Lamh Foistenach Abu!
Posted on 11/16/2010 2:32:03 PM PST by NYer
Cardinal Francis George, speaking at the fall meeting of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, told those assembled that the two priests slain in the Syrian Catholic cathedral on October 31 were killed while offering Mass and hearing confessions.
“Our brothers in the priesthood, Father Thaer Saad and Father Boutros Wassim, were slain as one celebrated Mass and the other heard confessions,” Cardinal George said. “Father Thaer prayed and asked a terrorist to spare the lives of his parishioners before he died. Father Raphael [a third priest] moved parishioners to a safer location in the Church and was grievously wounded.”
The US bishops affirmed by acclamation the content of Cardinal George’s recent letter calling upon President Barack Obama to come to the aid of Iraqi Christians.
In his final address as USCCB president, Cardinal George also said:
We are not a national Church; we resist being transformed into a purely American denomination. I therefore cannot depart this position or leave you today without speaking of our Catholic brothers and sisters in Iraq. Ever since the capture of Baghdad, it has been clear to anyone of good will that, while Muslim groups might be in conflict with one another, it was uniquely the Christians who were without protection in the wake of the American invasion of Iraq. Now, at the end of last month, on the vigil of the feast of All Saints, in the Syriac Catholic Cathedral of our Lady of Deliverance in the city of Baghdad, many dozens of Catholics were killed as they gathered for Mass. Two were priests: one was killed at the altar and the other as he left the confessional. They are joined in death with hundreds of others who have died for their faith in Christ since the current conflict began. An American Dominican Sister, a friend of a friend, has written from that country: “Waves of grief have enveloped their world, surging along the fault lines created in Iraqi society by the displacement of thousands of Iraq’s Christian minority who have fled what is clearly a growing genocidal threat…One survivor was asked by a reporter, what do you say to the terrorists? Through his tears he said, ‘We forgive you.’…Among the victims of this senseless tragedy was a little boy named Adam. Three-year-old Adam witnessed the horror of dozens of deaths, including that of his own parents. He wandered among the corpses and the blood, following the terrorists around and admonishing them, ‘enough, enough, enough.’ According to witnesses, this continued for two hours until Adam was himself murdered.” As bishops, as Americans, we cannot turn from this scene or allow the world to overlook it.
Dear brothers, we have all experienced challenges and even tragedies that tempt us to say at times, “enough.” Yet all of our efforts, our work, our failures and our sense of responsibility pale before the martyrdom of our brothers and sisters in Iraq and the active persecution of Catholics in other parts of the Middle East, in India and Pakistan, in China and in Vietnam, in Sudan and African countries rent by civil conflict. With their faces always before us, we stand before the Lord, collectively responsible for all those whom Jesus Christ died to save; and that is more than enough to define us as bishops and to keep us together in mission.
Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.
Ping!
Ping!
Once again, where is the Vatican? Why aren’t Vatican officials demanding that Iraq cease at once the brutal murder of Catholics? Don’t they have Vatican officials that could go to Iraq and demand a dialogue with Iraqi officials?
Back when the attack happened, +Benedict XVI, various Vatican "spokesmen", the Chaldean archbishop, and others had much to say on the topic.
Maybe the Vatican doesn’t want to get scolded by the UN for criticizing Islam?
Lamh Foistenach Abu!
I really get fed up with some people.
SNIP
“While confirming its desire to attack the Christians, the terrorists say they want to give one more chance to the Catholics of the Church of Rome. They claim that “the War Office of the Islamic State of Iraq announced that starting today all the churches and Christian organizations and their leaders are a legitimate target for mujahedeen. These politicians and their bosses in the Vatican should know that the sword will not fall on the heads of their followers if they proclaim their innocence, and distance themselves from what has been done by the Egyptian Church. Al-Qaeda calls on Catholics to “send a clear signal to the mujahedeen of their effort to put pressure on the Egyptian Church in order to obtain the release of two women, their prisoners.”
