Posted on 01/19/2012 2:14:07 PM PST by NYer
How do you write “Trinity” in Hebrew? And “Immaculate Conception”? The problem is not the mere translation of the words but the context in which Christian truths are presented. Hebrew culture and theology are not acquainted with these concepts, and so the language doesn't allow access to them. 
And yet for this reason, the first three volumes of the Catechism have now been published in Hebrew, geared toward children and families who, in Israel, wish to begin their journey in the Christian faith. It is an undertaking directed not so much towards Jews as Christians working in Israel.
Fr David Neuhaus, a Jesuit, is the vicar of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, with the task of overseeing the pastoral care of all these “special Israelis”. Before him, it was in the hands of Fr Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the Franciscan Custos of the Holy Land. Together with the Custos of the Holy Land, Fr Neuhaus had began this particular and extraordinary work of translating, silently and discreetly. In the heart of new Jerusalem there is a little church where the Patriachate welcomes activities of pastoral care in Hebrew. With Fr Neuhaus they work steadily with 35 families, who have committed themselves to encourage catechesis and manage services for thousands of children and their families. “They are mainly of mixed Israeli origin”, explained Fr Neuhaus, “relatives of Jews, children of Jews, some converted Jews and other persons who are not Jewish but have been integrated into Jewish society”.
The effort is also meant for Arab citizens of Israel, descendants of the Palestinians who didn't flee in 1948. Some families left Galilee to move to the south, above all to Beer Sheva, and work with the Bedouins as teachers and doctors, but they do not send their children to Arab schools because of the low quality of the schools. “So, our catechesis books, our magazine, our website (www.catholic.co.il), our liturgy,” the Jesuit continued, “serve this population, even when it isn't their own rite. We insist on Christian formation. Christian in a secular and Jewish environment”.
Foreign workers who come to Israel must send their children to public school, where they speak and teach in Hebrew. So there are Arab children, Israeli citizens and children of Israelis, who grow up learning Hebrew without speaking their own “native” tongue. “Our catechesis books,” he concluded, “are not just for 'our' children, but for anyone who attends Hebrew school. Our challenge is not just to give formation to these 6-year-old children, but to work ages 15 to 25, to give them a sense of the Church and of being Christian, a sense of joy”.
Ping!
I’m curious as to how the intended audience will respond to the CCC’s teaching that Catholics and Muslims worship the same God
A good point! There is so much ignorance amongst the various "christian sects". As the article notes: "It is an undertaking directed not so much towards Jews as Christians working in Israel." I posted a thread earlier in the week, that gave the conversion story of a Muslim to christianity. In it, he explains:
Because Taimoor’s faith developed outside of mainstream Christendom, some of his views would be considered provocative to Christians. “I respect Muhammad and use him next to the Bible and the church as the third great witness of the glory of Christ,” Taimoor says. “I am proving to the Muslims the God they worship is the same God as ours,” he says. He believes Muslims are like Jews–they worship the same God as Christians– but reject Jesus as Messiah.
Full Text
It seems the challenge of acknowledging that Christians, Jews and Muslims all worship the same god, endures. Perhaps, as the Muslim convert experienced, the other faiths may one day revisit their theological constructs of God.
I personally asked our pastor if allah and God were the same deity and he just blurted out “NO!”
I guess we have an infidel running our parish.
Don't read it into it more than it actually says. It never says that Catholics and Muslims "worship the same God." It especially never says that if, by "worship the same God," you mean "understand the God they worship the same way".
The passage you're getting that idea from (I think) is this:
together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankind's judge on the last day.
This is factually correct, in that Muslims identify the God they worship as (a) one, (b) merciful, and (c) mankind's judge on the last day. Christians also identify the God they worship as having those same attributes. (Not only those attributes, of course, but those attributes.)
As I've previously explained, even if you suppose this passage from Vatican II's Nostra Aetate is an infallible dogmatic statement (which I think is most unlikely, but just for the sake of argument), the Catholic Church does not claim to be able to make infallible statements about other religions, so she would be incapable of infallibly teaching that "Muslims worship the same God" even if she wanted to.
(As an aside, "not infallible" doesn't mean "Catholics can safely ignore this". It does, however, mean that the teaching is not set in stone for all time.)
All this passage is doing is attempting to be diplomatic to the Muslims, saying "look, we have this much in common with you". That means the Muslims are closer to Christianity than other non-Christian, non-Jewish groups.
(Another aside: people who don't know the context of this remark sometimes think that "in the first place amongst whom" puts the Muslims above everyone else. The passage actually occurs after an extensive discussion on non-Catholic Christians and then another one on Jews. I think it's hard to dispute that, after Judaism, Islam is the (major world) religion closest to Christianity. Some scholars even argue that Islam should best be understood (theologically if not historically) as a heresy from Christianity.
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