A Sermon on Christopher Columbus: How Much of the Hatred towards Columbus is Plain Old Anti-Catholicism?

[Michie]

From St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians:

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

Some years ago, but not that long ago, when I was a priest at St. Mary’s church in Norwalk, Connecticut, the statue of Christopher Columbus was moved from what is known as Heritage Square, a place for acknowledging the contribution of various ethnic groups important in the history of the city of Norwalk.





It was moved for fear the stature would be defaced or destroyed by those who claimed that Columbus was the ultimate source of the destruction of the indigenous people of what was called the New World.



Most historians have never portrayed Columbus as a saint or lauded him for his moral sensibilities. But why he has been important for this country is because he discovered the Americas in three small navigation boats, which feat took a great deal of courage and grit. His later lack of skills in administration and his failure in the historical context of his time to understand the significance of what this discovery meant for Europe and then for the whole Western world must be acknowledged.



But to hold him responsible for the introduction of slavery in the New World flies in the face of the fact that slavery was already practiced in civilizations and tribes long before Europeans came to their shores, not to mention the practices of cannibalism and human sacrifice. To hold him responsible for wiping out whole populations because of disease from Europe cannot withstand the test of rational discourse. One thought the idea of the Noble Savage died with Rousseau, even if the latter did not coin that phrase.



Cristoforo Colombo was a flawed man, so much a man of his time, with suppositions and ways of thinking that were of no help in the totally unique situation in which he found himself. But I would venture to say that much of the ongoing antipathy if not downright hatred of Columbus that continues to be in vogue has its roots in that great American non-virtue of anti-Catholicism.

Continued below.

A Sermon on Christopher Columbus: How Much of the Hatred towards Columbus is Plain Old Anti-Catholicism?

by Father Richard G. Cipolla From St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, the...

rorate-caeli.blogspot.com

 

[Yeshua HaDerekh]

Some years ago, but not that long ago, when I was a priest at St. Mary’s church in Norwalk, Connecticut, the statue of Christopher Columbus was moved from what is known as Heritage Square, a place for acknowledging the contribution of various ethnic groups important in the history of the city of Norwalk.





It was moved for fear the stature would be defaced or destroyed by those who claimed that Columbus was the ultimate source of the destruction of the indigenous people of what was called the New World.



Most historians have never portrayed Columbus as a saint or lauded him for his moral sensibilities. But why he has been important for this country is because he discovered the Americas in three small navigation boats, which feat took a great deal of courage and grit. His later lack of skills in administration and his failure in the historical context of his time to understand the significance of what this discovery meant for Europe and then for the whole Western world must be acknowledged.



But to hold him responsible for the introduction of slavery in the New World flies in the face of the fact that slavery was already practiced in civilizations and tribes long before Europeans came to their shores, not to mention the practices of cannibalism and human sacrifice. To hold him responsible for wiping out whole populations because of disease from Europe cannot withstand the test of rational discourse. One thought the idea of the Noble Savage died with Rousseau, even if the latter did not coin that phrase.



Cristoforo Colombo was a flawed man, so much a man of his time, with suppositions and ways of thinking that were of no help in the totally unique situation in which he found himself. But I would venture to say that much of the ongoing antipathy if not downright hatred of Columbus that continues to be in vogue has its roots in that great American non-virtue of anti-Catholicism.

Continued below.

A Sermon on Christopher Columbus: How Much of the Hatred towards Columbus is Plain Old Anti-Catholicism?

by Father Richard G. Cipolla From St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, the...

rorate-caeli.blogspot.com

Colon was a sephardic Jew

 

[RileyG]

Colon was a sephardic Jew

I don't think Jewish people claim those who renounced Judaism, though.

 

[Wolseley]

How Much of the Hatred towards Columbus is Plain Old Anti-Catholicism?

Anti-Catholic, anti-American, anti-Western, anti-history, you name it.

 

[mourningdove~]

Anti-Catholic, anti-American, anti-Western, anti-history, you name it.

Anti-Italian, too!
(We Italians have always loved to celebrate Columbus Day!!)

 

[Cosmic Charlie]

Cristoforo Colombo was a flawed man, so much a man of his time, with suppositions and ways of thinking that were of no help in the totally unique situation in which he found himself. But I would venture to say that much of the ongoing antipathy if not downright hatred of Columbus that continues to be in vogue has its roots in that great American non-virtue of anti-Catholicism.

