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.

Burnings

I noticed a one-paragraph story in this morning’s paper, one of those world news blurbs from the A.P. presumably used by an editor to fill up the page with interesting tidbits. The tiny story had a big headline: “After Quran Burnings, U.N. Calls for Countries to Fight Religious Hate.” The single paragraph that follows doesn’t tell us much, only that “The U.N.’s top human rights body overwhelmingly approved a measure calling on countries to do more to prevent religious hatred in the wake of Quran burnings in Europe.” It seems the “overwhelming” vote was 28 to 12 in favor of the measure, although we’re told very little about the actual content of the measure or who voted yea or nay. The only other piece of information shared with us is that the measure passed “despite objections from Western countries who fear tougher steps by governments could trample freedom of expression.” That’s it.

Anyway, the story piqued my curiosity, so I did a little online research. According to the U.N.’s website, the measure brought about an urgent debate to “discuss the alarming rise in premeditated and public acts of religious hatred as manifested by recurrent desecration of the Holy Quran in some European and other countries.” These desecrations of the Quran were apparently the catalyst that led the U.N. Human Rights Council to address the issue of religious hatred. It would seem, then, for those 28 countries who voted “Yes”, Quran burning is the ultimate act of religious hatred. 

This led me to ask, “Who voted Yea and who voted Nay?” And I found the answer quickly thanks to Al Jazeera, the Islamic news agency that never misses a chance to attack the West. Their coverage included a complete breakdown of the vote. Once again, keep in mind these nations are the members of the U.N.’s Human Rights Council, what the A.P. called it’s “top human rights body”. We should, then assume they are all in favor of human rights…right? Here’s the vote:

Glancing through the list of Yes votes, it’s hard not to notice that many of them are totalitarian, or authoritarian, or theocratic, or just plain old dictatorships. Since the measure was precipitated by the most recent Quran burning in Sweden, we can rightly assume the Islamic nations voted for the measure. Of course, their concept of human rights is somewhat restrained, and generally relates only to what they consider Islamophobia. Sadly, within their own nations, most deprive the Kafir (the non-Muslim) of basic human rights, particularly religious rights. And the extremists among them, the Jihadists, simply kill non-Muslims which they believe to be a religious duty. We recall the many executions based solely on religion, like the beheadings of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians by ISIS in 2015 (see below):

I will gladly admit, I am strongly against Quran burning, or Bible burning, although I don’t believe it should be criminalized. But such actions, although obvious examples of religious hatred, do not compare to the far more vile crimes being committed against the world's most persecuted religion, Christianity.

Speaking of burning, in Egypt hundreds of Christian churches have been destroyed, often burned, by Muslims. And, perhaps surprisingly to most people, the same has been happening in parts of India (another Yes voter) but perpetrated by radical Hindus who want to eliminate all Christian communities. In both nations (and many others) the seeming indifference of local and national police agencies is telling. I find it interesting that such persecution of Christian minorities is taking place in India, often described as “the world's largest democracy”. This is another reason why unchecked democracy, which leads to the dictatorship of the majority, is really no different from any other form of totalitarianism. We should thank God every day for the wisdom of our Founding Fathers who, because they recognized the perils and historic evils of pure democracy, left us a lasting (we hope) legacy of a constitutional republic.

One parting comment: Because the United Nations has staffed its Human Rights Council with so many nations who openly despise human rights, I see no reason to pay much attention to anything that flows out of that building into the East River.

Pray for those who persecute us.

Persecution Update

Living as we do in this nation where true religious freedom was once celebrated by the vast majority of Americans, we can easily overlook the attacks believers must endure throughout the world. Religious persecution here in the United States certainly exists but, at least until recently, it has been somewhat subtle, typified by verbal attacks and social exclusion, or what we now call "cancellation." Times are changing, though, and even here the enemy tries to exercise judicial and governmental power to eliminate any reference to religious values in the public square, and to belittle those who espouse them. Yes, the persecution of Christians is far worse in many parts of the world, where the martyrdom of the faithful has become an almost everyday occurrence. Sadly, though, the purveyors of hatred have become more adept at selling their product to the uninformed and spiritually indifferent here in the USA and in once-Christian Western Europe. I've included below just a few subtle and not-so-subtle examples pulled from recent news stories.

• St. Brigid Cancelled. Ireland, no longer the Catholic land of my ancestors, has seemingly regressed into a new form of paganism. St. Brigid, Ireland's traditional #2 saint, has apparently been cancelled. At first, it seemed the beloved fifth-century saint, whose feast day is February 1, would be commemorated by the creation of an annual "bank holiday" on the first Monday of February. But the Dublin City Council altered the celebration a bit. Forgetting the saint, they made the holiday a celebration honoring Irish women and the arrival of spring, all "inspired by the Celtic goddess, Brigit." They have, therefore, cancelled St. Brigid, replacing her with a virtually unknown Celtic goddess. The Dominican priest, Fr. Conor McDonough, who has researched both the saint and the goddess recently stated: 

"It's really quite incredible how this paper-thin theory became so widely accepted. We know almost nothing about the pagan divinity identified as Brigit in the 10th-century text, Sanas Cormaic. Brigit there is described as a goddess worshipped by poets, while her sister, also Brigit, is a goddess of medics, and another sister, Brigit again, is a goddess of blacksmiths. That's it; that's all we know. We don't know whether there was really a cult of Brigit(s) in pre-Christian Ireland. All we have is this very late report, written at a time Irish intellectuals were actively fabricating elements of the pagan Irish past."

