Dial M for Mayhem
It was sad in this season of joy to read of two recent murders by Muslims. One was of a young medical student, Maria Landenberger, raped and drowned by an Afghan ‘migrant’. She was a volunteer at one of the refugee centres, and was biking home alone. I don’t think this will do much for boosting the number of volunteers, at least of the female variety, nor of solitary bike rides, again by those of the fairer sex. In fact, more and more of them will tend to stay home alone this Christmas. Life is a changin’ in Germany, and there is Angela Merkel trying now to ban the burka. Too little, too late, my dear Ms. Merkel. Perhaps she could sell her burqa shtick by putting out a YouTube video of her dancing to the tag line ‘Ban the Burka’ to the Clash’s 1982 hit Rock the Casbah, which, recounting the good times to be had in North Africa, was released in a nostalgic time of somewhat happier Christian-Muslim relations.
Methinks that the likes of Merkel, like Obama, Clinton and the rest, are on their way out. Ironically, or tragically as one may see it, the young German murder victim was the daughter of a high-ranking European Union official, the same group of bureaucrats that helped foster this ungoverned emigrant-refugee disaster. One can only hope that this motivates them to apply at least some modicum of reason to the influx of Islamic migrants across Europe and now North America.
Yes, I know that not all Muslims are like this (alleged) unfortunate and ungrateful murdering migrant misanthrope, but to let in nearly a million young, vigorous males whose moral code is, shall we say, quite different, even antagonistic, to your (even vestigial) Christian one, is not a recipe for societal cohesion. What is one to make of this report, that 1500 ‘jihadis’ have left the Middle East, dispersing throughout Europe to carry out, at least potentially, terrorist attacks? Sure, some, most, may just drift away, but other will carry their zeal for Islam from the sands of Arabia to the pavestones of Brussels. Rock the Casbah? One would fear even to rock Paris, even in the suburbs.
And, now, closer to home, the wife of prominent neurosurgeon Mohammad Shamji, also a physician herself, has been found murdered, her husband charged in the first degree. He is a Muslim, she, a ‘white’ woman, was a convert to his faith upon her marriage. For some reason, the courts did not want her name released. I am not sure the deceased female doctor fully realized the strict Islamic view of women, which is not quite the same as the Christian one. Read further in the link provided above, and you will discover that she had recently applied for divorce, hoping to start a ‘new life’. Perhaps her husband, in his mind, honorably disagreed, but we will allow the courts decide.
I will never tire of pointing out that some cultures just do not mix, for the basic reason that some religions, some ways of looking at the universe, just cannot get along, and no amount of ‘niceness’ can change that, without a deep and lasting conversion. By ‘conversion’, I mean conversion to the truth, the fullness of which resides in the Church. We need not look to Islam for extra truth, nor for clarity in our own revelation. Sure, with ‘sunny ways Trudeau and the now-slightly-less-sunny Merkel, we can try to paper over with talk of ‘liberal values’, ‘toleration’ and ‘multiculturalism’, but reality will always, always eventually, burst on through, like Jack Nicholson’s grimacing face might have done in the sequel that was never made, the Shining of Sharia, with tragic results like these.
God rest the souls of these victims, and may the same God have mercy of those who carried out these nefarious acts.
Carney’s Amoral Majority
After five defections – euphemistically described as ‘crossing the floor’ – and three by-elections, Mark Carney and his Liberals how have their coveted majority. One wonders what bowls of pottage were offered in back-room deals. In the archaic monarchical system that is the Dominion of Canada, this majority allows the newly-minted Prime Minister to rule[…]Continue reading→
Saint Kateri , Canada’s Protectress
This was the title given to Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, by Pope Benedict XVI, when he canonized her on October 28th, 2012, along with six others, in Saint Peter’ Square (she had been beatified by Pope John Paul II back in 1980). With Saint Joseph as our protector, along with the Canadian martyrs, we seem to[…]Continue reading→
A Tale of Two Benedicts
A grace-filled Holy Week to all our readers! As we await and prepare for the Resurrection about to dawn upon us, we might keep in mind two Benedicts: Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, requiescat in pace, elected on this day in 2005; and today’s commemoration of the mystic pilgrim, Benedict Joseph Labre, who died on this[…]Continue reading→
My Name is Bernadette
April 16th is a propitious day, for besides the anniversary of Father de Valk’s death, who founded Catholic Insight in its print form decades ago, and the commemoration of the ‘two Benedicts’, mentioned in accompanying posts, today we also recall Saint Bernadette Soubirous, the young visionary to whom the Virgin Mary appeared numerous times at[…]Continue reading→
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam and Suffering Joyfully
Saint Lydwina of Schiedam (1380 – 1433) was one of the countless and glorious ‘victim souls’ in the history of the Church, those whose lives are filled with suffering, often of an unimaginable intensity, but who suffer joyfully. She was a fifteen-year old Dutch girl, out skating one day, when she fell and broke one[…]Continue reading→
The Glorious Martyrdoms of Martin and Maximus
As we enter into Eastertide, we recall on this 13th of April Pope Saint Martin I (+655), one of the noblest, if most tragic, of the successors of Saint Peter. Born in Umbria, Italy, he was of noble lineage, with great intelligence combined with charity and love of the poor and the Church. While still[…]Continue reading→
Saint Stanislaus of Szczepanów
We celebrate Saint Stanislaus today (+ April 11, 1079), in light of this Easter Octave, a bishop and martyr who accepted the episcopacy only at the direct order of Pope Alexander II. He proved a wise and courageous leader of his flock, put to death by his own king, Boleslaus, for rebuking the monarch’s ‘immoral[…]Continue reading→
Saint Gemma Galgani
On this April 11th, in 1903 – the same year that the Italian Guiseppe Sarto was elected Pope later that summer as Pius X – a lovely, young Italian woman died, by the name of Gemma Galgani. She lived a brief life of 24 years, as did a number of other young saints, including Pier[…]Continue reading→
An Ideological and Improper Translation
I noticed something odd with the psalm reading at Mass the other day. Our bishops’ conference here in Canada has decreed that the Mass in English – Novus Ordo – use the ‘NRSV’, the ‘New Revised Standard Version’, an ‘updated’ translation of the original RSV, first published in 1952. This ‘new translation’ has the tendency[…]Continue reading→
Saint Jean-Baptiste de la Salle: A Teacher for Teachers
Jean-Baptiste de la Salle (1651 – 1719), a French nobleman, ordained a priest, founded the first order in the Church’s history entirely without priests, and this came about almost by accident. I say ‘almost’, for, of course, there are no accidents with God. Destined for ordination from an early age, Jean-Baptiste never looked back, even[…]Continue reading→