Revolutions In Muslim World Open Door For Severe Persecution of Christians

(AINA) -- For the second time in as many days, Egyptian armed force stormed the 5th century old St. Bishoy monastery in Wadi el-Natroun, 110 kilometers from Cairo. Live ammunition was fired, wounding two monks and six Coptic monastery workers. Several sources confirmed the army's use of RPG ammunition. Four people have been arrested including three monks and a Coptic lawyer who was at the monastery investigating yesterday's army attack.

Monk Aksios Ava Bishoy told activist Nader Shoukry of Freecopts the armed forces stormed the main entrance gate to the monastery in the morning using five tanks, armored vehicles and a bulldozer to demolish the fence built by the monastery last month to protect themselves and the monastery from the lawlessness which prevailed in Egypt during the January 25 Uprising.

"When we tried to address them, the army fired live bullets, wounding Father Feltaows in the leg and Father Barnabas in the abdomen," said Monk Ava Bishoy. "Six Coptic workers in the monastery were also injured, some with serious injuries to the chest....

read full story here

Religious Makeup of Lebanon

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: History will not smile on Christianity in the modern Western world when it records the genocide that is about to unfold in the Middle East. The greatest failure of Western Christianity, particularly among the Evangelical Protestants in the United States, is a fixation on the Secular nation of Israel, to the neglect of their own Christian brethren in the same region. Few Western Christians in America know that nearly half of Lebanon's population is Christian. The United States government sends untold millions of dollars to Israel, but not a dime to the Christians in Lebanon.  Since when has the United States government, or any Western government for that matter, done anything to help Christians in the Middle East and North Africa?  What of the people of the United States and Europe?  What of the churches?  In how many television specials have the so-called "Christian televangelists" championed the plight of our suffering brethren in that part of the world?  Sunday after Sunday we are inundated with Christian television chronicling the cause of Secular Israel but not a word about their own suffering brethren over there.  For the last forty years the United States could have been working with the indigenous Christians of North Africa and the Middle East, championing their rights and calling for greater religious freedom.  No, instead we championed the cause of Zionism and simultaneously propped up North African and Middle Eastern dictators who keep the Arabs in check so we can maintain a steady stream of oil supply. 

This Cross Was Seen At A Recent Anti-Mubarak Protest in Egypt

It is time for a change, but don't expect that to come from Washington D.C. or any other Western government.  The change must come from each one of us...

Do you call yourself a Christian?  Do you support the Biblical mandate to care for Christians in the Middle East, particularly those in Jerusalem?  (1 Corinthians 16:1-4)  If indeed you call yourself a Christian, and if you are worried about the events unfolding in the Muslim world today, than there is ONLY ONE thing to do.  Start making regular donations to CNEWA (Catholic Near East Welfare Association), which is dedicated to helping Christians in this part of the world and providing general humanitarian aid as well.  It's a force for good in the Arab world, that supports Christians living among a Muslim majority.

This is not about politics folks.  It's not about Arab vs. Israeli or Muslim vs. Jew.  This is about Christians!  And if you won't do your part to help them, than what does that say about your own Christian faith?  Click Here NOW To Help and share this article with your Christian friends and family (especially Evangelicals) today!

Here's the link to this article. Simply cut and paste into your email or use the "Share" icons below..
http://catholicknight.blogspot.com/2011/02/revolutions-in-muslim-world-open-door.html

The Catholic Knight would also like to call upon ALL his fellow Catholic bloggers to take up this crusade immediately to help raise awareness of this issue on the Internet. The time to act is NOW!!!

BREAKING: Modernist Schism Now Imminent !!!

An example of liturgical and doctrinal abuse in the Catholic Church
Masses like this are forbidden by Rome.

(Sydney Morning Herald) - The Catholic Church is facing open defiance over its new Mass, with at least a dozen Australian priests indicating they will refuse to use it when it comes into force later this year.

Hundreds more are angry about the lack of consultation for the new, more literal translation of the 400-year-old Latin text, which was heavily influenced by a Vatican advisory committee headed by the Sydney Archbishop, Cardinal George Pell.

What supporters say is a suitably elevated and poetic text more faithful to the original Latin is seen by detractors as an outdated, contrived and less inclusive version that ignores modern English and could further alienate Catholics from the church. It has become the latest battleground in the culture wars between progressive Catholics and traditionalists over the direction of reforms stemming from the 1960s Vatican Council, which allowed the faithful to celebrate the liturgy in their own language for the first time...

read full story here

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: A direct confrontation between the Vatican and the Modernists in the Church is about to come down - this year! That is unless the Vatican blinks and postpones the implementation of the new English translation of the Roman Missal. The question that arises is who's in charge here? Is this a Church still governed by the pope? Or has the Catholic Church become a mere collective, with nobody really in charge, sort of like the Anglican Communion. The message the Vatican sends over the next ten months will be crucial.

If the Vatican blinks, postponing the implementation of the new translation (which has already been postponed for years), it will send a clear message that the Modernists are still in charge of the Catholic Church, and the leadership in Rome fears threats of schism more than orthopraxy. Is Pope Benedict still our fearless German Shepherd? We will know for sure on November 27th, 2011 - the date the new English translation of the Roman Missal is set to go into effect.

Simultaneously, in the United States, a group of potential schismatics and heretics are meeting in Detroit on June 10th through the 12th in what has been compared to an alternate Church authority opposed to the Vatican and the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). The American Catholic Council is a potentially schismatic and heretical group that has already been condemned by the Archbishop of Detroit - His Excellency Allen Henry Vigneron. The intention of this group is to celebrate the post-conciliar liturgical abuses and doctrinal innovations, as well as promote them for future development. The group is also calling for a complete restructuring of Church governance, setting itself up as a potential alternative to the USCCB.

What we have here are the makings of a whole new schism in the Catholic Church, comparable to the Protestant Reformation some 500 years ago. Any attempt to reason with these people will result in failure and give them the credibility they need to spread their errors. We can only hope the Vatican, and the bishops in Australia and the United States, take a strong stand against this type of open rebellion.

