Why Islam cannot prevail

In preparing last night's post, I came upon this website. (Warning: Do not attempt to go to the original site; be content with Google cached site, as pulling up the original site initiates what it calls a "virus scan.) Undoubtedly, some of what you see on this list is due to the depopulation of Christians. However, if you know anything about how governments in majority Muslim countries do business -- even in officially secular countries such as Turkey -- then you know that just as undoubtedly many of these churches were confiscated. It is quite sobering to see this. Islam cannot prevail. Pray, do penance, fast, and commit yourself to living an ever more perfect Christian life and bringing others to do the same.

Otherwise, it will.

Persecution of Christians in the Middle East

The Turkish government plans to destroy the world's oldest monastery, which was built at the end of the 4th century. Never mind they have stolen 24 hectares of the monastery's land, now they want to destroy the buildings.

A friend was in Turkey on Divine Mercy Sunday. She posted pictures on her Facebook page of her and her pilgrimage group attending Mass at an abandoned church in secret. She wrote of how their Muslim guide stood guard outside the church. Looking at the pictures, it was all so surreal.

I encourage you to contact His Excellency Namık Tan, Turkish ambassador to the United States at:

The Hon. Namık Tan
Ambassador, Republic of Turkey
2525 Massachusetts Ave
Washington, DC  20008
Phone:
202-612-6700
202-612-6701
Fax:
202-6126744
Email:
contact@turkishembassy.org
embassy.washingtondc@mfa.gov.tr
Website URL:
http://www.turkishembassy.org/

Tell him it is odd that his country cries "discrimination" about not being let into the EU or its citizens being "discriminated" against in Germany, when this is the exact same thing. Cheeky buggers. Hypocrites. This is why we all should fear Islam, folks. This is what life under Islam would be like. Disagree? Show me one majority Muslim state where Christians have it good. Go ahead. I have all the time to wait.

Beatification and canonization cause news from the last month

Currently, there are 33 Doctors of the Church, and there is a proposal before the Vatican to make St. Juan of Avila, whose feast is May 10 and whose writings were very influential at the Council of Trent, number 34.

On April 25, Donald Cardinal Wuerl formally opened the beatification cause of Mary Virginia Merrick, foundress of the Christ Child Society and a remarkable woman.

Diocese of Monterey Bishop Richard Garcia has formally opened the beatification cause of Cora Louisa Yorgason Evans, a Mormon who came into the true Church at age 30. She was a mystic, visionary, and stigmatist.

Next Thursday, May 12, Norberta Cardinal Rivera y Carrera of Mexico City will oversee the transfer of the remains of the Servant of God Luis Maria Martinez, late archibishop of the Federal District, from the crypt to a chapel in the city's cathedral. Archbishop Martinez served as the ordinary for Mexico's capital from 1937-1956, a time of great upheavel in the wake the tumultuous Cristero War.

The Congregation for the Causes of Saints has approved an examination of the Servant of God Teofilo Camomot's life. The late auxiliary bishop of Cagayan de Oro, Philippines, was forced by ill health to simply function as a simple priest in the Archdiocese of Cebu. Bishop Camomot is sometimes called "the Philippine Padre Pio," because he reportedly had the gift of bilocation and there was this mystical scent of roses, and levitation. When it was exhumed for the purpose of transferring it, his body was completely intact.

In other Philippine sainthood news, Archbishop Jose Palma of Cebu has dismissed a flury of rumors that Visayan martyr Bl. Pedro Calungsod has been proclaimed a saint.

The Holy See has approved the opening of the beatification cause for the Servant of God Paul Xu Guangqi, who lived from 1562 to 1633. He was a Chinese scientist, astronomer and mathematician and collaborator of Italian Jesuit missionary Matteo Ricci, himself a candidate for beatification.

Brooklyn Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio has officially approved the opening of the beatification cause of the late Msgr. Bernard J. Quinn, who was a tremendous servant to the black people of Bedford-Stuyvesant and Jamaica, NY.

The beatification processes for both Audrey Stephenson and Audrey Santo could begin early next year. Audrey Santo, of course, is the young woman who became bedridden and incapable of communication after falling into a pool at age 3 and then being given incompetent medical care. She died at age 23 with a reputation as a miracle worker. Audrey Stephenson is a little girl who died at age 8 of leukemia who was a little St. Therese. She possessed more holiness at age 4 than most people attain in a lifetime. While it seems Santo’s cause is still in the beginning stages, Stephenson’s beatification effort simply lacks a postulator. They thought they had one, but his superior thought him too busy to take on this additional work.

Pope Benedict XVI has approved beatification for Catholic economist and sociologist Giuseppe Toniolo. He made it safe for Catholics to reenter public life, kept the Masons from gaining complete control in Italy , and his scholarship paved the way for Leo XIII's Rerum Novarum.

Later this month, Peoria Bishop Daniel J. Jenky will present the Holy Father with the positio summarizing Abp. Fulton Sheen's life and holiness.

On April 2, His Holiness approved decrees of beatification for 5 people through the regular process and 23 through martyrdom (one from the French Revolution and the rest from the Spanish Civil War). One of the new beati is Ven. Clemente Vismara, a PIME priest who died of natural causes in 1988 and who lived 65 of his 91 years in the jungle of Burma. Pope Benedict also issued decrees making six individuals Venerable.

Finally, on April 2, the Bulgarian Orthodox Church canonized the thousands of men, women, and children massacred by the Ottoman Turks during the failed 1876 April Uprising in that country.

Latest radio interview

Here is the most recent radio interview done in support of the book on the podcast for CatholicCompany.com with host Chris Cash, who's a great guy: http://catholicspotlight.com/702/cs135-john-paul-ii-beatification-and-39-saints-you-should-know-brian-oneel/

Here's something from my day blog ...

My publisher asked me to blog on the upcoming beatification. Here it is.

Why I wish there were two of me

So much to blog about, so little time.

From today's Divine Office (aka, Liturgy of the Hours)

This passage from Psalm 81 (80) is reminiscent of Romans 1. Will we listen?

For I am the Lord, your God,

  who led you out of the land of Egypt.

  Open wide your mouth and I shall fill it.

But my people did not hear my voice:

  Israel did not turn to me.

So I let them go on in the hardness of their hearts,

  and follow their own counsels.

If my people had heard me,

  if only they had walked in my ways –

I would swiftly have crushed their enemies,

  stretched my hand over those who persecuted them.

The enemies of the Lord would be overcome with weakness,

  Israel’s would be the good fortune, for ever:

  I would feed them full of richest wheat

and give them honey from the rock,

  to their heart’s content.