An Apology and Correction from Michael Forrest
In September of 2006, when I published Robert Sungenis and the Jews, I did not accuse Robert Sungenis of being anti-Semitic. I still believe that the term is over-used and abused. In fact, I have defended Bob against the accusation until now. But after the past few months, I am forced to say that I was wrong. If Robert Sungenis is not an anti-Semite, then the term has little or no usefulness.
It has been suggested that a Catholic can reach a fair understanding of what constitutes anti-Semitism by simply substituting the word “anti-Catholic” for “anti-Semite.” If the roles were reversed, would we Catholics consider it anti-Catholic? I think this is a sensible approach. And if we apply this simple standard to Bob Sungenis and his writings, I believe we come to the conclusion that he is anti-Semitic (at least materially).
As has been documented in great detail, Robert Sungenis has continually broad-brushed, singled out and stereotyped Jews while sometimes plagiarizing white supremacist, Nazi and other Anti-Semitic sources. Bob does not merely engage Zionism, nor merely Judaism. It is often one’s very ethnic identity as a Jew that is targeted.
Two recent and related events illustrate this most clearly and have prompted this latest response. The first comes to light in Bob’s recent essay against David Palm.
Bob had this to say on page 4:
Mr. Palm, Mr. Michael and Mr. Forrest have all admitted, in one form or another, that they are coming from the supposition of being sympathetic to the Jews at large and the nation state of Israel. Whether these three men have ethnic ties to the Jews, I don’t know, but I suspect that one or more of them do but they are not admitting it.
Bob’s first sentence is a falsehood. But that aside, consider what Bob is saying in the last sentence. He had already made a similar implication about David Palm’s ancestry in an earlier piece:
Sungenis: “David Palm, a layman with no particular distinction or recognition who has decided to take up the Jewish cause. Whether Mr. Palm is Jewish himself I do not know.” (emphasis added) (Article, page 3).
I find Bob’s transparent intentions to be seriously disturbing. His approach is reminiscent of Nazi Germany or pre-civil rights America where one might attempt to smear or taint another by implying they have Jewish or “Negro” blood. To Bob, Forrest (or Palm, Michael or whomever) is one of them, not one of us!
In fact, Bob has exhibited such objectionable tendencies before. This is all part of a long-established pattern. For those who may have missed or forgotten it, here are some of the statements and charges leveled by Bob against Jews:
1) In support of his apparent belief that Jews are morally degenerate and responsible for the moral decline of our society, he claimed that Walt Disney had a policy of not hiring Jews and implicitly acknowledged the wisdom of such a policy.
Sungenis: “A telltale sign in the movie industry of the shift in mores was demonstrated no better than in the Walt Disney Corporation. Founder Walter Disney was well-known in the 50s and 60s for wholesome family entertainment. Interestingly enough, Walt had a policy of not hiring Jewish people.”
(Article)
2) He accused Franklin D. Roosevelt of betraying his country, allowing Pearl Harbor to occur, because Roosevelt is purported to have had a very partial “Jewish ancestry”.
Sungenis: “President Roosevelt had a part in (the Zionist conspiracy) himself. Being of Jewish ancestry, he was sympathetic to their cause...Roosevelt brought America into World War II by allowing Pearl Harbor to take place, for he had known way in advance that the Japanese were planning to attack.”
(Article)
3) Bob has used fraudulent quotes of Albert Einstein (Jewish) to “prove” that the charge of Anti-Semitism is “nothing but a clever ploy” concocted by Jews to cow gentiles (click here to see proof that this quote is fraudulent). A google search strongly suggests that this “quote” was found on a racist or other extremist website.
Sungenis: “The charge of ‘anti-Semitism’ is nothing but a clever ploy…Albert Einstein finally recognized after dealing with his own people: ‘Anti-Semitism is nothing but the antagonistic attitude produced in the non-Jew by the Jewish group. The Jewish group has thrived on oppression and on the antagonism it has forever met in the world…the root cause is their use of enemies they create to keep solidarity’ (Albert Einstein, Collier’s Magazine, November 26, 1938).”
link 1, link 2, link 3(#26)
4) Bob has singled out, broad-brushed and condemned Jewish professionals of very diverse backgrounds, ideologies and beliefs:
Sungenis: “Today we get deviant sexual advice from such Jewish matrons as Dr. Ruth Westheimer, and questionable behavioral advice from Dr. Laura Schlesinger, Ann Landers (formerly Esther Friedman Lederer) and her sister Abigail van Buren (Pauline Esther Friedman Phillips).” (Article)
Has anyone ever heard Dr. Ruth express a position on Zionism? And if anyone has ever listened to Dr. Laura Schlesinger, they would know that “Dr. Laura”, while far from perfect, regularly chastises Catholics who do not take their faith seriously.
5) Bob has singled out Jews for being incredibly ruthless in leadership:
Sungenis: “when (Jews) come into power…they can be some of the most ruthless people on the face of the earth.”
(Q and A #8)
6) Bob has singled out and implicated a Jew in the assassination of JFK:
Sungenis: “We also know through the exhaustive effort of Michael Collins Piper’s new 738- page book, Final Judgment, how Bronfman (note: a Jew) is implicated in the assassination of John F. Kennedy.”
(Article)
7) Bob has charged that “real” Jews tend to be violent and that these “real” Jews consider non-Jews to be less than animals:
Sungenis: “Christianity is certainly not inherently violent, but unfortunately, Judaism tends to be, because real Judaism considers all non-Jews goyim that are less than animals, and this precipitates a loathing and violence against non-Jews.”
(Q and A #8)
8) Bob has singled out such evil men as Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin for their Jewish ethnicity. None of these men were Zionists. None of them were followers of Judaism. Trostky was only ethnically Jewish. Lenin was only partially of Jewish ethnicity. And Stalin was even once a Christian seminarian. Yet their Jewish ethnicity is singled out in relation to their infamy.
Link 1, Link 2, Link 3
9) Sungenis has leveled the charge that "the Jews" are plotting to take over the world and the Catholic Church:
Sungenis: “The Jews…do intend to rule the world. And now the problem is that they want to rule the Catholic Church, too.”
(Q and A #47)
So, I hope after reiterating some of the evidence, it is clear to all that Sungenis’ recent charges about David Palm’s, Jacob Michael’s or my alleged Jewish ancestry are part of a long, consistent pattern. If you are Jewish, if you are partly Jewish, if you even may be Jewish, that is enough to create serious suspicion in the eyes of Robert Sungenis. To reiterate, if these kinds of things were said about Catholics, would we all consider them anti-Catholic? I would think so.
What leads an intelligent man to make such statements, especially without a shred of evidence? And how should someone respond to such accusations? Should one provide a family tree? And would that even suffice for Sungenis? Or would it merely “prove” that one is a clever Jew who can hide his ethnicity?
In the end, no, I will not dignify such a transparently ugly charge with an answer. If Bob and his followers feel better believing that I, Jacob Michael, David Palm, Art Sippo, John Novotny, Patrick Morris, Michael Lopez, Matthew Anger, Pope Benedict XVI or anyone else is a Jew in order to explain away our reactions to him, then so be it. How can one argue with a man who also attempts to defend the veracity of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion by appealing to the fact that Jews vigorously oppose it? (see Article, p. 16)
For such conspiracy theorists, every denial ultimately leads to suspicion of an ever wider, deeper and more nefarious conspiracy. I pray that at least those Catholics not similarly enamored of Jewish conspiracy theories will clearly see the deep ugliness and irrationality in all of this.
The second incident involves Roy Schoeman, a Catholic author of Jewish descent. I recommend visiting Patrick Madrid’s Envoy Forums here to view more information about it. As those who have been following events know, Bob began heavily criticizing Schoeman back in April 2004 before even reading his book, going so far as to impugn Schoeman’s honesty in the process. Since then he has written numerous other harsh condemnations (at least four featured essays on his site, multiple Q and A’s and articles for The Latin Mass and Culture Wars magazines), condemning him as a purveyor of the most pernicious and nefarious heresies the Church has ever faced and accusing him of being a Jew first and a Catholic second (see article). Even still, he found it necessary to pen yet one more lengthy critique recently.
Most recently, Bob used a blatantly fraudulent quote in order to prove his oft-repeated (and unsubstantiated) charge that Roy Schoeman is pushing for the re-establishment of the Jewish festivals in the Catholic Church. The following is from Bob's article, David Palm: Still Confused and Calumniating:
Mr. Palm: Will you defend him here when he has repeatedly accused Roy Schoeman of having "demanded" that Jewish converts be allowed to practice various Jewish ceremonies, when in fact Schoeman explicitly rejects that in the book?
R. Sungenis: Mr. Palm needs to get up to snuff. Schoeman does not “explicitly reject” it. Here are Schoeman’s recent words on the subject:
"Unfortunately, I would say tragically, the Jews who are converting are not by and large finding their way to the Catholic Church- the conversion is largely comingfrom Protestant circles, notably those associated with Messianic Judaism. I believe this is due in large part to the Catholic Church having dropped the ball by eliminating all the Jewish festivals from Pesach to Sukkhot. As a result, when through the workings of Grace Jews are opened up to the truth of Jesus, rather than finding their way to the one true Church, they get scooped up by our separated brethren, who have generally adopted a more open and receptive attitude toward celebrating Jewish festivals.” (CAI, QA board, March, 2007)
This quote stands in stark contrast to everything else Schoeman has written publicly and privately on the matter. Upon reading it, my immediate reaction was that it made no sense that Schoeman would write such a thing.
It turns out my reaction was well-founded. Ironically, Mark Wyatt, a persistent Sungenis promoter, defender and CAI patron who helped Bob with his latest book on Galileo, was the first to ascertain that the quote is fraudulent. In fact, Bob’s "quote" turns Schoeman’s actual quote on its head. Below is the authentic quote:
Unfortunately, I would say tragically, the Jews who are converting are not by and large finding their way to the Catholic Church the conversion is largely coming from Protestant circles, notably those associated with “Messianic Judaism”. I believe this is due in large part to the Catholic Church having dropped the ball in a surfeit of sensitivity to hurting Jewish feelings as a result of the Holocaust, the interaction between the Church and the Jewish community has recently been dominated by a running away from any “threat” of conversion, at times going so far as to assert that Jews have no need for Christ, that God just wants them to remain faithful to their “original” covenant. As a result, when through the workings of Grace Jews are opened up to the truth of Jesus, rather than finding their way to the one true Church, which is far more Jewish than any of the Protestant denominations, they get scooped up by our “separated brethren”.
(Article)
Notice, there is nothing at all in the authentic quote about Jewish festivals. In fact, Schoeman even blames the lack of Jewish entry into the Church on Catholic over-sensitivity to the Holocaust, an opinion that Sungenis would certainly be expected to enthusiastically support.
The purported source for this fraudulent quote was a CAI patron who claimed to have a copy of the “Salvation is From the Jews Newsletter.” (March 2007, #5 and #43) The problem is that there is no such publication and never has been: a very easily verifiable piece of information for one inclined to do even minimal research. This "quote" was apparently taken from the Association of Hebrew Catholic’s publication, The Hebrew Catholic, Winter-Spring 2005. The original quote appears to have been purposely mangled by excising some things Schoeman actually wrote, inserting some things he didn’t, and putting sentences together that were originally separated by other material.
For those who have been reading everything to date, a parallel will likely come to mind, namely, what Bob did with a fraudulent quote from Albert Einstein. In that case, Bob claimed to have found a quote from Albert Einstein in Collier’s magazine. Eventually he admitted he found it from a secondary source, not Collier’s. He refrains from disclosing where he got it, although a simple google search readily turns up White Supremacists, anti-Semites and other extremists.
Bob attributed to Einstein a fraudulent quote that was an amalgam of two actual sentences, separated by eight paragraphs, cobbled together to appear as if one followed directly after the other, topped off with a totally fabricated sentence that appears nowhere in the article at all (a sentence that is key to establishing the meaning Bob desired). All of this to “prove” that Albert Einstein agreed that the charge of anti-Semitism is “nothing but a clever ploy” concocted by Jews to cow gentiles. It is nonsense. And it is essentially the same thing he has now done to a brother Catholic, Roy Schoeman.
