Syriac Catholic Patriarch Ignatius Ephrem Joseph III Younan is not the only one. “Why, we ask the western world, why not raise one’s voice over so much ferocity and injustice?” asked Cardinal Angelo Bagnasco, the head of the Italian Bishops Conference (CEI). The Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch Gregory III has also said: “I do not understand why the world does not raise its voice against such acts of brutality.”
Here is why: “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
That’s right, it’s all for the sake of the spurious and self-defeating “dialogue.” Bagnasco should ask his colleagues in the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. He should ask bishops like McManus, Kevin Farrell, Jaime Soto and others why they move actively to silence and demonize voices that tell the truth about this persecution. He should ask them why the U.S. Catholic bishops tolerated dissent from so many core Catholic dogmas for decades, but move as ruthlessly as any Grand Inquisitor to suppress dissent from the idea that Islam is a Religion of Peace, which isn’t even a dogma of the Church. He should ask them why they are abandoning their Middle Eastern brethren and keeping their own people ignorant and complacent about the jihad threat.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is desperately corrupt and compromised, and needs a thorough housecleaning. But no such thing is on the horizon.
“Synod: the West must ‘not forget the Christians in the Middle East,’ says Patriarch Younan,” Asia News, October 8, 2015:
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – Three prelates spoke about issues from Africa and the Middle East in today’s daily press briefing on the Synod of the Family
Addressing the West, Syriac Catholic Patriarch Ignatius Ephrem Joseph III Younan issued an appeal “not to forget the Christians in the Middle East”.
“We are very concerned and alarmed about the situation of Christian communities in the Middle East,” he said, “especially because of the catastrophic trials families are going through, splitting up as they try to escape the living hell of Syria and Iraq”.
“We have hundreds of people held hostage by Islamic terrorists,” he explained. “Such a catastrophe has lasting effects.” Indeed, “We deplore the fact that we cannot convince the younger generation to stay where Christianity was born”….