I include this story just to demonstrate how Christian, and especially Catholic, traditions and beliefs have been undermined even in the least likely places. Thankfully, there remains in Ireland a "holy remnant" that will keep the faith alive and resist religious indifference or the return to paganism. Pray for them, that they will mirror the earlier evangelizing efforts and success of St. Patrick and St. Brigid. (Oh, yes, in the above image of St. Brigid, you'll notice her holding the St. Brigid Cross. One of those hangs just inside our front door.)

A brief postscript: It seems celebrating St. Patrick in Ireland will also be subject to wokeness. According to Ireland’s Arts Minister, Catherine Martin, this year’s St. Patrick’s Day Festival will celebrate diversity and inclusivity by highlighting LGBT entertainment, including parades of drag queens. The intent, of course, is to eradicate anything religious from the feast day of Ireland’s patron saint. We can only hope at least some Irish will have the courage to object.

• Iran and Lebanese Christianity. Thanks to the Islamic Republic of Iran, hundreds of thousands of Christians in Lebanon and elsewhere in the Middle East, are being killed and displaced. Iran uses its Shiite puppet, Hezbollah, a Lebanese terrorist group, to sabotage the nation’s physical, economic, and cultural infrastructure while also working to eliminate Lebanon’s Christians. 

Habib Malik, of the Philos Project, states that Lebanon faces a “new and unprecedented threat unlike previous scourges — it is the difference between what I would term the ‘dumb evil’ of the Islamic State (ISIS or Daesh) and the ‘cunning evil’ of Hezbollah and its Iranian Mullah overlords.” Hezbollah, he says, is determined to destroy Lebanon as a nation and replace it with a terror state. Malik added that Hezbollah’s goal is “to alter Lebanon’s identity as a country and a society: from a free and open society with both solid Arab and Western connections to one with stronger if not exclusive ties with Iran, Assad’s Syria, China, and other anti-Western states.”

Malik stresses that Iran is waging war on Christians throughout the Middle East and not just in Lebanon. Iran’s war, he states, “has been deliberate as part of a larger objective of creating the Shiite Crescent stretching from Iran to Lebanon through both Iraq and Syria.” Malik adds that the Iranian terrorist regime hates freedom and “sees the native Christians, especially those of Lebanon who have resisted dhimmitude over the centuries at enormous cost to them in terms of lives and resources, as the great obstacle in the face of their domination of the region.” 

The Iranian strategy appears to be working since huge number of Lebanese Christians, particularly young Christians, are leaving the country to live in the relative freedom available elsewhere in the West. How sad that Christians, who have lived throughout the Middle East since the time of the apostles, are being forced to leave their homelands.

• Worldwide Persecution of Christians Increasing. Christians are the most persecuted religious group in the world, largely because of Islamic extremism and repressive governments. The ever-increasing persecution has led Pope Francis to call it a "form of genocide" and "religio-ethnic cleansing." Keeping up with the news on the persecution of Christians is no easy task since the mainstream media tends to ignore it. You really have to dig deep to find stories on the subject. One good source, however, is Aid to the Church in Need International, a Catholic organization that is serious about keeping track of persecution throughout the world. (By the way, there are few organizations more worthy of donations than AID. I highly recommend throwing a few dollars in their direction every so often.)  Just a brief scan of the news section of AID’s website provides a quick review of the persecution of Christians in many countries, including:

Democratic Republic of the Congo where armed militias attack villages in the eastern provinces and often slaughter the inhabitants. Fr. Marcelo Oliveira, a missionary who serves the people in this dangerous region, stated that “Terror is widespread…It’s one village here today, another there tomorrow, and all this in silence. And this is what gets to us, as missionaries, seeing the silence of the international community, the deafening silence, while human lives are massacred.” Fr. Oliveira spoke right after terrorists used explosives to attack a Protestant church, an attack the killed at least 15 worshippers and wounded dozens of others. This is just one example of ongoing terror attacks aimed largely at Christian communities and churches.

Christians Massacred in Nigeria

Nigeria has undergone perhaps more persecution of Christians than any other African state. Between January 2021 and June 2022, more than 7,600 Christians have been killed in terror attacks. The terrorists have focused much of their attention on killing and kidnapping Catholic priests. In just the past year, four priests have been murdered and 28 kidnapped. Then in mid-January, two Catholic priests were attacked in their presbytery by terrorists. One, Fr. Isaac Achi, was burned alive when the building was set afire, and the other, Fr. Collins Omeh, was shot but survived the attack. On the same day another priest was kidnapped. Unfortunately, the Nigerian government has been less than enthusiastic protecting Christians or pursuing the terrorists. Speaking to the UK Houses of Parliament, Nigeria’s Bishop Jude Arogundade stated: “I strongly appeal to this important body and all people of goodwill to compel the Nigerian government to stop the genocide.” I suspect that the UK, the nations of Western Europe, and the USA will probably just wipe their hands of it all, saying, “Really, what can we do?” And when Christians are massacred by Muslim extremists, the Western media keeps silent. Of course, the unspoken sentiment that drives so much of the liberal, woke West’s attitudes and actions relates to Christianity’s unwillingness to stop “making disciples of all nations…baptizing…and teaching all that I have commanded you” [See Mt 28:19-20]. As one liberal, agnostic acquaintance said to me a few years ago, "All your proselytizing does is anger the Muslims. In a sense you Christians are the root cause of terrorism." How can you argue with logic like that? Another unstated motivation? The systemic racism of the atheistic left. Hey, it’s in Africa, not really worth our trouble.

I simply don’t have the time today to address all the other nations of the world where Christian persecution is widespread, but if you visit the AID website and click on their “News” section, you can read these stories yourself. The Christians in Africa are among the most courageous and their courage is the reason Christianity is growing so rapidly on that continent. Read about persecution and anti-Christian terrorism in Mozambique, Mali, Cameroon, Burkina Faso, and other nations. But Africa’s not unique. The same kind of persecution, much of it conducted by governments, takes place today in Asian nations such as Pakistan, Syria, Iraq, North Korea, and too many others. 