The Lutherans Are Coming!

Shield of the Anglo-Lutherans

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT:  A quick look at the Anglican Ordinariate Google Map reveals an interesting trend.  It looks like some Lutherans are availing themselves of the opportunity to join the pope's emerging Anglican Catholic Ordinariate here in the United States.  The trend can be verified on The Anglo-Catholic blog. The development signifies something startling. The Anglican Ordinariates are beginning to cross denominational lines - specifically Protestant denominational lines. No longer are traditional Anglican congregations the only one's interested in entering the Catholic Church through the pope's personal ordinariate. Now we see traditional Lutherans following through as well. This is not a separate ordinariate mind you, it's the SAME ordinariate! It would appear the Traditional Anglicans and Traditional Lutherans are patching things up between them as they head toward Rome...



View Emerging Anglican Catholic Ordinariates in a larger map
What was an unexpected development for 'The Catholic Knight' was apparently anticipated by the Holy Father. At the end of his historic visit to England last year, the pope referred to the Apostolic Constitution and the creation of the first ordinariates as a "prophetic gesture." In this phrase one can only wonder if the Holy Father had an inkling of what might occur. That inkling is starting to unfold before our very eyes now. Many Protestants in the original denominations, after 500 years of experimentation, are beginning to realize the futility of it all. It has been half a millennium of one epic failure after another, resulting in schism after schism, culminating in the virtual apostasy of modern denominations that accept abortion, contraception, homosexual priests and sodomite marriages. Though the failures of modern Protestantism have been broadcast loudly on the television, radio and Internet, a quiet phenomenon has been going on behind the scenes.

Small factions of conservative and traditional Protestants (mainly Anglicans and Lutherans so far) have realized the futility of endless schism to preserve the moral teachings of the gospel. They've come to understand that the only way to beat the 'tyranny of relativism' is to get back to their ancient Christian roots, and that can't happen without an honest evaluation of Catholic Christianity. Drawing upon the Catholic remnants in their own traditions, they began to move back toward Rome, and now we are beginning to see the results. Indeed, the Apostolic Constitution creating the Anglican Ordinariates is a "prophetic gesture," an open embrace, for all Protestants willing to accept historic doctrinal orthodoxy and come home to Rome.

Tradition Works! Religious Sisters See Explosion In New Postulants

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Study the above video closely. Do you see it? It's the elephant in the living room the reporter doesn't even mention. These sisters are TRADITIONAL!!!! Oh sure, they may not pray in Latin (at least not all the time), but they do wear their habits, and notice that every young candidate had her head covered with some sort of lace mantilla.

Guess what, it not only works for religious orders, but it works for parishes too. Tradition attracts young people! Yes, it really does, especially when that tradition is exercised with joy and enthusiasm. The Neo-Modernist notions of hip-hop, contemporary, feel-good religion have proved to be an utter failure. Forty years after the implementation of the "Spirit of Vatican II" our parishes are left struggling, our vocations are in shambles, and our young people are turning away from the faith in droves. IT DOESN'T WORK! It's a failure! AN EPIC FAILURE!!!

The Second Vatican Council (the real Vatican II) never called for many of the so-called "reforms" implemented under the questionable "Spirit of Vatican II" used as justification for every innovation under the sun. The "Spirit of Vatican II" is like a cancer, destroying the Church from within, and it has nothing to do with the Second Vatican Council (the real Vatican II).

Of course Albert Einstein's definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over again, each time expecting a different result. Nevertheless, that is what the retro-1970's leadership in the Church keeps doing. Their Modernism fails, and so their answer is of course more Modernism. When that fails, they assume we obviously haven't gone far enough, so they bring in more Modernism.  And this has been going on for forty years!  Have the retro-1970's Modernists learned anything from their mistakes?  Nope!  Not a thing!  They just keep up with the same old routine, round and round they go, with no end in sight, repeating the same mistakes over and over again.

Look at the average modern Catholic parish today? Does it even resemble anything Catholic? Suppose you could time travel in a flying DeLorean to bring a Catholic from 1955 "back to the future." Upon arriving in 2011, would he even recognize the Church today? Suppose you asked him to identify every Catholic parish he sees without looking at the signs out front. Dare I say that he wouldn't be able to do it? Dare I say he wouldn't be able to tell them apart from the Protestant churches? Suppose you took him to see a typical Neo-Modern Catholic mass in a local diocesan parish. Then you took him to see an SSPX traditional Latin mass on the other side of town. Then you asked him "which one is in good standing with Rome?" What do you suppose his answer would be? Don't you see something wrong with this picture? Naturally, he would answer by saying the SSPX parish is definitely in good standing with Rome, while the diocesan parish is not. This is the problem folks. We've lost our Catholic heritage! We sacrificed so much that Catholics from just a generation ago wouldn't even recognize us.

When young people go to mass today, they don't want a bunch of old farts trying to "get down on their level." They don't want some middle-aged contemporary band playing pop Christian songs they can just as easily find on the radio or download from the Internet. No, what they want is to be transported. They want to enter another world - Heaven! They want something different than what they get in a pop concert or pep rally. They want heaven on earth! It's the same thing people have always wanted throughout the ages. It's no different today. They want the traditions of the ancient Church, and they want them celebrated with joy and enthusiasm, and really, who can blame them. After all, NOBODY ELSE is offering it. Doesn't it make sense for the Church to provide those things that are not available anywhere else?

Catholic parents listen up! If you want your kids to stay in the Catholic faith, than you better start introducing them to some ancient tradition and fast! See if your priest and liturgy coordinators will work with you on this, and if they won't than maybe it's time to move on and find somebody who will. This is about your children and their souls. No price is too big. Step out of your comfort zone and find a new parish if you must.

Cardinal Burke On Hebrew Catholics

The first question concerns the continuing election of Jewish people who are baptized and enter the Catholic Church.


The second question concerns the collective nature of the election of Jewish people within the Catholic Church.


The third question concerns the legitimacy of celebrating various traditions of our Jewish heritage, in the light of Christ, within the Church.


The fourth question concerns the way in which we are to approach, interpret, and understand the historical documents of Sacred Tradition. Statements by Pope Eugenius IV and Pope Benedict XIV are contrasted.

Another aspect of this question concerns the way in which we interpret the relation between the shadow in the Old Covenant and the reality in the New Covenant.


The fifth question concerns the life of Hebrew Catholics in the Church today and Archbishop Burke's counsel.

The Association of Hebrew Catholics is an organization serving the unique needs of Jewish converts to the Catholic Church.

Middle East Revolution - Phase 2

The United Muslim States (or Caliphate) as Envisioned in the Near Future

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT has been warning about emerging trends in the Middle East, and before I go into this further, let me say there is nothing the United States, Europe or the United Nations can do to stop this now.  A united Islamic caliphate in the Middle East and North Africa is about to rise, and the chain of events needed for that to happen has already progressed so far that it is irreversible.  The only question that remains now is how long?  How long will it be before these riot-revolutions destabilize all (or most) of the Arab governments and result in a call for a new order.  We are still in the early stages of this revolution and we have no idea how quickly it will proceed.

The problem with these riot-revolutions is that the majority of the people involved in them are not necessarily bad people.  In the case of Egypt the people were economically and politically oppressed by Hosni Mubarak's regime.  Their anger was justified, but so is the anger of those oppressed by the Iranian regime, and many other oppressed peoples in the region.

To date (2-16-2011) the following countries are in various stages of upheaval...

1. Egypt
2. Bahrain
3. Iran
4. Iraq
5. Libya
6. Tunisia
7. Yemen
8. Algeria
9. Jordan
10. Sudan

For now there is no end in sight.  Both Israel and Saudi Arabia are becoming increasingly isolated, and while there are things the Saudi monarchy can do to appease the masses, there is nothing Israel can do but sit and wait for the inevitable.  This is backing Israel into a corner with no way out but through military action - eventually.

This brilliant cartoon captures the reality of the situation
in Egypt and other Middle Eastern nations.

Sadly, though the anger of the demonstrators is understandable, the results will likely be against their best interest, and especially against the best interest of Israel and the West.   The problem of course is culture.  The word culture comes from the Latin word cultus meaning "religion," and all culture is based on religion.  It is no accident that the Muslim Brotherhood occupies a dominant position in Egyptian politics and while the intentions of the demonstrators may have in many cases been pure, the result of their action will put them under a regime far more harsh than anything Hosni Mubarak dished out during his thirty year reign.  There simply aren't enough pro-western, pro-democracy advocates in Egypt to make a democratic revolution stick.  With the backing of the military, and a little luck, they might achieve a democracy for a short time, but the Muslim Brotherhood is already preparing to field political candidates for those elections, and once their boys are elected, you can expect Egypt's budding democracy to give way to theocratic rule rather quickly.

When the Caliphate is established, it's land mass will
dwarf Europe and possibly surpass the size
of the United States.

So what happened in Egypt is now happening in other nations around the Muslim world, and what we are seeing in the 21st century is the fruition of Muslim fantasies in the 20th century.  To accomplish this dream the current autocratic regimes must be toppled, or else made to do the bidding of the people, and the people will soon be manipulated to do the bidding of the religious leaders.  (That's not hard in Islamic regions.)  This is inevitable you see because it all comes back to culture.  There is no distinction between religion and state in Islamic culture.  Secularism and multiculturalism are viewed as inventions of the West and that is correct.  In the West, particularly in Europe, those inventions are failing miserably, to the point where even the leaders of Britain, Germany and France now admit that multiculturalism has failed Europe and must be abandoned to save Europe.  Secularism will likely be the next admission of failure, but I imagine they'll hold out on that until the last minute.  The new Islamic Caliphate will not likely want to repeat the errors of the West, and the religious leaders of the Muslim world will not permit it.  So the Caliphate will be staunchly Islamic in law as well as culture - i.e. "Shariah."

The official position of the United States in all of this is eerily familiar.  Back in 1979 when pro-democracy students overthrew the Shaw of Iran, the Carter administration likened the return of the Ayatollah from exile in France to the "return of Gandhi."  Americans were assured the Iranian student protesters were "pro-democracy" and would never allow the creation of a radical Muslim state.  Within months the Ayatollah took over Iran and turned it into an Islamic theocracy.  President Carter was then quickly reduced to a mere hostage negotiator.  Strangely enough the former president is repeating the same mantra again in regards to what is going on now, and the current Whitehouse administration is echoing it.  It's as if our leaders continuously miscalculate over and over again.  As for the American press, they are largely the fourth branch of government.  Whatever the official position of the Whitehouse is, the news media just repeats it.

The Islamist short-term plan for a regional Caliphate, followed by a
long-term plan for worldwide domination.

We cannot know how long it will take for the Caliphate to be created, or how long it will be before the "United Muslim States" emerge as a singular entity, but it's eventual creation is almost assured. When this happens the State of Israel will be in the most immediate danger and Europe shortly after that.

There is not much we can do to help the Israelis.  The Zionist pipedream of creating an exclusively "Jewish State" in the middle of the Islamic world was shortsighted and insane.  Since it's inception into law it has resulted in multiple wars and countless acts of terrorism.  Granted, it is Israel that is primarily attacked, but it is also Israeli policy of maintaining and enforcing a strictly "Jewish State" that aggravates the situation.  All that aside, it's about to become ancient history, as Israel's main problem now will be it's very survival.  Israel now has three problems to face and all three spell it's eventual political demise.  The first is the military threat from the emerging Caliphate super-state.  The second is a potential internal Egyptian-style uprising of the Palestinian people.  The third is demographics, as Israeli Jews do not maintain a birthrate high enough to sustain the nation for longer than thirty years.  Meanwhile the Palestinian birthrate continues to rise.  Even if Israel manages to beat the odds on a military threat and a popular uprising, it still must face down the harsh reality of biological mathematics.

So what (if anything) can America do to help Israel?  There isn't much.  We cannot afford to fight their wars for them, and supplying them with more weapons and money will only turn the Caliphate's wrath toward us.  All we can do is urge the Israeli's to make peace with the Palestinians, by either creating a separate Palestinian State immediately, or else annexing the territory and granting full Israeli citizenship to all Palestinian Muslims and Christians.  This is their best bet at maintaining peace with their Arab neighbors and the emerging Caliphate.  Aside from that, the only thing the United States can do is formulate a mass evacuation strategy for Israel citizens if or when the unthinkable occurs.  Should that happen, the United States had better be prepared to absorb millions of Jewish and Christian refugees not only from Israel, but also the entire Arab world.

The United States can do nothing to help Europe.  Only the Europeans can help themselves, and that can only be done by abandoning both multiculturalism and secularism entirely.  Restoring Europe to it's Christian roots is the only solution, as only a healthy and robust Christianity stands in between Europe and an Islamic revolution.

All America can do to help itself is return to it's Christian roots, disengage from the Middle East, and start using our own energy reserves.  Word has it we have enough oil to become the Saudi Arabia of the 21st century.  When you look at the crisis posed by our national debt, it is high time we start using it to turn our situation around.

America's Economic Woes Have Just Begun

Peter Schiff was one of the few economists who accurately predictedthe stock market crash of September 2008.

Debt Doomsday: Coming in May 2011
by Marc Lichtenfeld

America’s debt ceiling currently stands at $14.3 trillion. This is the level that, by law, the government’s debt is not allowed to exceed.

Trouble is, the government’s present debt has swelled to $13.7 trillion.

This means that at the current rate, we’re on course to smash through that $14.3 trillion ceiling around May 2011 (although it might happen a month or two later, depending on what budget cuts are enacted in the next few months and how quickly they’re implemented).

So what will the government do about this? Same thing it’s done almost every year since 1962: Raise the debt ceiling so America can pay its bills.

Congress really has no choice in the matter either. If the ceiling isn’t raised, we’ve got a problem. A very big one.

A Fistful of Dominos

Without Congressional approval for additional debt, the U.S government cannot pay its bills – most notably, interest payments on treasury bonds, bills and notes.

If America defaults on those payments, or even misses them by just one day, the domino effect would be brutal…

•Domino #1: The country would lose its AAA credit rating and those bonds, bills and notes would no longer enjoy their status as the safest investments on the planet.
•Domino #2: In turn, a lower credit rating would mean that the United States would pay higher interest on its bonds in order to attract investors. Result?
•Domino #3: A tidal wave of selling through fixed income markets, driving interest rates higher still.
•Domino #4: Social Security would be hit hard, as its funds are invested in Treasuries. Suddenly, Social Security would have far less resources than just a day or two earlier.
•Domino #5: If money is pouring out of so-called “safe” investments, you can bet that in that kind of environment, the demand for riskier investments would be next to nil. Stocks and financial markets around the globe would plummet.

So why is this year’s Congressional raising of the debt limit different than every other?...

read full story here

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Here's the short story. If the Republicans allow the debt ceiling to be raised, the TEA Parties will crucify them and they know it. Furthermore, if they raise the debt ceiling this year, they just postpone Judgement Day until next year, and if they raise it again next year, they postpone it till the year after that. Each time they raise the debt ceiling they make Judgement Day that much worse, inflating the bubble just that much more for a much bigger pop later on. They know that too. Our government has finally painted itself into a corner.

So what we can look forward to politically over the next several months is some fancy footwork on the part of the Republicans and the Democrats. There will be an attempt to sell the idea of raising the debt ceiling with the promise of spending cuts later that will supposedly lower the debt later. Of course the American people have all heard this before. It's an old lie and I don't think it will sell this time.

It looks like America's economic Judgement Day will hit us sometime in middle to late 2011. Of course, there is always the possibility the debt ceiling will be raised, the bubble will be inflated more, and Judgement Day will be postponed till 2012, but by that time if they try to raise the debt ceiling in an election year, there will be political hell to pay in November of 2012. It would seem some Republicans, particularly the TEA Party favorites, are gambling that it's better to allow the government to default this year, let the bubble burst sooner rather than later, and let the chips fall were they may now, so they have time to regroup and figure out their reelection strategy before 2012.

Compounding this whole situation will be the Congressional hearings on the Federal Reserve to be chaired by Congressman Ron Paul. Paul has a reputation of calling out the Federal Reserve for what it is, and calling for it's abolition as well. That's going to attract a lot of attention to the fiscal policies of our government, and the tricks the government has been playing on the American people for nearly 100 years.

Whatever happens this is going to be the most interesting year in a lifetime to watch Capitol Hill fiscal politics, and of course, the consequences of whatever happens will have a direct, profound, and potentially painful consequence for each and every one of us in the months and years ahead.

America's economic Judgement Day is upon us - 100 years in the making. The "American Century" is over. Remember, God loves us. He does not want to destroy us. Rather, he wants to bring us to our knees, and he is doing whatever it takes to get us into that position.

Here's the "good news" in all of this - sort of. If America has the flu than Europe has pneumonia, as is demonstrated by this humorous take below. Everything in the below video is true, and it just demonstrates in three short minutes why the whole Western world is about to undergo the worst economic disaster since the fall of the Roman Empire...

Call Politically Correct Anti-Catholicism What It Is - BIGOTRY !

Catholic iPhone Apps Frequently Come Under Attack

(The Guardian) - The launch of an iPhone app that guides Catholics through confession has prompted a furious response from gay rights groups, who accuse it of "promoting anti-gay spiritual abuse".

"Confession: A Roman Catholic App", which costs £1.19 from the Apple iTunes store, has shot to 26 in the download charts, behind Sims 3 and Resident Evil 4: Platinum.

The app allows "a personalised examination of conscience for each user", and has already won the backing of senior members of the Catholic church. A spokesman for the Catholic Bishops' Conference of England and Wales said it was a "useful tool to help people prepare for the sacrament of reconciliation". Among the questions users are asked is: "Have I been guilty of any homosexual activity?"

Wayne Besen, executive director of Truth Wins Out, a group that campaigns on behalf of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) people, accused the app of "helping to create neurotic individuals who are ashamed of who they are".

