This is embarassing for all Christians

[cutiesmak]

There are very serious outbreaks of violence in the middle east and sometimes there are scuffles. Let’s just thank the Lord that this was a scuffle (with a few bangs and bruises).

My DH went to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher last Easter and said it was so interesting how the different sects and rites work out their schedule there. He was surprised that with the crowds and all the politics that MORE violence didn’t happen there.

Let’s keep the middle east in our prayers, ok?

LOVED the comment about the Amish though.

 

[Brendan]

Now Volodymyr,

It does not behoove a Christian to make claims that are rather unsubstatiated.

At the time of his trial, +Stepinac recognized that he was being tried in a sham court. The witness against him conflicted in their testimony and the primary piece of evidence ( a letter supposedly writed by +Stepinac) he denied writing, and only a unsigned, typed copy was ever presented as evidence.

He was even offered amnesty if he promised to leave the country, but instead he called for a trial in a neutral court ( Switzerland offered) or for opportunity to make his case directly to the Croat people.

After the trial the New York Times wrote that, "*The trial of Archbishop Stepinac was a purely political one with the outcome determined in advance. The trial and sentence of this Croatian prelate are in contradiction with the Yugoslavia’s pledge that it will respect human rights and the fundamental liberties of all without reference to race, sex, language and creed.

Archbishop Stepinac was sentenced and will be incarcerated as part of the campaign against his church, guilty only of being the enemy of Communism*."]

The American Jewish Committee also responded harshly, saying, “[Stepinac] was one of the very rare men in Europe who raised his voice against the Nazis’ tyranny at a time when it was very difficult and dangerous for him to do so.”

Winston Churchill addressed the British House of Commons regarding the trial and expressed "great sadness’ at the result.

Switzerland also objected to the sham trial.

So Volodymyr, I ask you, do you really expect fairness from the court when the Communists are against the defendant. If so, why would you defend the integrity of such a court against the outcry of unfairness made by a government such as Switzerland, or the UK?

 

[Patchunky]

No thank you, we should not all be Catolic!

Volodymyr…

In the last war in the former Jugoslavia, Serbs went around neighborhoods in Novi Sad painted the letter “K” on the house for Katolik, “M” on the houses of Hungarians for MAGYAR, "Y’ on the houses for “YKAPUNA”, and the “C” for CIGAN for the gypsies…

Just like the Nazis and the Jews with the Star of David…

 

[christcnection1]

Please keep in mind the context in that Gandhi had been interested in Christianity during his years in South Africa, but as he made his mind to go to a church service there, he was stopped at the door and rejected by a white man. This was during the time of Apartheid, and I believe that segregation was a huge factor in this.

Gandhi was not right to reject the awesomeness of God and the beauty of Christianity because of someone’s weakness {intolerance}. That is like me looking at my church members, and seeing someone who’s lazy, and saying I like Christ, but not His Church because there’s lazy people in it.

What would Gandhi say about Hindu extremists today?

Actually, a friend of mine is Mennonite. His father is within a smaller sect of the Mennonites called the River Brethren. According to his father’s friends, they were close with Gandhi, and at some point Gandhi said that if it did not cause political turmoil and undermine his efforts toward peace, he would publicly become a Christian.

Of course, we’ll likely never find out in this life. And I wouldn’t doubt someone like Gandhi received the mercy of Christ. His heart seemed so close to the truth.

Yes, this scuffle at our holy site was an embarrassment. Hopefully the reconciliation scene will be taped and aired on television!

 

[eelpis]

Just as wonderful and nonviolent as the Croatian ustasi in Great War.

Archbishop Stepinak in Croatia who oversaw genocide of 840,000 serbs for not being Catolic.
Alojzije (Aloysius) Viktor Cardinal Stepinac (May 8, 1898 – February 10, 1960) was a Croatian Catholic Prelate. He was Archbishop of Zagreb from 1937 to 1960. In 1946, in a verdict that polarised public opinion both in Yugoslavia and beyond, a Belgrade court found him guilty of collaborating with the Ustaše and complicity in allowing the forced conversion of Orthodox Serbs to Catholicism. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison, but after five years was released and confined to his home parish of Krašić. He was appointed a Cardinal in 1952 by Pope Pius XII. In 1998 Pope John Paul II declared him a martyr and beatified him, which again polarised public opinion.
Ante’ Pavelic, the bloody dictator of Croatia and the Archbishop of Zagreb Cardinal Stepinac oversaw probably the most cruelest genocide in human history. 840,000 people murdered because they weren’t Roman Catholics.

