In the comments below, “stunted” asks a good question: In addition to all the silent Western political leaders in this affair, where are our religious leaders? Why hasn’t a single Catholic bishop spoken up in defense of the Pope? Where were the prayers for the Holy Father and the safety of all Christians in the face of Islamic outrage yesterday at Mass?
It’s been 5 days and still no official statement from the USCCBureaucracy. Has anyone’s individual bishop spoken out?
Who will stand by Pope Benedict in the face of this outrage? Stalin famously asked how many divisions has the Pope. The answer is none but the angelic legions and hundreds of millions of Christians commissioned at their confirmation.
Technorati Tags:Catholic, Islam, Pope, religious persecution, USCCB
Aw, Dom, don’t be too hard on them. I think they’re just finishing up the 67th draft of the pastoral letter on women and the 82nd draft of the pastoral letter on nuclear weapons, plus they’ve got all those new liturgical instructions to screw up, so, you know, they’ve kind of got their hands full.
If you thought the pope’s statement was twisted, think how bad any American bishops’ defense could be used. They’ll either play off the Americans against the Vatican, or depict them as anti-muslim warmongers.
The pope might have further words to say on this topic, and he doesn’t need bishops’ commentaries pasted together in a five-day period trumping or contradicting his words.
At our weekend Masses we prayed for the Pope and for no further violence to come of this matter. We also distributed copies of Cardinal Bertone’s statement with our parish bulletins.
When the bishops will not, or cannot, act, then the faithful must do so. Perhaps it’s time that we begin treating mosques like abortion clinics. Groups of Catholics praying the Rosary outside of your local mosque would be effective. Christians carrying crosses and singing psalms and hymns would be good, too. Maybe even some sidewalk counseling for those headed for services. Let the world see what a Christian protest looks like and double their shame.
The comparison itself would be newsworthy. Besides, it would have more than just an outward connection. We are talking about a culture of violence and death, after all. Or, at the very least, passivity towards and acceptance of, said culture.
The Blessed Mother told us to pray for the conversion of Russia, and look what happened. Maybe now the beads need to be aimed elsewhere.
Is the silence from the USCCB really surprising? After all, these are the same jellyfish who, nearly to a man, went AWOL while Terri Schiavo was being starved/dehydrated to death. Oh yes, they ran their spokeswoman out to make a “statement” and then promptly hid behind her skirt. If they couldn’t screw up the courage to say anything in a matter of life and death then, why should we expect it of them now?
Dear Lord, please give us bishops with fully functioning spines!
Today at Mass the priest played for peace in our hearts and the safety of Christians around the world.
Honestly, I am glad that the USCCB hasn’t made a statement—what would it be? ‘Always our Muslims’???
Plus by the time they finished whatever statement they made, the time would be over anyway. Prolly take them a couple of years.
But it would be nice to have individual bishops address this topic like Pell did.