Catholic Herald: Houses of Parliament to be lit up in red for persecuted Christians

The Parliament building will be lit up along with at least 10 cathedrals for #RedWednesday

The towers of the Houses of Parliament (AP)

Catholic Herald - The Houses of Parliament in Westminster will be lit up in red for #RedWednesday next week in honour of the world’s persecuted Christians and all those who suffer for peacefully held beliefs.

John Bercow MP, the Speaker of the House of Commons, and Lord Fowler, Speaker of the House of Lords, agreed to the initiative after being lobbied by parliamentarians, many of whom had been contacted by constituents.

Among those calling for Parliament to turn red was Trevor Harrison, from Sevenoaks, who wrote to his MP, Sir Michael Fallon.

He said he contacted his MP after attending an event in Parliament organised by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for International Freedom or Belief – itself a supporter of #RedWednesday.

Speaking to Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, which is organising #Red Wednesday together with Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Mr Harrison said: “Turning Parliament red is a wonderful way to get the message about religious freedom to as wide an audience as possible.”

“We all need to get behind #RedWednesday – we need to stand together against violence carried out in the name of religion – we need to speak up about regimes which persecute people of faith.”

This will be the second year running that Parliament will turn red for #RedWednesday.

So far this year, at least 10 cathedrals across the UK have pledged to go red including London’s Westminster Cathedral and others in Ayr, Edinburgh, Paisley, Birmingham, Norwich, Wrexham, Derry and Armagh.

In total, nearly 50 public buildings are expected to get behind #RedWednesday – schools, colleges and churches including London’s Anglican St Martin-in-the-Fields and All Souls, Langham Place.

There will be a week of vigils and other events across the country from November 19 to 26.

At 6pm on November 22 a solidarity service will take place outside Westminster Cathedral, with talks, witness testimonies, a video message by MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, music and speeches by Coptic Orthodox Bishop Angaelos, Neville Kyrke-Smith, national director of Aid to the Church in Need (UK), and Mervyn Thomas, chief executive of Christian Solidarity Worldwide.

Throughout the day, a traditional London red bus emblazoned with #RedWednesday slogans will be criss-crossing the capital, stopping at London landmarks.

Another Massacre of Christians in Egypt

A prayer for the new martyrs of the Palm Sunday massacre in Egypt

Source: Aleteia

O New Martyrs, slain at worship as we enter into our holiest days, you now number among the ancient holy ones. Before the throne of the Almighty, we beg you to keep us particularly in your prayers. Once again we are focused on the mysterious geography where humanity first came into being, and then into contact with the Reality of the One God — the lands where all will someday finally be revealed.

Today, we ponder why it is that our attention is continually turned to this region in gasping sorrow, all due to a malevolent force as old as Eden. We know that Christ Jesus is the Victor over death, and the Victor over evil, but we acknowledge that the victories come only by way of His Cross. O New Martyrs, you and the people of your region share in that Cross and we, in spirit, share it with you. In the presence of the Perfect Wisdom — the Holy, Mighty One who imparts all that is True, teach us to pray the words that will bring peace, if peace is possible, or to pray the words of pure worship, contrition and trust, if it is not.

Pray that we may learn how to become the peace we seek.

Pray that we may put aside all that is irrelevant to the moment and, looking forever to the East, prepare our spirits for the engagements into which we may be called, whether we live amid these places of ancient roads and portals, or in the most modern of dwellings.

Mary, the God-bearer, pray for us,
Saint Michael the Archangel, pray for us,
Saint John the Forerunner, pray for us,
Saint Charbel Makhlouf, pray for us,
Saints Mariam Baouardy and Marie-Alphonsine of Palestine, pray for us,
Blessed Charles de Foucauld, pray for us,

All Holy Men and Women, pray for us.
Amen, Amen.

Catholic Missionaries RISK persecution and death by proclaiming Jesus among those who haven't received the 'Good News"

And how about your Ministers? Your Pastors? Had they took the risk yet? #ProudCatholics

Vicar of Arabia: Sisters of Mother Teresa killed for religious reasons

REST IN GOD'S PEACE MY DEAR SISTERS! MARTYRS OF THE CHURCH, PRAY FOR US! Requiem aeternam dona eis, Domine, et lux perpetua luceat eis. Requiescatant in pace. Amen.

Source: AsiaNews

For Mgr Paul Hinder, the "signal is clear: it has something to do with religion". A clergyman who lived at the nuns’ convent was abducted. The facility’s superior saved herself by hiding. Four nuns and ten civilians were killed. For the Vicar, they "sacrificed their lives by following their own charism."

Photo Source: Family Mission Company

Sanaa (AsiaNews) – In a dramatic statement, Mgr Paul Hinder, apostolic vicar to Southern Arabia, spoke to AsiaNews about this morning’s “religiously-motivated” attack against the convent of the Missionaries of Charity in Aden, in southern Yemen.

At 8:30 am, the prelate said, "People in uniform stormed the compound where the Missionaries of Charity live. After they killed the security guard and all the employees that stood in their way, they came for the nuns and opened fire, killing four [sisters]. One managed to hide and survive. Now she is in a safe place.”

The victims are Sister Anselm from India, Sister Marguerite from Rwanda, Sister Judit from Kenya and Sister Reginette also from Rwanda. The superior was able to find a hiding place.

