Also, Sister Margherita has been asked to write an essay "Jewish Images of 
Catholicism in Italian and Italian American Life: Late 19th and 20th Century."

If any of you that have any information on the topic, or know where she can obtain it,  the good Sister would be much obliged. Sister Margherita can be reached at
<< sr.margherita.marchione@worldnet.att.net >>
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SISTER MARGHERITA STRIKES AGAIN

Joan Ruddiman
Book Notes
January 17, 2003

In November, Book Notes reviewed a body of work by a remarkable woman who 
successfully balances the contemplative world of her order with the demands 
of  being an academic and an activist. Since both lives are in the service of 
God and her Catholic faith, it is a balancing act and not an emotional 
tug-of-war.  At eighty, she exudes an enthusiasm for life, and unwavering 
energy for her passions.

For the past several years, her passion is to support Pope Pius the XII who 
has been made a villain of the Holocaust by several authors, in particular, 
Daniel Goldhagen, who makes his most recent case in "A Moral Reckoning: The 
Role of the Catholic Church in the Holocaust and its Unfilled Duty of 
Repair."  Since Goldhagen is back, and is once again being touted by 
reviewers - David Kertzer of the Washington Post as one - Sr. Margherita is 
also back with a new book that is worth noting, if for nothing else, to 
balance the historical scales.
  
"Shepherd of Souls: A Pictorial Life of Pope Pius XII" arrived in the mail 
with a note from Sr. Margherita. She was sent a copy of the November column, 
with the thought that any author likes to know someone is reading and paying 
attention.  The note expressed her appreciation for the review, and a request.  "Canyou do me a favor?" 

Looking through the pictorial biography was anything but an obligatory chore. 
The photos, beginning from early childhood, school years, seminary, coupled 
with Sr. Margherita's accompanying text, is a rare look at how the child 
predicts the man.  Eugenio Pacelli's early life does nothing but reinforce 
the character of the man he became. 

In a telling anecdote from his upper elementary school days, young Eugenio 
struck up a close friendship with a Jewish schoolmate named Guido Mendes.  
They visited in each other's homes,  comfortably sharing meals and family 
life outside of school as much as they connected in school.    Sr. Margherita 
with comments recorded during an interview writes, "Still vivid in 1958 in 
the elderly Mendes' memory were the strong anti-church and anti-clerical 
prejudices rampant among Italian schools and teachers in the 1890's, " and 
how "He remembered his classmate Eugenio always speaking up to defend the 
Church."

Years later, now Secretary of State Pacelli helped the Mendes family flee to 
Jerusalem when the Fascists began to threaten Jews in Italy. Pacelli, to 
become Pope Pius XII, and Mendes "remained in touch with one another over the 
years."

Reading Goldhagen's accusations does not square with Sr. Margherita's 
biographic and historical accounts.  How could a man who went out on a 
serious political limb as a Vatican underling to save a Jewish family then 
become a "willing handmaiden" to Hitler?  Goldhagen's further argument that 
the Catholic Church as a whole was rabidly anti-Semitic and thus supported 
"the Final Solution" does not hold with the extensive evidence from Italian 
Jews and Catholics who speak to the sacrifices of the righteous Gentiles who 
saved thousands from capture and death.

Historians have not been kind to Goldhagen.  His theories tend to overstep 
the evidence he provides.  Sr. Margherita, who as a professor emeritus with a 
Ph.D. from Columbia, relies on primary source documents.  She definitely has 
a bias, but carefully supports her point of view with hard data. Goldhagen 
does not.
  
Another aspect of the debate to consider is that Goldhagen may not be attuned 
to the politics and workings of Catholicism as Sr. Margherita is to the tenor 
and culture that influenced 1930's and 1940's Italy.  For example, Goldhagen 
points out that Pius XII could have excommunicated Hitler and other Nazi 
leaders as he later excommunicated all communists.  Do you think Hitler, an 
indifferent and indeed a fallen away Catholic, really would have cared? 

Goldhagen is correct in insisting that such a move would have carried a 
symbolic significance.  However, Sr. Margherita in her interviews with 
Holocaust survivors and their Righteous Gentiles, and in the careful timeline 
she compiles of Pius's words and actions in the early days of the war and the 
resulting recriminations in Germany and Poland against Catholics, priests and 
Jews, makes a stronger case that the Pope's decisions to work subversively 
rather than overtly was more effective in saving lives. 

What we confront then, is a continuing denigration of a man's lifework, which 
is sad enough, but also the denial of the historical record - an ongoing 
concern in our society saturated by media influence.   It seems Sr. 
Margherita in her dual role as religious and researcher, is more in balance 
than Goldhagen and others who insist that Hitler was empowered by unfettered 
anti-Semites.
  
In his latest book, Goldhagen maintains that he seeks a moral reckoning.  He 
should consider - Hitler was vanquished.  Jews established and maintain their 
homeland of Israel with the support of Catholics worldwide.
  
The moral reckoning does not get any clearer.
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Joan Ruddiman, with a Ph.D. from Columbia University, was the winner of the Paul and Kate Farmer Writing Award, established by the late NCTE President Paul Farmer, who was president of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)  to recognize outstanding articles published during the previous year in the English Journal. The journal, which is highly recognized in the field of English education, was established in 1912 and is published by NCTE.

Ruddiman was honored at the NCTE convention in Nashville for her article, World War II: A Research/Presentation Project for Eighth Graders.

Ruddiman provided strategies and resources for teaching World War II, which she considers "the defining period for the twentieth century."

In her article she writes, "most history curricula do not touch on World War II in the elementary grades…middle school students, though have a fascination and intense interest in what this was about, particularly the Holocaust." 
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                                     "The Fighting Nun Speaks Out"

                                         Consensus and Controversy:
                                            Defending Pope Pius XII

January 22, 2003                                    New York Public Library
455 Fifth Avenue                                     6:00 PM - 7:30 PM

RSVP 908 230 5046                                Free Admission
*******
Margherita Marchione gathers documentary and other first-hand evidence to
show how Pope Pius XII and the Vatican protected Jews against the Nazis,
took initiatives for peace, and became the target of the Nazis, who branded
Pius XII a "mouthpiece of the Jewish war criminals."
                                                     *******
A Fulbright scholar with a PhD from Columbia University, Sister Margherita
Marchione has authored more than forty books, is professor emerita of
Italian language and literature at Fairleigh Dickinson University, and
lectures widely in both North America and Europe. She currently resides in
Morristown, New Jersey.
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