The Spirit of Truth

Often enough, people don’t want to hear the truth, especially when it’s stark and perhaps a bit frightening, the kind of truth that denies their Weltanschauung and their hopes for the future, as well as the hopes and lives of those they love. I suppose that’s a normal human response when things seem to be going reasonably well, and then someone comes along and insists on a very different view of the world. 

But as faithful Christians we cannot view our lives through a worldly lens. For us the truth is always “Good News” even when, to the worldly, it seems very bad indeed. After all, Jesus is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life” [Jn 14:6]. When the world and its confusion and hatreds pour into our lives, we Christians should be joyful because it’s an opportunity to suffer for the proclamation of the Gospel.

Oops! Wait a minute! Most Christians in the West don’t expect to suffer simply because they go to church on Sunday and drop a few bucks in the collection basket. And yet, here we are, facing what could be another era of persecution. Don’t believe it? Just look around the world and realize it’s on its way to you and to me…and a lot sooner than we probably think. But the Church has been there before, many times; and yet the Church is still here and will be here until the end. Although in the US and in Europe, the Church appears to be in decline, this isn’t true globally. In Africa and in much of Asia the Church is growing, just as it grew in its earliest years.

We need only look to that early Church and its response to persecution. Tertullian (died c. 220 A.D.) was a lawyer (we’ll forgive him for that) who converted to Christianity largely due to the courage of condemned Christians he witnessed as they went to their deaths singing hymns. His ultimate response, one directed to the Roman Empire:

“We are not a new philosophy but a divine revelation. That’s why you can’t just exterminate us; the more you kill the more we are. The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. You praise those who endured pain and death – so long as they aren’t Christians! Your cruelties merely prove our innocence of the crimes you charge against us…

Yes, indeed, "the seed of the Church." God calls us Christians to sacrifice and actually expects His disciples to give everything for Him: evangelization without compromise. But that's a truth few of the lukewarm want to hear, much less think about. The signs, though, are there for all to see. The persecution of Christians today is greater than at any other time in history. And where is the Church growing? Wherever it suffers persecution.

In many parts of the world, the United States included, persecution of Christians is subtle but still very real. But for Nigerian Christians there’s nothing subtle about the deadly persecution they must face daily. For example, Christians in northern Nigeria are the most religiously persecuted people on earth. According to Open Doors, in 2022 roughly 90% of the world’s Christian martyrs — which equates to over 5,000 Christians — were slaughtered for their faith in this part of Nigeria. Who's been murdering them? Islamists. This has been going on for a long time. In the past 15 years 52,250 Nigerian Christians have been brutally murdered at the hands of Islamist militants. They not only kill Christians — men, women, and children — but also destroy churches, over 18,000 Christian churches and 2,200 Christian schools were set ablaze during this same period. And if you’re a moderate Muslim who objects to such genocide, the Islamists will kill you too. Approximately 34,000 moderate Nigerian Muslims died in Islamist attacks.

Megan Meador, communications director of Aid to the Church in Need (ACD) describes the situation faced by Christians and others in today’s Nigeria:

“The persecution comes from terrorists, from machete-wielding militias, from mob violence and laws that implicitly encourage them, and from authorities who are indifferent to the mayhem and shrug off these atrocities, allowing perpetrators to go free while punishing victims…We’ve had cases where Christians have been hauled in front of Sharia courts, without jurisdiction, and accused of crimes like apostasy, which is not supposed to be a crime in Nigeria…We are right now supporting a Sufi Muslim young singer, Yahaya Sharif-Aminu, who was sentenced to death on blasphemy accusations for posting lyrics to social media, and is now challenging that law at the Supreme Court. Nigeria needs to fully practice what is protected under its Constitution.”

ACD is a strong and constant supporter of religious freedom throughout the world. In Nigeria ACD's work includes defending Christians from legal attacks, false accusations, and discrimination. It also supports those who are threatened by blasphemy laws if they express religious beliefs openly. Both Open Doors and ACD deserve our support for the wonderful work they do.

To get a sense of what Nigerian Christians must cope with, their remarkable response, and its effect on evangelization and conversion, follow this link to a recent article in the Catholic Herald: Numbers of African Catholics Boom as Church in Europe Continues to Shrink.

It seems the future of Christianity, and specifically the Catholic Church, is no longer in the United States or Europe. As one Congolese priest told me not long ago, "What we're experiencing in Africa today is a reenactment of the Acts of the Apostles." Why should we expect otherwise? After all, didn't Jesus tell Nicodemus:

"That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born anew.' The wind blows where it wills, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know whence it comes or wither it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit" [Jn 3:6-8].

Yes, indeed, the Spirit blows where it wills, not where you and I will.