The attackers seized Fr Tom Uzhunnalil, a Salesian priest who lived at the facility. At the time of the attack, he "was in the chapel praying."

Overall, 14 people lost their life: four religious and ten lay people, employees of the community that also housed senior citizens and disabled people.

"We knew that the situation was difficult and that the sisters were running a certain risk,” Mgr Hinder said. In fact, the nuns had been attacked in the past. However, "they decided to stay no matter what because this was part of their spirituality.”

At the same time, “It was clear that the area was not safe, even if there had been no special signs [of trouble]. Getting information was hard." For the prelate though, the "signal is clear: it has something to do with religion".

In July 1998, a gunman shot and killed three nuns of the Missionaries of Charity founded by Mother Teresa of Kolkata as they left a hospital in the city of Al Hudaydah.

Yemeni authorities said at the time that the assailant was an “unbalanced Saudi”. Two of the murdered nuns were from India – Sister Lilia and Sister Anneta – whilst the third, Sister Michelle, was from the Philippines.

Since January 2015, Yemen has been the scene of a bloody civil war pitting the country’s Sunni leadership, backed by Saudi Arabia, against Shia Houthi rebels, close to Iran.

In March 2015, a Saudi-led coalition launched air strikes against the rebels in an attempt to free the capital For Saudi Arabia, the Houthis, who are allied to forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, are militarily supported by Iran, a charge the latter angrily rejects.

Groups linked to al Qaeda and jihadist militias linked to the Islamic State group are active in the country, which adds to the spiral of violence and terror.

Four Nuns (Missionaries of Charity) Martyred in Yemen

We CATHOLICS are being persecuted from all sides -- Muslims, All forms of Protestantism (including the localy founded churches like the Iglesia Ni Cristo® by Felix Y. Manalo in 1914 and Ang Dating Daan® of Eliseo Soriano in 1983), Atheists, Agnostics, Liberals, Leftists, Masons, Mafias, and SATANISTS! COME LORD JESUS, DO NOT DELAY!

Source: Roaming Romans

Four Missionaries of Charity nuns from the order founded by Mother Teresa of Calcutta are reportedly among 16 killed by gunmen who attacked a church-run retirement home in Yemen, the latest attack on Christians in the increasingly lawless country.

The women religious, members of the Missionaries of Charity, were killed when four armed men attacked the convent and home for the elderly in the southern city of Aden on Friday (March 4), the Catholic news agency Fides reported.

Two of the nuns were Rwandan, while one was from Kenya and another Indian, Fides said.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility but Yemen, on the southern edge of the Arabian Peninsula, is in the midst of a civil war that is also fueled by the involvement of outside nations.

The Islamic State group and al-Qaida affiliates have exploited the lawlessness and created safe havens in the south, where they have conducted numerous attacks.

In the summer, a Catholic church was burned by Islamic extremists. Unknown assailants have also vandalized a Christian cemetery and last year blew up an abandoned Catholic church.

Yemen’s embattled government, backed by a Saudi-led coalition, is based in Aden but has struggled to impose its authority there. Shiite Houthi fighters allied with Iran still control the country’s capital, Sanaa.

Aden was once one of the world’s busiest ports and home to thriving Hindu and Christian communities, which have now largely disappeared.

One nun who survived Friday’s attack and was rescued by locals told The Associated Press that she hid inside a refrigerator in a storeroom after hearing a Yemeni guard shouting “run, run.”

Another survivor said that in addition to the four nuns, six Ethiopians, one Yemeni cook, and Yemeni guards were among the dead. There are about 80 elderly and disabled residents of the facility.

Security officials said the attackers separated the nuns from the others and then shot them. They later handcuffed the elderly people and opened fire.

More than 6,000 people have been killed in the Yemen conflict since last March, while 28,500 people have been injured, according to U.N. figures.

The Missionaries of Charity was founded by Mother Teresa in 1950 and the congregation has since expanded globally from its Indian origins.

Mother Teresa died in 1997 and is expected be made a saint later this year, after Pope Francis signed a decree attributing a miracle in Brazil to the late nun.

Islamic Refugee Crisis: Good Samaritan or Maccabean Response? Or both What would Thomas Aquinas Say? By Dr. Taylor Marshall

My admiration for the wisdom of Dr. Taylor Marshall has never waned. With his Catholic insight on the topic of (Muslim) Refugee Crisis, it is very timely how he clarified what position we Catholics and Christians should take.  And rightfully so, Dr. Marshall hit it right on its head when he said "We are not required by Christ to take victims that oppose our faith and our way of life and make them into our political heirs. We are not required to take them into our homes." And for Leftists, please do not stop here. Read before you fret! -CD2000

Source: Dr. Taylor Marshall

What would Saint Thomas Aquinas say about the Refugee Crisis?

We as Christians are debating among ourselves about whether or not we have a moral duty to receive refugees fleeing Muslim nations.

This article is politically incorrect and says things that might shock you. Please read the entire article until the very last two paragraphs before making a judgment or writing incendiary comments. This might be one of the clearest things you’ve read on the topic, because it draws on virtue ethics of Thomas Aquinas – something generally ignored in our day and age. – Godspeed, Taylor Marshall

Are We Good Samaritans?

As Christians we remember Our Lord’s parable about the Good Samaritan recounting how the outwardly religious clerics (the priest and the levite) passed the injured man in the road, but how the Samaritan proved to “be his neighbor” and care for him. Christ rebukes the outwardly religious hypocrites and commends the good Samaritan.

When it comes to the refugee crises, none of us wants to be the hypocrite who turns his steps to the opposite side of road to avoid caring for an injured victim.

Or Are We Good Maccabeans?

Meanwhile, if you are Catholic, you’ve been listening to the book of Maccabees this week in the daily Mass readings. These biblical lessons approvingly recount how Mattathias along with his Maccabean sons and companions rightfully used physical violence against their political oppressors the Seleucid Greeks who were actively using force to undermine the conscience and convictions of the People of God.

So which are we?

Are we the caring Samaritans or the crusading Maccabeans?

The Catholic political theology of Saint Thomas Aquinas can help us with this question:

Let’s first suspend all emotional appeals, and set down a few logical and calm points of agreement to get us all on the same page:

• In the Summa theologiae, Thomas Aquinas places politics under the civic virtue of patriotism which is itself a sub-virtue of justice. Our discussion is ultimately not about “politics” but the virtuous duties of justice toward God, our families, our nations, and all of humanity (in that order).

• For Thomas Aquinas, all political human laws must be: 1) in accord with reason; 2) published or promulgated; 3) by rightful political authority; and for the common good (See STh q. 90, aa. 1-4). If a political law is lacking in any of these four attributes, it is for Thomas, not a law at all.

• The duty of the political magistrates (the Republic or Kingdom) are by the virtue of justice different than the duty of the civilian person. Citizens are not de facto judges, soldiers, police officers, or legislators (STh q. 90, a. 3).

• Muslims explicitly affirm that Muhammad is the Last Prophet of God.

• Muslims explicitly affirm that Our Lord Jesus Christ is certainly not the Son of God.

• These two Muslim affirmations place all Muslims in implicit or explicit theological contradiction with Christians who profess Jesus Christ as the Son of God and consequently conclude that Muhammad was a false prophet.

• For Sunni Muslims (the majority of global Muslims), the mandate to erect Sharia law in every human government is a doctrine of faith. Muslims must in accord with their conscience pursue this theological belief that Sharia law must be promulgated in every human society (England, France, Poland, USA, Mexico, etc.)

So how does this apply to Refugees from Islamic nations?

When we move through the logical points above, we begin to discover a few logical conclusions:

1. Muslims are bound by conscience to erect Sharia law in your nation. This is a bad thing for baptized Christians. At best it means being taxed at a higher rate (the Muslim jizya tax for Christians). At worse it means death.


2. If you live in a democracy, a 51% political Islamic majority will allow “we the people” to promulgate Sharia law. They are following their conscience and religious beliefs in this matter. They will do this just as they have done in any other community where they captured the majority (Mecca, Palestine, Egypt, Syria, etc.)


3. It is a duty of of justice for Christian people to strive to prevent the promulgation of false laws (i.e. those contrary to reason or the common good). Christians are called to be politically active and advocates for the common good and natural law.


4. While we have the Christian duty to care for the refugee, the sick, the victim, and the injured, we have a greater common duty by justice to preserve the state of law and our religious liberty first and foremost.

We see this principle in our Scriptural readings. When it comes to the Samaritan, he rightfully cares for the victim. However, when it comes to the nation and the threat of terrorism (Seleucid Greeks), false laws, and the danger of our children, military, and civic peace, we (like the Maccabees) are politically obliged to resist, protect, and expel…for the common good.

The Analogy of the Familial Home

I am the head of a household. I earn an income to feed my wife and my children. With my surplus, I care for orphans, widows, the church, pro-life causes, single-mothers, and other apostolates that I feel God has called me to support.

Justice and charity demand that I care for the less fortunate and it is a Catholic belief that our salvation depends on how we treat the hungry, the naked, the homeless, and the sick.

MOREOVER….

I am not obliged to take the homeless into my house and have them sleep in my daughter’s bedroom at night. I am not obliged by justice or charity to give the homeless a vote over my financial decisions. He does not have the right to choose what’s for dinner. The homeless man does not (by my charity) receive a right to my continued support. The homeless man cannot share a bed with my wife when I am traveling. Nor may he presume a right over my children’s belongings.

Since we live in a democracy (“we the people”), political refugees de facto gain a measure of political authority over our laws, taxes, finances, military, religious holidays, and legislative bodies.

This principle applies to refugees universally. It applies even more so when the refugee in his conscience believes that he is morally obligated to introduce and vote for the enshrinement of Sharia law.

There is also the further problem that 5%-20% of global Muslims are considered to be “radicalized,” which means that they are consciously willing to use terrorist tactics to advance their Muslim worldview against the West. If you knew that 10% of your child’s Halloween candy was poisoned, would you allow your child to consume any of it?

So what would Thomas Aquinas say?

I’m afraid that Thomas would be much harsher than most of us would feel comfortable with.

Thomas prizes the “common good” so highly under the virtue of political justice that he openly promotes arms and capital punishment against those who are publicly “dangerous and infectious.”

The common good is the peace of society so that life and faith can thrive. Babies can be born and have a happy life. Grandparents can grow old together. Anyone who seeks to destroy the common good should be, according to Thomas, destroyed.

