Pope Francis, Catholics, and Christians in the news worldwide
mtierney said:
Having gotten myself together on this board into one ID, and having just succeeded in getting an avatar to work, let this be a continuation of discussion of Pope Francis!
Does this mean that IM80 pulled a "Pope Benedict" and abdicated in favor of you? ;-)
That is a nicer way of looking at it!
Actually I outted myself at the get go when I opened this thread two years ago by trying to keep politics out of religion initially. Sort of fell on my own petard!
That effort certainly has proven to be impossible as we face terrorism under the guise of religion all over the world.
I will try to keep this thread one filled with hope and prayers for a better world
As we MOLers toil and trouble themselves in this new online universe, I thought this appropriate..
"Nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. Therefore whatever you have said in the dark will be heard in the light, and what you have whispered behind closed doors will be proclaimed from the housetops."
Luke 12:2-3
Pope Francis sees the big picture once again!
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/18/opinion/pope-stops-investigating-the-good-sisters.html?ref=todayspaper
I am back to my original avatar! And I did it all by myself!
Well, maybe with a little help from God!
Oh , isn't this wonderful!
And I am glad you are back to your avatar, IM80/Mtierney. glad you stuck to it! 
mtierney said:
Pope Francis sees the big picture once again!
Good morning!
— St. Basil the Great
http://cnstopstories.com/2015/04/21/pope-church-is-made-of-martyrs-leaders-must-respond-to-victims-cries/
When will the realization set in that the world seems to be passively witnessing another holocaust? Virtually on a daily basis reports of the brutal killing of Christians for being Christian are in the news.
http://www.onepeterfive.com/about/
An interesting new Catholic website -- looks as though it will try to rally the troops!
Can this article perhaps herald a change in the recognition of the world's seeming blind eye to the Christian slaughters? Too little, too late.? Where is the international outrage?
http://www.cruxnow.com/faith/2015/04/23/christians-are-thrown-overboard-by-obama/
It's really rather offensive to call random killings of a dozen or so Christian people a "Holocaust" when that world is associated with the murder of MILLIONS of Jews. I would pick a different word. Really.
"Elie Wiesel, a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust, has said, "while not all victims were Jews, all Jews were victims," so careful handling of the definition of the Holocaust is important. No one can deny that Jewish people were the primary targets of the Nazis, nor should one belittle their suffering.
" But neither should the millions of other victims of the Nazis be forgotten. The same respect and remembrance afforded the Jewish victims should be extended to include the non-Jewish victims as well. "
Of the 11 million victims, 5 million were Christians, homosexuals, "defectives" etc. of many nationalities. Although I chose to use the word holocaust (lower case), I certainly meant no disrespect.
What is scary to me is the apparent apathy of governments in reacting to the systematic executions of people because of their faith. Sounds familiar ?
It's terrible for anyone to die because of their beliefs, but I still take issue with a direct comparison. For one thing, in the case of Nazi Germany it was the government itself that was executing people because of their faith. That's not the case now. In addition, I really think the scale of the Holocaust was unimaginable compared to anything going on today.
I think what you are seeing is individuals murdering other individuals, not a systematic annihilation. Hate crimes are different from government programs to wipe out the members of a particular faith.
But having said that, I admit it's truly sobering to see the amount of violence going on around the world, against Christians as well as Muslims, or refugees of one country fleeing certain death there only to be victimized by hate crimes in modern-day Europe.
Judaism is more a tribe than a system of beliefs, which sets it apart from most religions. Persecuting a Jew is persecuting a person for who he is more than for what he believes. Of course, neither type of persecution is more or less evil. But I want to point out that the beliefs of Jews are not often under attack.
That is true, Tom. But when you boil down the motivations of these attacks, it really amounts to the same thing: Persecute anyone who is different, for whatever reason.
According to a very quick search, some 400 Christians have bee killed so far this year! Way more than a dozen.
When carnage of all sorts flash into our homes via TV , iPhone or tablet , 24/7, the mind can be detached and numbed. We just all need to pay attention to what is happening in real time before our eyes.
PeggyC said:
That is true, Tom. But when you boil down the motivations of these attacks, it really amounts to the same thing: Persecute anyone who is different, for whatever reason.
Agreed.
Tom_Reingold said:
PeggyC said:
That is true, Tom. But when you boil down the motivations of these attacks, it really amounts to the same thing: Persecute anyone who is different, for whatever reason.
Agreed.
Project all feelings of powerlessness, inadequacy, and self hatred into others of a stereotyped hate group, and then destroy them.
Yes, Jasmo, that sounds about right. In a world full of troubled economies and exactly those feelings you mention, violence is never very far away. The "Others" make a great target when you are mad at the world.
I'm hard pressed to know what to think about persecution of Christians worldwide when most of the serious noise is coming from whack jobs like Tony Perkins, who thinks President Obama is persecuting Christians. That makes it very difficult to figure out what is really going, and far more importantly, what the motivation for this violence is.
Another important question to ask is what to do about it, if we determine that there is a significant uptick in violent crime against Christians because they are Christian. How do you address that? I strongly suspect it has as much to do with cultural and socio-economic differences as it does with religion. So, how does anyone go about fixing the issues that are causing the hostility?
APRIL 25, 2015"Since happiness is nothing other than the enjoyment of the highest good, and since the highest good is above, no one can be happy unless he rises above himself, not by an ascent of the body, but of the heart."
— St. Bonaventure
It's good to smile...
https://www.facebook.com/ruth.hook.96/posts/665327966904975
A powerful video and stunningly created...
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/deaconsbench/2015/04/powerful-and-provocative-a-letter-to-isis-from-the-people-of-the-cross/?hootPostID=429f46f16a39dcb4b36c392d959c299f
Happy news about the Church in Ireland!
http://www.cruxnow.com/church/2015/04/27/american-bishop-is-a-surprise-hit-as-the-popes-man-in-ireland/
Beautiful and interesting tribute for an American nun...
http://www.cruxnow.com/church/2015/04/29/in-sister-mary-ann-walsh-both-the-church-and-the-media-had-a-friend/
Love this!
http://www.cruxnow.com/church/2015/05/01/thinking-its-a-joke-man-hangs-up-on-the-pope-twice/
Women helping women...
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/03/world/europe/nuns-intercede-for-victims-of-sex-trafficking-in-italy.html?ref=todayspaper
If doubts exist that Christians and Jews are targets for Islamic terrorists, this story should make the threats real..
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/04/world/asia/bangladesh-al-qaeda-indian-subcontinent-attack-on-bloggers.html?ref=todayspaper
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2976 comments under my alter ego later, and having gotten myself together on this board into one ID, and having just succeeded in getting an avatar to work, let this be a continuation of discussion of Pope Francis!