All faithful Catholics are bigots - according to CNN's Piers Morgan

If, like me, you accept the Church's teaching that homosexual activity is immoral and that the orientation itself is disordered (prepare for hateful comments now - in spite of the fact that homosexual orientation is not the only disordered orientation: so is paedophilia, addictions to alcohol, drugs, temptations to beat your spouse, or to kill your unborn child, or to steal - these are all disordered in need of healing and amendment of life), you're a bigot.

CNN's Piers Morgan: “I guess one of the reasons it’s troubling and difficult for people to come out [as gay] is because of the level of bigotry that’s out there against them. I have to say that your views you espoused on this issue are bordering on bigotry, aren’t they?” Morgan asked the candidate.

Presidential candidate Rick Santorum: “Are you suggesting that the Bible and that the Catholic Church is bigoted? Well, if that’s what you believe, fine. I think that—I shouldn’t say ‘fine!’ ... Saying a church is bigoted because it holds that opinion that is Biblically based I think is in itself an act of bigotry”

And this after the following exchange when Santorum demonstrates the true charitable attitude that all should have - far from bigoted:

MORGAN: How many sons do you have?

SANTORUM: We have four boys and three girls. [Large family by many standards. Presumably he knows a thing or two about bringing up a family.]

MORGAN: How would you feel if one of your sons turned around one day and said, "Dad, I'm gay"?

SANTORUM: I would embrace them, love them and try to help them through what I would see as a very difficult and troubling time in their lives. I know a lot of gay people. I know a lot of the folks that I've talked to who have gone through this, go through a lot of very difficult times in their life in coming to that decision and struggling with it even after admitting it. So, this is a difficult issue. I understand it's difficult issue. And my job as a father is to love my son unconditionally which I do and would do, and would continue what I could do to support him so he could live a good, a healthy and decent and faithful life.

For a CNN interviewer (who himself professes to be catholic) to be allowed to get away with calling his interviewee - and, by implication, all faithful catholics - bigots is, unfortunately, not beyond belief. It's the age we live in . Freedom of speech if you espouse the relativistic politically correct policies of the day, but not if you hold views that correspond to eternal truths, in this case concerning marriage.

As long as we know, that's fine. We can be prepared for martyrdom, if the Lord considers us worthy of such an honour.

See Lifesitenews.

Ss Charles Lwanga and Companions, Ugandan Martyrs

From the Universalis About Today page for June 3rd:

Saint Charles Lwanga and his companions (- 1885/7)

Many Christians, Catholic and Protestant, were killed by the Ugandan king Mwanga. Some of them were servants in the king’s palace or even his personal attendants. Charles Lwanga and his twenty-one companions (the youngest, Kitizo, was only 13) were executed for being Christians, for rebuking the king for his debauchery and for murdering an Anglican missionary, for “praying from a book,” and for refusing to allow themselves to be ritually sodomised by the king. They died between 1885 and 1887. Most of them were burned alive in a group after being tortured.

Within a year of their deaths, the number of catechumens in the country quadrupled. St Charles Lwanga is the patron of Catholic Action and of black African youth, and the Ugandan martyrs’ feast day is a public holiday in Uganda.

St Christopher Magallanes and the Cristeros movement in Mexico - inspirational heroism

I was going to celebrate the normal Mass for Saturday of the Fourth Week of Easter yesterday but took the time the previous night to do a quick search on the optional memorial of St Christopher Magallanes and his Companions, newly inserted in the third editio typica of the Roman Missal. I was glad I did. The best summary of his life was found at Why I Am Catholic. As a diocesan priest I found the example of St Christopher and his 21 diocesan priest companions a source of inspiration. Three laymen are also among the total of 25 companion martyr saints commemorated yesterday.

It's not normally good practice to quote a blog entry in its entirety. Here is the factual part of the post. Do go and read the author's post for further comments.

St. Christopher Magallanes, pictured above, built a seminary in his parish of Totiache at a time when the Mexican government banned foreign clergy and the celebration of Mass in some regions. When the anti-Church government closed his seminary, he opened another and still another. Eventually, the seminarians were forced to learn in private homes.

He wrote and preached against armed rebellion. But he was falsely accused of promoting the Cristeros guerillas. While heading to a farm to celebrate Mass, St. Christopher Magellenes was arrested on May 21, 1927. Three days later, without a trial, he was shot to death. Before he died, he gave his executioners his remaining possessions and offered them absolution. He was 48.

The last words heard from him were shouts from his cell.  "I am innocent and I die innocent. I forgive with all my heart those responsible for my death, and I ask God that the shedding of my blood serve the peace of our divided Mexico."

How did this remarkable life begin? St. Christopher Magallanes was born  in 1869 in the Archdiocese of Guadalajara. His parents, Rafael Magallanes and Clara Jara, were poor farmers and devout Catholics. He worked as a shepherd and entered the Conciliar Seminary of San Jose, pictured here,

at the age of  19. He was ordained at age 30 and took a special interest in evangelizing to the local  indigenous Huichos people.

...

The novel reflects historic realities. The seminary where St. Christopher Magallanes studied, for example, was closed by the Mexican government in 1914 and turned into a regional art museum.

The Cristeros Movement, of which these martyrs were affiliated, was a reaction to the severely anti-clerical Constitution of 1917. According to the website www.traditioninaction.org, Cristeros of Jalisco recited this prayer at the end of the Rosary.

My Jesus Mercy! My sins are more numerous than the drops of blood that Thou did shed for me. I do not deserve to belong to the army that defends the rights of Thy Church and that fights for her. I desire never to sin again so that my life might be an offering pleasing to Thy eyes. Wash away my iniquities and cleanse me of my sins. By Thy Holy Cross, by my Holy Mother of Guadalupe, pardon me.

Since I do not know how to make penance for my sins, I desire to receive death as a chastisement merited by them. I do not wish to fight, live or die except for Thee and for Thy Church. Blessed Mother of Guadalupe, be at my side in the agony of this poor sinner. Grant that my last shout on earth and my first canticle in Heaven should be Viva Cristo Rey! Amen.

...

Shahbaz Bhatti professes his faith in Jesus Christ in the face of Pakistani blasphemy laws

Shahbaz Bhatti was the only Christian on the Pakistani Government cabinet and was assasinated yesterday. He knew his life was at risk.

I believe in Jesus Christ who has given his own life for us. I know what is the meaning of the Cross and the following of the Cross... I will die to defend the rights of my suffering people and for my principles.

Read this report at the BBC and watch a video Bhatti recorded two months ago.

Christians continue to suffer

In his address to members of the Roman Curia at the end of 2011, Pope Benedict said that

Christians are the most oppressed and tormented minority

in the Middle East.

On New Year's Day, over twenty of our Coptic Brothers and Sisters died as a result of a car bomb in Alexandria, Egypt. As Asia News reports:

The attack was carried out shortly after midnight on January 1, 2011, as mass was ending. The death toll is currently of 21 dead and 43 wounded. A possible connection with threats from Al Qaeda after the massacre of the Syriac Catholic cathedral in Baghdad.

This follows the recent massacre of Catholics in Baghdad.

In that same address, Pope Benedict also recalled with gratitude:

During the Synod (on the Church in the Middle East) we listened to wise words from the Counsellor of the Mufti of the Republic of Lebanon against acts of violence targeting Christians. He said: when Christians are wounded, we ourselves are wounded.

And he added:

The human being is one, and humanity is one. Whatever damage is done to another in any one place, ends up by damaging everyone.

Let us pray for peace between the different communities in Egypt and elsewhere.