"This is cyber spiritual abuse that promotes backward ideas in a modern package," said Besen. "Gay Catholics don't need to confess, they need to come out of the closet and challenge anti-gay dogma. The false idea that being gay is something to be ashamed of has destroyed too many lives. This iPhone app is facilitating and furthering the harm."...

read full story here

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Here's how you deal with this. Point out that the same moral issues are taught virtually the same way in Orthodox Judaism and Islam. So if Catholicism is singled out for it's stand on one moral issue or another, it is clearly a case of anti-Catholic discrimination and bigotry.

You see the "politically correct" crowd, who so frequently defend the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) types are really cowards and bullies, in addition to bigots.  They will not dare to pressure the Orthodox Jews for fear of harassment lawsuits and the public accusation of anti-Semitism.  Nor will they dare pressure the Muslims for fear of radical Islamist reprisal.  So instead they go after the Christians, particularly Catholics and Evangelicals, because they know these groups will follow the teaching of Jesus and accept their "politically correct" bullying as persecution for Christ.  In other words, Christians (particularly Catholics and Evangelicals) are easy.  At worst they know all we will do is complain.  Like true bullies they go after the weak and easy targets.  So what should we Catholics do in response?  Here's how to stick the screws back to them...

Simply insist that anybody who criticizes the Catholic Church for it's stand against homosexuality must also level the exact same criticism of Islam and Orthodox Judaism. If they don't, then it's clearly a case of anti-Catholic bigotry and perhaps even "hate speech."

Now if by rare chance they're consistent, and willing to say that Muslims and Orthodox Jews should do the same, than commend them for being consistent, and then remind them that their argument against the Catholic Church has no merit until they put equal pressure on Muslims and Orthodox Jews.  Then ask when and where they will be approaching Muslims or Orthodox Jews about this because you would like to watch.  However, if they are not consistent, and in all likelihood they won't be consistent, trying to push their arguments unequally toward Catholics, then they obviously have a different standard for Catholics and are therefore prejudice.  We should call them out on this.

When will we learn to turn the Liberals own rules against them?

U.S. Anglican Ordinariate Surpasses The Episcopal Church USA

View Emerging Anglican Catholic Ordinariates in a larger map

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Br. Stephen Treat has made an interesting observation over at "The Anglo-Catholic" blog. According to his calculation, even in a worst case scenario, assuming that there would be no further interest in the Anglican Ordinariate in the United States other than what already exists (an assumption that runs against all observations and expectations so far), the average Sunday attendance (ASA) of the emerging Anglican ordinariate already surpasses that of The Episcopal Church U.S.A. ever so slightly. Now let me be perfectly clear. Br. Treat is not claiming the emerging U.S. Ordinariate will be larger than The Episcopal Church, not yet anyway, he's just saying that the estimated ASA is larger. The average national ASA of the emerging U.S. Anglican ordinariate currently ranks at about 69. While the average national ASA of The Episcopal Church U.S.A. currently ranks at about 66. This of course assumes zero growth of the emerging U.S. Anglican ordinariate, and zero interest in ordinariate parishes by Catholics of the general Roman Rite.

Of course the last thirty years of observation of the Anglican Use in the United States tells a different story. Anglican Use parishes have grown, some gradually, some rapidly and one explosively! (The presence of a parochial school helps explain the explosive growth in that one case.) Regardless of the cause, virtually all of the Anglican Use parishes have grown somewhat, and that is in spite of virtual obscurity.

What does this mean? It means that regardless of the rate of growth of the U.S. Anglican Ordinariate, it's size in average Sunday attendance (ASA) will surpass that of The Episcopal Church U.S.A. within a very short period of time, if indeed it hasn't already surpassed it!

The Episcopal Church U.S.A. is the official U.S. branch of the worldwide Protestant Anglican Communion.

The End of the American Century

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: Now that Mubarak has been ousted, the Egyptians have just shown the rest of the Muslim world how it's done. The paradigm shift I wrote of in a previous blog entry has just happened. Look for the pattern to repeat itself in the months and years ahead. Look for moderate Arab states to take on more hardline anti-Western positions to prevent uprisings in their own countries. Look for the Muslim Brotherhood to begin the process of fielding their own popular candidates in "free and fair" elections. Look for similar hardline Islamist organizations to do the same in other countries. Look for the sudden and rapid rise of an independent Palestine. (George Soros is allegedly working for that behind the scenes.). Look for Israel to become increasingly isolated and belligerent in the months and years ahead. All of this should occur simultaneously as the United States goes into another economic meltdown and becomes increasingly helpless to do anything in the Middle East. The end of the "American Century" is upon us....

Today (2-11-2011) is the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes

Hail Mary, poor and humble Woman,
Blessed by the Most High!
Virgin of hope, dawn of a new era,
We join in your song of praise,
to celebrate the Lord’s mercy,
to proclaim the coming of the Kingdom
and the full liberation of humanity.

Hail Mary, lowly handmaid of the Lord,
Glorious Mother of Christ!
Faithful Virgin, holy dwelling-place of the Word,
Teach us to persevere in listening to the Word,
and to be docile to the voice of the Spirit,
attentive to his promptings in the depths of our conscience
and to his manifestations in the events of history.

Hail Mary, Woman of sorrows,
Mother of the living!
Virgin spouse beneath the Cross, the new Eve,
Be our guide along the paths of the world.
Teach us to experience and to spread the love of Christ,
to stand with you before the innumerable crosses
on which your Son is still crucified.

Hail Mary, woman of faith,
First of the disciples!
Virgin Mother of the Church, help us always
to account for the hope that is in us,
with trust in human goodness and the Father’s love.
Teach us to build up the world beginning from within:
in the depths of silence and prayer,
in the joy of fraternal love,
in the unique fruitfulness of the Cross.

Holy Mary, Mother of believers,
Our Lady of Lourdes,
pray for us.

Amen.

