Random Thoughts

What follows are just a few random thoughts that popped into my aging brain as I scanned the news yesterday evening and this morning. Among them are a few predictions, which will likely be very wrong indeed. In truth, though, I've sometimes done pretty well looking into the future. For example, back in 1967 when I was making my way through Navy flight training in Pensacola, I would occasionally chat with another flight student who happened to be a Saudi. It didn't take long to realize that he and his colleagues despised us. These conversations and other subsequent interactions I had with military officers from Muslim nations convinced me that our greatest future threat would come from the Islamic world, a threat motivated by a kind of irrational fanaticism. Whenever I aired these concerns in military circles the response was predictable: "You're crazy. It's the Soviet Union we need to worry about, not a bunch of Arabs." This attitude changed on 9/11/2001.

More recently I got quite good at predicting President Obama's actions involving the Middle East. My rule of thumb? Any action he took, any decision he made, would always support the Shiite Muslims. I may be wrong, but I believe this stemmed from the fact that his father was supposedly a Shiite. But enough of the past...

Bye-bye Europe. If you plan to vacation in Europe, I'd suggest you do so soon, while it still exists. The pro-abortion vote in once Catholic Ireland is just one more symptom of Europe's rapid decay. The acceptance of abortion, indeed the entire contraceptive mentality that has gripped much of Western Civilization for the past 50 years, is the primary cause of its future destruction. Once a people decides its weakest can be destroyed for any reason whatsoever, human life at every stage becomes essentially worthless. This can lead to nothing but the people's ultimate self-eradication.

The root causes? Europe's movers and shakers openly deny its Judeo-Christian roots and have convinced most of the population to do the same. In fact, Europe has discarded Christianity to such an extent that today European atheists quite likely outnumber its active Christians. And Europe's Jews are more at risk than anytime since the 1930s. It's all very sad and so predictable. Once the cult is removed from a culture there's really nothing left that's worth saving. I expect that my children and grandchildren will witness Europe's accelerating destruction from a kind of continent wide civil war. It will be messy, fueled by an immigrant-led insurgency, a confused and suicidal secular establishment, and a feisty nationalistic remnant. Think of Syria on a continental scale. Messy indeed.

Memorial Day Forgotten. I had hoped to visit the national cemetery in Bushnell, Florida on Memorial day, but then discovered that, along with Diane I was assigned as on-call chaplain at The Villages Hospital. And so we spent a few hours popping in and out of the rooms of the newly admitted folks, praying with them, talking and laughing about all sorts of things, and spreading God's love and mercy wherever He thought it was needed. It made for a good morning, and got my mind off of the weirdness that seems to arise on Memorial Day.

Every Memorial Day I suffer because of the stupidity and ignorance of so many. Yesterday, for example, some leftist talk show host stated that on this day we should honor those who resist President Trump. Hearing such talk from the left encourages me since I can't believe most Americans could possibly agree. If the day ever comes when a majority discard the true meaning of Memorial Day and replace it with such gross political tripe, we are doomed as a nation.

Then there's the trivial uttered by the clueless. Earlier yesterday morning a smiling TV meteorologist declared that Memorial Day is "really the day we celebrate the beginning of summer, the first real beach day!" She was hoping to join her family for a week's vacation at the Jersey shore.

Of course there are also those well-meaning but ignorant folks who confuse their holidays. One news flunky told everyone to "be sure to thank all those veterans out there on this day when the nation  remembers them." Yes, it's always nice to be thanked (on Veterans Day), but the ones we thank on Memorial Day are the ones resting in peace in our national cemeteries.

And I try to ignore all those who create the commercials and newspaper ads that use Memorial Day as a way to push their wares.

I really think the decline began in June 1968 when Congress voted to change the dates of four of our national holidays to give people three-day weekends. No longer would Memorial Day be celebrated on May 30; we would now salute our fallen on the last Monday of May. With this, people began to think more of the long weekend with its barbecues and trips to the shore than of those who gave their lives so we could taste such pleasures in the freedom they won and preserved for us.

Antifa Doing Their Thing

Democrat Crack-Up. I don't understand the Democrat party. Their visceral hatred of Donald Trump has seemingly blinded them to the reality of political life. Not long ago the polls (if you can believe them) gave the Democrats a huge lead in the upcoming November mid-term elections. Now those same polls show them several points behind. The party, which once had a rather large, influential, and moderate center, now seems to be led by those of the far left. Even Hillary, who's not all that moderate, recently complained that the socialists (aka Marxists) have taken over the party's leadership. And at the grassroots level it has become a party of far left special interests -- Antifa, Black Lives Matter, Planned Parenthood, CAIR, La Raza, Southern Poverty Law Center, etc. -- that certainly don't represent the beliefs of most Americans...at least not yet. Has the party become so ideological that it has lost the ability to engage in any kind of bipartisan effort or seek productive compromise? It would seem so. If the Democratic far left wins in November I suggest you pack your bags and go off the grid.

The Senator's Father

John McCain. Let me state up-front that, even though I voted for him, I've never been a fan of John McCain. I got to know his father, Admiral John S. McCain, years ago when he was Commander-in-Chief Pacific. As a young junior officer and Navy helicopter pilot I flew him around Hawaii for a few weeks and during this time had a number of interesting conversations with this crusty, cigar-smoking admiral. I developed a tremendous respect for him.

As for Senator McCain, I've always thought he was too much the politician. For me that's perhaps the worst thing you can say about a public figure since I can't think of a single career politician I respect. I'm sure there are a few deserving some respect; I just can't think of one. Career politicians, driven by their desire to remain in office, tend to lose whatever philosophical and moral grounding they might once have had. Lacking this firm foundation they say whatever is necessary to appease the voters and then do what is necessary to maintain power. I won't denigrate Senator McCain's patriotism because he certainly suffered at the hands of the Communist butchers of then North Vietnam. This, however, happened years ago and I have many friends who suffered right alongside him. No man should be judged solely on the good or bad he did in the distant past.

I'm concerned more with the senator's recent political antics that seem to be focused more on creating problems for his personal foe, President Trump, than on the good of the country. The latest piece of news is that he is waiting until after June 30 to resign, thus eliminating the need to have an election for his seat this year. This would allow Arizona Governor Doug Ducey to name McCain's wife, Cindy, to serve as senator until the 2020 elections. If this is true -- and I don't know that it is -- it seems to be just another example of a career politician's sense of entitlement. The voters are ignored so the politician's plans can be fulfilled. We'll just have to wait a month to find out.

John and Cindy McCain

I'm sorry that the senator is dying but that's something we must all face. As Senator McCain approaches his death, I ask God to grant him the same grace I hope and pray He grants me: that John McCain, the man, has the will to repair any damaged relationships he may have caused; that he is humble enough to heal any wounds he may have inflicted; and that he turn to His merciful God and Judge in repentance.

God's peace...

Europe's Suicidal Option for Sterility

We normally think of historians as those who look to the past and chronicle human history. Historians examine events and people, identify the most influential, and strive to help us understand better both past and present. Some do this well and others not so well. Many are overly influenced by ideology and other biases, while a few actually search for the truth. Of course, to search for the truth one must first believe that truth exists, something most progressive relativists, historians included, cannot accept. And yet the very best historians, and they are indeed a rare breed, are often prophetic in that, based on their understanding of history's truths, they offer us realistic insights into what the future holds. 

I certainly have my favorite historians, and among these I include Lord Acton, Christopher Dawson, Henri Pirenne, Arnold Toynbee and Eric Voegelin. I'll also add G. K. Chesterton to my short list, even though he considered himself a journalist and not an historian. I suppose, though,  good journalists are historians of sorts in that they chronicle the recent past. This, of course, was exactly what Chesterton did, and in doing so he shared many prophetic insights with his readers.

George Weigel

I'm not really sure why my thoughts turned to historians, but it guess it began this morning after reading a brief essay by George Weigel, an intellectual who, like Chesterton, probably doesn't consider himself an historian. A Catholic theologian, biographer of St. John Paul II, and all-around commentator on the meeting and separation of the religious and the secular in the modern world, Weigel included some surprising truths in his essay, Catholic Lite and Europe's Demographic Suicide (published online on the First Things website). 

Addressing what can be seen only as a war on children, Weigel focuses on the demographics of the once-Christian population of Europe, a population that is quickly disappearing. Interestingly, Weigel implies that Europe's political leadership -- and much of its relgious leadership -- is fully aware of the situation but really doesn't seem to care. He mentions a conversation he had a decade ago with a member of the Brussels-based European Parliament in which the Italian politician said,  “Look, we know we’re finished. We’re trying to arrange things so that we can die comfortably in our beds. Don’t you Yanks come over here and start stirring things up.” 

One can only wonder what motivates a politician to prefer personal comfort and societal suicide to his responsibility to preserve and protect the society he supposedly serves. The most obvious answer is a degree of selfishness taken to the extreme, of the sort that can only have a demonic source. Political correctness is, of course, tailor-made for the promulgation of such an attitude. Once a society decides that speaking the truth is not only unacceptable, but also punishable, the lie -- any lie that fits -- becomes the "new truth." Sadly, Europe has already reached this point in its decline. 

Europe's sterility is epitomized by another remarkable fact pointed out by Weigel: "...the prime ministers or presidents of Europe’s largest economies — and of all the European members of that exclusive global club, the G7 — are without children..." Good heavens! Just consider the example these childless leaders set for their constituents.

(Of course the one growing segment of Europe's population is the Muslim segment. Even if some of this segment consider their children expendable and fitting candidates for suicide bombings, the majority apparently see their children as their future.)

Weigel goes on to place much of the blame for Europe's suicidal option for sterility on the so-called Catholic Lite accommodation to secular values, what he rightly considers a "colossal evangelical failure." Much of the Church's leadership, particularly in Germany and the Low Countries, have been virtually silent in the face of European society's widespread acceptance of contraception, abortion, assisted suicide, and euthanasia. Given the seriousness of Our Lord's warning in Matthew's Gospel, I suspect personal weakness and fear of persecution are not acceptable excuses:

"Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of things that cause sin! Such things must come, but woe to the one through whom they come!" [Mt 18:6-7]

George Weigel is always worth reading and if this subject interests you, I suggest picking up a copy of his little book on Europe, America and the Church: The Cube and the Cathedral.