Pray for those persecuted for their Faith.

__________________

Oh, yes, a postscript: the State Department has inexplicably left Nigeria off its Religious Freedom Watch List (for the third year) despite the widespread slaughter of Christians in that nation. Once again, the Biden administration demonstrates its indifference to the lives and religious freedom of Christians. Here's a link to a 2021 story when Secretary of State Blinken first removed Nigeria from the watch list: Catholic News Agency -- nothing has apparently changed in three years.

Change and More Change

Change, surprisingly rapid change, seems to define our world today. No aspect of human activity is immune, including religion. Events and movements within religion, however, often fly well below the mainstream media's radar because they are mistakenly believed to be unimportant. I suppose one cannot expect irreligious people to take religion very seriously, although such an attitude displays real ignorance of both human history and human nature. But when religion is discounted by the media and given little intelligent coverage, the general public is shortchanged. Even when the secular media covers religious news, they tend to cover it as they would political news; consequently they usually get the story wrong.  More often, however, religious news is simply ignored.

Here are a few items that reflect some significant changes that may have escaped the notice of most media outlets. 

The Changing Face of Anglicanism. In his blog Fr. Dwight Longenecker gives a brief overview of some of the remarkable changes that have occurred within the diverse Anglican community in recent years. Fr. Longenecker, an American Catholic priest, knows of what he speaks. Brought up in an Evangelical home, he followed an atypical path on his personal religious pilgrimage. A graduate of fundamentalist Bob Jones University, he went on to study theology at Oxford and was subsequently ordained an Anglican priest. After serving many years as an Anglican cleric in England, he and his family converted to Catholicism in 1995. He now lives in South Carolina. You can read Fr. Longenecker's conversion story here.

Growth of Catholicism in Asia and Africa. Few Western Catholics are aware of the rapid growth of the Church in both Asia and Africa. As the faithful in Western Europe shrink to record small levels, their numbers worldwide have grown remarkably. That this growth is unremarked in the U.S. and Europe just highlights the parochialism of many Western Catholics. This growth, though, has been increasingly hard to ignore as more and more priests from Asia and Africa are recruited by our bishops to work as pastors and parochial vicars in American parishes. Not too long ago the Church in America was a major source of missionary priests to the less developed world; now that world sends missionaries to us. Indeed, my pastor is originally from the Philippines and the priest who serves as chaplain in the nearby federal prison, and who lives in our parish, is from Nigeria. Yes, the Catholic Church us truly catholic. (To get a good sense of the growth of the Church in Asia and Africa, read this synopsis of the statistics published in the 2013 Pontifical Yearbook.)

Cardinal Yeom

The Church in South Korea. South Korea is a largely secular Asian nation in which Catholics make up only 11% of the population. But the Church there is growing in both numbers and stature. Pope Francis' recent elevation of Seoul's Archbishop Andrew Yeom Soo-jung as the nation's first cardinal was warmly welcomed by all Koreans as was the Vatican's announcement approving the martyrdom of 124 Koreans who were executed for their faith during the 18th and 19th centuries. We can expect to hear more about these brave men and women as the beatification process continues. I also believe we will be hearing much more about the growing Church in South Korea in the years to come. Just this month 38 new priests were ordained in the Seoul Archdiocese, so don't be surprised if one day a South Korean priest shows up at your parish.

The Disappearing Christians of Iraq. Most of us in the West believe Iraq is a marginally better place since the overthrow and death of Saddam Hussein. But for the Christians of Iraq, those few who remain, nothing could be further from the truth. Few people outside Iraq realize that the nation once boasted an active and vibrant Christian community that represented over 10% of the population and worshiped in hundreds of churches throughout the country. Christians now make up only about 1% of the Iraqi population -- a number that's dwindling rapidly -- and worship in only a few dozen churches. In the spirit of ecumenism, I suggest you read this article published on the website of First Things magazine: The Vicar of Baghdad. It tells the remarkable story of Canon Andrew White, a courageous Anglican priest who ministers to the Christians of Iraq. It's a story you won't read in the New York Times.

Egyptian Catholic Reaction to Our President. Here's another story you won't read in our secular media. Last year during the chaos surrounding the removal from office of President Mohammed Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood reacted by attacking Christian churches, businesses and homes throughout the nation. Egyptian Christians hadn't suffered such persecution in centuries. In the midst of these open and violent attacks on the nation's Christian community, President Obama called for the to return to power of Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood allies. In response, Fr. Rafic Antoine Greiche, the head of the Press Office of the Catholic Church in Egypt, released a scathing criticism of President Obama. You can view a video of Fr. Greiche below: 



Don't rely on the mainstream media for news on religious matters, and especially for news on the Catholic Church.