Keep the Christians of the world in your prayers. Think of them as you drive to church this weekend, knowing that you can do so without fearing for your life or wondering if your children and grandchildren might be targets of a terrorist attack or government reprisals simply because they are Christians.

Praised be Jesus Christ...now and forever!

Homily: Saturday, 14th Week in Ordinary Time

Readings: Is 6:1-8; Ps 93; Mt 10:24-33

_______________________________

Today we have a few options. We celebrate Saturday in the 14^th week in Ordinary Time. But we also celebrate the optional memorial of St. Augustine Zhao Rong and 120 other Chinese martyrs who gave their lives over a period of three centuries. Finally, we celebrate the Saturday memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary. So, Father and I decided to wear white, knowing that those dear martyrs would gladly celebrate Mary along with us.

Turning to today’s readings, we find they’re all about calling…well at least in part. Calling is what God does, but that’s just one side of the equation. The other side, the part that really makes far more difference to us as individuals, is our response. And that’s really what these readings are all about, how we respond to God’s call. Now the Good News, and Sacred Scripture is all about Good News, is that God never stops calling us.

I’m going to get a little autobiographical today, always a scary thing to do, giving you a glimpse at my many imperfections. Looking back on my own, confusing life, I realize God began calling me very early. In fact, I was ten years old when I first heard His call. Back then, I didn’t think of it as a call. I simply didn’t know God well enough, and thought of it more as a nagging, not a calling.

Anyway, I had no idea what He wanted of me. He really wasn’t explicit, but He wouldn’t stop calling. Did you ever hear a song on the radio, one that just stuck in your head all day. I think the kids call it an “ear worm” – a pretty good metaphor. Well, that’s what God’s call was like for me. It just wouldn’t go away.

But I was involved in a lot of stuff, so I just pushed it aside and tried to go on with my life. High school, Georgetown, the Naval Academy, flight training, marriage, Vietnam, children, graduate school, my career as a Navy pilot, teaching, a consulting business – it was an intense time, but throughout it all I sensed the tug, the unspoken call. But for what, I didn’t know.

And then, when I was about 30, I was sent to teach at the Naval Academy, I discovered my immediate neighbor, an Air Force officer, was also a permanent deacon. That’s when I began to realize what God’s call was all about, but it still took me another 15 years to respond.

In our first reading from Isaiah, we encounter the prophet’s call. Isaiah spent the first 5 chapters delivering a prophecy to the people of Jerusalem and Judea, telling them what they could expect unless they returned to the Lord. Then, in chapter 6, today’s reading, he described his call.

Believe me, Isaiah’s call was a lot more explicit than mine. No Seraphim flew to me or cleansed my lips with coal, so I’d understand what God wanted of me. No, for me God simply sent a stream of wonderful people who pointed the way: deacons, priests, a bishop, and most importantly, a loving wife who apparently saw in me some faint reflection of what God saw.

When we turn to today’s Gospel passage from Matthew, we hear Jesus speaking to His apostles and really to all who must evangelize…and, folks, that’s all of us…every single one of us. He lets us know that we’ll be treated no better than he is treated. What had He said earlier?

"Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness..." [Mt 5:10]

What did the Apostles think when they heard those words? When you go out and preach the Gospel, you'll be persecuted, handed over to courts, be scourged, hated, and probably killed. Yes, indeed, like sheep among wolves.

Had I heard and through about that, I suspect in my weakness I would have been a bit slower to respond to God's call. But not the Apostles! Their love for Jesus was so strong, His message so compelling, that they went out willingly into the world, into persecution. Because of them, because they responded, not to fear, but to love, we are here in this Church today.

Three times in this brief Gospel passage, Jesus tells the Apostles, as He tells us, not to be afraid. If our love of God is just another form of fear -- fear of His power and judgment -- then it's not love at all. As St. John reminds us in his first letter, "Perfect love casts out fear" [1 Jn 4:18]. Jesus calls us not to fear, but to love, to love as God Himself loves. St. Francis de Sales, addressing fear and love, once wrote: "Those who love to be feared, fear to be loved."

25 years ago, on my day of ordination, as I lay prostrate before that altar in St. Anthony’s church in New Bedford, Massachusetts, I could only think of those words of Isaiah: “I am a man of unclean lips…” Perhaps a momentary touch of fear…and then I heard again the Lord’s response, another question:

“Whom shall I send?”

Yes, indeed, send me, unclean lips and all.

And that’s the same question each of us, each of you, should respond to today. God is calling each of us and continues to do so. He calls us despite our many imperfections, with all those fears that we just can’t seem to let go of.

God is calling you. You need only respond, and He will lead you.

Just In Case You Missed It

I haven't written much lately about the persecution of Christians and other religious groups, so I decided to share a few recent news stories that describe this growing worldwide trend. Some of these stories address real persecution by governments or other religious groups, while others describe the increased societal rejection of religious values, even in nominally Christian countries. Of course, life for believing, practicing Christians is almost intolerable in most Muslim and Communist nations.

I don't intend to offer much detail since you can simply click on the links I've provided and visit the original news stories. Here goes...

In Africa, Uganda has seen its share of violent persecution. Just last month a Christian pastor was murdered outside his church, in front of his daughter, by three Muslim attackers who demanded he destroy his church because it was too close to the local mosque. Because he refused, he was beaten and slashed with machetes after being told, "Today you will face the wrath from Allah." Sadly, it's just one more story of violent anti-Christian attacks -- read more here.

In Nigeria, a country which has experienced far too much anti-Christian persecution, a Muslim militia group attacked a Christian community, killing 49 residents and kidnapping another 27. Read more about the almost daily attacks on Nigerian Christians here. 

