Doug Lawrence's Catholic Weblog

Striking similarities between Islam and Communism/National Socialism

Doug Lawrence — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 06:57:48 +0000

Scholar Ibn Warraq notes that diverse figures, including Czeslaw Milosz, Carl Jung, and Karl Barth have spotted striking similarities between Islam and Communism or National Socialism; atheist Bertrand Russell felt, for example, that “Bolshevism is to be reckoned with Mohammedanism rather than with Christianity and Buddhism.”

The estimable Theodore Dalrymple has also referred to Islam as the Marxism of our times, though he feels its totalitarian tendencies are borne of an inherent weakness: its inability to withstand philosophical scrutiny.

What St. Thomas Aquinas said about Islam

Bad fruits of Iraq war: Catholic population of Iraq fell from over 800,000, to less than 150,000 now.

Doug Lawrence — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 06:52:25 +0000

Archbishop Broglio believes Catholicism suffered after the invasion because of a perceived closeness to its previous ruler. He said Saddam Hussein tended “to trust Catholics, and gave them positions of responsibility.” One prominent Iraqi Catholic was Hussein’s Foreign Minister Tarik Aziz.

And even if Catholics “weren’t particularly part of the regime, they became identified with the regime,” Archbishop Broglio said.

“Before, they were a minority that was protected, but now they are a minority that is not protected.”

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Speak Out Illinois hosts reformed Planned Parenthood employee, Abby Johnson.

Doug Lawrence — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 05:55:04 +0000

The event, organized around the theme “Reclaim America for Life,” brought together members of more than 35 anti-abortion groups to work toward renewing and continuing efforts to end abortions.

“My prayer for all of us today is that we leave here recharged … and we keep that love of life going all year long,” said keynote speaker Abby Johnson, a former employee of Planned Parenthood’s clinic in Houston, Texas. “Babies are depending on it, moms are depending on it and clinic workers, just like me, are depending on it.”

Johnson left her job as an abortion counselor after watching an ultrasound-assisted abortion in 2009 and seeing “that baby recoil and then try to flee from that abortion instrument,” she said.

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Archbishop John J. Myers of Newark on Obama’s new contraceptive mandates: We cannot—we will not—comply with this unjust law…

Doug Lawrence — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 01:41:17 +0000

We cannot—we will not—comply with this unjust law. People of faith cannot be made second-class citizens. We are already joined by our brothers and sisters of all faiths and many others of good will in this important effort to regain our religious freedom. Our parents and grandparents did not come to these shores to help build America’s cities and towns, its infrastructure and institutions, its enterprise and culture, only to have their posterity stripped of their God given rights. In generations past, the Church has always been able to count on the faithful to stand up and protect her sacred rights and duties. I hope and trust she can count on this generation of Catholics to do the same. Our children and grandchildren deserve nothing less.

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Editor’s note: Let’s give the bishops some time to develop their officially strategy on this very important matter. Then, it will be imperative for every one of this nation’s 10 to 20 million practicing Catholics to fully support the bishops, to the very end. As for all the rest … who knows?

Priest refers to beautiful old Catholic churches as “monstrosities”.

Doug Lawrence — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 17:32:20 +0000

But as neighborhoods have changed and parishioners have migrated toward the suburbs, grand buildings like St. Philip Neri have become a drain on the archdiocese’s budget. The building is now ensconced in scaffolding, and most of its 1,700 seats stay empty on Sundays.

“A lot of the work done in the past, we’re now correcting,” said the Rev. Thomas Belanger, pastor of St. Philip Neri. “We’re left with nothing in the bank. With the ongoing costs of trying to heat these monstrosities, you wouldn’t build something like St. Philip Neri today.”

Link

Editor’s note: Is anyone else offended by this priest’s unfortunate choice of words?