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Posted on 02/12/2008 11:35:43 AM PST by forkinsocket
Dutch Catholics have re-branded the Lent fast as the "Christian Ramadan" in an attempt to appeal to young people who are more likely to know about Islam than Christianity.
The Catholic charity Vastenaktie, which collects for the Third World across the Netherlands during the Lent period, is concerned that the Christian festival has become less important for the Dutch over the last generation.
"The image of the Catholic Lent must be polished. The fact that we use a Muslim term is related to the fact that Ramadan is a better-known concept among young people than Lent," said Vastenaktie Director, Martin Van der Kuil.
Three decades ago the Catholic Church was as strict as many Muslims are about Ramadan with a total ban on meat and alcohol during the 40-day Lenten period between Ash Wednesday and Easter.
Most Dutch Catholics now focus on charitable work after the Vatican loosened fasting strictures for all but the first and last days of Lent back in 1967.
Four million Dutch describe themselves as Roman Catholics and 400,000 people attend Mass every week but only a few tens of thousands still mark Lent by fasting, said Mr Van der Kuil
Vastenaktie organisers hope that by linking the festival to Ramadan they can remind Christians who may be less observant than Muslims of the "spirituality and sobriety" of Lent.
"The agreements are more striking than the differences. Both for Muslims and Catholic faithful the values of frugality and spirituality play a central role in this tradition," said Mr Van der Kuil.
My head just exploded
blasphemy
Any bets on how long Europe has left?
You needed a duct tape alert on this post!
I’ve got a better idea: call it “Fortydaysjustlike_JESUS_the_Crucified_Messiah_inthedesert”.
Does this make suicide bombings the Muslim Communion?
Which goes first into dhimmi status: England, France or the Netherlands?
Isn’t the Netherlands already there?
So, there are 400,000 Dutch Roman Catholics.
Does this make suicide bombings the Muslim Communion?
_____________________________________________________
No, ‘Christian Charity’ brother. RIP in the ROP Europe . . . or wake up. Europe needs to be re-evangelized.
Now we have officially entered the Bizarro world.
I like that:
RIP in the ROP.
I’ve been a Catholic for nearly 58 years and have never heard Lent referred to as a “festival”. Am I missing something? Lenten “Season”, yes. Festival? no.
I await comment from Pope Benedict on this.
The deChristianization of the Netherlands and Belgium became very apparent to me when I began to purchase gorgeous Christian vestments on eBay costing less—including shipping—than a good dinner at Red Lobster.
I was really hoping this was satire. We’re DOOMED!
The Dutch word for "lent" is vasten (similar to the German word), but the Dutch word for "spring" is lente. In other words, the English word "lent" originally just meant spring, and in fact is related to "long" and "lengthen"--it's the season when the days are gettig longer. The early Anglo-Saxons were incorrigibly Northern Hemisphere-biassed.
There's no connection with English "lent" and Latin lente--lent just seems to go slowly.
For how many years has the left been telling us that Christianity is ‘scary’ because Christians are ‘judgmental’ and want to force their views on others? Then along comes radical Islam, which announces they’re going to take over the world and behead anyone who won’t accept Islam. To prove they’re serious, they then start blowing up American buildings, murdering innocent people, and behead a few infidels on international television. I’m still waiting for the left to call Islam ‘judgmental’, or object to Islam being forced on the world. Now Christians are practically apologizing for not being ‘Islamic’ enough. I, for one, am mad as hell, and I’m dusting off my Crusaders’ sword!
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