Things are no better in Asia. In Myanmar, for example, the military has been attacking Christian settlements, destroying churches, burning homes, and even murdering clergy. In Afghanistan, hundreds of Christians have fled because of the intolerant, murderous policies of the Taliban toward other faiths. Many more, however, remain in the country, unable to make their way to a safe refuge. Based on experience with the Taliban, many of these will no doubt be slaughtered. Life was never easy for Afghan Christians, but our grossly incompetent exit from the country has made things far worse and will certainly lead to more persecution of these courageous, faithful people. 

French Catholics Threatened With Death. On December 8 a small group of about 30 Catholics in the Paris suburb of Nanterre were taking part in a torchlight procession celebrating the Immaculate Conception when they were accosted by perhaps a dozen Muslims. The Muslims shouted out threats to "the infidels" and called for the death of the priest leading the procession. This is just another example of similar attacks by anti-Christian groups that have become more common in France. Not long ago Leftist Antifa radicals violently attacked a similar procession in Paris. Between the years 2008 and 2019 attacks against Christians in France have increased by 285%.

Christianity: The #1 Target of Hate Crimes. Click on the link and read Raymond Ibrahim's article describing the disturbing growth of attacks on Christianity in Europe. Even though many European countries do not keep track of anti-Christian attacks, such attacks outnumber hate crimes against any other religion. Ibrahim, by the way, is always worth reading. He is among the most knowledgeable scholars and commentators on the Middle East.

Dying Catholic MP, Sir David Amess, Denied Sacraments by Police. On October 15 Sir David Amess, a Catholic Member of Parliament in the UK, was meeting with constituents in a local church hall when he was attacked by a Muslim and stabbed to death. His pastor, Fr. Jeffrey Woolnough, hearing what had happened drove to the scene with the intention of offering the sacraments to Sir David in the event the MP was in danger of death. As it turned out, he was, but the police refused to allow the priest access to the dying man declaring it was a crime scene. Priests, of course, are fully aware of the necessity to avoid causing problems with crime scenes, but the UK has become so officially irreligious that police and other authorities see no reason to accommodate clergy who desire only to minister to the dying. 

President Biden's Build Back Better legislation discriminates against religious facilities. The bill, which includes federal funds to improve child-care facilities, prohibits the use of these funds by religious based childcare facilities. This will no doubt lead to increased costs for these church-based facilities and end up forcing many of them to close, unable to compete with better funded secular facilities. It's just another form of subtle religious persecution by the Biden administration.

I haven't addressed the severe persecution evident in communist countries such as China, North Korea, Vietnam, and Cuba. Perhaps in my next post.

Pray for persecuted Christians here and throughout the world. 

Homily: Saturday, 34th Week in Ordinary Time (Year 1)

Readings: Dn 7:15-27; Dn 3; Luke 21:34-36

Here I am, only a couple of years from 80, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a time when anxiety and fear have filled the hearts of so many.

COVID has had its effect on a lot of folks, and yes, many in my age group have succumbed to the virus, but in truth most have survived. And yet, so many are overcome by fear. And now the world is panicking over a new variant out of Africa.

To add to our anxieties, we have obvious inflation and a rising cost of living. Then, as we look at our nation and the world, we see far too much division and hatred and threats. Yes, it seems to be a time of very fragile peace, a time of real uncertainty. And yet Jesus tells us, again and again, not to be afraid, but so many seem to ignore Him.

About 35 years ago, back when I was a business consultant, I used to travel a lot. One Sunday afternoon, driving my rental car through the hills of Arkansas, I heard a radio preacher tell his audience that we were only a few years, perhaps just months, from the tribulations and the Second Coming. As I recall, he was the minister of a Free Will Baptist Church. Let me paraphrase what he said that day:

“Jesus is coming, brothers and sisters. But first He’s gonna let the earth be scoured by Satan and his minions. Don’t you be afraid of them. Put away all those fears and get ready for Jesus. He’s coming soon, real soon, and you’d better stop all that sinning. If you don’t call on the Lord and repent, you just won’t be strong enough.”

I have to admit, I loved it. Of course, Jesus hasn’t returned yet, so his timing was off, by how much nobody but God Himself knows. But the preacher’s message was actually pretty good and mirrors the words of Jesus in today’s Gospel passage from Luke. How did Jesus put it?

"Beware that your hearts do not become drowsy from carousing and drunkenness and the anxieties of daily life...Be vigilant... Pray that you have the strength to escape the tribulations" [Lk 21:34,36].

I’ll admit, many years ago, the first time I thought about those words, I had a hard time picturing those first-century Jews out carousing. In truth, though, I suppose they weren’t much different from us. Even The Villages has its share of carousing and drunkenness, and certainly its share of anxiety.

But we’re all disciples of our Lord, Jesus Christ, so we must allow Him to take away our fears. After all, the Gospel is the Good News, the promise of an eternal life beyond anything we can imagine.

If the gospel message is good news, then why do so many oppose it with hostility and even violence? Jesus warns us that we’ll be confronted with persecution, evil, false teaching, and temptation. But how does He tell us to respond to all this? With love, with truth, with forgiveness.

Only His Way, His Way of peace, His way of love, can defeat bigotry, hatred, and envy, and all that would divide and tear us apart.

Only God’s truth, His revealed Word, can overcome the lies and confusion in the world.

And only God’s gift of life, eternal life, can carry us to the salvation He promises.

Only Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life can dissolve all those fears that plague so many today.

I don’t know if you and I will see those tribulations… probably not. But we are still called to proclaim the Gospel wherever God has placed us – called to be to be witnesses.

