A Cross too Heavy: What the media said I said

On Sunday 29 April about 300 people gathered at Temple Beth Israel in East St Kilda for an afternoon of presentations on aspects of Pius XII.  It was a gathering organised by the Victorian Council of Christians and Jews and the B'nai B'rith Mitzvah Melbourne with support from the Ecumenical and Interfaith Commission of the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne.  It was a very successful engagement.  


A reporter from the Australian Jewish News (Melbourne) was present at the seminar and wrote an account for the press.  


One of the main reasons I began this blog was because of the frustration at being misquoted in certain parts of the media.  Nothing seems to have happened to warrant a serious review of that position.


This post presents what journalist Peter Kohn said happened that afternoon.  In the following posts I will present what I said, what the hosts of the event wrote in response to the media article and, finally, the account of the afternoon made by David Schutz from the Ecumenical and Interfaith Commission.  I am doing this because it is so important to ensure accuracy.  Inaccurate reporting, done for whatever reason, is bad reporting.  Presenting the series of posts in chronological order helps establish what in fact was said and by whom.


This is a copy of the article by Peter Kohn in the Australian Jewish News published on 4 May 2012.

If Peter Kohn did speak with me, he did so without identifying himself.  Mr Kohn has included things I did not say and suggested that I stand opposed to the canonisation. This is curious, since I did not mention the beatification or canonisation process at all.  That was left to David Schutz and Rabbi Fred Morgan to discuss.  The next post will be what I did say, as opposed to what Mr Kohn imagined I said.