Reviews for The Holocaust and Catholic Conscience: Cardinal Aloisius Muench and the Guilt Question in Germany

The average rating for The Holocaust and Catholic Conscience: Cardinal Aloisius Muench and the Guilt Question in Germany based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-05-15 00:00:00 Chris Pate Cardinal Muench was the bishop of Fargo ND at the end of WWII and the beginning of reconstruction. He was selected by the bishops of the United States to be the Catholic Liason to the Occupation Government of Germany, and was shortly thereafter also appointed as the Holy See's chief diplomat in post-war Germany. Although the book is interesting for revealing a little-addressed area of WWII history (reconstruction) and coming at it from an unexpected angle, unfortunately it suffers in that the author seems intent to portray Muench as an anti-semite, and makes large reaches in order to do so. For example, she cites the example of an German Jew living in America who requested Muench assist him in reclaiming some property in Germany lost during the Nazi era. Muench declines. He is new in his position and is unaware of how he could help. Five years later, German non-Jews request his assistance, and some of them receive it. The author paints this as anti-semitism, rather than the much more likely scenario of having learned how to interact with the Occupation government in the subsequent 5 years. Another example of the Author's attempts to paint him as an anti-semite is his encyclical "One World In Charity", in which Muench argues against a "hard peace", decries threats of imposing starvation on the conquered germans, and indicates that partaking in vengeance as official policy is despicable for victors. The author entitles this chapter, "Excusing the Holocaust: The phenomenon of One world in Charity". Her evidence for anti-semitism: "[U]se of the term 'Christian' charity implies that virtues such as 'love,' mercy,' 'forgiveness,' and 'justice,' are strictly Christian virtues." Her other examples of supposed anti-semitism in the letter are just as baseless. Recommended for lovers of WWII history, and especially Catholics and those who live in North Dakota.

Review # 2 was written on 2020-11-12 00:00:00 Milton Williams O Catholic France! Very useful book. 1/3rd of the book gives an excellent birds-eye overview of post-1789 France and how Catholics dissented - often violently! - from the Revolution and its principles. The other 2/3rds is just the opposite: very up-close detailed portraits of leading personalities and events that marked the Catholic Counter Revolution. Very grateful for this book which has helped me understand my own life-changing experience living in the buried remnants of Catholic France. I write about Counter-Revolutionary Catholic France at my site here: