“Talk about extreme, militant Islamists and the atrocities that they have perpetrated globally might undercut the positive achievements that we Catholics have attained in our inter-religious dialogue with devout Muslims.” — Robert McManus, Roman Catholic Bishop of Worcester, Massachusetts, February 8, 2013
Yet all that remaining mum about Muslim persecution of Christians, and all that glorious inter-religious dialogue, hasn’t prevented even one jihad attacks against a Christian church, has it?
“Yogyakarta, to cries of ‘Allah is great’ unknown assailants attack Sacred Heart parish,” by Mathias Hariyadi , AsiaNews, June 30, 2014 (thanks to Tom):
Jakarta (AsiaNews) – Another Catholic community is now under attack in Indonesia in a climate of increasing cases of violence and abuse against religious minorities.
The Parish of the Sacred Heart in Pugeran, in the South of Yogyakarta was targeted early yesterday morning by three different groups of unknown assailants on motorcycles. The attack took place during the first morning Mass: the authors, dressed in black with their faces covered by masks, broke through the parish gates shouting “Allah is great”.
The incident coincides with the start of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting and prayer which officially began today in Indonesia, although it started on June 28th in most Muslim countries.
According to reports from Fr. Priya Pr, Sacred Heart parish priest, the unknown assailants targeted some objects and posters placed by members of the local Catholic community, most of which are only displayed on the weekend during the celebrations. The reasons behind the attack remain unknown; the authorities have tightened controls around the Christian place of worship, in fear of more attacks.
Last month in Yogyakarta, Islamic extremists attacked a group of Catholics gathered in prayer, beating up the community leader; a week later, Pastor Niko, leader of the Protestant Christian community, was targeted by extremists “accused” of having set up an “illegal” house of prayer without permission.
Yoguakarta, in central Java, has always been considered the most “pluralistic” center in the country, with dozens of universities and thousands of students from across the province. However, after decades of peaceful coexistence, episodes of sectarian violence have recently emerged, despite appeals for calm and peaceful coexistence from the Sultan (and governor) Hamengku Buwono X, a prominent figure in interreligious dialogue.
Indonesia is the most populous Muslim nation in the world. Increasingly however, it has become the scene of attacks or episodes of intolerance against minorities, whether they are Christians, Ahmadi Muslims or belong to other faiths.
Aceh is the only Indonesian province where Sharia (Islamic law) is enforced, following a peace agreement between the central government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). Yet, in many other areas of the country (such as Bekasi and Bogor in West Java), a more radical and extreme vision of Islam is spreading among ordinary Indonesians.
Certain rules such as the infamous building permit (Izin Mendirikan Bangunan or IMB in Indonesian) have been used to prevent the construction of Christian places of worship or stop construction already underway, as was the case for the Yasmin Church in West Java.The constitution provides for freedom of religion, however, the Catholic community (3% of the population) is victim of incidents of violence and abuse.
medina says
Too bad Bishop McManus wasn’t visiting so he could experience the goodwill firsthand.
sidney penny says
Robert McManus, Roman Catholic Bishop of Worcester, Massachusetts, will never be able to live this statement down as long as Robert Spencer is alive.
As Robert responded to Robert?
Cicero_NOLA says
I think you’re right, Sidney.
I can understand an American bishop making such a statement, but when are we going to hear something from an Indonesian or Nigerian bishop? I hope there are opportunities at the upcoming Synod on the family for the bishops from majority-Muslim countries to describe the challenges of Christian families facing kidnapped children, jizya, threats of violence for going to Mass, etc.
Where is Meriam Ibrahim’s bishop? What is his perspective?
Gary Fouse says
Sad. When I visited Indonesia with DEA in the 1970s, it was lovely and the people were super friendly. Of course, all our time was in Bali (Hindu). At that time, our biggest concern with Indonesia was the rampant corruption. Now they are doing this. I will never return to that country.
Joseph says
The men who attacked this church could not have been Muslims. Because to attack a church is an act of violence. And Pope Francis has already assured us officially that:
“Authentic Islam and the proper reading of the Koran are opposed to every form of violence” [Evangelii Gaudium #253].
What we know for a fact, given the unequivocal language of Evangelii Gaudium #253, is that Pope Francis is utterly, profoundly ignorant of the true nature of Islam. We can begin with that indisputable fact.
But ignorance, as St. Thomas reminds us, can be of two kinds as to its source: vincible and invincible. Vincible ignorance, as its name suggests, is ignorance which, in the normal run of things, CAN be ‘overcome’ and generally implies moral guilt (culpability) if it is not overcome and evil proceeds from it. The person in question IS ABLE to find out the truth of a matter if only they attempt to do so (and usually without even having to resort to extraordinary means). And their failure to do so is a moral fault if evil is engendered as a result of their ignorance.
Invincible ignorance, on the other hand, is the opposite. The person involved is, for any number of circumstantial reasons, completely INCAPABLE of finding out the truth about a particular matter [and therefore also NOT culpable morally].
So, we have to ask ourselves: Is Pope Francis’ demonstrated ignorance of the true nature of Islam vincible or invincible?
Given the abundance of information available today about the true nature of Islam [this very website as a prime example, not to mention 50 other very well-researched websites, hundreds of books, thousands of articles, and the direct testimony of his nuncios, bishops, and cardinals] I think the answer is quite clear. His ignorance is vincible: he could easily have found out the truth about Islam if only he had attempted to do so.
And the simple fact is that he did not inform himself as he ought to have informed himself. We know this from the evidence of his official pronouncement in Evangelii Gaudium #253. And his ignorance is vincible.
Next, is he culpable in this context? Is he at fault morally? Well, answer this question: Did evil result from his ignorance? Answer: Definitely yes. What evil? The evil of spreading misinformation/falsehoods to the world about the true nature of Islam. Make no mistake, Islam is a “clear and present danger” to the lives of millions of innocent people around the world. And that threat is growing on a daily basis. When the pope teaches officially that Islam is inherently peaceful (“opposed to every form of violence”) he aids and abets the enemy of the Church and the enemy of the free people of the world. And he misuses his considerable authority as a world leader to misdirect the efforts of people of good will all over the world. That is truly disgraceful, in my opinion. He COULD HAVE informed himself and spoken the TRUTH about Islam. Instead, he chose to allow himself to remain IGNORANT of Islam AND to spread that ignorance through his authority as the Roman Pontiff. That is a public scandal and disgrace, in my opinion.
We can conclude, then, about Pope Francis (and I say this as a Catholic myself, not some raving anti-Catholic):
1. He is profoundly ignorant of the true nature of Islam. Fact.
2. His ignorance about Islam is vincible. Fact. And…
3. His vincible ignorance is, as well, culpable. Fact.
And he is the supposed “Head” of the Church. Wow. Heaven help us.
Eric says
Well said Joseph
cherish freedom says
That’s a lame response. What do you mean, Eric? What is well said about this post?
cherish freedom says
@joseph (fake name) –
Let’s keep this simple. Let’s take a simple test.
1. Who would attack a Catholic church service while yelling the words “alluha akbar”?
a. Lutherans
b. Catholics
c. Jews
d. Hindus
e. Buddhists
f. Mormons
g. atheists
h. Hare Krishnas
i. Wicca
j. muslims
k. all of the above
l. none of the above
2. Why would a man who has dedicated his life to theology, social service, the study of culture and religion, with a strong history and interest in social justice… harass another (ahem) religion? After all… he did allow you to do participate in a call to prayer at the Vatican. This was an act of openness. Further, being a Jesuit, he took the name of Francis as an olive branch. What a noble gesture.
3. Who are you to judge the intellectual capacity of a pope? Truly… I’d like to hear the history of your exposure and education. Let’s call this an essay question. (It’s going to be hard for you not to be deceptive, but I urge you to be honest.)