Did you know the Greek root of the word martyr means witness? The Book of Revelations calls Jesus “the faithful witness ...who freed us from our sins by his blood" [Rev 1:5]. 

St. Augustine spoke of this too: "The martyrs were bound, jailed, scourged, racked, burned, rent, butchered – and they multiplied!" Christians multiplied because the martyrs witnessed to the truth, to the joy and freedom of the Gospel; and they did so through the testimony of their lives.

So maybe, instead of fearing the world and its evils, we should just be joyful that we have heard the Good News, received the gift of faith, and are called to share it all with others. What brings others to Jesus Christ and His Church is seeing Christians loving their enemies; seeing us joyful in suffering, patient in adversity, forgiving of injuries, and showing comfort and compassion to the hopeless and the helpless.

This, brothers and sisters, is our calling.

The Church in Afghanistan

Thanks to omnipresent cellphone videos, we can all experience the trauma faced by those Afghans and American citizens trying to make their way to the Kabul airport. And as we watch this disaster unfold in Afghanistan, we begin to wonder what the future will bring. Only the most optimistic could find anything positive about all that has happened and likely will happen as a result of President Biden’s historic national security blunder. 

And then I heard an Afghan mention that things would be especially dangerous for Christians in the country. I’ll admit I didn’t realize there was a Christian presence in Afghanistan. I was aware that Afghan law — law established by a government we helped set up — considered apostasy from Islam a capital offense. The punishment for men who convert from Islam is execution, and for women, life imprisonment. Because of this, I just assumed there were very few Afghan Christians. It seems like 1st-century Romans and 20th-century Soviet and Chinese communists, I had underestimated the faith and courage of Christians. As it turns out, there are very few Christians in Afghanistan, but there are some. To find out more, I began to nose around. I was especially interested in the Catholic Church’s presence, if any, in Afghanistan.

I decided to check out the website listing the worldwide Catholic Hierarchy and there I found Fr. Giovanni Scalese, a 66-year-old Italian priest, a member of the Barnabites (The Clerics Regular of St. Paul) who is listed as the Superior of Afghanistan. This good priest might be, from what I can discover, the only Catholic priest in Afghanistan. I suspect there are probably others, but Fr. Scalese must not even refer to this possibility lest he place them in physical danger. Anyway, his name rang a very distant bell and so I checked my favorite journal, First Things, and sure enough, back in 2017, they published an interview with Fr. Scalese that gave a clear picture of the Catholic presence in Afghanistan four years ago. One need not be a prophet to realize things are far worse today. Here’s a link to the interview: The Church In Afghanistan.

After reading this interview, I decided to look for something more current from Fr. Scalese and, wouldn’t you know it, I found it. Fr. Scalese is today pleading for prayers for the people of Afghanistan. In his words, “We are living in days of great apprehension as we await what happens… pray, pray, pray for Afghanistan! Thank you.” Here is a link to the article: Kabul Catholic priest pleads for prayers…

I found another article — Fr. Scalese: Afghans Fear Another Civil War — published online in April of this year, in which Fr. Scalese is asked his opinion regarding the decisions by Presidents Trump and Biden to withdraw our troops from Afghanistan. Even though he is hopeful a Taliban victory will not completely eradicate the freedoms many Afghans have come to cherish, one can sense his fears for the people he has come to love.

I’ll return to this subject soon, but in the meantime pray for the people of Afghanistan, that the Lord of All will grant them the peace and the hope for which they yearn and which only God can provide.

Praised by Jesus Christ! Now and forever!

Hyde Park Speakers’ Corner

If you’ve ever been to London, you might have taken the time to visit the Speakers’ Corner at the northeast corner of Hyde Park, not far from the Marble Arch. It’s a place where a person can stand up and speak on pretty much any topic, so long as it isn’t terribly profane or overtly illegal. The latter, of course, once included very little, but no longer, as the content of free speech has been seriously limited in the UK. I suppose today it's a bit of a challenge to speak publicly on any controversial subject, particularly when your opinions challenge the prevailing dogma of the woke crowd or incite those easily incited. 

When Diane and I visited the UK back in 2013, we strolled through Hyde Park and eventually made our way to the Speakers' Corner. Diane, knowing how I love to talk, thought perhaps I might say a few words in support of the right to life or some other principle near and dear to our Christian hearts. But as we approached the famous Corner, we were shocked to find it deserted. As you can see from the photo at left, I was a speaker with no audience. Okay, there were three large dogs that seemed somewhat interested, no doubt sensing my fondness for all things canine. But their heartless and probably agnostic master dragged them off before I could utter a single sentence. One can see how dejected they appeared as they were led away.

Today I came across a news story far more troubling than my ineffective visit to the Speakers' Corner. It's a story that sheds light on the treatment Christians can increasingly expect to receive if they express their views publicly, or actually try to "make disciples of all nations."

It seems a young woman named Hatun Tash decided to say a few words at Hyde Park's Speakers' Corner in defense of Christianity. Reading about her called to mind Frank Sheed, Maisie Ward, Fr. Vincent McNabb, and other soapbox orators of the Catholic Evidence Guild who were such effective street apologists in London back in the early 20th century. I believe the league still operates as a street ministry in London, New York City, and elsewhere. (I actually wrote a post about these folks back in 2011: Want to be a Techno-Evangelist? )

Hatun Tash, an Evangelical preacher, is a convert from Islam to Christianity who left her native Turkey and emigrated to the UK. For years she spoke frequently at the Speakers' Corner because it was generally a safe, welcoming place where freedom of speech was respected. Things have certainly changed.

Because of her Muslim background, she often addresses the errors of Islam. Like any convert from Islam to Christianity she does not accept Muhammad as a true prophet. In truth, neither do I, and neither does any believing Christian I know. For this, however, she has become a target. 