Sad Happenings...and Odd

The slaughter of Christians in the Middle East and Africa continues, but at least our president openly addressed this ongoing tragedy when he spoke to the gathering of the leaders of Muslim nations in Saudi Arabia. He didn't parrot the foolish political correctness of the previous administration, but identified the enemy as Islamist terrorists.

President Trump in Saudi Arabia

It was also refreshing to hear him scold those leaders for their halfhearted, at best, efforts to rid Islam of this cancer. Now we'll see if they actually do anything. I'm not holding my breath because in far too many of these nations a sizable percentage of the population actually support some of the terrorists' goals, specifically the universal imposition of sharia law. (See Pew Research Center's polling results.)

I also applaud President Trump's strong support for our ally, Israel, perhaps the only nation in that part of the world that doesn't hope for our destruction.

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Yesterday's slaughter of Coptic Christians in Egypt provided an interesting juxtaposition alongside the recent terrorist attack in the UK. While the UK attack has almost monopolized the news for several days,  I suspect we'll hear much less about the wholesale murder of a larger number of Egyptian Christians, many of whom were also children. I'm not belittling the tragedy in Manchester, far from it, but what happened in Egypt is no less tragic.

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In a related story Thomas Mair, the mayor of Greater Manchester, speaking about the horrific terrorist bombing in his city, stated: “This is an extremist act and the person who did it no more represents the Muslim community than the person who killed Jo Cox represents the white Christian community.” Jo Cox, you might recall, was the Labour MP who was stabbed to death a week before the "Brexit" referendum. The problem with the mayor's statement is that I'm pretty certain the vast majority of the UK's white Christian community doesn't support the indiscriminate killing of Muslims and would report such plots to the authorities. Sadly, a recent poll indicated that a majority of the UK's Mulims would not report suspected Jihadist activity to the police.
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I found it interesting that Nancy Pelosi, now perhaps the most irrelevant of left-coast politicians, for some unknown reason chided the president for visiting Saudi Arabia on his first international trip. She seems to think he instead should have visited Canada, or perhaps one of those needy foreign people's republics like San Francisco. I expect some in her party are urging her to retire before she does even more damage to their collective credibility.
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Greg Gianforte, Body-Slammer

And speaking of the credibility of the Democrat Party...Things must be very bad indeed when a Montana Republican, Greg Gianforte, wins a special election for a U.S. Congressional seat the day after he's charged with misdemeanor assault for body-slamming a pesky reporter. The Democrats had expected the election to result in an anti-Trump win for their party, an expectation considered a certainty after the Wednesday assault. Last-minute radio and tv ads by the Democrats focused almost exclusively on the assault, and three Montana newspapers pulled their endorsements of Gianforte. But the Repblican still won, and by a decent margin. I certainly don't support assualting reporters, even those who are purveyors of fake news, but the incident certainly says something about the mood of the country. Mr. Gianforte has since publicly apologized for his ill-considered aggression toward the media.
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Wolfgang Schäuble, Germany's Finance Minister, another of Europe's brighter lights, suggests that Germany's Christians can learn from its growing Muslim population. What can they learn? In the minister's words, “Many human values are very strongly realised in Islam. Think of hospitality, and other things like, what is there… And also tolerance, I believe, for example.” Hospitality and tolerance were certainly in evidence in Manchester and Nice and Paris and San Bernardino and Egypt and...the list goes on. Of course many, perhaps most, Muslims are hospitable and tolerant, but to deny the religious basis of Islamist terrorism is not just foolish in the short term, but suicidal in the long term. 
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I have to admit, I've pretty much written off all career politicians, a class of people epitomized primarily by their inability to tell the truth. It's no wonder people are rejecting the liars and increasingly voting for politically inexperienced men and women. It's a trend I suspect (and hope) will continue. 

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One of my heroes, the late Archbishop Fulton Sheen, believed strongly that the Islamic world would eventually convert to Christianity through the intercession of the Blessed Mother. He expected that Mary, because she occupies an especially exalted position in Islamic theology, would draw the Islamic world to her Son and Christianity. She will bring this about as Our Lady of Fatima, a title that has some fascinating Islamic roots.

I've always thought that Archbishop Sheen was likely correct about all this and that our politicians, as usual, will follow a much less productive course. This, of course, is just another good reason for all Catholics to pray the Rosary daily, not just for the conversion of Russia, but for the conversion of the entire world. After all, as St. Paul reminds us: 

"This is good, and it is acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" [1 Tim 2:3-4].

"All men to be saved..." Why not? With God all things are possible.

And how fitting that we should turn to Our Lady of Fatima this year, the 100th anniversary of her apparition to the three children of Fatima. Our Lady of Fatima, pray for us.

The Declining Church in Europe

Despite the remarkable growth of the Catholic Church in Asia and Africa, the Catholic Church in Europe may soon resemble the mere skeleton of a Church, one populated only by a clergy astonished that the pews before them are empty. Their astonishment is quite extraordinary since they are fully responsible for the decline, a decline they try with little success to blame on others, specifically the Vatican.