Thomas Aquinas also taught that anyone that fomented “danger to the community” or heretical movements is worthy of the death penalty:

“Therefore if a man be dangerous and infectious to the community, on account of some sin, it is praiseworthy and advantageous that he be killed in order to safeguard the common good.” STh II-II q. 64, a. 2.

It is permissible to kill a criminal if this is necessary for the welfare of the whole community. However, this right belongs only to the one entrusted with the care of the whole community — just as a doctor may cut off an infected limb, since he has been entrusted with the care of the health of the whole body. STh II-II q. 64, a. 3.

Have no doubt that Thomas Aquinas would have stated that Christian nations should receive Christian refugees but refuse Muslim refugees for the sake of national justice and the common good. The Muslim’s official declaration of faith denies natural law (eg, polygamy), religious liberty (eg, Sharia), and implicitly Muhammad’s doctrine and example of political violence.

What’s our Catholic Response? The Samaritan Uses the Hotel

We Christians should be generous with humanitarian aid toward Muslims and all people. We should send money and resources to those who have been dispossessed. We should be loving and generous with Muslims. Kindness brings about conversion and understanding. We should also try to topple the Islamic State and eradicate terrorism in our lands and in the Islamic lands.

Remember the Good Samaritan! He did not take the roadside victim home with him. Rather, the Good Samaritan put the victim up in a hotel and paid for him to get better. The Good Samaritan was good and commended by Christ. The Good Samaritan did the right thing: humanitarian aid.

We are not required by Christ to take victims that oppose our faith and our way of life and make them into our political heirs. We are not required to take them into our homes.

But we are obliged to help them. And if terrorists use our charity as a pretense to hurt us, then, as Thomas Aquinas says, they should be swiftly destroyed.

Saint Thomas Aquinas, pray for us.

Godspeed,

Taylor Marshall

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ZENIT.org: Pope Meets With Iraqi Parish Priest Who Receives Refugees in Kurdistan

At End of General Audience, Father Samir Yousif Showed Pope Album Documenting Atrocities of the War

Vatican City, August 27, 2015 (ZENIT.org)

Immediately after Wednesday's general audience in St. Peter's Square, Pope Francis met an Iraqi priest committed to helping refugees.

After attending the audience in a front row space reserved for him, Father Samir Yousif, Iraqi Chaldean priest providing pastoral care in Kurdistan, approached the Pope to show him an album of photographs that document the “apocalyptic catastrophe” of his land, reported L'Osservatore Romano.

The priest serves the parish of Amadiyak, on the border with Turkey.

Refugees arrive in his community without clothes or documents, "fleeing from certain death," the priest explained. Given this, he stressed that, “in an instant, roots that date back to the first Christian century are wiped away because in those areas we Christians are neither guests nor foreigners,” Father Samir said.

The Iraqi parish priest then expressed his gratitude to all those who are supporting the refugees in his area: from Cardinal Fernando Filoni, prefect of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples and the Pope's personal envoy to Iraq, to the Italian Episcopal Conference and Caritas. In particular, Father Samir thanked the Pope “for his interventions addressed to the international community: his voice, he can be certain, is much listened throughout the Arab world.”

“When Pope Francis speaks of the tragedy of the refugees," the priest noted, "the media gives him ample space and this helps us to finally find solidarity, rather than fall into oblivion.”

Father Samir said he does not lose hope "for a future of peace, reconciliation and justice, despite everything.” Explaining that among those he receives, there are Muslims, the priest underscored, “The madness of ISIS is only blind violence and it cannot win.”

At this moment of terrible trial, “the Chaldean Church is alive, and even stronger and more united, today, because of the harsh trial it is going through,” he said.

Father Samir expressed his hope that in the near future, Pope Francis would meet with his archdiocese's people, "to confirm us in the faith and encourage us not to be afraid.”

Christianity (Catholics) is the World's most persecuted religion! And Islam is its main persecutor!

As reported by Catholic News Agency...

“The world’s two largest religious groups, Christians and Muslims, continued to be harassed in the most countries, and there was a notable increase in the number of countries in which Jews and adherents of folk religions were harassed,” the Pew Research Center said in a Feb. 26 report on trends in religion-related restrictions and hostilities.

Christian groups suffered social or government harassment in 102 countries in 2013, while Muslims faced similar problems in 99 countries. Jewish groups faced harassment in 77 countries, a seven-year high."

Mr. Paul Vallely, Chief Rabbi also confirmed this fact:

"...the plain fact is that Christians are languishing in jail for blasphemy in Pakistan, and churches are burned and worshippers regularly slaughtered in Nigeria and Egypt, which has recently seen its worst anti-Christian violence in seven centuries.

The most violent anti-Christian pogrom of the early 21st century saw as many as 500 Christians hacked to death by machete-wielding Hindu radicals in Orissa, India, with thousands more injured and 50,000 made homeless. In Burma, Chin and Karen Christians are routinely subjected to imprisonment, torture, forced labour and murder.

Persecution is increasing in China; and in North Korea a quarter of the country's Christians live in forced labour camps after refusing to join the national cult of the state's founder, Kim Il-Sung. Somalia, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and the Maldives all feature in the 10 worst places to be a Christian."

That includes Christians murdered by Muslims of Boko Haram, Al Qaeda, Jamaat Islamiah, ISIS, Abu Sayyaf, MILF, MNLF, Bangsamoro Fighters, heads chopped and bodies mutilated while Muslims harassment is due to their dirty bearded looks, and so far none of them was beheaded nor mutilated because they're Muslims. And thanks to the Muslim US President Barack Hussein Obama for doing nothing against Islamic extremists and Muslim terrorists!

Coptic Christians in Egypt (Source: Frontpage Mag)

Mr. Raymond Ibrahim, a Muslim converted to Christianity has enumerated some few incidents  among the many atrocities around the world where Muslims persecute (and even kill) Christians in the name of Islam!

Saudi Arabia: Religious police stormed a house in the province of al-Jouf, detaining more than 41 guests for, in the words of the police statement, “plotting to celebrate Christmas.” Meanwhile, despite Saudi Arabia being well documented for its religious hostility to all non-Muslims—the Grand Mufti himself recently called for the destruction of all churches in the Peninsula— just as a new “interreligious dialogue and tolerance,” funded by Saudi Arabia, was opened in Vienna. Sheikh Abdul Rahman al-Sudais, the imam of Mecca’s Grand Mosque, boasted: “The formation of this centre in the West with King Abdullah’s support gives a strong message that Islam is a religion of dialogue and understanding and not a religion of enmity, fanaticism and violence.” Yet Sudais himself has previously referred to Jews as “monkeys and pigs” and the “rats of the world,” and to Christians as “cross worshippers” and “those influenced by the rottenness of their ideas.”

Such a double-standard shown by Muslims when they live within our democratic countries!

Yes! Muslims persecute Christians, not because they dislike our appearances but because  they hate our religion:

• For believing that Jesus Christ is God (in human appearance)!
• For believing that Jesus died on the cross!
• For believing that God is Trinity, yet One God!
• For believing that the Bible is the Word of God, unaltered, unchanged!
• For believing that Jesus is the Last Messenger, the Perfection and fulfillment of all the Prophesies, the Lord, the Giver of Life, the Son of God, the Abode of our faith, the Summit of all faiths and the Incarnation of the Living Word of God!
• For the CROSS (Galatians 6:14)!

Other Christian groups such as various Protestant sects, Born-Again groups, some Evangelical groups, Iglesia Ni Cristo®, Ang Dating Daan®, persecute Catholics

• For believing that the Catholic Church is the only One Church founded by Jesus Christ!
• For believing that the keys of the Kingdom was given only to St. Peter and not for every apostle!
• For believing that the Pope is the direct successor of Peter's supremacy over all the churches!
• For believing that only Catholic approved Bible versions are the authentic copies.
• For believing that the Blessed Virgin Mary remained a Virgin, Immaculately Conceived and was Assumed into heaven body and soul.
• For believing that the Blessed Virgin Mother and the saints can intercede on our behalf.
• For believing that we can pray for our dead relatives and friends, for believing in Purgatory!
• For believing that the Lord Jesus Christ is ever present in every tabernacle around the world, in the Holy Eucharist, Body, Soul and Spirit
• For believing that the Blessed Sacrament is Jesus Himself!
• For believing that the Pope has the sole authority in matters of faith and morals and that he is infallible ex cathedra!
• For believing that priests can forgive sins.
• For believing that Holy Images have also power through them by God the source of all holiness!
• And many more...

And  non-believers hate us for our strong stand against

• Unnatural Family Planning and Abortion
• Same-sex "marriage" or unions
• Euthanasia or "Mercy Killing" or Assisted Suicide
• Sexual immorality
• Death Penalty
• Culture of Waste
• Communism / Socialism
• Freemasonry
• Organized Crimes such as Mafia
• Protecting the Environment
• Capitalism
• Extremism
• Feminism
• and many more...

Yes, we are the Christians who have been harassed and persecuted for more than 2,000 years now but still we grow by the millions every year. This is because WE ARE THE CHURCH! WE ARE CATHOLICS! And we are the ORIGINAL CHRISTIANS pronounced in Antioch to Rome and to the world!

Meriam Ibrahim: Facing death, she relied on her faith

"I am not the only one suffering from this problem. There are many Meriams in Sudan and throughout the world.” -Meriam Ibrahim

Meriam Ibrahim, AP File Photo

MANCHESTER, AP News- New Hampshire — The Sudanese woman imprisoned for refusing to reject Christianity said in a televised interview airing Monday night that she was resolved to keep her faith even if it meant death.

Meriam Ibrahim, who now lives in Manchester, New Hampshire, was sentenced to death over charges of apostasy, the abandonment of a religion. Her father was Muslim, and her mother was an Orthodox Christian. She married Daniel Wani, a Christian from southern Sudan, in 2011. Muslim women in Sudan are prohibited from marrying non-Muslims, and children must follow their fathers’ religions.

In an interview on Fox News Channel’s “The Kelly File,” Ibrahim said she was given three days to recant her faith after being found guilty.

“While I was in prison, some people came to visit me from the Muslim Scholars Association,” she said, according to a transcript provided by Fox ahead of the broadcast. “These were imams that created an intervention by reciting parts of the Koran for me. I faced a tremendous amount of pressure.

“I had my trust in God,” she said. “My faith was the only weapon that I had in these confrontations with imams and Muslim scholars, because that’s what I believe.”