Continued below.

A Sermon on Christopher Columbus: How Much of the Hatred towards Columbus is Plain Old Anti-Catholicism?

by Father Richard G. Cipolla From St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians: There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, the...

rorate-caeli.blogspot.com

I'm sorry but no.....

Columbus was a dark character in history who was thought of as extreme even in his own time.

He systematically destroyed the natives of the Caribbean and forced them into slavery, so horrible women killed their newborn children rather than watch them suffer in the bondage Columbus enforced on them.

No one gave a rat's rosy rear end that he was Catholic (if he was, I have found no evidence that he was). He was an evil man. That is what mattered.

Claiming he was a victim of anti-Catholicism is whitewashing history.

 

[RileyG]

I'm sorry but no.....

Columbus was a dark character in history who was thought of as extreme even in his own time.

He systematically destroyed the natives of the Caribbean and forced them into slavery, so horrible women killed their newborn children rather than watch them suffer in the bondage Columbus enforced on them.

No one gave a rat's rosy rear end that he was Catholic (if he was, I have found no evidence that he was). He was an evil man. That is what mattered.

Claiming he was a victim of anti-Catholicism is whitewashing history.

That was before the Protestant Reformation, so everyone in Western Europe, was de-facto Catholic, regardless if devout or not.

I've definitely heard about this before, and how he spread around sexual diseases etc

It's probably why he will NEVER be canonized despite being so famous in history.

Queen Isabella is officially "Servant of God" and has been since 1974. It might be centuries, if EVER, she's officially canonized a Saint.

 

[Yeshua HaDerekh]

I don't think Jewish people claim those who renounced Judaism, though.

Did he though?

 

[RileyG]

Did he though?

Yes. Apparently.

 

[Yeshua HaDerekh]

Yes. Apparently.

Crypto-Jew apparently. Look who all his backers were...

 

[RileyG]

Crypto-Jew apparently. Look who all his backers were...

Queen Isabella, the Catholic Queen?

Regardless, he's been dead for centuries and passed through judgment.

It might be odd, but we can still pray for him. Prayers for the dead are definitely needed.

Peace

 

[Yeshua HaDerekh]

Queen Isabella, the Catholic Queen?

Interesting that he left the same year as the Roman Catholic Inquisition, 1492. His main financial backers...Luis de Santángel and Gavriel Sanchez, both conversos...

 

[Bob Crowley]

In some ways we have a similar situation with Australia Day. While the Dutch "discovered" Australia (north and west mainly) long before Captain James Cook sailed up the east coast of Australia in 1770, Australia was "settled" in 1788 by the British when the "First Fleet" mostly comprising convicts landed in Botany Bay (by mistake - they were actually hoping to find Sydney Harbour). They landed on 18th January 1788, but soon realised their mistake. They moved to Port Jackson (now Sydney) on the 26th January 1788 which is now celebrated as "Australia Day"

Who was the first European to land on 'Terra Australis'?

While Indigenous Australians have inhabited the continent for tens of thousands of years, and traded with nearby islanders, the first documented landing on Australia by a European was in 1606. The Dutch explorer Willem Janszoon landed on the western side of Cape York Peninsula and charted about...

www.nla.gov.au

Incidentally the Australian settlement was partly due to the American War of Independence. One of the beefs the American colonists had was the British dumping convicts on their shores. After they were kicked out in 1783, the Brits looked around for somewhere else to put their convicts. They remembered Cook's discovery and five years later sent the first unfortunates, along with disease and a British Empire state of mind to Australia.

Every year on Australia Day there are protests that was when the destruction of indigenous people began in earnest. Although Captain Cook himself hasn't been the focus of most of the anger - he was fairly tolerant of native people.

 

[Cosmic Charlie]

Interesting that he left the same year as the Roman Catholic Inquisition, 1492. His main financial backers...Luis de Santángel and Gavriel Sanchez, both conversos...

Random Spanish Inquition:

 

[RileyG]

Interesting that he left the same year as the Roman Catholic Inquisition, 1492. His main financial backers...Luis de Santángel and Gavriel Sanchez, both conversos...

Who knows?