Two recent articles, one by Fr. Gerald Murray, of the Archdiocese of New York, and another by Fr. Mark Pilon of the Diocese of Arlington, provide a needed glimpse into the moral chaos symptomatic of the sad state of the Catholic Church in Germany and indeed in much of Europe today. As Fr. Pilon warns, when the clergy abandon the Church's moral teaching, Church unity suffers, and the faithful dwindle. Already many of the great churches of Europe have ceased being places of worship and become mere tourist attractions. On our recent trip to England Diane and I entered dozens of Anglican churches, all of them empty, except for us and an occasional docent who happily described the building's glorious past, while sadly telling of the dire need for funds to keep the doors open. The Anglican Church paved the way to perceived superfluity by adopting an anti-dogma of moral ambiguity. When a Church adopts a moral position of "anything goes" everything and everybody goes as well...out the door.

Take a few moments to read both of these brief articles. You can find them here:

Bad news from Deutschland, by Fr. Gerald E. Murray

Germany's "Pay to Pray" Regime, by Fr. Mark A. Pilon

Surprising Stories

Most news stories today are hardly news. By this I mean that they really don't surprise, but instead only confirm what one already knows or suspects to be true. For example, let me share a few of this morning's news stories. Here are the headlines...

Security draft would force agencies to share cyber-threat information. If you've ever worked for or with the federal government, the fact that US intelligence agencies haven't been sharing such information with likely targets 11 years after the 911 attack won't surprise you. Government entities -- Congress included -- tend to be reactive, unwilling to anticipate problems. Rather than take what might be the politically unsafe path, they prefer instead to wait until they are forced to act in the midst of a full-blown crisis. This executive order from the White House will, of course, fall far short of what's needed.

Gun industry going gangbusters. Again, no surprise here. Whenever he lets his guard down, the president clearly shows he is no friend of the Second Amendment. Many Americans, concerned about possible restrictions should the president win a second term, have been visiting their local gun shops to buy handguns, shotguns, rifles and ammunition. Those of you who prefer not to own a gun, can always buy stock in the industry. The stocks of many gun manufacturers have more than doubled in value over the past four years. 

Gun Sales Booming under Obama

Unemployment drops in seven swing states. Oooh...surprise, surprise. The administration's Bureau of Labor Statistics, three weeks before the election, has suddenly presented us with the lowest unemployment rate -- 7.8% -- since the president was elected. Not addressed was the fact that the vast majority of all these "new" jobs were part-time jobs held by people still looking for full-time work. 

TSA workers at Newark face firing or suspension. This is one of those stories that generates a yawn tempered by some mild surprise. The surprise is that TSA finally got around to firing anyone. At this one airport (Newark) TSA fired 25 of its employees and suspended 19 others. That's a rather large number, don't you think? They were fired because of "improper screening of checked luggage." Let me translate this little snippet of bureaucratic speak: they were stealing items from passengers' luggage. No surprise there.

Swapping real freedom for perceived safety

Occasionally, however, I come across news items that really do surprise. How about this one:

Hunting buddies hug

Justice Kagan says Scalia is game hunting partner. In a recent interview Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan, one of the most liberal members of the court, stated she was taught how to hunt birds by none other than Justice Antonin Scalia, one of the court's most conservative members. The two now plan a hunting trip to Wyoming in search of larger game. Justice Kagan said she hopes to bag an antelope. This is not a story I ever expected to read.

Vocations Boom. This is another headline one doesn't see too often these days. But it's true, and it relates to an order of Cistercian nuns near Madison, Wisconsin, the only community of Cistercian nuns in the English-speaking world. Over the past ten years this community of cloistered contemplatives has doubled in size to 20 women and they expect this growth to continue. They are building a new monastery designed to house 35 nuns. This story shouldn't have surprised me since the "boom" in religious vocations is occurring only in those orders in close communion with the Church and its magisterium. The photo below is an artist's rendering of the proposed monastery, a design based on traditional Cistercian architecture. To help defray the costs, click here.

Pope believes Christianity will rekindle in Europe. Again, this headline surprised me, although it shouldn't  have. On many occasions, and in several of his books, Pope Benedict XVI has addressed the sad state of Christianity in once-Christian Europe. And my own experience, including five trips to Europe during the past 12 years, has left me less than optimistic regarding a rekindling of Christian faith among Europeans. But Pope Benedict understands, far better than most, that ideologies always leave a void. They never fulfill. They never satisfy the deepest longing of the human heart, the desire for God. In his words, “The Gospel…is true and can therefore never wear out. In each period of history it reveals new dimensions…as it responds to the needs of the heart and mind of human beings, who can walk in this truth and so discover themselves...It is for this reason, therefore, that I am convinced there will also be a new springtime for Christianity.” We can only hope and pray he is correct. Read more here.

Joe Biden on Ash Wednesday

Bishop to Biden: No Communion in Colorado Springs Diocese. Another surprise: a bishop who teaches what the Church teaches and acts on it. Bishop Michael Sheridan of Colorado Springs has instructed Vice President Biden (a Catholic) not to present himself for Holy Communion in the Diocese of Colorado Springs when he campaigns in Colorado. As the bishop stated: "There must be no confusion in these matters...Any Catholic politicians who advocate for abortion, for illicit stem cell research or for any form of euthanasia ipso facto place themselves outside full communion with the Church and so jeopardize their salvation. Any Catholics who vote for candidates who stand for abortion, illicit stem cell research or euthanasia suffer the same fateful consequences. It is for this reason that these Catholics, whether candidates for office or those who would vote for them, may not receive Holy Communion until they have recanted their positions and been reconciled with God and the Church in the Sacrament of Penance." Read more here.

