Monthly Archives: November 2014

Catholics need to face reality

American Catholics need to deal with the following “facts on the ground.”

1. “Iraq no longer exists.”

see Malarkey on the Potomac by Andrew Bacevich.

2. Christians are leaving that area and won’t be going back.

see Isis in Iraq by Patrick Cockburn:

“But in the past six months Father Yako has changed his mind, and he now believes that, after 2,000 years of history, Christians must leave Iraq. Speaking at the entrance of a half-built mall in the Kurdish capital Irbil where 1,650 people from Qaraqosh have taken refuge, he said that ‘everything has changed since the coming of Daesh (the Arabic acronym for Islamic State). We should flee. There is nothing for us here.’”

 3. The United States government caused this catastophe.

see Hagel Didn’t Start the Fire by Pat Buchanan:

“But what were the ‘decisions’ that produced the ‘incredible debacle’?…

The first would be George W. Bush’s decision to invade Iraq, a war for which Sens. John McCain, Joe Biden, John Kerry and Hillary Clinton all voted.”

Urban $hield, Homeland $ecurity

Don’t miss this one by Mother Jones: The Making of the Warrior Cop.

“From inside the hall, cops watched warily as the demonstrators chanted slogans about Ferguson. “If I see someone with an upside-down flag, I’m going to punch him in the face,” one said to his team. Nearby, a vendor sold shirts with slogans of his own. One bore the image of a Spartan helmet and the phrase ‘Destruction cometh; and they shall seek peace, and there shall be none.’ His most popular shirt read ‘This Is My Peace Sign’; it showed crosshairs centered on what I briefly took to be a person with his hands up, though it was actually an AR-15 sight.”

And the militarization of America continues in the name of the national $ecurity $tate. Business is booming.

St. Martin of Tours, Nov. 11

From The Sign of Peace:

“Anyone whose shadow has darkened the door of a chapel ought to know the story of Saint Martin of Tours, whose feast the Church celebrates every November 11. Indeed, the life of this fourth century saint figures into the origin for the very word chapel and is an inspiration for what happens there. The story goes like this…st-martin-of-tours-biography-card-500-243-f5-494-459x800

As a soldier in the Roman Empire, Martin was riding his horse in military exercises one cold winter day when he passed a shivering beggar. His conscience was stung, so he stopped to tend to the man. He dismounted the horse, took off his heavy military cape (called in Latin a cappa) and used his sword to cut a blanket-sized half to cover the man. That same night, he saw the beggar in a dream. Warmed by the cape he had been given, the beggar looked at Martin and, with the face and voice of Jesus Christ, thanked him.

After this rite of initiation into discipleship, Martin knew that all his weapons and all his armor must be turned over to Christ. He immediately sought baptism and discharge from the Roman army. In explaining his stance as a conscientious objector, Martin spoke the same words used by a soldier-martyr forty years earlier, Marcellus of Tangiers. Martin declared, “I am a soldier of Jesus Christ; it is not permissible for me to fight.” Once baptized, he was ordained a priest, then a bishop, and was revered for his holiness throughout his life.

When Martin of Tours died, people acclaimed him a saint and raised up devotion to him. As the principal act of their devotion, the faithful obtained half of the famous cappa, the half that Martin kept, enshrined it in a tent, and prayed there with it. The tent that held the cappa was called the capella, which became the Latin word for chapel…

Read the rest here.