(You can visit RSATJ, Section 2 item 9B and this document toward the end for a fuller explanation of Bob’s use of Einstein.)
To date, Bob has refused to pull down the false Einstein quote in the various places he has used it at CAI. In fact, in what seems to be a recurring theme, he even vigorously defended what he did:
Link 1, Link 2 (page 26), Link 3 and Link 4 (#26)
His false quote of Schoeman likewise remains at CAI as of the writing of this piece. This is in contrast to the standard that even avid CAI supporter Mark Wyatt agreed to be correct:
You are right, the quote should not have been aired- but it was.
Under those circumstances, Bob should (in my opinion):
1. Remove the quote asap
(see here)
This also stands in contrast to Sungenis’ own standards as enunciated after the unfortunate “Mr. X” affair:
Sungenis: “Without sufficient corroboration, any information, especially in these kinds of sensitive areas, is as good as false. We have all learned our lesson…” (Apology from the Mr. X affair, c. May 2003)
It is sad enough that Bob has found it necessary to behave like a reporter for a tabloid in his personal attacks on Einstein and others (in fact, given Bob’s well-documented habit of plagiarizing, his charge against Einstein for plagiarism shows a great deal of chutzpah). But now he has gone so far as to use fabricated evidence received from one of his patrons to attack another Catholic.
Ironically, all this does is reaffirm a point I made in September of 2006 in the introduction to RSATJ:
3) (Bob) continues to evidence a propensity to uncritically seek out and accept unsavory, dubious and/or negatively biased information in regard to Jews and has drawn others with similar proclivities to his website.
While I do not at all intend to insinuate that this is the case for all CAI supporters, I believe it is no mere coincidence that people with an animus toward Jews find themselves drawn to CAI.
Bob has demanded of those whom he perceives to have done him wrong that they give “an unconditional apology” (question 50) and that one should not even dare contact him until that has been done. While it is unlike Bob himself to offer such an unconditional apology on anything more than a minor issue, I believe justice requires at least this much.
Bob demands opportunity after opportunity without so much as a genuine apology or retraction after his very public, harmful behavior. He also demands to be taken seriously as a Catholic apologist and scholar after such repeated, serious breaches of decency and scholarly standards.
As a former supporter of Robert Sungenis, I can understand how a strong, unwavering, and supremely confident Catholic can appear very appealing in these days of often-weak leadership and scandal. But the answer to our difficulties cannot be to follow, defend and support what amounts to a self-appointed bishop who hurls condemnations and charges of heresy in ways that would make Torquemada blush. I also think of a warning my father gave to me when I was young: Beware of a person who thinks he knows the answer to everything.
I believe that, as was once true of myself, Bob’s supporters share a certain amount of the blame for all this. If they would stop making excuses for such harmful behavior, sometimes going so far as to actively defend and promote it, he might be led to eventually confront the troubling reality of what he has done and continues to do to very real human beings.
But, ultimately, this is not “about” Bob Sungenis. It is about the people he unjustly attacks, condemns and maligns with impunity. It is about standing up against a bully, an unjust aggressor. And just like bullies often do, he cries foul when he is finally confronted and told that his behavior will no longer be tolerated in silence. And at least some of those who have sought to align themselves with him have reacted predictably as well. When one has invested heavily in a bully, it’s hard to see his standing taken down. One’s own fortunes somewhat inevitably follow him. This is simply the childhood school-yard replayed on a bigger field.
I sincerely ask those who are harboring what I believe is a mistaken compassion for Bob to consider the heat the Church has taken for Pius XII because some people believe that he did not do enough to resist the Nazis. How are we as Catholics to validly defend ourselves against such charges in our own day if we do not stand up and repudiate the ugliness directly and undeniably perpetrated by one of our own against Jews (or against any ethnic group for that matter)?
The proof is there for all to see now. For the sake of everyone he attacks, confuses, misleads and even, for his own sake…enough is enough.
Please pray for Bob this Lent.