Catholic Colleges Outnumbered by Other Christian Colleges Suing HHS. This headline took me by surprise, because I truly expected more Catholic colleges to follow the University of Notre Dame's lead and join in the lawsuits challenging the HHS mandate. (See my post, Who's Suing the Obama Administration?) This hasn't happened. Instead a growing number of Protestant colleges have come aboard, to the extent that these non-Catholic Christian schools now outnumber the Catholic schools involved in the lawsuits -- a bittersweet turn of events. It's good because it destroys the administration's claim that this is strictly a Catholic issue derived from the Church's so-called anti-women teachings on contraception. And not so good because it makes one wonder why so many Catholic colleges in the country have chosen to ignore this serious threat to religious freedom. Read more here.

Peace...

A New France...or the End of France?

While reading several reports out of Europe on the recent election of France's new president, socialist Francois Hollande, I came across some photographs of the post-election celebrations at La Bastille Plaza in Paris. In the first photo below I couldn't help but notice that the victors are waving lots of flags, but could spot only one French flag. There are flags from Palestine, Turkey, Syria, Algeria, and Morocco. There's even a European Union flag along with a number of unrecognizable flags that probably represent trade unions and other organizations. The sole French flag is in the lower right corner. It would seem, then, that a large percentage of those celebrating Hollande's victory were Muslims who apparently express little loyalty toward their adoptive country.

One published analysis of the election results stated two million Muslims voted in the election, and over 90% of them voted for Hollande. This was more than enough to ensure Hollande's victory over Sarkozy. (See this article in the Business Insider.)

I searched for other photos of the celebrations just to make sure the above photo wasn't an aberration, and I found another (below) and, once again, I could spot only one French flag, this time a small one in the upper right corner.

In addition to the overwhelming support he received from Muslims, Hollande also received 70% of the vote of those who consider themselves irreligious. On the other hand, nearly 80% of practicing Catholics voted for Sarkozy. And a significant majority of French Jews, unlike American Jews who vote overwhelmingly for Democrats, also voted for Sarkozy. This no doubt stems from the European left's overt antisemitism and hostility toward Israel.

I don't usually make predictions when it comes to things political, but these election results are less political than they are cultural. With the socialists now in power -- and if there's one thing the left knows how to do it's wield power -- they will strive mightily to maintain that power. Since the Muslim vote handed him the election, Hollande will do what is necessary to keep the growing Muslim community on his side. If he doesn't, he risks a violent backlash that could lead to a level of unrest approaching civil war.

Unfortunately for Hollande, he's a socialist and his economic policies will do nothing but further damage the nation's already sick economy. All the bones he tosses to the Muslim community will mean nothing when unemployment soars and the French welfare state no longer has the money to pay for all the benefits much of the populace has come to expect. As the indomitable Maggie Thatcher once said, "The trouble with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people's money."  When that happens, the wealthy will leave the country and take their wealth with them, the middle class working people will be dumbstruck wondering what has happened to their country, and the mobs will hit the streets. And mobs are never a good thing.

So...any way you look at it, France seems destined to encounter a violent future, and I think it will happen sooner rather than later.

France may have the largest Muslim population in Europe but it's not unique, and the left has begun to recognize that Europe's Muslims generally support candidates on the left. This will no doubt continue until that population reaches a level where Muslims can field their own candidates in nationwide elections, and win. When that occurs, they will discard the secular left and embrace an Islamic future, and Europe will no longer be Europe. Here's a link to an article addressing this: Muslim Voters Change Europe.

It's all very interesting, and symptomatic of Europe's rejection of its Christian roots and the faith of its fathers. Only by reclaiming and living that faith can Europe hope to reverse the current trend and save itself.

The Rabbi and the Pope

Lord Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi of the United Kingdom and the British Commonwealth, paid a visit this week to Pope Benedict XVI in a private audience at the Vatican. During his visit Rabbi Sacks echoed what the pope has been saying for years and expressed his concerns about Europe and the rejection of its Judeo-Christian roots. "We are very concerned obviously with the soul of Europe, I mean Europe was built on Judeo-Christian foundations, even the market was built on Judeo-Christian foundations,” the rabbi later stated in an interview with Vatican Radio. He believes these Judeo-Christian roots are responsible for Western civilization's remarkable political and economic success over the centuries.

The rabbi added that although religious leaders are powerless in the world's eyes, they can exert a tremendous amount of influence in the world. Indeed, he stated that the pope's influence brought him to Rome "because I think if Jewish and Christian voices are heard, along parallel lines, then they should not underestimate the influence they have.” Rabbi Sacks was impressed by the overwhelming positive response to Pope Benedict's visit to England and Scotland last year and the "acute and...widespread" interest the pope's trip generated.

At the same time he also expressed optimism that many Europeans are beginning to question the secularism and materialism at the root of so many of Europe's problems. They have come to recognize that "there is something lacking in the wider secular culture where all that matters is ‘what I am, what I spend, what I buy, what I earn,’ instead of ‘what I am.’” Rabbi Sacks has noticed symptoms of this new awareness in the increase in attendance at synagogues and among Jewish parents who are now enrolling their children in Jewish schools.