In her words, "We don't live in Pakistan, we don't live in Saudi Arabia. I am Christian and by default, I believe that Muhammad is a false prophet. I should be allowed to say that in the UK...In my early days, Speakers' Corner was a much calmer place. Now it is not and I am regularly attacked by Muslim mobs." 

Several weeks prior she was arrested because her Charlie Hebdo shirt enraged some Muslims who were threatening her. She has since filed legal action against the police who it seems arrested the person being threatened rather than those threatening her.

She was wearing that same shirt on Sunday, July 29, when these attacks became brutally physical. A hooded man approached, then stabbed her and slashed her face. Fortunately she survived the attack. 

Convinced her attacker was trying to kill her, she later related, "My attacker was not even afraid of the police as he did it right in front of them." Although the police arrived within seconds of the attack, they made no arrests. The police, who apparently are completely clueless when it comes to things religious, have since stated that a motive has yet to be determined.

It obviously takes a special kind of Christian to take to the streets today and proclaim the Word of God to unbelievers. God bless them and protect them.

Future Gulags - Part II

The following excerpts from Solzhenitsyn's The Gulag Archipelago describe just some of the ways and means through which the Russian Bolsheviks turned their nation into a communist slave state after taking power as a result of the 1917 revolution. These ways included the crushing of opposition parties, religious groups, professionals, academics, artists, etc. -- pretty much anyone who could in any way be perceived as a past, present, or future threat.

Elimination of opposition political parties. In Solzhenitsyn's words (GA, p. 34-35):

In 1921 the arrests of members of all non-Bolshevik parties was expanded and systematized. In fact, all Russia's political parties had been buried, except the victorious one. (Oh, do not dig a grave for someone else!) And so that the dissolution of these parties would be irreversible, it was necessary that their members should disintegrate and their physical bodies too.

Not one citizen of the former Russian state who had ever joined a party other than the Bolshevik Party could avoid his fate. He was condemned unless, like Maisky or Vyshinsky, he succeeded in making his way across the planks of the wreck to the Bolsheviks. [Both were former Mensheviks who managed to join the Bolsheviks.] He might not be arrested in the first group, depending on how dangerous he was believed to be, until 1922, 1927, or even 1937, but the lists were kept; his turn would and did come...

As Americans we live in a nation in which political opposition has generally been accepted, however grudgingly. We all believe we are right and our opponents are wrong. And yet, the free expression of ideas has always helped those on every side of an issue appreciate other points of view and tone down the extremes the people will wisely reject. Today we're encountering something very different, a vicious level of intolerance, one that seeks to muzzle those who don't agree with the ways of those in power. History shows us that such intolerance is never satisfied until opposing ideas are crushed into total silence.

Destruction and/or control of all religious groups. Like the official Catholic "church" in today's communist China, the Russian communists set up what they called the "Living Church" to gain control of all church apparatus, especially the prominent Russian Orthodox Church. From Solzhenitsyn (GA, p. 36-37):

 

The [Russian Orthodox] Patriarch Tikhon was arrested and two resounding trials were held, followed by the execution in Moscow of those who had publicized the Patriarch's appeal and, in Petrograd, of the Metropolitan Veniamin, who had attempted to hinder the transfer of ecclesiastical power to the "Living Church" group.

...as always, in the wake of the big fish, followed shoals of smaller fry: archpriests, monks, and deacons...They also arrested those who refused to swear to support the "Living Church" "renewal" movement.

The so-called "Eastern Catholics" -- followers of Vladimir Solovyev -- were arrested and destroyed in passing...And, of course, ordinary Roman Catholics -- Polish Catholic priests, etc. -- were arrested, too, as part of the normal course of events.

However, the root destruction of religion in the country, which throughout the twenties and thirties was one of the most important goals of the GPU-NKVD [Soviet Secret Police - 1922-1943], could be realized only by mass arrests of Orthodox believers. Monks, nuns...were intensively rounded up on every hand, placed under arrest, and sent into exile [most often for slave labor in Siberian prisons and labor camps]. They arrested and sentenced active laymen...raked in ordinary believers as well, old people, and particularly women, who were the most stubborn believers of all...A person convinced that he possessed spiritual truth was required to conceal it from his own children. [To pass their faith on to their children was considered a political crime; i.e., counterrevolutionary propaganda.]

As Tanya Khodkevich wrote:

You can pray freely

But just so God alone can hear.

She received a ten-year sentence for these verses.

Anything that ran counter to the official atheism of the Soviet state was considered counterrevolutionary.  

Jews were also persecuted, especially Zionists. Of course, perhaps the most famous incident was the 1952 "Doctors Case" in which Stalin arrested leading Kremlin physicians (almost all Jews) and accused them of trying to kill Soviet leaders. 

Religious believers, of course, were being arrested uninterruptedly...There was the "night of struggle against religion" in Leningrad on Christmas Eve, 1929, when they arrested a large part of the religious intelligentsia...Then in February, 1932, again in Leningrad, many churches were closed simultaneously, while at the same time, large-scale arrests were made of the clergy.

Yes, indeed, religion is abhorrent to totalitarians of all stripes because it claims for God the allegiance of those who should worship only the state.

When I hear of government officials at any level trying to control religious worship in any way, or infringing on the Constitutional right of the "free exercise" of religious faith, I believe all Americans must speak up. One interesting example of anti-religious bigotry involved a member of Congress who claimed that those who were against abortion were racists, white supremacists who must be silenced. There is, of course, a strange irony here, since the nation's premier provider of abortions, Planned Parenthood, was founded by Margaret Sanger on racist principles to eliminate the undesirable races. 

There are so many other instances that I expect religious persecution will continue and grow.

