Pope Francis on the Martyrs of Yemen: the Missionaries of Charity

In my last post I quoted the Holy Father as he spoke about the four Missionaries of Charity who were murdered in the nursing home they ran in Aden, Yemen. Here's a video of the Pope as he commented on these four martyred nuns during his weekly Angelus address.

Persecution Update

I haven't done one of these updates in a while, but it's not been from a lack of news. Indeed, the persecution of Christians throughout the world has only increased. In some parts of the world it has become nothing less than genocide. The source of persecution hasn't really changed, and the usual suspects are responsible for most of it. The communist governments of North Korea, Beijing, Hanoi, and even Cuba, continue to persecute Christians. But the most wide-spread persecution, on a scale not seen in recent years, is being carried out by Islamic extremists.

I suspect that most American Christians believe this persecution is limited to that by groups such as the Islamic State (ISIS or ISIL) and other Islamist terrorist groups, such as al-Qaeda, Hezbollah, Hamas, Boko Haram, and Al-Shabaab. When the persecution of Christians manages to make its way into the mainstream media, it's usually to cover persecution by one of these groups. And while it's true that these terrorist organizations are responsible for much of the most severe persecution of Christians in Asia and Africa, it's important to realize that the governments of many of our so-called allies are just as guilty.

Open Doors is an organization that publishes its annual watch list of the nations in which Christian persecution is worst. At the top of the list for 2016 is North Korea, the communist nation run by the barbaric Kim Jong-un. He has imprisoned close to 100,000 Christians in labor camps where the conditions are beyond despicable. But North Korea is a kind of aberration. Because it is ruled by one man with total power, it is also a nation in which a change of leadership could bring about radical change in its treatment of Christians. That isn't true of many of the other nations on the Open Doors list.

Once we move past North Korea, the next nine nations among the top ten are all Islamic. See the image below:

To view the complete list of 50 nations, click here, then scroll down: Open Doors World Watch List

Open Doors has also prepared a full report, world map, and reports on the individual countries included on its list. The map -- which you can download as a PDF file -- provides a nice visual of places throughout the world where Christians are most unwelcome. Click here. to see the list of  all downloadable files.

One of our supposed closest allies, Saudi Arabia, is #14 on the list. Famous (or infamous) for its religious police, the Kingdom prohibits any form of public Christian worship, and many Christian immigrant workers, imported from places such as the Philippines, suffer greatly under the heavy hand of sharia law. Interestingly, conversions to Christianity, particularly among the youth, are growing in Saudi Arabia due largely to the Internet.

#11 on the list is Yemen, a country where Christians suffer great persecution. Just this past week four of Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity nuns were murdered, along with 12 others, in Aden where they ran a nursing home for the elderly. Speaking of this tragedy, Pope Francis said:

“These are the martyrs of today! They are not on the front page of newspapers; they are not news. They are the people who give blood for the Church. These people are the victims of those who have murdered them but also of the indifference, of this global indifference of those who do not care.”

Such is the level of hatred by the persecutors, and the level of indifference by the once-Christian nations of the West.

Some Western Christians might be surprised to find India relatively high on the list (#17), but the persecution of Christians has increased dramatically since the Bharatiya Janata Party came to power a few years ago. The party actively supports the radical Hindus who have been responsible for the severe persecution of Christians. No longer can India bill itself as the world's largest democracy when its government openly sanctions the persecution of religious minorities.

The Knights of Columbus, working in partnership with the group, In Defense of Christians, has prepared a comprehensive report on the persecution of Christians in the Middle East. You can download a copy of this report here: Genocide Against Christians in the Middle East.

Just to give you a sense of the nature of this persecution, read the words of Mark Arabo, a California businessman and Chaldean-American leader. Speaking to CNN's Jonathan Mann, Arabo called what's happening in Iraq a "Christian genocide" and said "children are being beheaded, mothers are being raped and killed, and fathers are being hanged."

"They are systematically beheading children, and mothers and fathers. The world hasn't seen an evil like this for generations. There's a park in Mosul where they actually beheaded children and put their heads on a stick...this is a crime against humanity. They are doing the most horrendous, the most heartbreaking crimes that you can think of."

