “bigotry”, or “hate crimes”, because our ministers (the brave ones) have the TEMERITY to preach to their *own congregations* against such practices.  There are now cases where Catholic schools are being forcibly silenced on the Church’s teaching on marriage and homosexual practices.  This is only the tip of the iceberg too.  It’s about to get much worse.

I’m no fan of the Today Show, but they’re not necessarily favoring Judaism by featuring a Shamash candle, as long as they also have a Christmas tree or something. The Shamash isn’t a religious symbol any more than a Christmas tree is.
And the thing about the left-wing Jewish aversion to right-wing Christians is (sadly) true. (not true of all left-wing Jews, of course!).

I’m sorry that Catholics are being unfairly labeled for their beliefs, and also sorry that some Catholics are no longer allowed to teach their beliefs to their own congregations/children. But I still think that people should be allowed to criticize Catholics/Catholicism and (as long as their criticisms are respectful and fair) not be labeled as akin to Antiochus, etc. Just as people are allowed to criticize any other faith or belief system.

Thank you, well said.

Mom or Grandmom, which is it?  The analogy of a candle is very apt.  Forced underground, the last faithful Jews were trying to “keep the light of faith burning.”  When we read about the zeal with which they died rather than eat pork, we are struck by the oddity of it.  Die over pork?  But the religious practice itself is not at issue.  They died to “keep faith alive.” 

At last this holy fire seemed destined to be extinguished.  (As it does now.)  The miracle of Hanukkah is that the Lord himself kept the flame lit, beyond what even seriously heroic efforts could accomplish.  That is all our hope at all times:

The Lord is my Light and my Salvation.  Whom should I fear.

Eva,

What Simcha is referring to is not just difference of opinions about practice and theology.  If you go to almost any MSM story that mentions the Catholic Church and start scanning through the comments section, it is horrendous.

Usually within the first two to three comments you’ll find the words “pedophile” and “bigot” usually paired with several expletives.  Then there are usually about 1500 misrepresentations of Church teaching, and anyone who tries to offer a correction or refutation gets horribly flamed. 

It is far from respectful and fair.  And it doesn’t just happen every once in a while, it happens 9 out of 10 times with every news story I read that mentions the Church.  Then you have anti-Catholic people intentionally desecrating the Eucharist to applause online.

I don’t think that most people here are adverse to respectful discussion and debate about theological differences….except the trolls.

To be honest I’ve always had a bit of pull to commemorate Hanukkah.  I’ve even looked at buying a Menorah from time to time.  After all, the story is in scripture; it’s part of our Catholic Christian heritage.  But I wasn’t sure if it was proper thing for Catholics to do or not.

For Simcha and her family, given their heritage as Hebrew Catholics, it seems more appropriate than it might be for goyyim like me and mine.

Sorry Eva,

But the shamash candle or memorah IS a religious symbol, and a very significant religious symbol currently in use today. It has never lost its religious significance in Jewish culture/religion and has not been adapted as a “holiday” symbol by any other culture: http://www.chabad.org/holidays/chanukah/article_cdo/aid/605036/jewish/Chanukah-FAQs.htm

Where as the Christmas tree dates back to the Egyptian pagan god, Ra. This symbol was “Christianized” years later, but to many Americans and others around the world it no longer has any religious significance other than a holiday tree: http://www.history.com/topics/history-of-christmas-trees

I’m Jewish, and while the Chanukah menorah is a religious symbol for some Jews (nothing like a cross is for Christians), for many Jews it has become nearly as commercialized as the Christmas tree.
Also, no one who isn’t Jewish would be expected to know this, but be careful about information you get from Chabad. It would be kind of like if a non-Catholic was learning about the faith only from Opus Dei.

Eva,

Thanks for the info on the shamash candle. I learned something. But even if there are Jews who see the Chanukah menorah as secular item, most of us in the wider sphere only know it in a religious context and seeing it as a backdrop on the Today Show is a clear reference to a particular religious feast in the minds of many. There has not been the hard push to avoid saying “Happy Chanukah” during the December festivities like there has been to avoid saying “Merry Christmas” by the MSM.

Be careful what you say about Opus Dei. It is a very solid Catholic lay association that would only disseminate the most accurate of information about Catholicism, so your reference is not accurate.

You’re right, as a non-Catholic I don’t have much authority (or knowledge) about Opus Dei. And it does seem to be true that the Today show and much of the media are biased against conservative Catholics and Protestants, which is a shame.
Regarding the point above about dying to avoid eating pork - the comment itself was completely respectful, but I hope non-Jews understand the stance modern Jewish law (created after the Chanukah story occurred) has about that. If a Jew is in a situation where he (or she) has to eat pork or die, he is not only permitted but REQUIRED to eat the pork. Judaism is very much a religion that values life. The only commandments Jews are supposed to die rather than break are the prohibitions against idol worship/desecration of God’s name, adultery, and murder.

Simcha—I am Catholic, my beautiful husband is Jewish. Every year we light the hanukkiah alongside our Advent candles, taking care not to torch the ornaments on the Jesse tree which stands alongside them both. We dedicate ourselves to the Lord, and retell the stories of my children’s ancestors who were hammers against those who would destroy their faith.
Tonight we hung the Burning Bush on the Jesse Tree and talked about Moses and how the pharaoh had ordered the midwives to kill the Israelite’s sons, and I retold the story of Judah Maccabee.
Today the fight is no less stark, and the outcome seems just as hopeless as it did to those men in those days. May the Lord bless us all abundantly during these times of miracles and wonder. Amen!

Syncretism?

I died tonight.

I was subjected to waterboarding - a harmless inquisitorial technique.  But since my heart is weak, I succumbed.  Before dying, I had the satisfaction of knowing that my wife would be similarly maltreated, and that my two sons would pass from us to an “appropriate” couple, who would assure all our efforts to pass on the faith would be to no avail.

Why was I questioned?  I had knowledge of the location of a secret “Rock Mass,” and the identity of four or five liturgical leaders.  I was given away by an informer, who posed as a worshipper, and received spiritual counselling from me.

Why should you care?  The Rock Mass was held on this website, and most of you were there.

Simcha, this is particularly touching to me as my daughter—who did not enter the Church with my husband and me, being at the time in her college years and unsure of religion in general,  prepares for her marriage by reconnecting with her Jewish heritage.  Like her mother, she has the need to being at the beginning and I have been so pleased to see her awakening in God’s love as a result of her diving deep into her Jewish past.  Where the journey will end, I do not know.  I do know being a Jew made it possible for me to become a Catholic.  And as I light my wreath and she lights her menorah, I am pleased that God speaks to us both in all those candles, even as I recognize that there are struggles ahead for us both in our private faith and in our public expressions.  Thanks for a beautiful post.

Very nice. You should check out Holy Heroes and the free Advent Adventure they have going on.

Matt, Take your medicine.  You are brilliant when you are keeping it together.  Your delusional side is fascinating, but it throttles your noble soul.  Just say no the the demons.

Notjustamom, The pills are getting too big to swallow and too many to count.  Thank you for the kind word.

Lol justamom.