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT reminds his readers that America is not (nor has ever been) the Church.  Empires rise and fall.  That is the way of this world, and America is an empire, just as the British were before us, and the Romans were before them.  Catholic Americans are Catholic first. The nation which is our REAL home was not built with human hands. We are strangers and pilgrims here in this world. As an American I love my country. Nevertheless my first allegiance is to Jesus Christ, his Catholic Church, and his Blessed Mother. In times like this, we must all keep focus.

REFORM OF THE NOVUS ORDO MASS !!!

Pope Benedict XVI celebrates mass ad orientem

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT:  With all of the negative news going on in the world today, it is a refreshing pleasure to report something positive for a change, and for a change, good things are happening in the Catholic Church.  Nearly four years ago the Holy Father reintroduced the Catholic Church to her sacred liturgical tradition by releasing the motu proprio document entitled Summorum Pontificum which liberalized the celebration of of the Traditional Latin Mass and effectively renamed it the "Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite" and relegating the commonly observed Novus Ordo mass to the "Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite."  After that the Holy Father spent the following three years teaching by example in his own pontifical celebrations of the "Ordinary Form," giving us a foretaste of what is soon to come, namely kneeling for holy communion, Gregorian chant, traditional altar arrangements, mass celebrated both ad populum and ad orientem, etc.

Then in late 2009 the Holy Father released an apostolic constitution entitled Anglicanorum Coetibus which created a provision within the Roman Rite of the Church to allow former Anglicans to come into full-communion with Rome, retain their historic Anglican liturgy and customs, and govern themselves under the norms of canon law and the Catechism of the Catholic Church.  This apostolic constitution is now in the process of being implemented in England, while it is expected the United States, Canada and Australia will soon follow.  Since these Anglicans use a highly traditional form of Catholic liturgy, they will actively assist in the next step of the Holy Father's liturgical reform.

With both the Anglican ordinariates and the Extraordinary Form of the mass squared away, the Holy Father will now turn his attention to the Novus Ordo mass, commonly known as the "Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite."  Another motu proprio is on the way in the very near future...

(NLM) - In the coming weeks a document of Benedict XVI will be released which reorganizes the competences of the Congregation for Divine Worship, entrusting it with the task of promoting a liturgy more faithful to the original intentions of Vatican II, with less room for arbitrary changes, and for the recovery of a dimension greater sacredness.  

The document, which will take the form of a motu proprio, is the fruit of a long maturation - it has been reviewed by the Pontifical Council for the Interpretation of Legislative Texts and the offices of the Secretariat of State -, and is motivated mainly by the transfer of jurisdiction over matrimonial cases to the Roman Rota. These are the so-called "ratum sed non consummatum" causes, i.e. regarding the marriages which took place in church but have not been consummated because of the lacking carnal union of the spouses. There are about five hundred cases a year, and they mainly affect some Asian countries where there are still arranged marriages with girls of a very young age, but also Western countries for those cases of psychological impotence to perform the conjugal act.  

Losing this section, which will go to the Rota, the Congregation of Divine Worship will de facto not be concerned anymore with the sacraments and retain only jurisdiction in matters liturgical. According to some authoritative leaks, a passage of the motu proprio of Benedict XVI might explicitly mention that "new liturgical movement" of which has spoken in recent days Cardinal Antonio Cañizares Llovera, speaking during the consistory of last November... 

read full story here

This is not the final product of the liturgical reform.  It is just the beginning, which will give the pope the instrument he needs to effect the coming "Reform of the Reform" in the months and years ahead.  Initial reforms are likely to be small, each progressively getting bigger and bigger.  This pope has demonstrated that he prefers the method of "relentless incrementalism" to effect the changes he wants.  The days of the Novus Ordo folk liturgy are gradually coming to a close.

U.S. Department of Education Pushing Arabic On Public Schools

(CBSDFW.COM) – A Mansfield ISD program to teach Arabic language and culture in schools is on hold for now, and may not happen at all.

The school district wanted students at selected schools to take Arabic language and culture classes as part of a federally funded grant.

The Foreign Language Assistance Program (FLAP) grant was awarded to Mansfield ISD last summer by the U.S. Department of Education...

read full story here

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: And so the United States now follows the path of Europe, down the spiral of multiculturalism and social suicide.

Listen, I have no problem with kids learning Arabic language and culture as an ELECTIVE, but not as a MANDATORY foreign language requirement. There simply aren't enough Arabic-speaking people on this continent to justify it - so far.  Thankfully, the program in Texas was stopped (for now) due to parental outrage, but don't expect it to end there. The program will likely pop up in other areas as well, as it's being pushed by the U.S. Department of Education.

Why?

Well, the United States has already seen a huge influx of Arab Muslim immigrants, and they're settling everywhere throughout the country, not only in urban areas but in rural areas too. Right now they're still a tiny minority, but they will grow. Demographic studies indicate that Muslim families reproduce almost twice as fast as faithful Catholic families (that avoid artificial birth control), and nearly four times as fast as the average Protestant family. Worse yet, on average, Muslim families reproduce nearly four to eight times faster than the average nonreligious Secular family. Are you starting to get the picture?

What has kept the American population from dropping below the "sustainable" level of 2.11 children per family is the large influx of Mexican migrants (both legal and illegal) into the United States. This has been our only saving grace demographically. It is the one and only reason why the United States has not had to import hundreds of thousands of Muslims, like Europe did, to maintain it's economy and social programs. So with such a large influx of Mexican migrants, one would think the U.S. Dept. of Education would be interested in promoting Spanish not Arabic. That is UNLESS there is something we don't know about. What if the United States is planning to soon follow the lead of Europe and Canada by importing thousands upon thousands of Arabic Muslim immigrants into the United States? What if the government plans to make Arabic a "language of the future" and is simply trying to prepare U.S. school children in advance?

So It Begins... Again.