Sudan initially blocked Ibrahim from leaving the country even after its highest court overturned her death sentence in June. The family took refuge at the US Embassy in Khartoum. The family returned to Manchester on Aug. 1.

Manchester, a city of 110,000 residents about 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of Boston, has been a magnet for immigrants and refugees for decades. There are about 500 Sudanese living in the city.

Ibrahim was pregnant during her imprisonment and said her daughter, Maya, was born under difficult conditions.

“I was supposed to give birth at a hospital outside of prison but they denied that request as well,” she said. “When it was time to give birth, they refused to remove the chains from my ankles. So I had to give birth with chains on my ankles.”

She said in the Fox interview that she refused to bend to her captors’ demands.

“If I did that that would mean that I gave up,” she said. “It’s my right to follow the religion of my choice. I am not the only one suffering from this problem. There are many Meriams in Sudan and throughout the world.”

Holy confessors and martyrs of Iraq, pray for us!

From: Hermeneutic of Continuity

Simon Caldwell recently published an inspiring account of elderly Iraqi Christians in the village of Karamless. (See: Elderly Iraqi Christians defy terrorists, flee to camp H/T Transalpine Redemptorists) When the IS terrorists overran Karamless, on the night of 6-7 August, everyone fled except the elderly who were too weak to run.

The masked terrorists demanded that they convert or be killed by the sword. All of the elderly people said "we prefer to be killed rather than convert." In the event they were ordered to leave the village with only the clothes they were wearing.

This moving and inspiring story of courageous witness to Christ is redolent of the days of ancient Rome. Those who refused to deny their faith yet were not actually martyred yet were called "confessors" because of their stout confession of the faith. Penitents could go to them and ask for a note to say that the confessors had prayed for them; this note or "libellus pacis" could then be taken to the Bishop who could choose to remit all or part of a canonical penance, in view of the power of the prayers of the holy confessors.

There are also many in recent times who have actually been martyred in Iraq because they chose death rather than agree to renounce Christ. They are martyrs because without doubt they were killed propter odium fidei, "on account of hatred of the faith." I hope that a list is kept of their names, along with at least some evidence from witnesses, so that the sacrifice they have made is given due recognition in the life of the Church by their eventual canonisation, and so that people down the ages can remember their heroism and invoke their prayers.

Holy Martyrs and Confessors of Iraq, pray for us.

Rome will be conquered next, says leader of 'Islamic State'

Telegraph.co.uk - Muslims have been called to flock to the 'Islamic State' to gather for a battle against non-believers throughout the world

Isis demands all Muslims pledge obedience to its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, left

Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-proclaimed leader of the 'Islamic State' stretching across Iraq and Syria, has vowed to lead the conquest of Rome as he called on Muslims to immigrate to his new land to fight under its banner around the globe.

Baghdadi, who holds a PhD in Islamic studies, said Muslims were being targetted and killed from China to Indonesia. Speaking as the first Caliph, or commander of the Islamic faithful since the dissolution of the Ottoman empire, he called on Muslims to rally to his pan-Islamic state.



"Those who can immigrate to the Islamic State should immigrate, as immigration to the house of Islam is a duty," he said in an audio recording released on a website used by the group formerly known as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham.

"Rush O Muslims to your state. It is your state. Syria is not for Syrians and Iraq is not for Iraqis. The land is for the Muslims, all Muslims.

"This is my advice to you. If you hold to it you will conquer Rome and own the world, if Allah wills."

All 45 Christian Institutions in Mosul Destroyed or Occupied By ISIS

Cross removed and replaced with black flag of ISIS - Church in Mosul.
Photo: AsifJaan via Twitter

Since taking over Mosul on June 10, ISIS has destroyed, occupied, converted to mosques, converted to ISIS headquarters or shuttered all 45 Christian institutions in Mosul.

Pravmir — July 31, 2014

(AINA) -- The following is the complete list of the Christian institutions in Mosul, grouped by denomination.

Syriac Catholic Church:

1. Syrian Catholic Diocese – Maidan Neighborhood, Mosul
2. The Old Church of the Immaculate – Maidan Neighborhood, Mosul (The church goes back to the eighth century AD)
3. The New Church of the Immaculate – Maidan Neighborhood
4. Church of Mar (Saint) Toma – Khazraj Neighborhood
5. Museum of Mar (Saint) Toma – Khazraj Neighborhood
6. Church of Our Lady of the Annunciation – Muhandiseen Neighborhood
7. Church of the Virgin of Fatima – Faisaliah Neighborhood
8. Our Lady of Deliverance Chapel – Shifaa Neighborhood
9. The House of the Young Sisters of Jesus – Ras Al-Kour Neighborhood
10. Archbishop’s Palace Chapel – Dawasa Neighborhood

Syriac Orthodox Church:

1. Syrian Orthodox Archdiocese – Shurta Neighborhood
2. The Antiquarian Church of Saint Ahodeeni – Bab AlJadeed Neighborhood
3. Mar (Saint) Toma Church and cemetery, (the old Bishopric) – Khazraj Neighborhood
4. Church of The Immaculate (Castle) – Maidan Neighborhood
5. Church of The Immaculate – Shifaa Neighborhood
6. Mar (Saint) Aprim Church – Shurta Neighborhood
7. St. Joseph Church – The New Mosul Neighborhood