Rabbi Sacks also urged Christians and Jews to unite against anti-Christian and anti-Jewish persecution throughout the world, and only recently condemned the persecution of Christians during a debate in the House of Lords.

To read more click here:

Rabbi Jonathan Sacks on Vatican Radio

Rabbi Sacks delivers inaugural Pope Benedict Lecture in UK (September 2011) -- Listen to audio file


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

EU Considers "Christian" to be Politically Incorrect

On January 31 the foreign ministers of the European Union, in another masterful display of courage, rejected a draft resolution condemning recent atrocities against Christians and other minorities in Iraq and Egypt. The ministers were unable to agree on the inclusion of the word "Christian" for fear that it might be too politically incorrect.

This is what Western Europe, the former home of Christendom, has come to. The foreign ministers of these once great Christian nations now quake in their Guccis for fear that someone will take offense if they use the word "Christian" in a resolution. What cowards! What a tragedy!

Read more here, thanks to European Dignity Watch: EU Foreign Ministers

On February 21, as a result of much criticism, the ministers agreed on a watered-down version of the resolution that mentions Christianity once, and only in conjunction with Muslims and certain minorities, despite the fact that, according to the respected Pew Research Center, Christians are the victims in 70% of the religious persecution that occurs worldwide. And in Muslim countries, Christians are the victims of choice when it comes to persecution.

Once again European Dignity Watch provides details on the resolution: EU Struggles to Condemn Persecution

Religion, Freedom and Blindness

I find it interesting that Western European governments (and our own administration as well) seem to have been completely blindsided by the tumult that has spread throughout the Muslim states of the Middle East and North Africa. Blinded by their own secular worldview, the Europeans see these nations solely in political and economic terms and ignore the impact of both the religious faith of the people and their hopes for freedom. Because religion has little or no influence among Europe's elites today, they find it hard to imagine it having much influence anywhere. As a result they underestimate the resolve of the Jihadists who are engaged in a battle not only against the secular West, but also against the aspirations of much of the Muslim world. And so the West finds itself faced by a region that seems to have dissolved into chaos, and it doesn't have a clue as to the likely outcome. Very few saw this coming because very few recognized the growing signs of real discontent among the youth, women, and the many persecuted minorities, a discontent that has exploded in recent weeks.

The current conflict

Some of us have been listening to observers such as Walid Phares who have written extensively on what we should expect in the near future. Indeed, Phares' book, The Coming Revolution: Struggle for Freedom in the Middle East, anticipated much that is currently happening. The outcome, however, will likely be determined by how we in the West respond. If we continue as we have the outlook is not particularly bright.

News You Might Have Missed

Here are a few news items that probably didn't receive prominent coverage in the mainstream media:

California Churches Desecrated. It would seem that there are more than a few people in California who have it in for the Catholic Church. In recent weeks quite a few churches have been desecrated in some of the most despicable ways. Here's a link to the complete article in the California Catholic Daily: Same Hate, Different Church

European Union Omits Christian Holidays. Just in case you thought that the European Union hadn't completely dismissed the role of Christianity in European life, here's a story that will likely change your mind. The EU, in its recently published school calendar, has omitted such Christian holidays as Christmas and Easter, but included both Muslim and Jewish celebrations. You can read about it in detail here: EU Calendar Omits Christian Holidays

Islamic Scholars Suspend Vatican Talks. In a rather bizarre, Alice-in -Wonderland sort of twist, Islamic scholars at Egypt’s Al Azhar University have decided to discontinue their talks with the Vatican, claiming Pope Benedict XVI insulted Egypt and Islam when he asked the Egyptian government to protect its Coptic citizens from terrorism and mob violence. By expressing concern over the dangers Christians face in Egypt, the pope apparently engaged in "unacceptable interference" in the country's internal affairs. How weird is that? Sometimes I think that Islam is its own worst enemy. Instead of condemning those who commit acts of terror on their own soil, these "scholars" attack those who express concern for the victims. By the way, Egypt also recalled its ambassador to the Holy See over the same issue. You can read all about it here: Sunni Scholars

Christian Martyrs and Christian Unity. Swiss theologian and president of the Pontifical Council for Christian Unity, Cardinal Kurt Koch, has stated that today's Christian martyrs, regardless of their denomination, are the "most credible witnesses" for the cause of Christian unity. Writing in the Vatican's newspaper, l’Osservatore Romano, Cardinal Koch referred to the "ecumenism of the martyrs" and stated that "We have martyrs in all the Churches....here in Rome we have St Bartholomew's for all the modern martyrs. I think that what John Paul II said, that between the martyrs we have perfect unity and when we see this unity, we can have new forces to make visible the unity that the Holy Spirit has given us." I find myself agreeing with the cardinal, for in times of persecution the Church always strengthens and differences are much more likely to be overcome. We should all be praying daily for Christian unity. You can read about the cardinal 's comments here: Cardinal Koch on Unity. And you can listen to his comments (in English) here: Interview with Cardinal Koch.

