Posted on 11/02/2011 7:43:06 PM PDT by fwdude
VANCOUVER, November 2, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - On Sunday morning a break-away faction of the Occupy Vancouver movement tried to occupy the city’s Holy Rosary Cathedral during morning Mass.
Several dozen protesters, calling themselves ‘Occupy the Vatican’, were halted when Archbishop Michael Miller requested a police presence, and were stopped again later in the day by police and members of the Knights of Columbus.
The incident highlights a trend by some in the anti-corporate protest movement to use it as a launching pad for attacks on Christianity and the Catholic Church in particular.
Most infamously, on October 15th, members of the Occupy Rome protest entered a Roman Catholic Church and destroyed a statue of the Virgin Mary.
The effort to occupy the church in Vancouver comes after a call on October 13th by former Evangelical leader Frank Schaeffer for the Occupy movement to begin targeting Evangelical and Roman Catholic churches.
In a blog post, Schaeffer argued that “fundamentalist religion” has made the “rape” of the 99 percent possible by pushing moral issues such as abortion and same-sex “marriage,” thus encouraging the less fortunate to “vote against their own class” by backing the Republicans over the Democrats.
“The source of the empowering of the top 1 percent super wealthy and the economic rape of rest of us is the religion of Evangelical fundamentalism,” he wrote.
Frank’s father Francis Schaeffer was credited as a major theological inspiration for the conservative Christian political movement, including the U.S. pro-life movement. While still widely regarded as an Evangelical leader, Frank has joined the Greek Orthodox Church and renounced his former pro-life views.
“Fundamentalist religion of all kinds is the enemy of democracy and thus of America. It is the enemy of working people everywhere too when it’s bogus moral crusades empower the rich to thumb their noses at our government,” he wrote.
“The fundamentalist have replaced economic and political justice with a bogus (and hate-driven) ‘morality’ litmus tests of spurious red herring ‘issues’ from abortion to school prayer and gay rights,” he continued.
The ‘Occupy the Vatican’ group in Vancouver was not supported by Occupy Vancouver, but was reportedly comprised largely of First Nations people upset over the sex abuse crisis and a supposed land dispute.
The group has built a Facebook page to promote more activism against the Catholic Church and to build support for the cause in Europe. The charges the group levels against the Church are wide-ranging, including anger over its moral positions against homosexual acts and abortion.
Bill Donohue, president of The Catholic League, condemned the “Occupy the Vatican” demonstrators as “urban anarchists” akin to the Nazi movement of the 1930s.
“Busting into a house of worship is what the Nazis did in the 1930s to Jews: they disrupted services in synagogues throughout Germany,” Donohue pointed out.
“Today’s urban anarchists, e.g., the ‘Occupy’ thugs, are essentially nihilistic, though there are some who want to censor the voice of Catholicism. While we have not seen attempts by these crazies in the U.S. attacking Catholic churches, we will monitor these developments more closely,” Donohue told LifeSiteNews.
Catholic Civil Rights League executive director Joanne McGarry said that the Vancouver “Occupy the Vatican” incident was a predictable demonstration of things going awry in the protest movement, although she doesn’t think attacks on the Church are at the “core of the Occupy movement.”
“I think it’s inevitable in any protest movement,” McGarry told LifeSiteNews. “You’ll often see a pattern where things start fairly responsibly and then factions either break off or more radical groups join in.”
“It’s just a situation that all owners of private property need to be aware of, that faithful members of the Church need to be aware of,” McGarry said. “It’s plainly unacceptable to attempt to occupy a church, particularly during Mass.”
Thank you sir. We need all the help we can get. :)
Blessings to you and yours.
“This is Vancouver in October. It’s rainy sure, but not cold.”
I”m from Florida - it’s cold there right now!
“Prayers for the Cathedral.”
Agreed, but cattle prods work better.
;-)
“I’m not Catholic, but I would consider it a high honor to stand with the Knights of Columbus in helping repel these satanic orcs.”
“Count me, and 100’s of thousands of other Evangelicals, in as well. We are the true 99%.”
Hey, don’t forget us Jews who haven’t sold out and morphed into libs! I will stand with my Christian Brothers and Sisters to stop ANY desecration to ANY of God’s Houses.
And we your places of worship. God Bless America.
Oh, don’t worry, once word gets out that they tried to disrupt mass, there will be more knights there next time. :)
Not all, just the 4th degree Knights.
Indeed..I am a Protestant and am outraged.
Only us Fourth Degreeers have swords... and i can vouch they are useless for any sort of combat (one of my buddies and I went fourth degree at the same time, and we looked at our swords shortly after and noticed they are not designed to use for any sort of combat—they are strictly ceremonial in nature)... now if any of the guys swapped them with cavalry swords, make good use against those usurpers.......
I guess that’s one above from getting the 3rd degree from someone.
“God Bless America.”
Roger that, Patriot. Roger that!
My 4th degree sword could cause serious injury, if need be.
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Not surprisingly, the Occupukes hate God.
It is safer to assume that he had specific and respectable reasons for becoming Eastern Orthodox, reasons that had to do with the differences between Evangelical faith and practice and Orthodox faith and practice. Likewise, it is safer to assume that he has specific reasons (perhaps not respectable ones) for his current shenanigans.
If he had been a Catholic, as I am, or Orthodox, I would not assume that his current apostasy was aimed at hurting someone's feelings. Likewise, Evangelicals ought not take it personally. People leave our respective Churches, each for his/her own reasons all the time. Many return. His father was certainly a remarkable man. Maybe he will return to the Evangelical Faith when his current problems are resolved.
Love Frankie Schaeffer in spite of his faults and pray that God will grant him the graces and that Frankie will accept them to serve God's plans for him, plans which have to be better than yours or mine.
We Knights of Columbus would be honored to stand in defense of your Church in repelling such attacks as well. May God bless you and yours!
Sir Knight, my 4th Degree sword (ca. 1965) has no edged surface but would be a fine stabbing weapon. I suspect yours would be too.
See #57 which applies to you fine folks as well. None of us should tolerate attacks on any of our faiths by the OWS rabble. May we all protect and defend one another.
Time to get an armed response when they do these things.
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