(AINA) -- News of a massacre of two Christian Coptic families by Islamists just emerged from Upper Egypt with the return of the Internet connections after a week of Internet blackout by the Egyptian regime. The massacre took place on Sunday, January 30 at 3 PM in the village of Sharona near Maghagha, Minya province. Two Islamists groups, aided by the Muslim neighbors, descended on the roof of houses owned by Copts, killing eleven Copts, including children, and seriously injuring four others....

read full story here

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: It's a familiar sign of things to come in the not-too-distant future. Though Egypt has always had a poor record on Christian tolerance, just a few weeks ago in Egypt (before the unrest) there was a beautiful display of devout Muslims shielding Christians at worship with their own bodies in what looked like a sign of hope in the Middle East. That wonderful display of humanity has now given way to this. Sadly, it is likely a sign of things to come. The 2011 Egyptian mess is frightfully similar to the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran. The Iranian Revolution started out as a pro-democracy demonstration against the American backed dictator - the Shaw - which quickly unraveled into a theocratic takeover of Islamist radicals. We are watching the exact same thing transpire today with the Muslim Brotherhood gradually taking the lead among pro-democracy opposition groups to the American backed dictator Hosni Mubarak. In time, probably a very short time, the Muslim Brotherhood will be the lead opposition voice in Egypt. When (not if) that happens, Egypt will be well on it's way to following in the footsteps of Iran. Whatever vestige of Christianity remains in Egypt will be oppressed by the new Egyptian Islamic theocracy, and Christians will regularly suffer persecution like this from private Islamist vigilante groups while the police look the other way. Welcome to the future.

The Catholic Knight has been saying this over and over again on this blog, and I will not stop saying it anytime soon. SECULARISM DOES NOT WORK! I have repeatedly gone into the reasons why it will soon fall in Europe, and the Americas will follow. However, the attempts to create secular regimes in Islamic nations are failing miserably, and this is particularly evident in the Middle East right now.

Islamist radicalism is a reactionary movement. Let me make that perfectly clear. While Christians have always suffered at the hands of Muslims in North Africa and the Middle East, there have also been long periods of tolerance and relative peace between Christians and Muslims. The human shield display in Egypt just a few weeks ago is a demonstration of a mutual acceptance that can happen, and has happened, at various times throughout the Islamic domination of North Africa and Asia. Now don't get me wrong. I'm not saying it's all roses and daisies between Christians and Muslims. There have always been tensions, and those tensions have occasionally erupted in brutal violence, but for the most part Christians and Muslims have existed relatively peacefully in Islamic regions for the greater part of the last millennium.  Christians have been oppressed under Islamic law but rarely massacred.

The recent problems in the Islamic world started to develop with the introduction of Secularism to Islamic societies. Secularism had been accepted, and embraced, in the Christian world for nearly two centuries before it's introduction to the Islamic world. By the time of it's introduction to the Islamic world, it had already run amok in places like Russia, China, and other communist states, where Secularism morphed into state sponsored Atheism. In places like Western Europe and North America, the transformation was more gradual and subtle, but nevertheless present. In a very real and practical sense, Secularism is Atheism, when it is enforced through government policy. For decades the Western world, primarily led by the United States, has pushed Secular thought into the Islamic nations of Northern Africa and the Middle East. This has been done by backing dictators that give lip-service to Islam but simultaneously attempt to introduce Secular policies. In the short term, this has been beneficial to Christians living in the region. In the long term this has been disastrous. The Muslims world will never accept Secularism. They will never roll over and just take it like the Christian world did for the last two centuries. The West tried to shove Secularism down the Islamic world's throat, and the Islamic world is now gagging on it. Radical Islamism is the result. It is the knee-jerk reaction to a perceived Secular threat. These radical Islamists seek to restore their Islamic societies once again by pushing an extreme interpretation of the Koran that was abandoned by most Muslims almost a thousand years ago. Of course, we know what these people do to Christians living nearby.

What we are witnessing today is the vomit of the Islamic world on the Western push of Secularism in their region. They're gagging on Secularism and in the end Egypt will reject it completely just as Iran did thirty years ago. Other Muslim nations will follow - soon. The only way the current Middle Eastern regimes can survive now is to abandon their Secular goals, adopt some version of Shariah law, and turn against the West as the nation of Turkey recently did and Jordan is now doing. Failure to do this will likely result in a similar fate as Egypt. So what we are seeing now in that part of the world is a complete realignment of Islamic nations, the complete rejection of Secularism, and the restoration of Islamic governance in one form or another. Who is going to suffer for this? Obviously Christians in this region will be targeted for vigilante persecution while the government looks the other way.  This is not to say the average Muslim will support this. To the contrary, it is likely that average Muslims will be sickened by it.  I'm just saying they will not likely be able to do much about it in the years ahead. Their hands will be tied by the new political reality.

The cancer of Secularism will also destroy Europe soon, giving Muslims living there a considerable advantage as the few Christians that remain try to follow the Secular rules, while a growing number of Muslims and Islamists actively usurp them. European Secularism will inevitably result in a final choice that all Europeans will be forced to make whether they like it or not. That choice will be to pursue Secularism to it's final goal - which is complete collapse and the rise of Islamic republics in Europe - or to abandon Secularism and return to Europe's Catholic Christian roots before it's too late. So the way Europe goes, the Americas will follow. The day is coming. There is no avoiding it. It will arrive. I just don't know when.

Worldwide Paradigm Shift Underway

Riots in Egypt marked the turning point in the current paradigm shift.

(WND) - Islamists, in particular the anti-Western Muslim Brotherhood, seem poised to take power throughout the Middle East as a result of riots that have already toppled one Arab regime and are threatening others, in what some are calling only the latest wave of an Islamic "tsunami" sweeping the globe.

In Egypt, members of President Hosni Mubarak's family reportedly have fled the country as a flood of violent, fatal street protests threatens the stability of this most populous Arab nation, a longtime U.S. ally and the only Muslim nation with a long-lasting peace agreement with Israel.

The White House has been championing the protests, calling for a transition to democratic rule in Egypt, where the Muslim Brotherhood formed the main opposition to Mubarak....

read full story here

THE CATHOLIC KNIGHT: I cannot begin to describe in words the absolute fundamental transformation that is underway in world politics. The mainstream news media is only now just beginning to comprehend the magnitude of a small fraction of it. Nothing this profound has happened since the fall of the Soviet Union. Not even the terrorist events of 9-11 compare to what is happening now. This is nothing short of a worldwide paradigm shift, and it's only just begun.

