source: Philadelphia Enquirer, July 18, 2007

GOD WORKS in mysterious ways.

Consider: A Catholic girl who 45 years ago prayed on Good Friday for the conversion of the Jews is now a middle-aged convert to Judaism trying to explain why Jews feel threatened by the possible return of that very same Good Friday prayer.

That girl, that Jew, would be me.

Last week, Pope Benedict XVI, in a move widely interpreted as an attempt to reconnect disgruntled Catholic traditionalists with the church, gave his OK to use the Latin mass that was forcibly retired in the 1960s. Its return raised the possibility of a comeback of a once-a-year prayer to God to "lift the veil covering the hearts of Jews so that they may recognize Jesus Christ our Lord."

The Vatican had hinted at the move for weeks, time enough for Jewish leaders to express concern. It's hard to forget that the Latin mass used to refer daily to "perfidious Jews," although the phrase was removed in 1959.

Knowing that there were serious questions, the pope's announcement last week was vague when it didn't have to be. Suspiciously vague.

Some Jewish leaders asked the Vatican for "clarification." Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League came right out and said it was "insulting": How do Jews, he asked, "now sit and dialogue" with Catholics "when the other side believes we are blind and need to be converted?"

Catholic traditionalist and onetime presidential candidate Pat Buchanan countered that Jews should be pleased to be prayed for. In Human Events Online, he noted that Catholics are required to pray for the conversion of all peoples to Catholicism.

"Indeed, if one believes, as devout Catholics do, that Christ and his Church hold the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven, it would be anti-Semitic not to pray for the conversion of the Jews," Buchanan wrote.

Buchanan's respect for Jews and Judaism has been called into question on more than one occasion, and I can't help but wonder how graciously he responds to Jehovah's Witnesses or Mormons on his doorstep wanting to bring him to their version of the One True Church. (Something I've always wondered: Are people actually converted by strangers at their doors with pamphlets and beatific smiles?)

But Buchanan raises an important point. For many Christians, sharing their faith is not an insult but the greatest gift they can offer.

If you believe, in the words of the ubiquitous '70s bumper sticker, that you have "found it" - meaning Jesus and the way to eternal life - wouldn't it be wrong to keep it to yourself? Didn't Jesus exhort his apostles to spread the Gospel and baptize in his name? (Note: I'm focusing on Christians and Jews. No need to remind me that, historically, some Muslims have exercised an even more heavy-handed approach to conversion, to put it mildly.)

Perhaps Christians don't understand why Jews feel threatened by attempts to convert them. For hundreds of years, Christians did a lot more than pray for Jews to "see the light."

Crusaders slaughtered thousands in the name of Christ. The Inquisition was dedicated, at least in part, to ensuring - through torture - that forced converts to Christianity didn't backslide.

Some evangelicals believe the Jews must be converted to bring on the "end times." No wonder Jews are touchy on the subject.

In practice, Jews don't proselytize and the tradition says that prospective converts should be sent away at least three times to test their sincerity. In real life, though, some non-Jewish partners in interfaith marriages feel significant pressure from in-laws and others to convert to Judaism "for the children."

No matter who is doing the moving from one faith to another, last week's controversy over the Good Friday prayer reminds us once again that the same words can have quite different meanings for Christians and Jews, and stir deep divisions.

One of the most famous converts in history was Saul of Tarsus, who was hit with a lightning bolt and told in no uncertain terms what to believe. For the rest of us, conversion is a mysterious journey, less a process of being convinced through evangelism than a soul-level discovery of one's true identity.

In a democracy, shouldn't one believer's perceived obligation to evangelize end where another's right to be left alone and "unsaved" begins?

Praying with the News: Let us pray that, in the future, officials like former Surgeon General Richard Carmona no longer decide to sell their souls to stay in office. *