by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
(May 14, 2008) John Hagee, the Texas pastor known for calling the Catholic Church “The Great Whore” and the “anti-Christ“ has issued a letter of apology to Catholics saying he has acquired “an improved understanding” of the Catholic Church.
“I want to express my deep regret for any comments that Catholics have found hurtful,” Hagee wrote in a May 12 letter to Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights. “After engaging in constructive dialogue with Catholic friends and leaders, I now have an improved understanding of the Catholic Church, its relation to the Jewish faith, and the history of anti-Catholicism.”
The Evangelical pastor has been widely criticized for his anti-Catholic rhetoric and for accusing the Catholic Church of nurturing anti-Semitism. Hagee repeatedly alleged that Pope Pius XII was indifferent to Nazism and said Adolf Hitler’s anti-Semitism was linked to his Catholic education.
In his letter, Hagee said that in his zeal to “oppose anti-Semitism and bigotry in all its ugly forms, I have often emphasized the darkest chapters in the history of Catholic and Protestant relations with the Jews. In the process, I may have contributed to the mistaken impression that the anti-Jewish violence of the Crusades and the Inquisition defines the Catholic Church. It most certainly does not.”
He went on to applaud the thousand of “righteous Catholics – both clergy and laymen – who risked their lives to save Jews from the Holocaust.”
The reason he wrote the letter was to clarify his views and to “advance greater unity between Catholics and Evangelicals,” he wrote.
Hagee’s anti-Catholic views threatened to become a national issue after he endorsed Arizona Senator John McCain’s bid to become the Republican presidential nominee, forcing McCain to disavow the pastor’s endorsement.
In a May 13 press release, Catholic League President Bill Donohue accepted Hagee’s apology.
“After weeks of meeting with various Catholic leaders, and accessing scholarly literature on Catholic-Jewish relations, Pastor John Hagee has demonstrated an improved understanding of the Catholic Church and its history,” Donohue said.
“The tone of Hagee’s letter is sincere. He wants reconciliation and he has achieved it. Indeed, the Catholic League welcomes his apology. What Hagee has done takes courage and quite frankly I never expected him to demonstrate such sensitivity to our concerns. But he has done just that. Now Catholics, along with Jews, can work with Pastor Hagee in making interfaith relations stronger than ever. Whatever problems we had before are now history. This case is closed.”
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The best way to defend the Church is to know the facts. In “The Resilient Church: The Glory, the Shame and the Hope for Tomorrow” author Mike Aquilina gives you all the facts about some of the most controversial moments in Church history.