Euronews report:


BBC Pictures
BBC: Alexandria church bomb: Egypt police on high alert
BBC: Egypt's Coptic Christians under attack
BBC: Christians clash with police over Egypt church bomb

The blood of the martyrs: seed of the Church. The Names of Pastoral Workers, Priests, Men and Women Religious and Lay Catholics killed during 2010

Vatican City (Agenzia Fides) – Once again this year, Fides publishes an annual document of all the pastoral workers who lost their lives in a violent manner over the course of the last 12 months. According to information in our possession, during 2010, 23 pastoral care workers were killed: one Bishop, 15 priests, one male religious, one religious sister, two seminarians and three lay people.

Analysing the list for each continent, again this year the place most affected, with an extremely elevated number of deaths is AMERICA, bathed with the blood of 15 pastoral care workers: 10 priests, one male religious, one seminarian and three lay people. Following is ASIA, with one Bishop, four priests and one religious sister killed. The least affected was AFRICA, where one priests and one seminarian violently lost their lives.

Fides' list does not only include missionaries ad gentes in the strict sense but all pastoral care workers who died violent deaths. We do not propose to use the term “martyrs” since it is up to the Church to judge their possible merits and also because of the scarcity of available information in most of cases, with regard to their life and even the circumstances of their death. In this regard, we register, in this year coming to an end, the opening of the beatification process of the Fidei donum priest Fr Daniele Badiali, a native of the diocese of Faenza (Italy), killed in Peru in 1997, and the beatification of Polish Father Jerzy Popieluszko, martyr, killed in hatred of the faith on 20 October, 1984, near Wroclawek, Poland.

Here is the list provided by Fides. The full document can be found here.

N°	Name and Surname	Nationality	Institute or Diocese	Date and place of death
1.	Father José Luis Parra Puerto	Mexico	Diocesan	17/2 – Mexico
2.	Father Dejair Gonçalves de Almeida	Brazil	Diocesan	16/3 – Volta Redonda (Brazil)
3.	Epaminondas Marques da Silva	Brazil	Laity	16/3 – Volta Redonda (Brazil)
4.	Luis Enrique Pineda	Colombia	Salesian Coadjutor (SDB)	20/3 – Bogotà
5.	Father Román de Jesús Zapata	Colombia	Diocesan	24/3 – Turbo (Colombia)
6.	Father Esteban Robert Wood	USA	Diocesan	28/4 – Puerto Ordaz, Venezuela
7.	Father Peter Bombacha	India	Diocesan	28/4 – Baboola (Mumbai, India)
8.	Father Rubens Almeida Gonçalves	Brazil	Diocesan	21/5 – Brasilia (Brazil)
9.	Bishop Luigi Padovese	Italy	Apostolic Vicar  of Anatolia	3/6 - Iskenderun (Turkey)
10.	Mario Dayvit Pinheiro Reis	Brazil	Seminarian	4/7 – Sao Luis (Brazil)
11.	Father Joseph Zhang Shulai	China	Vicar General, Diocese  of Ningxia	5/7 – Wuhai (Mongolia, China)
12.	Sister Maria Wei Yanhui	China	Diocesan Congregation	5/7 – Wuhai (Mongolia, China)
13.	Father Carlos Salvador Wotto	Mexico	Diocesan	28/7 – St. Oaxaca (Mexico)
14.	Father Herminio Calero Alumia	Colombia	Diocesan	20/8 – Quintanares (Colombia)
15.	Father Linán Ruiz Morales	Puerto Rico	OFM	27/8 – Lima (Perù)
16.	Ananias Aguila	Peru	Laity	27/8 - Lima (Perù)
17.	Julien Kénord	Haiti	Caritas worker	8/10 - Port-au-Prince (Haiti)
18.	Father Wasim Sabieh	Iraq	Diocesan	31/10 – Baghdad (Iraq)
19.	Father Thaier Saad Abdal	Iraq	Diocesan	31/10 – Baghdad (Iraq)
20.	Father Christian Bakulene	D.R.Congo	Diocesan	8/11 – Mapere (D.R. Congo)
21	Father Bernardo Muniz Rabelo Amaral	Brasile	Diocesan	20/11 – Brazil
22	Nicolas Eklou Komla	Togo	Jesuit Seminarian (SJ)	5/12 – Kinshasa (D.R. Congo)
23.	Father Miroslaw Karczewski	Polonia	OFM Conv.	6/12 – S.Domingo L.C. (Ecuador)

Te Deum laudamus, te Deum confitemur, te Martyrum candidatus laudat exercitus

O GOD, we praise Thee: we acknowledge Thee to be the Lord. the white-robed army of Martyrs, praise Thee.

Baghdad Massacre - more reports from Iraq

Further to my previous.

AlJazeera reports on the funeral:



Letter from Iraqi friends of mine in England:

Dear Fr John;

I had not bothered to comment this time because I do not see the point however in answer to your question the pictures are true and I would I may like to give you a description of the attack as described by one of the survivors;

At about 5 pm Baghdad time a car exploded outside the Baghdad Stock Exchange (which was by then closed for the day) and the few security guards nearby including the two guarding the Church were drawn towards that explosion at the same time from the opposite side of that building a group of men (8 or 9) moved very quickly towards our Lady of Salvation Catholic Church. That Church has a most impressive Arch (I have enclosed a picture of the outside of the Church) and they shot the 4 guards then quickly made their way into the Church while Holy Mass was being celebrated by 2 young priests and some Deacons as well as about 150 parishioners (young and old, men and women).

I need to say that at the moment of the car explosion outside one of the priests from the Altar asked the people to pray for peace and security for Iraq. A couple of minutes later that poor priest was murdered in a hail of bullets. The terrorist as they entered the Church, throw a number of hand grenades and fired towards the people sitting by the main entrance and killed them all, they then very quickly fired at the Altar killing one of the priests (the one who asked people to pray for peace and security).

At that early stage people were in a state of shock, some were running, others were screaming but most were sitting not knowing what was taking place. The second young priest rushed down from the Altar trying to calm the situation and was trying to speak to the savages but they killed him before he had even finished his sentence.

The 3rd older priest who was in the house next to the Church by now knew something terrible was taking place so he made his way into the Church from the side door and asked parishioners nearby to follow him into the house and away from the Church. However he was shot by the door (he is in a terrible conditions being treated in France along with other seriously wounded survivors from the attack including one Muslim security guard who tried in vain to defend the Church) and the few people who had ran into the corridor were trapped and the terrorist simply throw more hand grenades into that corridor and closed the door behind them killing and wounding everyone in that area (about 12 people were in there).

The terrorists were by now going from one pew to the next killing some people and wounding others. It was random, vicious and senseless violence. They were killing men, women, young and old. The youngest victim was a 4 months old baby boy (I have enclosed his picture for a proof if any was needed of their heartless actions).
The terrorist all the while were shouting God is great and the witness described their eyes as being filled with pure hatred and anger. The terrorists did not try and conceal their faces and apart from one of them the rest were not from Iraq. It is understood that one was from Syria, another from Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Egypt and the others did not sound like Arabs {(maybe from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Chechnya) not sure of the actual nationality but they were not Iraqis apart from one} they did not speak with Iraqi dialect but Classical Arabic and believe you me no one in the Arab world speaks with a classical dialect unless they are reading the news on TV or Radio.

The terrorists were in the Church from about 5 pm until 11 pm when their weapons ran out and they began to blow themselves up. They Iraqi Security forces were all the while standing outside paralysed with fear and confusion but by about 10 pm the security forces attacked the Church with huge fire power and no one knows how many innocent people they killed when they stormed the Church but by then most of the terrorist were already dead and they had run out of weapons to use.

At about 1 am the army was sure that all of the terrorist were dead and that they had rescued any of the people who were still alive inside the Church.

One army officer described the scene as follows; “I entered the Church and can hear loud screams of women and children but I could not see them because of the intense smoke, I then slipped and noticed that I slipped in a pool of blood just then I was hit by the most awful smell, it was a smell that I had become familiar with but it was nevertheless awful it was the terrible stench of death. I saw body parts, limbs and many bodies piled up at the entrance. The people there looked like they had been dead for sometime as their bodies had become quite stiff when we tried to move them”.