The riot-revolution in Egypt is just the beginning. Tunisia has already fallen. Yemen and Jordan are next. Turkey has changed it's political course to a more anti-Israel and anti-Western stand, so as to appease the swelling outrage in the hope of preventing riots. Saudi Arabia and the Arab Gulf States are becoming increasingly isolated. Even their regimes will likely become vulnerable in the months and years ahead.  Blame is steadily being painted on the United States and Israel, and sadly, it is not entirely unwarranted.

Allow me to elaborate on exactly what is going on. To understand it all, we need to back up a bit.  Let's go back to 1979.  Islamic radicals orchestrated a riotous revolution expelling the American backed Shaw of Iran, and replaced his monarchy with an Islamic theocratic republic.  Ever since then, Iran has become a thorn in the side of the whole Western world, and especially the United States and Israel, orchestrating and funding Islamic terrorism by working with Syria to take over the only Christian nation in the Middle East - Lebanon.  From Lebanon, Iran through Syria has created the terrorist organization Hezbollah.  The sworn goal of Hezbollah is to drive the State of Israel into the sea.  Furthermore, Iran has recently pursued nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them via intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICMs).  In response to the 1979 terrorist kidnapping of American embassy workers in Iran, the United States backed a rogue dictator in Iraq named Saddam Hussein.  Washington DC orchestrated the transfer of weapons - even chemical weapons - to Hussein for use in his war against Iran.  While at the same time Washington (during the Reagan administration) attempted to play both sides of the Iraq-Iran War by delivering arms to Iran as well.  It was only after Saddam Hussein used chemical weapons on his own people that the United States stopped all military relations with him.  It was at that time Hussein decided the real enemy was the Untied States and the Gulf Arab states.  So he signed a peace treaty with Iran and turned his guns south toward Kuwait instead.  In August of 1990 Iraqi troops invaded Kuwait - a U.S. ally and oil producer for American markets.  Kuwait fell quickly and Saudi Arabia realized it was next on Hussein's black list.  So the United States responded with the Gulf War, which ended in February of 1991 with the defeat of Saddam Hussein, the containment of Iraq, the liberation of Kuwait, and the presence of a permanent U.S. military base in Saudi Arabia.

Now let's fast forward ten years to the turn of the century. On September 11, 2001, the United States was brutally attacked by Islamic terrorists. The devastation in New York, Washington DC and Pennsylvania rightfully enraged the American people. Osama Bin Laden, a Saudi Arabian national, and American-educated radical Sunni Muslim of the Wahhabi sect, orchestrated and funded the terrorist attacks through his international terrorist organization called Al Qaeda. The attacks on the United States were celebrated in many places throughout the Middle East, and other Islamic nations, because of what many Muslims perceive as the American backing of Israel and Arab dictators.  Osama Bin Laden himself cited American backing of Israel, along with the presence of an American military base in his homeland of Saudi Arabia.  As a radical Islamic puritan, Bin Laden saw such American presence as profaning holy ground so close to Mecca.  In response, the United States, headed by President George W. Bush, formulated a "War on Terrorism" under which the United States invaded Afghanistan and Iraq, attempting to set up democracies.  In both cases democracies were organized, but they were Islamic democracies that continued to enforce various elements of Shariah Law, and are extremely vulnerable to the kind of political pressure that can push them into becoming Islamic theocratic republics like Iran.  In this new "War on Terror," as it came to be called, the United States continued to back dictators in multiple Islamic nations including Egypt and Pakistan due to their assistance in combating Islamic terrorism.  Simultaneously, the United States embarked on continued deficit spending to back the "War on Terror" and increased social programs, as well as bolstering economic growth by inflating a government backed credit bubble.

Now let's fast-forward ten years to today.  The government backed credit bubble popped in September of 2008, as a result the United States bailed out the banks and lenders with trillions of dollars of deficit spending.  The U.S. Federal Reserve floated this debt by monetizing it with trillions of dollars of printed funny money.  This injection of liquidity into the international markets caused inflation in the international markets, driving up the cost of food, energy, textiles and increasing poverty throughout all nations that use the dollar as their international trading currency.  These conditions hit the Middle Eastern nations hard, especially those that worked closely with the United States, causing food riots that escalated into full-blown political revolutions - Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt and and now Jordan.  There doesn't appear to be any end in sight.  On the surface, the riots and demonstrations are understandable.  These people have been victimized by governments that have failed them and left them hungry and in poverty.  The problem with these revolutions is that radical Islamic groups have stood ready for years, poised to rush in and direct such movements toward the creation of more radical Islamic theocracies.  The momentum seems unstoppable now, and there is nothing the United States (or any Western power) can do to influence it.  The more the United States tries, the more frustrated civilians turn toward radical organizations such as the "Muslim Brotherhood" in response.  Again, who can blame them?  The United States backed many of these dictators that brought this ruin upon them in the first place.  Why on earth would they trust us?

To make matters worse, Washington has been attempting to play both sides again, by backing the rioters as well as the dictators they are rioting against.  Your guess is as good as mine as to why we would do this, but apparently we did, especially in Egypt.  Maybe this was to gain political capital with the opposition groups should such a revolution ever happen successfully.  However, as it's playing out, whatever political capital we hoped to gain is being spent fast and the whole thing seems to be backfiring on us as it did with our backing of Saddam Hussein in Iraq during the 1980s.

Now the entire Middle East is erupting in revolution, and as soon as one domino falls the next will follow.  What happened in Iran back in 1979 is now happening all over the Middle East in 2011 and it seems we are powerless to do anything about it.

From a Catholic perspective all of this was predicted centuries ago by our mystics and seers.  In the years ahead more political strength will shift away from the United States and Europe toward radical Islamic powers.  Together with Marxist radicals in Europe, they will eventually attempt the same kind of riotous revolutions there.  What follows is what many Catholic mystics have called "The Chastisement" which will result in another paradigm shift that will bring about the last great era in Christian history before the rise of Antichrist and the Second Advent.