Back in Business

I haven't posted anything in almost a month. I've simply been too busy since returning in early June from our trip up north. And then, about 10 days ago, my hard drive crashed and put me out of business for a day or two. Rather than replacing the drive, I ended up buying a new PC with Windows 8 and all the trimmings...well, the few trimmings I actually need. The cost of a new PC is really quite reasonable these days, especially if you're not a gamer, and I'm not. I am, however, an amateur photographer of sorts, so my hard drive contained several hundred gigabytes of the photos and videos I've taken over the years. Fortunately, I had actually planned ahead and backed up everything daily using "Just Cloud". As you might imagine, the restoration of all these gigabytes of data has taken quite some time, but the task is now complete. No data was lost, so I'm very happy.

A lot has happened since my last post. The Internal Revenue Service has admitted focusing its considerable powers on conservative and religious organizations thus exposing itself as the enforcement arm of the administration's political team. I trust their local field agents will not hold my repetition of this revelation against me come April 15, and will instead remember all the love I have often expressed for this agency and its employees. Fortunately my income is negligible and my assets few, so I am hardly an enticing target.

NSA Headquarters

Not to be outdone, the NSA, the Fort Meade-based intelligence organization that prefers to remain in the deep shadows, has also been the recipient of more than a little unwonted exposure. It would seem that Edward Snowden, the whistle-blower / traitor / hero / enemy spy (pick one), has informed the world about the NSA's apparently insatiable appetite for data. In its enthusiasm for accomplishing its mission to save us from our enemies, it decided that the best way to identify potential bad guys is to gather everything on everybody. That way they will miss nothing. Of course, the fact that this might well violate the letter and spirit of the Fourth Amendment's prohibition of unreasonable searches and seizures was seemingly overlooked in all the post-9-11 excitement. I'm sure they'll get it all sorted out soon; and don't worry, the NSA is completely apolitical and would never use this huge pile of data inappropriately.

Justice Kennedy

And then this week the Supreme Court, thanks to Justice Kennedy, its designated swing-voter, issued a 5-4 decision declaring the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) unconstitutional. In doing so the Court overturned more than the Act; they also overturned several thousand years of human history, tradition, and moral values. Justice Kennedy, reading the majority opinion, stated that the Act represented "a bare congressional desire to harm a politically unpopular group," that it "demeans the [same-sex] couple" and "humiliates tens of thousands of children now being raised by same-sex couples." The opinion goes on to state that "the principal purpose and the necessary effect of this law are to demean those persons who are in a lawful same-sex marriage."

In affect, then, Justice Kennedy and his four liberal colleagues have accused the legislators who voted for DOMA back in 1996 of willfully wanting to demean, harm, and humiliate the nation's homosexual citizens. Those legislators include now-Vice President Joe Biden, Senator Patrick Leahy, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senator Patty Murray, Senator Carl Levin, and many more Democrats. And DOMA was, of course, signed into law by then-President Bill Clinton. There's irony in here somewhere.

Hagia Sophia [(c) National Geographic]

Looking overseas, there's some interesting news out of Turkey. One of Christendom's oldest and greatest cathedrals, Hagia Sophia in Instanbul (pictured above), was desecrated and turned into a mosque after the Ottoman Turks sacked Constantinople back in the 15th century. In the 1920s, when the nationalistic secularist Ataturk removed the Ottomans from power, the cathedral-mosque was converted into a museum.

Studios Monastery in Turkey

But this could soon change. There is a movement to transform the building into a working mosque once again. And this is not a unique case. A number of Turkey's historical Christian churches are being turned into mosques. Indeed, even the world's oldest still functioning Christian monastery, the Studios Monastery, built in the 5th century and dedicated to St. John the Baptist, is also threatened. The locals have accused the monks of anti-Turkish activities and of illegally occupying the monastery which they claim is on land belonging to the local villagers. According to news reports the appeals court in Ankara sided with the villagers. The court stated that the property on which the monastery has sat for over 1,600 years doesn't really belong to the monastery. The court also declared that the monastery was built on top of a mosque. Now that would be quite trick since the monastery was constructed almost 200 years before Muhammad was born. The logic of Islam continues to amaze.

Come, Lord Jesus! [Rev 22:20]

Disappearing Khachkars

I've devoted a few recent posts to crosses and their presence among us. I think it's important, though, that our veneration should not be focused solely on the Cross, but on Him Who was nailed to it and gave up His life for us by dying on that Cross. A cross, in itself, is merely a piece of wood. It becomes truly meaningful to us only when we see it as the Cross of Christ. I suppose that's why I prefer the crucifix to the plain cross. The empty tomb has real meaning; for it is a sign of hope, the hope that Christ's promise of eternal life will be fulfilled. But without the death of Jesus Christ, without there first being a full tomb, the empty tomb means nothing. And the full tomb must be preceded by a full Cross, the Cross of Christ with Him crucified. Without that Cross there would be no Resurrection and no hope. The Cross of Christ is, therefore, as Pope St. Leo the Great wrote way back in the 5th century, "the true ground and chief cause of Christian hope."

In the Church's Byzantine liturgy there's a 6th-century prayer that proclaims the meaning of the Cross of Christ:

"The Cross is the watcher of the whole world, the Cross is the adornment of the Church, the Cross is the might of kings, the Cross is the strength of the faithful, the Cross is the glory of angels, and the wound of demons."

I especially like those first words, describing the Cross as the "watcher of the whole world." As I thought about all the public crosses I've encountered throughout my life, and the few that I've shared with you in recent posts, these words struck home. I now look at those high crosses of Ireland not only as a sign of the faith of my ancient ancestors who erected them, but also as watchers, as reminders that the Cross of Christ watches over the entire world offering hope to every generation, calling all to conversion, century after century. And that little shrine I encountered as a child in the Bavarian Alps, that lone crucifix standing above the forest path, it too watches and waits for those who pass by, urging every pilgrim to prayer and to thanksgiving for the wonders of God's creation and for the redemptive sacrifice of His Son.

But many today want to remove the Cross from the sight of the world. Yes, the Cross remains today "the wound of demons" and Satan would like nothing more than to turn it into just another historical artifact. This, of course, will never happen because the Cross is always victorious. How did G. K. Chesterton put it? "The Cross cannot be defeated because it is defeat." The Cross, then, is that wonderful mystery that displays the power of God through what the world perceives as powerlessness. And so it will always remain the "strength of the faithful."

Of course, the ultimate victory of Christ and His Cross doesn't mean we should sit back quietly and contentedly when that Cross is attacked. We still have our role to play in the ongoing history of salvation. This leads me to the threat faced by Khachkars, the ancient cross stones of the Armenian people. There are 50,000 or more Khachkars scattered throughout Armenia, both the historical Armenia and the present independent state. Dating as far back as the 4th century, they are remarkable works of early Christian art, free-standing ornately carved stone slabs that vary in height from five to ten feet. Each stone is unique, although almost every stone includes a cross. I've included a photo of a typical Khachkar at left.

The problem today is many of the oldest and most beautiful Khachkars do not stand in present day Armenia, but are located in sections of Turkey and Azerbaijan that were once a part of historical Armenia. Today both countries are majority Muslim and the governments of these nations have undertaken active programs aimed at the complete destruction of all Khachkars within their borders. In one Armenian cemetery in Azerbaijan soldiers armed with sledgehammers destroyed every one of the Khachkars, and the Turks are busily carrying out their own program of destruction. I find it interesting that world opinion rose up and condemned the Islamist Taliban in 2001 when they dynamited the huge, ancient sandstone statues of Buddha, but when the Muslim governments of Turkey and Azerbaijan engage in active programs to destroy Christian treasures, the world is silent. (Read more on this here.)

For every cross destroyed in the world, let us raise another to God's glory, even if that cross is only the sign you and I make when we touch our foreheads.

"I see crosses at every turn. My flesh shudders over it, but my heart
adores them. Yes, I hail you, crosses little and great, I hail you, and
kiss your feet, unworthy of the honor of your shadow." -- St. Francis de Sales

Another Bishop Murdered -- This Time in Turkey

Bishop Luigi Padovese, the Bishop of Iskenderun, in Turkey, was murdered on June 3 by his driver and aide, a Muslim who had worked for the bishop. The accused killer, Murat Altun, 26, apparently stabbed the bishop repeatedly and was arrested by Turkish authorities several hours after the murder. Bishop Padovese, 63, was appointed Apostolic Vicar to Anatolia in 2004 and was also president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Turkey. Very much involved in ecumenical work, the bishop was not only working to revive Turkey's Christian communities, but also played an important role in the Church's dialogue with Islam. The bishop had met with Turkish authorities that very morning for a discussion on the problems faced by Turkey's Christian minorities and had planned to fly to Cyprus the next morning where he would meet with Pope Benedict XVI.

Threats and violence against Christians, and against Catholics in particular, have been on the rise in Turkey. In almost all cases of violence against Christians, the Turkish authorities have stated from the outset that the assaults and murders were "isolated acts" and the perpetrators were "insane" -- this despite the fact that many of the attackers had proven ties with ultra-nationalist and anti-Christian groups. Apparently in Turkey there is a form of "political correctness" that protects Islam from any and all accusations.

In addition to Bishop Padovese's murder, there have been other similar attacks on Catholic clerics. Among these so-called isolated acts by unbalanced people are the following: 

• The wounding of Fr Adriano Franchini, Italian Capuchin, Smyrna on December 16, 2007; 
• Fr. Roberto Ferrari, threatened with a kebab knife in the church in Mersin on 11 March 2006; 
• Fr. Pierre Brunissen stabbed in the side, 2 July 2006 outside his church in Samsun. 

Fortunately, these three priests all survived the attacks. But until this week the most notable incident was the 2006 assassination of Fr. Andrea Santoro who was murdered while praying in the Santa Maria Church in Trabzon, Turkey. Fr. Santoro was killed by a young Muslim man who shouted "Allahu Akbar" as he shot the priest from behind. Interestingly, the Turkish police, for unexplained reasons, had tapped Fr. Santoro's phone and his murder was preceded by massive anti-Christian propaganda in the Turkish popular press. During the trial the young man's mother compared her son to Mehmet Ali Ağca, who tried to assassinate Pope John Paul II in 1981, and said that his deed "was committed in the name of Allah and was a gift to the state and the nation." Seems like a religious motive to me, but what do I know?

Below is a Catholic News Agency story on the bishop's murder...




Pray for our missionary priests and religious, especially those who labor doing God's work in Muslim nations. They are truly courageous disciples of Jesus Christ.

Pax et bonum...