Religious Persecution on the Rise in Asia

As some of you may know, I like to keep an eye on the persecution of the Church in our world, and on occasion I try to bring some of these events to your attention. I don't do this out of any sense of outrage. After all, Jesus told us expect persecution and, to some extent, to welcome it. That being said, I don't highlight these incidents in an effort to convince you to seek martyrdom...not at all. No, I do this for two reasons. First, I simply want to keep you informed about what's happening to your Church elsewhere in the world, because the mainstream media certainly won't. If you're unaware of these assaults on the Body of Christ, it's unlikely that you will take any steps, including prayer, to alleviate them. Second, I believe you and I are strengthened in our own faith when we are exposed to the example of those who are persecuted today for their love of Jesus Christ. And we just may need to call on that strength sooner rather than later. Only God knows.

Women in Orissa, an Indian state, protest anti-Christian riots

As perhaps a sign of more widespread persecutions to come, the nations of Asia are becoming increasingly hostile to Christianity. Some formerly tolerant nations are turning a blind eye to anti-Christian violence perpetrated by religious fundamentalists. Others have or plan to enact laws prohibiting conversion. And in some -- particularly in communist nations like Vietnam, China and North Korea -- the government itself acts as the persecutor. Throughout Asia religious freedom seems to be suffering as governments cave in to the wishes of extremists or as ideology drives them to accept or actively participate in the persecution of religious groups, particularly Christian religious groups. Some examples of what's happening in Asia these days:

Hindu mob destroys a car outside a Christian church in India

Just a year ago in India, Hindu fundamentalists carried out a violent persecution of Christians that killed hundreds and created 100,000 or more refugees. And this happened in a nation that once took pride in its commitment to religious freedom. Unfortunately these persecutions have continued. Just recently a Catholic priest was murdered while on his way to celebrate Mass.

Christian couple in front of their home in Gojra (Pakistan) destroyed in anti-Christian violence on 8/2/09 (8 dead, 20 injured, scores homeless)

In Pakistan, just recently, an angry mob of over 3,000 Muslims went on a rampage through the Christian sector of a village where they burned eight Christians alive. Among those killed were four women and a young child. Over twenty others were seriously injured, fifty Christian homes were destroyed, and thousands were forced to flee for the lives to avoid being summarily executed by these extremists. The mob was incited by mullahs who wanted to rid the area of Christians. In other parts of Pakistan, the imposition of sharia law has led Christians and others to leave some provinces for fear of being arrested simply for practicing their faith.

In Egypt, Muslim police beat Christian

All of the Islamic nations of Asia make it difficult for those who would convert to Christianity and some have made conversion illegal, punishable in some instances by death. Two largely Hindu nations, India and Sri Lanka, are considering passing laws aimed at preventing conversions. Virtually all the countries of central Asia limit religious freedom to some extent.

Christian children pray at the destroyed church of St. Rum’s in Baghdad’s Karrada neighborhood; five churches were attacked in one day in pre-dawn bombings

As one might expect, in the communist nations of Asia religious persecution is government policy and is exercised in varying degrees of severity. The persecution of Christians over the past 60 years in communist China is well documented and, despite the nation's seeming acceptance of some free-market principles, it remains ideologically rigid when it comes to religion. In Vietnam, where many of the people still retain their Catholic faith, the Communist government has been exercising its muscle through recent persecutions that have included mass arrests, beatings, and destruction of Church property.

Vietnamese Catholics protest police beating of a priest

One of the sad elements of this trend toward increased religious persecution in Asia is the near silence with which it has been greeted by most Western nations. In their efforts to appear multicultural and politically correct Western governments seem to have forgotten that tolerance is a two-way street.

Unfortunately, we and our Western European relations no longer consider ourselves Christian nations, and certainly not Judeo-Christian nations. And so there is no real impetus to defend Christianity when it suffers persecution. Why defend what you don't believe in? What our politicians fail to realize is that those who would destroy Christianity aren't content to accomplish just that. They want to destroy both Christianity and the civilization that arose out of it...and that includes these same politicians. Foolish men!

President Obama bows to Saudi King Abdullah

President Bush with good buddy, King Abdullah

In his response to the rise of anti-Christian persecution, Pope Benedict pleads with Christians everywhere to pray, to pray not only for the persecuted, but for those who persecute. It is only through Christianity, through Christ's presence in the world, Christ's presence in us, that our world will be reconciled to the truth, that divisions among peoples and nations will be healed, and that the world will be transformed in Jesus Christ. Fortunately for the world, God is in control, even when it might seem He has left us to our own meager devices. And so we will pray; we will pray for the conversion of the world.

Come, Lord Jesus!!