Fr. Douglas Bazi better be careful. He may be in line for a stern rebuke from the Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch Gregory III Laham, who recently said: “No one defends Islam like Arab Christians.” It is to defend Islam that Western clerics do not raise their voice against such acts of brutality as were perpetrated against Fr. Douglas Bazi. It is to pursue a fruitless and chimerical “dialogue” that bishops in the U.S. and Europe keep silent about Muslim persecution of Christians, and enforce that silence upon others. Robert McManus, Roman Catholic Bishop of Worcester, Massachusetts, said it on February 8, 2013 as he was suppressing a planned talk at a Catholic conference on that persecution: “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.”
That’s right, it’s all for the sake of the spurious and self-defeating “dialogue.” For all too many of Fr. Douglas Bazi’s colleagues, and especially the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, to speak out about this persecution renders one an ongoing danger to the Church and someone they believe has stepped beyond the bounds of acceptable discourse.
Fr. Bazi should ask the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops about why their eyes are so resolutely closed. 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 they are so convinced that Islam, at its core, teaches peace, despite the superabundance of evidence to the contrary in Islamic texts and the actions of Muslims who read them. He should ask 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.
Cowards, time-servers, trimmers and self-deluded wishful thinkers dominate the Church hierarchy today, among both bishops and priests, and all too many Catholics believe that to say so makes one disloyal to the Church. Nonsense. Calling these people to account for the damage they have done and are doing is the highest form of loyalty to the Church. But they are completely in control, and don’t even deign to engage those who oppose what they are doing. Well, they have the Church they want now, and as the years go by, it will become clear to everyone what they have done, and what unimaginable horror they have enabled.
“Leave them; they are blind guides. And if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.” (Matthew 15:14)
“’They smashed my nose and teeth with hammer’ An Iraqi priest reveals the horrors of ISIS’ captivity,” by Madeeha Bakhsh, Christians In Pakistan, May 6, 2016:
An Iraqi priest, Father Douglas Bazi spoke at the #WeareN Congress 2016 at the United Nations, revealed the horrors of his captivity under Islamic State. During this event, he briefed the audience about the plight of the genocide of Christians in Iraq. Followed by this event he went on to speak in a Sacramento church.
The Baghdad-based, Father Douglas Bazi while addressing an brimming crowd at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Chaldean Catholic Church in Orangevale, Sacramento on Wednesday May 4 detailed the quandary of persecuted Christians in Iraq. During his address, he narrated, the dilemma he had to go through, and told that he survived bomb attacks and a kidnapping in 2006.
“They destroyed my car, they blew up my church on front of me. I got shot by AK-47 in my leg. The bullet is still in my leg. And I been kidnapped for nine days. They smash my nose and my teeth by hammer. And they broke one of my back discs.”
He also went on to explain the horrific experience he had during his nine days long captivity. He was released consequently, when is church paid the ransom, but because of continued persecution from Islamic State extremists, he was left with no other option but to flee to Northern Kurdish territory. Christians are safer there, he told. In this region, Father Douglas has been overseeing shelter facility for 400 people who also fled their hometowns due to violence from the ISIS militias.
“To be Christian in Iraq, it’s impossible mission,” Father Bazi said while adding, “But even so, I’m not actually surprised when they attack my people. I’m surprised how my people are still existing.” “Please talk about our stories. Let the world know what happens to us,” he urged the audience….