By the end about 60 people were dead including 2 priests and another 70 were wounded. Very few people were unhurt physically but all of the survivors were damaged psychologically.

There are many hear breaking stories that emerged but I will mention just a few;
The terrorists as they attacked one pew they killed a family that consisted of a Baby boy (4 months old), his mum, his dad and his grand dad.

The terrorists then asked one women hostage to call a local TV station {(Al-Baghdadia) which has since been banned from broadcasting from Iraq, it still beams its pictures from Cairo, however to be honest the station is not involved in any way in the attack as far as we know however the government decided it had to be shut down anyway} she (hostage) read a prepared statement which basically said that unless their (terrorists)demands were met they would blow the Church up in 48 hours and kill all the people inside, that was a lie since they were killing the people already and in large numbers.

The terrorists attacked one pew that had two young sisters, their brother his wife and their 3 year old nephew. The sister in law died instantly however the rest of that family somehow survived that said the child naturally was beside himself with greave for his mother and kept asking her to wake up. A minute later the terrorists returned to that pew and shot the brother in the shoulder and arm so his 3 year old son started screaming and crying telling them enough (KAFEE, KAFEE, KAFEE, Iraqi Arabic for Enough) however for some unknown reason they did not hurt the two women but towards the end of the siege the terrorists returned and shot the brother in the head (so if he was not already dead he was now) and as they were about to shoot him again his three year old son stood up and he took a bullet for his dad however he was shot in the leg and survived. The aunty said the worst thing about it is that throughout this awful situation my sister and I were so terrified we did nothing not even comfort our nephew and this is so difficult to bear on top of our horrendous loss.

Since that attack more Christians have been attacked in Baghdad and despite that our plight does not even warrant a mention in any of the news on the BBC, ITV, Sky or CBS and also CNN. A few days later they all carried short reports and talked about the difficult situation for Iraqi Christians. Our lives our worthless now so the world does nothing because they do not even know we are dying for our faith.

Images from the Church of Our Lady of Salvation:



This received from another priest friend:

We can only weep, pray and hope!
Sr Emmanuel +

Father (Père) Wassim Sabih (Waseem Sabeeh Al-kas Butros)  27 years old

Father (Père) Thaer (Thaer Saad-alla Abdal) 32 years old

were killed during the attack on Our Lady of Salvation Syrian Catholic Church by islamics terrorists during Mass Sunday evening, in Bagdad, October 31, 2010.

Father Rafael Alkotaily was injured during the attack and he is now undergoing a number of surgeries

at Ibn Al-Nafis hospital in Baghdad. 

More than 63 were killed. Another 120 were wounded. Hundreds of dependents are now helpless

+

+

Father Thaer

+

Father Wassim

For the past seven years, the Iraqi Christians have been targeted by waves of attacks on their churches, monasteries, homes, businesses and in persons. A Bishop and Several Priests were killed and even slaughtered in cold blood. Since the events of 2003 more than half the Iraqi Christians fled the country, thousands have been killed, and more than 60 churches, monasteries were bombed.

In less than a week after terrorists’ attacked Iraqi Christians during a Sunday mass in the heart of Baghdad – an incident that killed more than 50 people and injured dozens others, al-Qaeda has threatened to stage more similar attacks on Christians.

In a warning, an al-Qaeda affiliated group, Islamic State of Iraq (ISI), claimed that their attacks were legitimate and that the time had come for Iraqi Christians to face the doors of destruction.

The ISI’s warning has been published on the militant websites in which he warned that his group would soon extirpate and disperse Christians from Iraq.“All Christian centers, organizations and institutions, leaders and followers, are legitimate targets for the muhajideen wherever they can reach them,” the statement said. “We will open upon them the doors of destruction and rivers of blood,” it added.