Holy Apostolic Catholic Assyrian Church of the East:

1. Diocese of the Assyrian Church of the East – Noor Neighborhood
2. Assyrian Church of the East, Dawasa Neighborhood
3. Church of the Virgin Mary (old rite) – Wihda Neighborhood

Chaldean Church of Babylon:

1. Chaldean Diocese – Shurta Neighborhood
2. Miskinta Church – Mayassa Neighborhood
3. The Antiquarian Church of Shimon alSafa – Mayassa Neighborhood
4. Church of Mar (Saint) Buthyoon – Shahar AlSouq Neighborhood
5. Church of St. Ephrem, Wady AlAin Neighborhood
6. Church of St. Paul – Majmooaa AlThaqafiya District
7. The Old Church of the Immaculate (with the bombed archdiocese)- Shifaa Neighborhood
8. Church of the Holy Spirit – Bakir Neighborhood
9. Church of the Virgin Mary – Drakziliya Neighborhood
10. Ancient Church of Saint Isaiah and Cemetery – Ras AlKour Neighborhood
11. Mother of Aid Church – Dawasa Neighborhood
12. The Antiquarian Church of St. George- Khazraj Neighborhood
13. St. George Monastery with Cemetery – Arab Neighborhood
14. Monastery of AlNasir (Victory) – Arab Neighborhood
15. Convent of the Chaldean Nuns – Mayassa Neighborhood
16. Monastery of St. Michael – Hawi Church Neighborhood
17. The Antiquarian Monastery of St. Elijah – Ghazlany Neighborhood

Armenian Orthodox Church:

1. Armenian Church – Maidan Neighborhood
2. The New Armenian Church – Wihda Neighborhood

Evangelical Presbyterian Church:

1. Evangelical Presbyterian Church – Mayassa Neighborhood

Latin Church:

1. Latin Church and Monastery of the Dominican Fathers and Convent of Katrina Siena Nuns – Sa’a Neighborhood
2. Convent of the Dominican Sisters, – Mosul AlJadeed Neighborhood
3. Convent of the Dominican Sisters (AlKilma Monastery) – Majmooaa AlThaqafiya District
4. House of Qasada AlRasouliya (Apostolic Aim) (Institute of St. John the Beloved)

Cemeteries:

1. Christian Cemetery in the Ekab Valley which contains a small chapel.

1,800 year Church burned down by Muslim Terrorists in Mosul Iraq

Militants from the radical jihadist group the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria have set fire to a 1,800-year-old church in Iraq’s second largest city of Mosul, a photo released Saturday shows.

The burning of the church is the latest in a series of destruction of Christian property in Mosul, which was taken by the Islamist rebels last month, along with other swathes of Iraqi territory. -Al-Arabia.net

Baghdad, July 22, 2014 (Zenit.org)-Jihadist militants have taken over one of the Iraq’s best-known Christian landmarks and expelled its resident monks, a cleric and residents said Monday.

Fighters from the Islamic State (ISIS) stormed Mar (Saint) Behnam, a fourth-century monastery run by the Syriac Catholic church near the predominantly Christian town of Qaraqosh in northern Iraq, on Sunday.

AFP reports the monks reportedly pleaded to be allowed to save some of the monastery's relics but the fighters refused and ordered them to leave on foot with nothing but their clothes. After fleeing, the residents who included some families were eventually picked up on a deserted road by Kurdish peshmerga fighters who drove them to safety.

The incident was the latest move by ISIS, which in June declared a "caliphate" straddling large swathes of northern Iraq and Syria and threatening the Christian presence in both countries.

Over the weekend, hundreds of families fled Mosul, leaving Iraq’s second largest and once-cosmopolitan city empty of Christians for the first time in almost two millennia.

The jihadist fighters want to create a state based on an extreme interpretation of Sharia Law and have targeted all minorities in the Mosul area. AFP reports that other religious minorities such as Shiite Turkmen, Shabak and Yazidis have suffered even more than the Christians, who have largely escaped summary executions since ISIS swept the region in early June.

Mar Behnam is a major Christian landmark in Iraq and a site where the local community and pilgrims traditionally pray for healings and fertility.

On Sunday, Pope Francis said he was viewing the situation “with concern” and called on the faithful to remember the people of Iraq and the Middle East in prayer.

***

A group on Facebook has called for a day of prayer and fasting for persecuted Christians this coming Friday, July 25th, especially those suffering in Iraq. The page can be found here.

This is the face our our enemy.  I don't think their 'god' is the same God we worship. It's PURELY EVIL! (Photo Source: Shariah Unveiled)

Dwindling Iraqi Christians is a disaster!

SULAIMANIYAH, Iraq — A car bomb outside Holy Family Syrian Catholic Church wounded 23 people Tuesday, August 2, 2011, as security forces found and disabled other vehicles packed with explosives outside two other churches in northern Iraq.  Photo: Emad Matti / AP

Iraq’s vanishing Christians
One church leader is pointing the finger at the West to explain the disappearance of Iraq’s Christians, writes Salah Nasrawi

Ahram.org - As the mass exodus of Iraq’s Christians continues, so does the call for ending the plight of those who have remained. Like Iraq’s ancient Jewish community before them, one of the world’s oldest Christian communities may soon cease to exist.