Take a moment to sign the Knights of Columbus' petition which will be sent to Secretary of State John Kerry. The petition asks that the United States government declare what's happening to Christians in the Middle East a genocide. Here's a direct link to the petition: Stop the Christian Genocide.

Pray for our Christian brothers and sisters throughout the world who suffer persecution simply because they keep the faith.

Through the Looking Glass...Again!

Every so often I come across news stories that cause me to suspect that I've wandered into Wonderland. Here are a few that cannot be ignored.

The Extremist Catholic Church. The U. S. Army has apparently classified the Catholic Church (among others) as a "religious extremist" organization. You think I'm joking? Think again. As you can see, the following slide, from a U. S. Army Reserve PowerPoint presentation, lumps the Catholic Church and Evangelical Christians, into the same category with the Islamist terrorist organizations al Qaeda, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Hamas. 

Since Catholics and Evangelicals make up over 50% of our population, it's interesting that the Department of Defense believes a majority of the people it serves and protects are extremists. The real reasons behind the inclusion of the Catholic Church on this list are well known: the Church's stance on both abortion and so-called same-sex marriage. For today's leftists -- and make no mistake, today's DoD is managed by the left -- these issues trump everything else. If the Church would only agree to kill the babies and let the sodomites marry, it would immediately be removed from the list. Of course, the Church will never change it's teaching because it reflects divine law, something which no man can change. Ironically, the Army author of the presentation used the Southern Poverty Law Center as his primary source. The SPLC is perhaps the leading hate group of the American left. 

At this point I suppose I can now claim, without fear of contradiction that, as an ordained member of the Catholic clergy, I am officially a religious extremist who can reside comfortably on President Obama's enemies list. For more on this story, check out these links:

Original story from The Washington Times.

Follow-up from  Human Events.

Images from The Daily Mail.

Jesuit colleges in need of reform. Many Catholics expect Pope Francis to initiate reforms within the Church and especially within the Vatican's Curia. Personally, while I'm sure some reform of the Curia is needed, I really believe the new Pope should first turn his attention to his own order, the Society of Jesus (Jesuits). My reasons stem from a couple of other Wonderland stories:

Loyola Marymount University, a Jesuit institution of higher learning located in Los Angeles, has a Bioethics Institute which, according to its mission statement, enables "students to reflect systematically on contemporary issues in bioethics and healthcare principally through the prism of the intellectual heritage of the Roman Catholic philosophical and theological tradition." One would think, therefore, that this "Catholic philosophical and theological tradition" would reflect the teachings of the Catholic Church. One would also expect the director of the Institute to agree with these teachings. Such expectations, of course, do not take into account that Loyola Marymount is run by the Jesuits. 

It seems the university is conducting a search for a new director of the Bioethics Institute, and that two of the three finalists are -- irony of ironies -- pro abortion. One of the candidates, Professor Ann Mongoven of Michigan State University, has stated that abortion and contraception are acceptable beliefs within the Catholic tradition. Another candidate, Professor Denise Dudzinski of the University of Washington, has also written about the moral permissibility of abortion. The question, asked from beyond the borders of Wonderland, is why are these two people finalists? Read more about it here: National Catholic Register.

Not to be outdone by Loyola Marymount, those who administer Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington, another Jesuit institution, have decided not to recognize the Knights of Columbus as a student organization because...drumroll...the K of C is a Catholic organization and, sin of sins, limits membership to men. That's right, the Catholicity of the Knights betrays the university's “commitment to non-discrimination and inclusivity.” One certainly has to be careful in today's Catholic university, especially one run by the Jesuits, and not be too Catholic. Interestingly, the Knights are the largest fraternal organization in the world. Read more here: The Daily Caller

Turning my attention to Florida, I read that Mother Teresa's Missionaries of Charity have been issued a "notice of violation" by the city of Miami, Florida alleging that they are "operating a business without a license." A certain city inspector, a bozo named Cornellius Pierre (May I call someone a bozo? Sure. Why not.), issued the violation despite the fact that the good sisters have been ministering to Miami's poor for more than 30 years and doing so with the city's full approval. Read more here: Catholic News Agency

There are more similar stories, many more, but I am being paged by my visiting three-year-old granddaughter, who must be obeyed.

Pax et bonum...

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