A reader writes:

Jonah, isn’t it as absurd for Jews to hold Christians collectively responsible for the murderous actions of medieval Christians – regardless of their reasoning – as it would be for Christians to hold Jews collectively responsible for killing Jesus?
I mean, if a Jew does that, he is tacitly accepting the medieval Christians’ argument holding him accountable.
It’s ludicrous, of course, in both cases. And in any event, Jesus came to die. No Crucifixion, no Resurrection, no salvation for mankind.

Me: I think that’s all perfectly legitimate. I would only say two things. First, I don’t think I’m “blaming” any Christians today of anything, at least not in the context of this discussion. Second, I think intergenerational guilt is a terrible and sinful concept and I don’t believe in it (nor does Judaism, by the way, contrary to what I may have implied earlier). But institutions live longer than people and therefor institutions need to account for their behavior in previous eras. I think the Catholic Church has largely done that. But I do think it had the responsibility to do so, even if Catholics living today are individually blameless for anything Catholics did a thousand years ago.