The disappearance of Iraq’s religious minorities has been a troubling trend since the US-led invasion in 2003, and it has threatened to end the cultural diversity of Iraq. As the violence in the country spikes and religious intolerance grows, many Christians, Yazidis, Mandaeans and other minority community members are leaving the country.

Last week, the head of the Iraqi Catholic Church sent a chilling warning that Iraq’s 2,000-year-old Christian community is on the brink of extinction as new waves of Christians take the journey of exodus.

The exodus is largely blamed on the worsening security since the US-led invasion that toppled former president Saddam Hussein’s regime. Christians have suffered abuses by Muslim extremists and militias, including brutal attacks, death threats and forcible seizure of property.

But Chaldean patriarch Louis Sako now believes that intervention by the West in the region has exacerbated the problem by producing more chaos and conflict in the war-ravaged country, and it is this that has been driving Christians to flee.

Egyptian Muslim Woman Threatens Christians after Morsi's Ouster.

Egyptian Muslims murdering Christians with impunity

CAIRO, EGYPT (Catholic Online) - Clashes between Muslims and Christians have claimed 10 live in Egypt where sectarian violence between the groups has been renewed in the face of Mohammed Morsi's administration.

The most recent spate of violence started after children drew crosses on the walls of an Islamic institute in Khosoos, just north of Cairo. That acts of children's vandalism sparked a bloody retaliation from Muslims in which four Christians and a Muslim were killed.

At the Christian funeral, Muslims struck again, this time carrying on until they reached the Coptic cathedral and damaged the structure. More Christians were murdered.

Note that it's Muslims who are attacking Christian funeral processions, not the other way around.

Vandalism committed by children, particularly of a religious nature is unacceptable, however the punishment should not include murder. Nor should Muslims carry on the violence to the funerals of the people they murdered.

Pope Tawadros II, leader of Egypt's Coptic Christians, has openly criticized President Morsi for his failure to stem the violence despite pledges to do so. The Muslim attackers are yet to face any repercussions for their violence.

In solemn commemoration of the 98th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, which began April 24, 1915

"I will expel the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula and will not leave any but Muslim." (Hadith from Sahih Muslim, 19.4366).



Article for reading from Facing Islam Blog

Muslim persecution of Christians in the Middle East, read  Raymond Ibrahim Blog

Piraeus Bishop Asks Court To Stop Mosque

Source: ilovemuslims.net

Why the Patriarch is against building of mosques? Perhaps this excerpt from Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (from BBC News) which is a shared sentiments by Islamists and silent Muslims living within our societies under the protection of our Democratic rules.

"The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets, and the faithful our soldiers..."

While Muslims demand freedom of religion in our free societies, they restrict building of churches in Muslim dominated countries such as the Middle East. While Saudi Arabia and other Gulf regions finance mega-building of mosques around the world, they FORBID building even small churches in their countries. If there were churches built they restricted putting up the CROSS on top of it. The cross on top of our church buildings is for them a sign of dominance and they wouldn't allow. But they put the CRESCENT very high in skycraper sizes within our cities-- a sign that Islam is now dominating the world.

ATHENS (The National Herald)– With the Greek government set to construct an official mosque, a leading Greek Orthodox Church leader has asked the country’s highest court to block it as unconstitutional. Bishop Seraphim of Piraeus told the Council of State that the plans violate Article 13 of the Constitution, which stipulates freedom of religious conscience. He said the construction of a mosque should be preceded by an impact study on ethics and public order, the newspaper Kathimerini reported. Seraphim, known for his anti-Semitic remarks, also told the court that he believes go against the constitutional principle of equality, as religious minorities wishing to erect a place of worship in Greece have so far had to apply for a building permit from the authorities. "Building a mosque in the center of Athens will not only damage public order and the morality of Greek society but also trigger a series of events which will, with mathematical certainty, dismantle the cohesion of the Greek nation as a Christian Orthodox people," he said earlier.

Fresh riots in Egypt left 24 people dead

Clashes erupt at a protest of a recent attack on a
church in Cairo Egypt, Sunday, Oct. 9, 2011. Fierce clashes
erupted Sunday between Christians protesting a recent attack
on a church and the Egyptian military, leaving more than a
dozen people dead and scores injured, Health Ministry
officials said. (AP Photo/Ahmed Ali)

24 dead in worst Cairo riots since Mubarak ouster

CAIRO (AP) — Flames lit up downtown Cairo, where massive clashes raged Sunday, drawing Christians angry over a recent church attack, Muslims and Egyptian security forces. At least 24 people were killed and more than 200 injured in the worst sectarian violence since the uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak in February.

The rioting lasted late into the night, bringing out a deployment of more than 1,000 security forces and armored vehicles to defend the state television building along the Nile, where the trouble began. The military clamped a curfew on the area until 7 a.m.

The clashes spread to nearby Tahrir Square, drawing thousands of people to the vast plaza that served as the epicenter of the protests that ousted Mubarak. On Sunday night, they battled each other with rocks and firebombs, some tearing up pavement for ammunition and others collecting stones in boxes.

At one point, an armored security van sped into the crowd, striking a half-dozen protesters and throwing some into the air. Protesters retaliated by setting fire to military vehicles, a bus and private cars, sending flames rising into the night sky.