Tea at Trianon: Christianity, Islam and the Future

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Friday, September 5, 2014

Christianity, Islam and the Future

From Fr. Angelo:

The moral and cultural malaise of the West as well as the fanaticism and fear of the East are problems that will not go away soon. And we have reasons to fear that the politicians who wave the rainbow banner simply do not have the wherewithal to oppose Islam. But neither do they have the kind of moral gravity and fortitude that is necessary to defend the innocent in a way will make the situation better instead of worse.

Conversion is a function of conviction. The fanatics of the East have too much and the effetes and bullies of the West have too little. So we now will attempt to “degrade and destroy” ISIS so as to make sure that its “sphere of influence” is a “manageable problem.” This claptrap is more of the same. It fails to meet the real problem realistically. ISIS simply needs to be eliminated. Period.

The problem is definitely one of a need for conversion, nearly as much among those of the Christian West as among those in the Islamic East. We need to pray to Our Lady of Fatima for the grace to live the life of Christian charity, so that we will have the conviction and strength necessary to protect the innocent as well as to die martyrs. The opportunities to do both abound. (Read more.)

Aleteia reports on Christians who are defending the weak and helpless against ISIS. To quote:

Earlier this month, the president of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, Massud Barzani, announced that his government was ready to open its doors to Christian volunteers among the Kurdish armed forces by providing them with the means to create self-defense forces in their villages and defend themselves from jihadi militias of the Islamic State, Fides Agency reported. Barzani said this during a meeting with the Lebanese Foreign Minister Gibran Basil.

Barzini called on Christians "not to think about emigrating from their homelands, because the threat of terrorism is temporary and terrorists “will be defeated."

Apparently, such militants are getting military help from people in the West who don’t feel the Iraqi government and Western powers are doing enough. Some Europeans have been talking about an “armed pilgrimage” to Iraq, saying what is needed is a fifth Crusade or a new Lepanto, recalling the historic battle of Oct. 7, 1571, when the Holy League defeated the Muslim fleets of the Ottoman Empire. (Read more.)