-----------------------------------

Yahweh, how countless are my enemies, how countless those who rise up against me,
how countless those who say of me, 'No salvation for him from his God!'Pause
But you, Yahweh, the shield at my side, my glory, you hold my head high.
I cry out to Yahweh; he answers from his holy mountain.Pause
As for me, if I lie down and sleep, I shall awake, for Yahweh sustains me.
I have no fear of people in their thousands upon thousands, who range themselves against me wherever I turn.
Arise, Yahweh, rescue me, my God! You strike all my foes across the face, you break the teeth of the wicked.
In Yahweh is salvation, on your people, your blessing! (Psalms chapter 3)
+

When the Lamb broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God, and because of the testimony which they had maintained; and they cried out with a loud voice, saying,
"How long, O Lord, holy and true, will You refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"
And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also. (Revelation 6 /9-11)

+

----------------------------
Our Lady of Salvation Church: First Mass after the attack:

Some further videos sent to me by my Iraqi friend. I have no idea what is being said, but the state of shock is clearly visible, particularly in one of the young women who were among the very few who were not hurt but they lost their brother and his 3 year old son was wounded in the leg.



Pray for peace in Iraq, and that our Christian brothers and sisters will not be deserted by the 'Christian' west in their hour of need.

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The Baghdad Massacre - Victims flown to Rome's Gemelli Hospital; US Bishops say US has "moral obligation" to aid Iraq.

At the request of Pope Benedict XVI's Secretary of State Cardinal Bertone, 26 injured survivors of the Oct. 31st massacre of Catholics at the Syrian Catholic Church of Our Lady of Salvation have been flown to Rome's Gemelli Hospital. This must surely be a comforting gesture from the Vatican of solidarity with our suffering brothers and sisters.

More from Zenit.

Zenit also reports:

Chicago Cardinal Francis George, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, sent a letter last week to the U.S. president, in which he referenced the Oct. 31 attack on Baghdad's Syriac Catholic Cathedral, which left 58 dead and 75 wounded, as well as other violent outbreaks in the city. The letter earned the support today of the entire bishops' conference, who are meeting this week for their fall assembly.

He described the incidents as "grim evidence of the savage violence and lack of security that has plagued the Iraqi people [...] for over seven years." He also addressed reports that the attack on the cathedral "may have been more extensive and the failures of security more egregious than originally thought."

I think the British Government also shares this moral obligation. The US and Britain were the principal proponents of the invasion of Iraq. It is a mess (not wishing to enter into any discussion as to whether or not the invasion was justified). We need to guarantee security.

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North American Martyrs Shrine, Aurisville, NY

Not far from Fonda and the Kateri Shrine is Aurisville and the shrine to the North American Martyrs. Blessed Kateri was born at this place in Aurisville. The martyrs honoured here are:

St Jean de Brebeuf SJ, known as the Apostle of the Hurons, martyred on March 16, 1649 at St Ignace here in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

St Isaac Jogues SJ, martyred at Aurisville by Iroquois indians on Oct. 18 1646.

St Gabriel Lalemant SJ, a companion of Jean de Brebeuf, martyred on March 17, 1649 at St Ignace.

St Antoine Daniel SJ, martyred by the Iroquois at Mount St Louis in Canada on July 4, 1648.

St Charles Garnier SJ, martyred by the Iroquois at Etharita in Canada on Dec. 7, 1649.

St Noel Chabanel SJ, martyred by an apostate Huron in Canada on Dec. 8 1649.

St Rene Goupil SJ, martyred for making the sign of the cross on a little Mohawk child at Aurisville on Sep. 29, 1642.

St Jean de LaLande SJ, a companion of Isaac Jogues, martyred at Aurisville on Oct. 19, 1646.

A brief bio of each of the Saints of Aurisville can be read here.

The shrine is set on a hill overlooking the beautiful Mohawk river and valley. Some pics in the slide show following. (Just click on the slideshow at any time to see the pictures in greater detail.)

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