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Nigerian case shows that in fighting religious hatred, little things count…
ROME – Perhaps because Westerners tend not to take religion terribly seriously, seeing it as a private affair on par with other hobbies such as quilting or canasta, religious persecution tends to register in the Western mind only in its most spectacular form. If a bomb goes off in a church on Easter Sunday, for instance, causing hundreds of fatalities, it becomes a news story. If a lone churchgoer is harassed after a regular Sunday service, it passes largely unnoticed. To take a specific case, Christians in the Middle East had been subject to second class citizenship since the era of the Islamic conquest, and had been the object of increasingly violent harassment since the Islamic revolution in Iran in 1978 and the global radicalization of Islam that ensued. However, it took the anti-Chris...
The bountiful blessings of Baptism…
Today’s feast of the Baptism of the Lord is a moment to reflect not only on the Lord’s baptism, but also on our own. For in an extended sense, when Christ is baptized, so are we, for we are members of his body. As Christ enters the water, he makes holy the water that will baptize us. He enters the water and we who are members of his Body go with him. And in these waters he acquires gifts to give us, as we shall see below. Let’s examine this text in three stages: 1. The Fraternity of Baptism – The text says Jesus came from Galilee to John at the Jordan to be baptized by him. John tried to prevent him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you are coming to me?” John is surely puzzled about Jesus requesting baptism. And likely so are we. Why? John’s baptism of repentance presumes th...
On the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord, Pope Francis baptizes 32 babies in the Sistine Chapel…
ABOVE: Photo by Vatican Media. BELOW: All photos by Joanne Bergamin. The annual ceremony on the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord carries on a tradition of Pope Saint John Paul II. Pope Francis welcomed 29 families to have their newborns baptized in the Sistine Chapel Sunday morning, the Feast of the Baptism of the Lord. Pope Saint John Paul II began the annual tradition of baptizing the children of Vatican employees and embassies to the Holy See. Before the papal Mass, there was none of the usual scrambling for seats but rather an unusual amount of joyful calm for an early Sunday morning ceremony at the Vatican. Mothers, fathers, siblings, godparents and extended families were all smiling, amid the very occasional cry of one of the 32 babes in arms, which included one set of twins and one ...
A losing socialist’s lesson for conservative politics. It’s not one you expect…..
Socialists everywhere furrowed their brows. This looked bad for the cause. It looked bad for the future. In the English election three weeks ago, the Tories thrashed Labour. The country chose the conservatives over the socialists, and by a lot. Now the world’s socialists must try to figure out what went wrong. It’s worth listening in. It’s a bit like standing in the back of the Patriots’ locker room after they lost to the Titans. You’d learn a lot from hearing Bill Belichick talk about losing. Worse for Labour The Tories won so big, they can do what they want for the next five years. Labour can only protest. Worse for Labour, the party lost a lot of seats from its famous “red wall,” working class districts in the industrial north of England that had been solidly Labour for decades. Imagine...
The Feast of the Baptism of the Lord…
Happy Feast of the Baptism! The celebration of the Lord’s baptism brings to a close the Christmas season. (In the extraordinary form calendar, the Christmas season continues till Feb. 2, the Feast of the Presentation. Thus, the custom of some of leaving their Christmas tree up until “Ground Hog Day.”) We are sad to leave behind the beautiful mysteries surrounding the birth of Our Lord on which we have been meditating for the past several weeks, but the tenderness of the childhood of the Lord must give way to the maturity of his manhood and the beginning of his public ministry. John the Baptist, that greatest of prophets and remarkable saint, has been accompanying us almost from the start of Advent, and makes a critical appearance once again i...
Standing for the unborn, state by state…
From the streets of Dallas to Chicago (below) and San Francisco (above), thousands of pro-lifers will take a stand for the unborn this month. (2019 photos, courtesy of Catholic Pro-Life Community, March for Life Chicago and West Coast Walk for Life) Events around the country reflect heart of the cause. WASHINGTON — On Jan. 24, tens of thousands of people will be part of this year’s annual March for Life in Washington. Tens of thousands more — adults, teens, school groups and families who cannot travel to the nation’s capital — will be marching in 30-plus companion events held on different days in states across the country, praying for the end of abortion. Midwest The earliest companion marches and walks were scheduled to begin Jan. 10-11. One of the largest is the March for Life Chicago 20...
