Question:
On June 4, 2018 I received a message that included, “I am not sure if this is indeed a concern or not, and I had the point send to a big Rabbi, but it will take a few days for me to receive an answer on this.”
Has a big Rabbi furnished you with an opinion regarding #47211 “Working with a Catholic priest”?
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Please see below
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2nd follow up to #47211 “Working with a Catholic priest”
Question:
Hi Rabbi, Thanks for your comments. I donated $50 via PayPal yesterday (May 27, 2018). What if I were to only communicate with the aforementioned hypothetical Catholic priest via email? What if I were to use a pseudonym so he did not even know my real name? Although it might seem strange, I did not actually intend to visit Ciudad Juarez, Mexico (which is just across the border from El Paso, Texas and very close to US interstate 10) to establish an electronics repair and restoration shop (a so-called “maquiladora”). Instead, I intend to engage a local recruiter in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico to help me hire workers and then communicate and manage them over the Internet. Perhaps my intention seems infeasible to you but I did something just like this over a decade ago with an electronics technician in Shenzhen, China who I never actually met and who did not even know my identity. See, I would send electronics products from Los Angeles to Shenzhen, China for the electronics technician in Shenzhen, China to assemble. After assembly, he would send me photos and videos (over the internet) of the work he had done. Then electrical engineer with whom I worked at the time would verify the quality of the technician’s work by examining the photos and videos. Then I would pay the electronics technician in Shenzhen, China by adding funds to a US bank account which he could withdraw funds from using an ATM card I had sent him. Then electronics technician in Shenzhen, China would ship the electronics from Shenzhen, China to Los Angeles. To communicate with the electronic technician in Shenzhen, China I used a pseudonym because I did not want to risk that he might become disgruntled—say if I were to fire him. I did not want him to be able physically harm me (say, by sending me items he had coated with poison in the mail). Pagans are dangerous. I try to protect myself from them. But personally I think I would be much better off working with observant Catholic Mexicans than a non-religious Mexicans. Pagans are not all equally bad: some are worse than others. For example, Hindus are probably worse than Catholics. Right? Sikhs might not be Noahides (or maybe they are) but they are probably better than Buddhists. Right? The Canaanite nations whom Joshua conquered were a particularly loathsome groups of pagans. Finally, if an observant rabbi were to assert, “As long as you don’t actually get involved in their religion (or have to pay their church) there is nothing wrong with hiring religious people of other religions. On the contrary, as you rightly point out, many times they are more trustworthy.” how would you and your rabbonim respond? Kol Tov, Ken Laskin
Answer:
Hi Ken, This sounds like an interesting idea, and I hope it works out well for you. There is no inherent problem with hiring people of another religion, as long as you don’t get involved in their religion. According to halacha there wouldn’t be much of a difference between Catholics and other religions, unless they are so devout to their religion that if they get something from you before their holiday that they will go and thank their deity for it, however this is not common nowadays. Therefore from a halachic perspective it is alright to do so. There is one part of this that I am not comfortable about, which is maybe something in hashkafa. You wrote that the reason you want to specifically use a priest is because if they don’t listen to him they will be violating papal infallacy. I am not knowledgeable in the Catholic law, but if what you are writing in indeed true, it would mean that you want to hire the priest because of his religious powers, and you want to harness the respect of the avoda zara for your benefit. I am not sure if this is indeed a concern or not, and I had the point send to a big Rabbi, but it will take a few days for me to receive an answer on this. Best wishes
Answer:
I had someone speak to Horav Shlomo MIller of Toronto about your question, and he said that he doesn’t see an issue regarding what is called papal infalibility. the reason is because they revised the concept a hundred years ago to only include ruling or opinions of the pope that relate directly to religious idiology and dogma. Not opinions regarding life in general. Best Wishes