4. Who are you, anyways? Just another commenter on a blog? Perhaps a copy / paste enthusiast?
a. Who are you trying to impress?
b. Who are you trying to persuade?
Charles_Martel says
I agree…well said. Unfortunately, the wolves are at the door and our Shepherd is telling us how peaceful they are.
DhimmiNot says
I believe that Joseph has raised some good points…
We need to explore the meaning of what Francis said in EG.
AUTHENTIC Islam: What did he mean by “authentic”? Who decides what is authentic? How does the Pope know?
PROPER reading: Same questions….what does he mean by “proper”? How does the Pope know?
VIOLENCE…Every form of VIOLENCE: In Islam, what is real violence? If the victim is an innocent infidel, is this violence? Can an infidel ever be innocent?
Sweetness says
Armed. Guards.
With all the money and resources available to the Holy See, a few patrols around the most obvious hotspots would seem entirely feasible. If no one attacked, then there would be no offence. And if the patrols could save lives then to what would that dollar amount be equivalent? And yes, that goes for every Protestant church and Jewish Synagogue as well. Turn the other cheek means accept another insult, not to accept extermination! “There is no greater love than a man lay down his life for his friends”
Bill says
Yet the Muslims cry and say they were shocked when a Scottish couple put strips of bacon on the Mosque doorknob. And the justice system gave both of them prison time. Enough. Say, I have a idea, let them all return to where they came from, problem solved!!
Sidney R. Smith says
What is it that every time I try and share your posts I get a redirect message and I’m unable. Is there something I need to know to be able to share? Please tell me.
alteisenindo says
I live in the same island where this incident happened and I never knew about it. I’ve read about the previous attacks, but Indonesian mass media hid this one pretty well, I’m sure because it was the start of fasting month, and all muslims must not be “disturbed”. Thanks for the info Robert, I will link this.
Semeru says
Thankyou for confirming it was not reported by the Indonesia media.
Most prober ably they where not reporting several Dirgahayu placards being kicked over
Angemon says
ASSemeru posted:
“No matter how much misconstrue what I post about christain/catholic participation in the USoA backed Suharto invasion of East Timor, it does not alter the fact that catholics and the USoA collaborated with moslems.”
Notice that the so-called “misconstructions” of his posts it’s in fact me posting links to him saying that the one responsible and architect of the invasion of East Timor was a christian general. I posted them in response to him saying he never said christians were responsible for the invasion of East Timor. You’ll see the full discussion if you scroll down, so much so that he posted his reply here rather than where the argument is taking place to claiming victim status. Now, did anyone see me or PJ mentioning East Timor before the post he’s replying to? He got his ass handed over to him so now he’s trying to keep it down to save face, even if that means contradicting what he said before.
Another thing to point out is that he claims “catholics and the USoA collaborated with moslems”. The catholics he mentions are indonesian citizens, and are what, 2-3% of the indonesian population? If he really doesn’t have a pro-islam, anti-christian bias then he’d only say “indonesians invaded East Timor”, like i say, rather than going out of his way to claim christians were responsible and the architects of the invasion- they are dhimmies so it’s not like they have much of a choice.
“The reason that the assailants have not been named is due to dhimmitude”
Notice what ASSemeru said before:
“f the assailants were unknown, how does reporter know the were three group”
First he cast suspicions on the attack implying it never took place, now he’s claiming that the attackers were not named because of dhimmitude. Notice that the media reporting the attack is AsiaNews, which is an official press agency of the Roman Catholic Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions. The dhimmitude excuse makes no sense – if they were really dhimmis they wouldn’t even mention the attack.
Hey PJ, what do you think? Did he calm down due to hunger or is there someone else manning the controls? I think hunger would cause him to make more english errors, not less.
Semeru says
http://goo.gl/6TjzpW
Angemon says
Y U mad bro?