Why U.K. voters rejected the Church of Corbyn and its prophet Jeremy…
Britain’s opposition Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn gestures outside a polling station after voting in the general election in London, Britain, December 12, 2019. (Lisi Niesner/Reuters) U.K. voters have rejected its messiah and his message. During the United Kingdom’s recent general election, the subject of religion was not mentioned. Unlike in the United States, religion has rarely been a vote-winner in British politics, particularly during elections. This election proved different, however. Although not recognized as such by the media, there was a religious sect taking part in the 2019 British general election. Perhaps one might call it the Church of Corbyn (CoC). Advertisement Advertisement Recently founded, this “church” comprised members who swore blind obedience to the thinking an...
Harry and Meghan will not be greatly missed…
The Royal Family got a rude – but welcome – surprise on Wednesday. The Duke and Duchess of Sussex want out of royal life. They dropped this particular bombshell consulting neither the Queen nor the Prince of Wales, which seems rude. On the other hand, they weren’t able to discuss it over Christmas when the family gathers at Sandringham; Harry and Meghan and lil’ Archie skipped family Christmas for a trip to Canada instead. Buckingham Palace, having read the news of the de facto ducal abdication along with everyone else, responded with a masterly English understatement: “It’s complicated.” The Sussexes will withdraw from royal life and become celebrities doing good works. They will gallantly pay for this on their own dime. It will not be cheap, as they intend to live a climate-offending lif...
There’s no Martini Curve in the part of the Church that’s thriving…
Pope Francis concluded his pre-Christmas address to the Roman Curia by invoking the memory of Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, SJ, who died in September 2012. The Holy Father recalled that, “in his last interview, a few days before his death, [Cardinal Martini] said something that should make us think: ‘The Church is 200 years behind the times. Why is she not shaken up? Are we afraid? Fear, instead of courage. Yet faith is the Church’s foundation. Faith, confidence, courage … Only love conquers weariness.’” The Martini Curve should indeed make us think. I thought about it at the time and ended up with questions rather than answers. What, precisely, was the Church two hundred years behind? A western culture come unglued from the deep truths of the human condition? A culture that celebrates the...
This Sunday, Christmas moves into your soul…
By Tom Hoopes, January 9, 2020 The Christmas season is officially over this Sunday, the feast of the Baptism of the Lord (Year A). In our house, that means the decorations come down. The house goes from glistening with beauty and mystery to an ordinary-looking home again. The good news is that Christmas, with its the grace and wonder, won’t go away; it will just move deeper inside — down in the basement of the house, into the hearts of the family. That is because if Christmas is about Jesus coming to the world, the Baptism of the Lord is about him coming to each of us. The Baptism of the Lord Is a nice contrast with the Christmas season. Christmas is about light shining in darkness, with the darkness unable to overcome it. The Baptism is about Jesus in overwhelming light, and us unabl...
On funding (or dissolving) episcopal conferences…
By Dr. Jeff Mirus ( bio – articles – email ) | Jan 10, 2020 Today’s news about the minimal approval for a subsidy hike for the USCCB merits reflection. The Conference of Catholic Bishops in the United States—as in other countries—is funded by assessments on each diocese. These assessments are controlled and imposed in the United States by a two-third majority vote of all of the bishops, which I presume to be typical. Proposed increases do not always pass, but in this case, a three percent increase failed inconclusively at the annual November meeting among those present. In other words, while the two-thirds majority was not quite achieved at that time, it was still thought to be possible if all the absent bishops could cast votes. As it turned out, the more complete vote conduct...
Radical feminist group takes credit for string of church attacks in Germany…
Berlin, Germany, Jan 10, 2020 / 03:00 pm (CNA).- A radical feminist group has taken credit for an ongoing series of attacks on pro-life advocates in Germany, including the vandalism of two churches and the burning of a pro-life journalist’s car. On December 27, an evangelical church in the town of Tübingen was spray-painted and a minibus was set on fire in front of the church. Authorities estimated that the vandals caused 40,000 euro in damages. Shortly after the vandalism, a confession letter was posted online on the website indymedia, where the church was accused of “anti-feminist attitudes.” The letter was singed by a group calling themselves the “Feminist Autonomous Cell.” Four days later, on the same website, the group said that they had “t...