[Note: Vladimir Solovyev, whom Solzhenitsyn mentioned above, wrote a fascinating and remarkably prophetic book, Tale of the Anti-Christ. It's certainly worth a read. In fact, I first heard of Solovyev and this book from a talk Pope Benedict XVI gave years ago.]

Persecution based on "social origin." Those descended from former noble families, or the intelligentsia, including those who simply went to universities were arrested in waves. From Solzhenitsyn (GA, p. 40-43):

And so the waves rolled on -- for "concealment of social origin" and for "former social origin." This received the widest interpretation. They arrested members of the nobility for their social origin. They arrested members of their families. Finally, unable to draw even simple distinctions, they arrested members of the "individual nobility" -- i.e., anybody who had simply graduated from a university. And once they had been arrested, there was no way back. You can't undo what has been done! The Sentinel of the Revolution never makes a mistake!

The state organs of terror called this effort "social prophylaxis" or the need to eliminate those who might resist because of their social origin. And then, throughout the twenties and thirties, historians and other scholars were arrested, and for good reason. They knew the truth, you see, and getting rid of them made the job of rewriting Russian and world history much easier. Look at our colleges and universities today, and you will find the percentage of Marxist professors significantly higher than those who claim to be conservative. Yes, our young people are receiving a Marxist-inspired education in which historical distortion has replaced truth.

The Soviets did not concern themselves with truth or with guilt or innocence. As one leader of a major slave labor project stated to one of his more educated political prisoners: "I believe that you personally were not guilty of anything. But, as an educated person, you have to understand that social prophylaxis was being widely applied." In other words, we don't care if you're innocent or guilty, the sentence is the same. Solzhenitsyn relates a typical example:

Several dozen young people got together for some kind of musical evening which had not been authorized ahead of time by the GPU. They listened to music and then drank tea. They got the money for the tea by contributing their own kopeks. It was quite clear, of course, that the music was a cover for counterrevolutionary sentiments, and that the money was being collected not for tea but to assist the dying world bourgeoisie. And they were all arrested and given three to ten years -- Anna Skripnikova getting five, while Ivan Nikolayevich Varentsov and the other organizers of the affair who refused to confess were shot!

Of course, these young people really met just to listen to music and drink tea, simply to be together and enjoy each other's company. But given their innate paranoia, the secret police always assume such meetings can only be for nefarious purposes. The arrests and executions also serve as effective warnings to others: we are watching and listening to everything. 

Ask General Michael Flynn, USMC, whether as the President's prospective National Security Advisor, he could take part in a routine phone call with the Russian Ambassador and not be accused of treason. 

Better be careful, folks -- well, those of you who haven't yet been canceled: Exactly what have you been saying on all those Zoom meetings?

That's enough for now. More in a future post. 

 

Persecution, Truth, and Freedom

On a pedestrian bridge in the very heart of Oslo, Norway there is an illuminated sign that sums up perfectly what has happened to Europe, a collection of nations that once formed the very heart of Western Civilization, the heart of Christendom. The sign reads: "Truth Is Flexible."

Recently I read several articles, interviews really, with four very different people: a woman philosopher, a male Hollywood actor, a well-known Evangelical preacher, and a Catholic Cardinal. And yet, despite their differences in occupation and background, each stressed the importance of speaking the truth during our largely untruthful times.

Jennifer Frey is a professor of philosophy at the University of South Carolina. At the time of her interview (read the entire interview here), she was quarantined because she had contracted COVID-19. Married and the mother of six, she was, of course, separated from her family. And yet, although a victim of the pandemic, she disagrees strongly with the closing of schools, political decisions that tell us how non-essential education is to many of those we've elected to represent us. In her words:

"So it seems like somehow we've decided that education comes last, or that teachers cannot in any way take on risks. My personal preference is for what my own university has done: they have enabled those who are in a high-risk category to completely teach online. Face to face instruction is strictly voluntary. I volunteered, and I don't regret my decision. And I have Covid!"

Dr. Frey describes her earlier self as one of the "new atheists" who had gone to college to study English, but found most of the teaching focused on identity politics rather than literature. Remarkably. an undergraduate philosophy course changed her, introduced her to Augustine and Aquinas, and ultimately led her to Catholicism. It also led her to the truth that although human history changes, human nature remains the same. Her initial exposure and later study of humanity's great written works changed her deeply:

“It’s always both. Joy and terror! To me the real value of great books, the reason why I will fight for them with my dying breath, is that they help you transcend your time and place. They make you see that this thing of being a human, you’re experiencing it in a certain limited way, but it’s so much bigger than you.”

The entire interview is fascinating, but her comments on the "temptation" to place personal and ideological considerations, or "any practical goal," above the truth are worth mentioning here:

"One thing that is a constant temptation...is to let your ambitions get to be more important than the truth. And tying your pursuit of the truth to your ambitions and your political ends, so that what you are willing to think about and write about is determined by your ambitions within the academy. That's something that I've had to fight my entire life. If I wanted to have a fancy job I wouldn't be writing about the things I care about. So, you have to ask yourself, 'Why am I even doing this?'"

If you would like to know more about Dr. Frey and her thought, you can access her podcast and her blog:

Apple Podcast: Sacred and Profane Love

Blog: The Virtue Blog

Jim Caviesel is an actor, perhaps most famous for his unforgettable portrayal of Jesus in the 2004 movie, "The Passion of the Christ." He is a remarkable man, a Catholic working in the midst of Hollywood. The interview may be found on LifeSite, a wonderful pro-life website that YouTube has suspended because LifeSite speaks the truth about abortion and other life issues. Like most of the mega-companies that control social media, the folks at YouTube (a Google subsidiary) can't stand the truth when it conflicts with their leftist ideology. They actually call Christian teaching, the teaching of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, "hate speech," and of course try to suppress it. 

