Posted on 11/12/2007 10:30:07 AM PST by NYer
Believe it or not! A parish Church turns into a mosque every Friday, for the Muslims brothers and to offer their customary prayers. This isn't a sequence from any Bollywood film, but a reality in the parish of Our Lady of Assumption of Ponzano near Venice, the romantic city of Italy. The pastor of the parish, Don Aldo Danieli, 69, affirms, "It's useless to speak of religious dialogue and then bang the door on their face. Pope John Paul II addressed them as, 'dear Muslim brothers'. How can we close our church doors to them?"
At Ponzano, in the province of Treviso, live some 11,500 people of whom 232 families are immigrants, making their number roughly 650. These are mainly immigrants from North African countries and Eastern Europe. Two years ago, Don Aldo decided to open the doors of the church to these Muslim immigrants and keep a portion of his own parochial house including a kitchen and a little at their disposal. On Fridays an average of 200 Muslim believers gather in the church and offer prayers. But in the month of Ramadan, the number swells to 1000-1200. "They requested me and I said yes, moreover, the kitchen and hall were a home for spiders".
The decision of Don Aldo has disturbed the peace of mind of more than a few parishioners. The protests of even the local bishop and priests have reached his ears. "I haven't asked the express permission of the bishop, because it's an act of charity. No permission is needed to do charity. For the rest, I am older than the bishop and been his professor in the seminary too. Even if had prohibited me, I wouldn't be obliged to obey him," Don Aldo is firm in his resolve. He does not hesitate to proclaim, "Better praying Muslims than non praying Christians. If you brand me a racist, you are wrong". In the last two years a Don Aldo has received a number of emails and letters advising him to "remain with his own flock". The letters cautioned him, "These people come as immigrants and then claim the place for themselves and throw us out". Don Aldo has taken into confidence the Parish Pastoral Council and is unrelenting. "The pope has exhorted to open wide the doors to Christ: Christ lives in Muslims too."
Meanwhile, there have been protests from public spheres too. "I urge the bishop to clarify the position of the Church in this regard", demands Luca Zaia, the vice president of the Federation of a few right wing politicians, "so that this does not set a precedence for such efforts in the history of Venice". "Moreover, in this initiative, there isn't a grain of reciprocity. In some of the Muslim countries, they won't give an inch to us to offer our prayers. These "feel-good" gestures would lead us nowhere. Integration must begin from their part. The immigrants must learn to insert themselves into mainstream, our culture, traditions and identity. The immigrants must know that before demanding their rights, they must adhere to their duties." Luca justifies.
Don Aldo runs an Arab School in the church premises, for the education of immigrant Muslim children.
Italy, of late has been a favorite destination for immigrants especially for North African and Eastern European Muslims. The public opinion with regard to immigrants is divided. "At last, a tangible gesture of openness and acceptance", comments one in the largest Italian ?Corriere della Sera'. "It's useless to preach openness and then hold on to one's own prejudices. This priest makes us trust in the future," writes another. "The saddest thing is that, the church of Our Lady of Assumption has larger congregation on Fridays than Sundays" comments one, "Hope one day the pastor does not convert himself to Islam" quips another in ?La Repubblica' daily. Yet the majority is supporting the gesture of the pastor, Don Aldo Danieli.
As the case of Don Aldo is being discussed and debated, in Padova, the city of St. Anthony, the members of the federation of the right wing politicians, have paraded a pig in the location where the municipality of Padova had decided to transfer the existing mosque from Anelli Street. The leader of the confederation, Mariella Mazzetto said:" We have ?blessed' the place by parading a pig, before the municipality could transfer the mosque to the place." " This is a question of Italian identity. We demand a referendum be done by the municipality before they venture into such stupidities".
The mayor of Padova, Flavio Zanonato, condemning the act, said: "The majority of the dwellers of Padova are ashamed of this. This isn't the culture of Padova. In this city live more than 7,000 Muslim immigrants. While we are discovering ways and means to live a well integrated life, this type of acts sends out a wrong message to them".
In the changed circumstances of globalization, Italy is slowly getting used to immigrants of religions and cultures other than Christian. Cases like Don Aldo's, give rise to regional and national debates on integration and immigration, which are so important to a country in which the Heart of Christianity is situated!!
Don Aldo needs some serious re-education on ecumenism.
Perhaps what really needs to happen is a solid, clear Papal statement regarding what ecumenicalism really should accomplish.