Vatican Radio has filed regular reports on the tragedy and its aftermath. The most recent noted: “The victims of Sunday’s massacre in Our Lady of Salvation Church Baghdad were laid to rest Tuesday. A telegram from Pope Benedict to the leader of the Syro-Catholic Church in the Iraqi capital, Archbishop Athanase Matti Shaba Matoka, was read out to mourners during the funeral service. The Pope said “deeply moved by the violent death of so many faithful and their priests, Tha’ir Saad and Boutros Wasim, I wish, during the sacred funeral rite, to share spiritually in this occasion and pray that these our brothers and sisters are welcomed by the mercy of Christ into the Father’s House.for years this country has been suffering untold hardships and even Christians have become the subject of brutal attacks that, in total disregard of life - an inviolable gift from God - want to undermine confidence and peace. I renew my call that the sacrifice of our brothers and sisters may be the seed of peace and true rebirth, and that those who care about reconciliation, solidarity and fraternal coexistence, find the strength and motivation to do good”. SNIP
http://www.catholic.org/international/international_story.php?id=39015
You wanna try “dialogue” with jihadists. Come on, I thought you knew better. And really, how appropriate do you think it is to use the occasion of a mass murder IN A HOUSE OF GOD to pick at the Church?! smvoice, I don’t expect that we’ll always agree on everything, but for crying out loud, please have some decency. And I say that sincerely, no snideness intended.
Does that mean you think we should cut off all aid to the current Shi'ite government under whose watch nearly half the Christian population has been "cleansed from the country and Shariah has been instituted for the first time in memory?
It’s absolutely hysterical that people who believe the Catholic Church is wrong about everything important also believe that “The Vatican” can just tell Islamic murderers, “Please stop, you’re being bad,” and the Islamic murderers will comply.
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Pope condemns Baghdad church attack on Independent Catholic NewsNov 1, 2010 ... Pope condemns Baghdad church attack | Baghdad, Pope Benedict, Anglican Vicar of Baghdad, Pope Benedict during yesterday's Angelus ... icnewstest.bondwaresite.com/news.php?viewStory=17029 - Cached
Pope denounces 'ferocious' attack on Baghdad churchNov 1, 2010 ... VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI denounced the "ferocious" attack on a Baghdad Catholic church and called Monday for renewed international ... www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=193543 - Cached
BBC News - Baghdad church hostage drama ends in bloodbathNov 1, 2010 ... Residents of Baghdad's affluent Karada district, ... Pope Benedict XVI denounced the attack as he gave a holiday blessing on Monday. ... www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-11463544 - Cached -
Benedict denounces 'ferocious' Baghdad attack | CathNews Asia...
Do you mean The Islamic Republic of Iraq? The one that is enshrined in the new Iraqi constitution which America signed off on?
That Iraq?
The Pope has talked about nothing else for the past two weeks. What do you suggest? A contingent of Swiss Guards to protect the Catholic Churches?
It was in fact the previous Pope who advised us to stay out of Iraq and warned us in no uncertain terms of what would happen if we went in there. Did you forget that? If we'd listened to him to begin with, the Christians in Iraq would not now be subject to an Islamic onslaught.
This is America's mess not the Vatican's.
Clueless.
This is really sad but that made me laugh.
I’m praying for them.
The war was waged anyway.
Did he know that the US intended to impose democracy on Iraq?
Did he know that said democracy would devolve into islamist kakistocracy?
Did he know that the Church in Iraq would be worse than merely decimated?
I think he suspected all three ...
What is, is. Saddam's Ba'athist regime was evil. Its removal from the world scene is not a bad thing. But if secular fascist oppression is replaced with islamist fascist oppression, I have to wonder if a lot of blood and treasure have not been squandered.
All we can do is pray for everybody. We can also learn from the example, and put the practice of our Faith ahead of everything else.
If you took this as an attack on Rome, I do apologize. It was NOT, no matter what you may think.
Congratulations to all of them for getting to leave that ****hole called Earth.
Condolences for all those unfortunate souls who are left alive only to stare at the bloody broken bodies of innocents.
May death take us all very soon!
You people are so used to having knee-jerk victimhood reactions by non-catholics that you can’t even bring yourselves to read what a non-catholic actually says. I just posted sayuncledave about this, if you care to read it. If not, then stew in your own misconception of my post. What I was ATTEMPTING to get across, is where is the flippin’ outrage from Rome on this? This is a religious slaughter, not a U.S. Muslim president reaction. What the he** good is a reaction from this president, that an outraged Pope could not make a fool of. Sorry if you were offended. I do not often apologize, because I stand by my opinions, but this was taken wrong by you. Probably because I did not explain myself fully.
“You wanna try “dialogue” with jihadists. Come on, I thought you knew better.
Does that mean you think we should cut off all aid to the current Shi’ite government under whose watch nearly half the Christian population has been “cleansed from the country and Shariah has been instituted for the first time in memory?”
Who’s WE Kemosabe? This is about the Catholic Church’s response to the martyrdom of their community.
The Vatican doesn’t have foreign aid to the Iraq Governmnt.
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