Sargent Shriver, faithful pro-life Catholic. Sargent Shriver was a faithful Catholic, a Democrat, and solidly pro-life, a combination we are unlikely to encounter ever again in someone as prominent as he. I disagreed with him on many issues; he was, after all, a man of the political left. But he was certainly consistent in his beliefs and true to his Catholic faith. Father Raymond de Souza, writing in the Canadian National Post, stated that although Shriver was married to a Kennedy (Eunice), "it was Sarge who lived the life of public service and personal integrity the brothers Kennedy only pretended to. Sarge, who died Tuesday at the age of 95, was the son that the corrupt Kennedy patriarch never deserved to have." Read more here: Married to a Kennedy, but Dedicated to God.

Given the world we live in, I can never understand people who claim to be bored.

Pax et bonum...

Abortion, Ireland and the EU

Just to demonstrate how far we have fallen morally in the West, of the 27 nations that now make up the European Union only two -- Ireland and Malta -- prohibit abortion. Both of these largely Catholic countries have so far resisted continued attempts to change their laws and allow the murder of unborn babies. But the pressure is on.

An EU agency with a contradictory name, European Court of Human Rights, has ruled that Ireland is breaking European human rights law by prohibiting abortion. The Irish government has repeatedly refused to legislate in favor of abortion despite a 1992 Irish Supreme Court ruling. In its defense the government has also stated that it's laws prohibiting abortion had their basis in "profound moral values deeply embedded in Irish society." God bless them for that!

Although the Irish government has not yet indicated whether it will appeal the ruling, some legislators want to held a referendum on abortion to show how strongly the Irish people support the current law and thereby overturn the Irish Supreme Court's earlier decision. A recent poll supports the idea of a pro-life referendum, with 70% favoring the abortion ban and only 16% wanting it overturned.

Pray that the Irish people, and their government, maintain their sanity and their faith.

To read more, click here: European Court Rules Against Ireland

European Battles

Secular, anti-Christian forces in Europe, encouraged partly, I believe, by a general apathy among the populace, have been waging outright war against the Church and its teaching in recent years. The following stories from today's news each reflect a battle within this much larger war. In each case you can click on the title to read the details.

• Physicians' Rights of Conscience. The European Parliament plans to vote on regulations that might well restrict the rights of physicians to avoid performing abortions, sterilizations, euthanasia and other procedures that violate their consciences and religious views.

• Church Can't Dismiss for Immorality. The European Court of Human Rights has decided that a musician who violated his employment contract with a Catholic Church in Germany instead had his rights violated by the Church. The musician, who had agreed in his contract to live in accordance with Catholic values, ended his first marriage and had a child by another woman.

• Cardinal Erdo Addresses European Demographic Crisis. One glance at the basic demographic data for Europe and it's apparent that the contraceptive mentality has taken firm hold of the population. Cardinal Erdo, the President of the Council of Episcopal Conferences of Europe (CCEE), made this point clearly in his comments regarding the theme of the Council's plenary assembly in Zagreb: "Unfortunately, today the family is often threatened by a selfish, relativist culture directed exclusively towards short-lived material well-being...many European countries do not have a healthy birth-rate...The demographic crisis and the crisis in the family institution are closely linked."

• Nobel Prize Goes to Inventor of In Vitro Fertilization. The International Federation of Catholic Medical Associations (FIAMC) issued a statement in response to the awarding of the Nobel Prize for medicine to British biologist, Robert Edwards: "Although IVF has brought happiness to the many couples who have conceived through this process, it has done so at an enormous cost...undermining of the dignity of the human person. Many millions of embryos have been created and discarded during the IVF process." The Catholic doctors stated that they "recognize the pain that infertility brings to a couple, but equally we believe that the research and treatment methods needed to solve the problems of infertility have to be conducted within an ethical framework which respects the special dignity of the human embryo, which is no different from that of a mature adult with a brilliant mind."

These battles are not, of course, restricted to Europe. Indeed, they are being fought throughout the world. Europe just seems to be the favored battleground...at least for now.

St. Michael, pray for us.

Islamic Europe?

Libyan "leader" Qadhafi caused a bit of a ruckus during a European visit by suggesting that Europe convert to Islam. He also suggested that the European nations contribute a few billion dollars to stop African immigration. Sounds outlandish doesn't it? But according to Father Piero Gheddo of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions, the idea of a Muslim Europe is a very real possibility so long as Europeans continue to deny their Christian roots and the practice of their Christian faith.

In an interview with Rome-based Xenit News Agency, Father Gheddo, who also founded the missionary news agency AsiaNews, stated, "The challenge must be taken seriously. Certainly from a demographic point of view, as it is clear to everyone that Italians are decreasing by 120,000 or 130,000 persons a year because of abortion and broken families; while among the more than 200,000 legal immigrants a year in Italy, more than half are Muslims and Muslim families, which have a much higher level of growth."

Of course, Father Gheddo's comments apply not just to Italy but to all of western Europe where the birthrate among non-Muslims is far below the replacement rate. Put bluntly, Europeans are aborting and contracepting themselves out of existence.

This is another critical story that you'll never encounter in the mainstream media. Read the rest of Father Gheddo's comments here: Islam May Fill Europe's Religious Vacuum,

More on Europe...