It is said that the Catholics and the Muslim worship the same God. Does this mean they can worship in the same church? Does this mean the Muslim and Catholic are brothers in faith? We know the answer, but some in the RCC seem to be missing the clear answer.
As long as it is left up in the air, the more of this thing will happen. The more this happens, the faster the change will occur, until it will either force a schism or it will cause a Jihad. Well, the Jihad is coming, but the question is how many Muslim converts from the RCC will be part of it.
Wouldn’t this constitute a profane use of the church?
“It’s useless to speak of religious dialogue and then bang the door on their face. Pope John Paul II addressed them as, ‘dear Muslim brothers’. How can we close our church doors to them?”
My Italian is not so good - but I think this loosely translated means: “We are afraid of these Mother F’ers and don’t wanna no trouble.”
Poor priests everywhere are losing their minds. They are in complete control of our churches and buildings and they are making a mocking sacrilege of them. They did not build these churches; they should not have so much control over them.
About a year ago, I read that Cardinal Maida (Detroit) was handing over a beautiful church named St. Therese to Muslims. I called to complain and of course a woman responded. She said, "There will be prayer there." I said, "but they are not praying to Jesus. It is like you are denying Jesus." Of course the Spokeswoman could care less what I thought about anything.
Many of our beautiful churches were built by immigrants that worked all day and then worked all evening building the churches. Now the priests and bishops are just wrecking, selling, and desecrating these beautiful churches and the Vatican could care less.
Soon they’ll be asking for storage space for their chemistry sets...
You can bet that these priests and bishops are the most liberal of the liberal and they hate the Pope. But one of them in Italy (really opposed to the Tridentine Rite, btw) recently got his knuckles rapped and the nut in Belgium (who was in favor of condoms and referring to God as Allah) was given an early retirement. The problem is that JPII let them get away with this stuff and in addition his own “ecumenism” sometimes seemed a little loosey-goosey.
And of course, the less said about Cdl Maida, the better. When does he retire?
The population of Venice sure must have changed since my visit 30 years ago.
ML/NJ
So, will he also allow in Satan-worshippers? Aside from the “Muslim” ones, of course....
A little slant there?
I wonder who's the President of the Federation of a Few Right Wing Politicians?
Nicholas Sarkozy?
I have to say, the pictures look like they're holding the Moslem prayer service in a school cafeteria, not a church.
Around that time, I worked for an airline and traveled frequently to Italy to visit family. Already then, the country had socialized medicine (there was a 25% VAT tax on all purchases to pay for it), had gone "green" (il verde e tuo, protegge lo) and reduced their offspring to 2 at best. The cost of living skyrocketed necessitating two working parents and daycare centers sprung up. The Italian education system invested heavily in these children to encourage them to pursue medicine, law and engineering. As a result, there are now few workers in the country willing to do menial jobs. The solution? Import workers from Africa and the Middle East.
That was 30 years ago! One can't help but see a similar pattern emerging in this country. Not far from where I live in upstate NY, a 2 minaret mosque is under construction. Perhaps it's time to walk a pig across the field which happens to be adjacent to a Knights of Columbus Hall.
One of their "new age" cathedrals ;-) Perhaps this is why some of the liberal bishops have chosen to build or wreckovate their older churches, replacing carved wooden pews with folding chairs.
I think it’s a cafeteria. Or a “multi-purpose meeting facility,” such as my parish uses while we try to get the Environmental Services Administration to let us build a church.
If this is in the church itself with the Blessed Sacrament present, there is absolutely no question it is “profane” as you say, actually I’d more specifically call it sacrilege. But from the picture and some ambiguous phrases in the article referring to the “hall” and “kitchen” and some “little” area, maybe the priest is not allowing them to use the church proper, but a meeting room? That would still be questionable, of course, but at least not a sacrilege.
http://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/articles.cfm?id=177
Pacifists, Ecologists and Ecumenists: Antichrist at Work
“The retired Archbishop of Bologna, Cardinal Giacomo Biffi, says the Antichrist presents himself as a “pacifist, ecologist, and ecumenist.” “
beware of false ecumenism!!!!
no more than Yankee stadium being used for baseball when the Pope isn’t conducting mass there...just kidding...
I’m not RCC and I find this very sad...I can’t imagine allowing any other Christian group use our sanctuary let alone a non Christian group...yikes! I pray that this changes asap...
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