In another LifeSite interview, Caviesel described the challenges of being openly Catholic in an industry that largely rejects the Church and its teachings:

"It's part of the cross you take up when you choose to believe in Him...we all have the desire to want to be liked...but what we should be asking God is the desire for humility."

Addressing the war in which we are currently engaged, a war both cultural and religious, Caviesel states that the persecution of Christians isn't confined to the past, to the early history of the Church,

"Barbaric Christian persecution is something that still goes on today...No one ever rode to victory on the back of fake moral platitudes. We have to speak the truth boldly."

These are words one doesn't expect to hear from a Hollywood actor. But even more surprising is his prediction that massive persecution of Christians is coming, and coming soon. Of course, Caviesel is correct: Christians are already suffering from severe persecution in other parts of the world, especially in the Middle East, East Asia, and Africa. In Europe and North America, although the persecution is more subtle, Christians are beginning to realize they are the prime targets of those who wield political power in many formerly "Christian" nations, including our own. 

Speaking of abortion, a presage of things to come, Caviesel stated that "We have murdered on a level that is unprecedented" and rightly called many of our abortion laws "Luciferian." He doesn't soften his words as he sums up what is happening in our world today:

"You'll wish that you never even knew what democracy was. This Christian way of living will soon be gone...We're talking about massive, massive persecutions."

Caviesel issues a call to action, encouraging us to not to sit on our hands:

"The goal would be to create a sense of urgency and relevance to Christians and non-Christians who should engage in this issue."

Really, Caviesel is asking us to follow the lead of St, Paul:

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith" [2 Tim 4:7].

Yes, indeed, we must "fight the good fight" and avoid the apathy that infects so many Christians today, those who falsely assume that remaining quiet is "the holy way to go," seemingly unaware that worldly powers are intent on destroying Christian culture and life. Rather than being strong evangelists for their faith, too many Christians seem more intent on "going along to get along." Concerned about such attitudes, Caviesel turns to Jesus in the Gospel:

"When I read the gospels, I've never seen a Jesus who would sit there and say, 'Too bad for him.' And that is not the gospel I know."

He also expresses concern about the Christian family, asking, "What happened to prayer? What happened to prayer in the family?"

Is Jim Caviesel right about what we can expect in the near future? Personally, and based on the direction our nation seems to be headed, I believe he is. And he's also very right about the need for Christians to resist, to let themselves be heard, to fight the forces of evil that surround us.

Franklin Graham, the son of the late evangelist, Billy Graham, has followed in his father's footsteps. He, too, is concerned by what he see in our society. In a recent interview with Laura Ingraham, he stated:

"I think we are in a moral freefall in this country. And the only hope for our country, I believe, is God. And for that to happen is we've got to come to Him in repentance, turning from our sins, and putting our faith and trust in His Son, Jesus Christ. And I think if we do that, then God will hear our prayers, and He will heal our country."

On Veterans Day, as he spoke to honor those who have served our nation honorably in times of war and peace, Rev. Graham stated:

"It seems our nation is under attack -- attack from within, from socialists who want to bring anarchy to our streets. The hard-won freedoms that we have enjoyed in America are very much at stake."

And in another interview, looking to the future, he added:

"I think we will see these kinds of attacks from the left against Christian businesses, Christian organizations, and that will happen. I think they will try to come after churches, attack churches, attack exempt organizations doing humanitarian work, social work throughout the country."

Rev. Graham also reminded Christians that:

"To show us the only true way to salvation and eternal life, the Bible points directly to 'the message of truth, the gospel' [Eph 1:13] and tells us that the 'truth is in Jesus' [Eph 4:21]. Jesus Himself said, 'I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me' [Jn 14:6]. That's the most important truth anyone can hear."

And just a few days ago, Graham tweeted the following passage, from Isaiah 59:1-4: 

The Holy Word of God says:

“Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened,

That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy,

That it cannot hear.

But your iniquities have separated you from your God;

And your sins have hidden His face from you,

So that He will not hear.

For your hands are defiled with blood,

And your fingers with iniquity;

Your lips have spoken lies,

Your tongue has muttered perversity.

No one calls for justice,

Nor does any plead for truth.

They trust in empty words and speak lies;

They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity.”

It's as if Isaiah is pointing to directly to us and to our times, isn't it? Well, in one sense I suppose he is. He was, after all, a prophet. And today justice and truth are forgotten or simply pushed aside by too many, including too many Christians.

Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York, the new Chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Religious Freedom, stated that the bishops of the United States are engaged in "legitimate and ongoing struggles to protect our [American] first and most precious freedom." 

But he then reminded us that we cannot stand by idly as our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world suffer horrendous persecution:

"But even our problems as towering as they can be at times and as ominous as the future might now seem, they pale in comparison, don't they, to the 'via crucis' that is currently being walked by so many of our Christian brothers and sisters in other parts of the world who are experiencing lethal persecution."

The Christian martyrs of the 20th century account for over half of the martyrs who gave their lives for Christ throughout the entire 2,000-year history of the Church. Reflecting on this, Cardinal Dolan added: 

"This 21st century, I'm afraid, doesn't seem to promise much better. This century, only two decades old, has already seen 1.25 million people killed around the world, simply because of their belief in Jesus Christ. And that threat to religious believers is growing."

The Cardinal stressed that we all must become advocates:

"We want to make people aware of the great suffering of our brothers and sisters using all means at our disposal...We need the enthusiastic backing of our people, not just our leaders. If we don't have that, we're not going to get too far."

In addition to the action of public advocacy, he also calls on Catholics to storm heaven with prayers for persecuted Christians, developing a "culture of prayer" within our families, our parishes, our communities, and our nation. 

Yes, indeed, we certainly live in interesting times.