CrossCurrents A Catholic Reflects on Faith in Our Times
Bernard
F. Swain, Ph.D. www.CrossCurrents.us
Back to Our
Future
At a recent parish council meeting I
passed around a photo from my recent trip to Europe with two questions: What is in this picture? Why did I bring it? When
the photo proved a mystery to all the members, I told them I have seen the
future of our world, and it is here—and it is more than 800 years old!
But my trip did not bring me to this
future vision until I had already visited the past and the present.
The Past. Very few
English words come from for the Venetian language, even though 2 million people
around Venice speak it instead of Italian. Among those words are regatta, arsenaland Ghetto.
Venice was not the first place to segregate
Jews. The practice began in the 12th
and 13th centuries, but
did not reach Venice until the 14th. The Venetian Jews however, were forced to move to a small
island connected to the rest of the city by only two bridges, where the
ironworks (Getto) was located
– hence the name Ghetto started there.
The Jews were generally allowed an active
role in Venices life and commerce, especially in the roles off-limits to
Christians (such as money-lending, the root of the infamous anti-Semitic
stereotype Shylock in Shakespeares Merchant of Venice.) But at night and on Christian holy days, the Jewish
population was locked into the Ghetto under guard – and they had to pay for
those guards themselves. As
similar segregated, locked neighborhoods spread through Europe, the name Ghetto
spread too. The final form of such anti-Semitic persecution was, of course, the
Warsaw Ghetto, where Hitler herded all the citys Jews only to massacre them
when they resisted.
The original Venice Ghetto still exists
today, no longer locked but still a largely Jewish neighborhood that reminds us
of the long history of Christian intolerance and persecution.
The Present. In the
small but densely populated Paris suburb of Asnires, a Catholic church
recently closed its doors. Shortly
after, the diocese sold the building to Muslims, who represent a growing
presence in the city – as in France generally, where Islam is now the #2
religion (ahead of Protestants and Jews) and Marseilles rivals Paris as the
Arab capital of the west.
The Catholic diocese was willing to sell
to Muslims as a gesture of interfaith generosity, recognizing that Catholic-Muslim
relations loom on the horizon as a major feature of an evolving global
culture. In this sense, many
European nations are ahead of the US, simply because they are nearer to many
Moslem countries. France, for
example, has many former Colonies along the north coast of Africa (such as
Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and Libya) where the dominant population is both
Muslim and French-speaking. So it
makes sense for Catholics in Europe to build bridges to their new Muslim
neighbors.
But in Asnires, many Catholics are having
second thoughts. It seems that
some local Muslims regard their new church-turned-mosque as a sign that Islam
is beginning to take over Catholic France – as if, for example, they have
set a precedent and can await the day when all churches will become
mosques. Hearing such talk, local
Catholics are beginning to wonder whether the diocese, despite its good
intentions, has ended up by sending the wrong message. Perhaps, instead of looking generous,
the Church has ended up looking weak, vulnerable, ripe for takeover.
I suspect that such delicate Catholic-Muslim
dynamics, balancing between cooperation and competition, will become
increasingly common in the years to come—even here in the US. If so, the present situation challenges
us to build a clear vision of the future and how to prepare for it.
The Future. The
photo I brought the parish council showed La Sinagoga de Santa Maria la Blanca –the Synagogue of Saint Mary the White. It is
Spains oldest synagogue, built in Toledos Jewish quarter in the late 1100s.
This was the era of Moorish rule, when
Moslems arriving from North Africa dominated Spanish life for 700 years. So while Christianity had arrived in
Spain as early as the first century (many Spaniards still believe James the
brother of Jesus was missionary to Spain), medieval Spain was dominated by Arab
culture. To this day, this gives Spain a unique heritage among European
countries, from its Moorish architecture to its flamenco music.
Naturally enough, then, the synagogue was
built in Moorish style by Arab craftsmen hired by the local Jewish community.
The result is a building that looks more like a mosque, with its composteria masonry, its keyhole arches, and its elaborate
geometric carvings. (Look for yourself here: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/galleries/toledo/photo4.html
.)
Happily, both Muslims and Jews rejected
graven images, so the dcor sat well with the resident Jews. They also
achieved their fondest dream by importing cedar timbers from Lebanon for their
ceiling, in order to imitate the ceiling of Solomons temple in Jerusalem.
All this was possible, you see, only
because the Moors applied a rigorous policy of religious tolerance and
pluralism. Unlike Catholic Venice where Jews were locked away in the Ghetto,
Muslim Spain welcomed Jews and Christians alike, and Toledo with its eight
synagogues and Juderia (Jewish
quarter) became a showpiece for the multi-faith society that Europe might have
become.
But by the fifteenth century, the Catholic
Reconquista (Reconquest) of
Spain ended all that. Not only were the Moors pushed back across the
Mediterranean into Africa, but by 1495 the Jews were also expelled from Spain.
In 1391 a massacre of Jews took place in
the synagogue of Santa Maria la Blanca, and in 1405 the synagogue was taken
over by a Catholic religious order and became a Catholic church named in honor
of Mary. So today my photo shows crosses and other Christian symbols and
paintings of the life of Jesus and Mary tacked over the synagogues original
dcor.
Thus we see a Catholic church that was
built as a Jewish synagogue but looks like a mosque. Its hard to imagine a
more compelling image of the convergence and/or clash of the Wests three major
religions!
What I saw in Toledo was a vision of the
future we must become: a world where all religions have a place. It was a world
the Moors had created 800 years ago. Sadly, it did not last, and is now long
gone from public view and memory –but we need that world back.
Our future cannot be a purely secular one
where religion has no place (I also visited the medieval town of Provins,
France, where—like many places in France—the faade of the local
church displays sculptured saints whose heads are gone, all lopped off by anti-Catholic
mobs during the French Revolution).
But neither can it be a future where one
religion dominates others. A happy future will see a world where religion
matters and where religions thrive
through tolerance and cooperation.
We know that kind of world is possible,
because it has already been done once before. We can see it in the photo. We need only go back to our
future and reclaim it.
Bernard F. Swain PhD 2005
Send Your Comments and Questions to bfswain@juno.com
Dr. Swains
opinions do not represent the views of this parish or any other official body.
Bernie Swain has
devoted more than 30 years to adult spiritual formation in dioceses in the US,
Canada, and France. Since 1991 he has maintained a private practice as trainer,
teacher, and consultant to leaders in parishes and other religious
organizations. He holds degrees in theology and political science from Holy
Cross, Harvard, The University of Paris, and The University of Chicago.
His writings include Liberating
Leadership (Harper & Row,
1986) and more than 200 articles in periodicals such as The National
Catholic Reporter, Commonweal, The Miami Herald, The Catholic Free Press, The
Pilot, Harvard Theological Review,
and Liturgy.
A lifelong layperson,
he lives in Boston with his wife and three children. Visit his website at:
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