Last week was particularly busy, leaving me little time for the blog or any of the other activities I actually enjoy. Interesting how one's expectations for retirement differ so greatly from the reality. But I suppose this is true of most human endeavors. Yesterday evening, for example, I opened Pope Benedict's book, Europe Today and Tomorrow, (written in 2004) and came across this prescient comment: "For politicians of all parties the obvious thing to do today is to promise changes -- of course, changes for the better."

And yet how often do those promised changes actually lead to the betterment of human life? We, the people, because we've bought into all the promises and the expectations, convince ourselves that we're unhappy with the status quo and embrace change. But, of course, every change carries with it unexpected consequences that more often than not degrade our condition. This is one reason why I'm fairly conservative: I know I'm not smart enough -- and I really don't believe anyone else is either -- to manage forced societal change and all its consequences effectively. Socialists have tried it. Communists have tried it. Fascists have tried it. And they've all failed.

Since the end of World War I, Europe, both East and West, has been the proving ground for these failed experiments in change. In truth, I suppose it all really began with the French Revolution with its cry for "Liberté, égalité, fraternité." Talk about unmet expectations! Yes, the French people certainly had liberty, equality and fraternity. Operated by a perverse form of fraternal love, the guillotine, that equal opportunity killer, liberated large numbers of citizens from their earthly lives. Another reason I'm thankful I was born here and not in France. (In a wonderful book, Ideas Have Consequences, 1948, Richard Weaver traces it all back even further, to the nominalism of the 13th-century English Franciscan, William of Ockham.)

Back to WWI...That devastating and so unnecessary war dimmed the enthusiasm spawned by the Enlightenment, an enthusiasm for rational man as the measure of all things, an enthusiasm that dismissed the divine and transcendent as meaningless when it came to human affairs. Faced by the devastation of that war, confidence in man's ability to solve all the world's problems ebbed. Rational man suddenly seemed little better than primitive man. It's no accident that the war's resulting crisis in faith and reason led to the totalitarianism that brought us an even more devastating war. It also brought an open and undisguised rejection of God. Religion was (and still is) seen as nothing less than a form of slavery, as the greatest obstacle to true human freedom. The folks who believe this are the same people who run the show at the European Union, the same folks who wrote the EU Constitution that, when addressing the roots of European democracy and law, dismissed the influence of 1,500 years of Christianity without a single word. -- a remarkable sin of omission. (If you want to understand better Christianity's forming influence on Europe, I can recommend no better book than Christopher Dawson's The Making of Europe, first published in 1932 but still relevant.)

Most Europeans have happily gone along with the politics of change. They accepted the idea of cradle to grave governmental control of their lives, demanding more and more "benefits" while disregarding the costs. As costs skyrocket, and productivity nosedives, and the tax base disappears, and the people demand more, and the politicians finally must face reality....we find ourselves in modern-day Greece, probably the prototype of the rest of Europe and perhaps the USA.

And so we're left today with a strange Europe, one seemingly afflicted by several maladies. It suffers from a form of historical amnesia in which it represses any memory of the creative force that actually formed Europe: Christianity, and in particular, the Catholic Church. Equally damaging, Europe seems to be committing demographic suicide. Birthrates in most European nations have fallen well below the population replacement rates. The people have apparently fully embraced the contraceptive mentality, one that views pregnancy as a disease and children as obstacles to the good life. And as its population dwindles, Europe will only experience an ever growing need for immigrant workers, one that the Islamic world is only too happy to satisfy. And as you might guess, the birthrates among Muslim immigrants is very high.

How are the Europeans handling this crisis? Simply by ignoring it. The average European pays obeisance to a new dictatorship, what Pope Benedict calls the "dictatorship of relativism." In his words, "We are building a dictatorship of relativism that does not recognize anything as definitive and whose ultimate goal consists solely of one's own ego and desires." Compared to the European totalitarianisms of the twentieth century, it's a far more subtle form of dictatorship. It's a dictatorship the people, driven by a combination of selfishness and laziness, willingly encourage and accept. They have turned away from their faith, turned away from the truth. But like all dictatorships it won't last long. Demographics will soon transform it into something else. Our grandchildren may actually live to see a Europe ruled by Sharia law. What Suleiman the Magnificent failed to accomplish at Lepanto with his huge fleet and tens of thousands of Muslim warriors, immigrant workers may well accomplish simply by knocking at the door.

This is why the New Evangalization, championed by Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI, is so important today. As Christians we must evangelize our own. We must bring Christ to those among us who have rejected the faith of their fathers, to those who have lost their way amidst the confusions of our modern world, to those who struggle to see through the darkness that has settled all around them. The fathers of the Second Vatican Council, in their "Decree on the Apostolate of the Laity" (Apostolicam Actuasitatem), wrote:

"They [the laity] exercise the apostolate in fact by their activity directed to the evangelization and sanctification of men and to the penetrating and perfecting of the temporal order through the spirit of the Gospel. In this way, their temporal activity openly bears witness to Christ and promotes the salvation of men. Since the laity, in accordance with their state of life, live in the midst of the world and its concerns, they are called by God to exercise their apostolate in the world like leaven, with the ardor of the spirit of Christ." [Apostolicam Actuositatem, 2]

The politicians won't save Europe from itself since they're a major part of the problem. If Europe is to be saved, it will be saved by the same force that created it, the Church -- and that's all of us.