Journalism: the noblest profession

Ruth Gledhill of The Times is getting it in the neck for refusing to let up on the Bishop Williamson story. Her latest findings are published here:

http://timescolumns.typepad.com/gledhill/2009/02/bishop-of-linz-ordered-to-rome.html

Meanwhile the Jewish Chronicle has printed a lead story on the work of Pope Pius during the Holocaust. It appears that he might have been the saviour of the Jews rather than the opposite:

http://www.thejc.com/articles/wartime-pope%E2%80%99s-secret-heroism

Maybe one of the reasons that Ruth is pursuing the investigation of Bishop Williamson is because of the findings of this Foreign and Commonwealth-sponsored conference on worldwide antisemitism, the findings of which have been truly shocking:

http://antisem.org/downloads/The-London-Declaration-on-Combating-Antisemitism.pdf

Lambeth Palace hosted the final session of this gathering. The Bishop of Manchester filled us in on what went on at this meeting when he addressed the AGM of the Merseyside Council of Christians and Jews ten days ago:

http://www.manchester.anglican.org/bishop/council-of-christians-and-jews

It is distressing enough when the Jewish community is attacked both physically and verbally for various perceived faults, such as being responsible for the death of Jesus; for supporting Israel; for wearing strange-looking clothes; for being rich; for being poor; or simply for being.

But we are used to this. Can you imagine what it must be like for people, like Ruth, who aren't Jewish and who nevertheless feel it their duty to take on the wrath of the majority simply to tell it how it is.

And that is over 60 years after the end of the Holocaust. What must it have been like for a righteous gentile in Poland, I wonder, the one who hid one of my father's friends in a toilet for over a year, at risk of their own lives?

Comments

[Niccolo]

Hi,

I noticed that you posted on my own blog, so I linked across. I've just started reading Ruth Gledhill's work, and find her to be excellent. I hope you don't mind, but I've set up a link to your site on my own "blogroll" list.