Jasenovac concentration camp (in Croatian: Logor Jasenovac in Serbian: Логор Јасеновац / Logor Jasenovac) was the largest concentration and extermination camp in Croatia during World War II. It was established by the Ustaša (Ustasha) regime of the Independent State of Croatia in August 1941. It was dismantled in April 1945.

No thank you, we should not all be Catolic!

It’s stupid to cite ethnic violence and blame the Church.

The Croatians did it because they are Croatians, nationalism is a grave sin.
The Serbs did the same thing to Bosnians a Croatians too. and the Bosnians etc etc.

These things are condemned by the Church in strong terms.

The way I see it is that the Orthodox national churches are more prone to give rise to these things than the Catholic Church who is supranational. (Even if I must admit that some of the Croatians and some other Catholic peoples seem to be very nationalistic, so much so that they only want to attend mass in Croatian. The loss of latin in the Latin rite has actually lead to more nationalism.)

And of course we should all be Catholic, that’s the prayer of the Lord.

 

[Lance]

Just as wonderful and nonviolent as the Croatian ustasi in Great War.

Archbishop Stepinak in Croatia who oversaw genocide of 840,000 serbs for not being Catolic.
Alojzije (Aloysius) Viktor Cardinal Stepinac (May 8, 1898 – February 10, 1960) was a Croatian Catholic Prelate. He was Archbishop of Zagreb from 1937 to 1960. In 1946, in a verdict that polarised public opinion both in Yugoslavia and beyond, a Belgrade court found him guilty of collaborating with the Ustaše and complicity in allowing the forced conversion of Orthodox Serbs to Catholicism. He was sentenced to 16 years in prison, but after five years was released and confined to his home parish of Krašić. He was appointed a Cardinal in 1952 by Pope Pius XII. In 1998 Pope John Paul II declared him a martyr and beatified him, which again polarised public opinion.
Ante’ Pavelic, the bloody dictator of Croatia and the Archbishop of Zagreb Cardinal Stepinac oversaw probably the most cruelest genocide in human history. 840,000 people murdered because they weren’t Roman Catholics.

Jasenovac concentration camp (in Croatian: Logor Jasenovac in Serbian: Логор Јасеновац / Logor Jasenovac) was the largest concentration and extermination camp in Croatia during World War II. It was established by the Ustaša (Ustasha) regime of the Independent State of Croatia in August 1941. It was dismantled in April 1945.

No thank you, we should not all be Catolic!

I will follow St. Paul’s advice in Titus 3:9 “Avoid foolish arguments, genealogies, rivalries, and quarrels about the law, for they are futile.” You would do well to do the same.

 

[barb_finnegan]

I had a daydream once…it was the end of time, and in front of the Pearly Gates were the leaders of all the world’s Christian churches: the Pope, the Ecumenical Patriarch, the Armenian Catholicos, the Abp of Canterbury, the Moderator of the United Church…all with their particular Bible translations, concordances, catechisms, confessions, etc…arguing and shouting about who was “right” and who really understood God’s Word, whose Bible was “better”, what were the requirements for salvation…

Suddenly, the Lord appeared among them. All the church leaders clamoured to Him, “Lord! Lord! Tell us who is right! What is it You truly want of us?”

The Lord raised two fingers and counted off: “One: Love Me. Two: Love each other. Which one didn’t you understand?”

Oooo-good post…

I always hear about the brawls in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre-especially when the Eastern and Western Easters are on the same Sunday.

Very sad…

 

[GemmaRose]

Ahhhhhhhhhh I miss living in Brooklyn! There really are SO many beautiful Churches!!! A bit off topic, what part of Brooklyn do ya live in?

Is that proper grammar?

Shouldn’t it be, what part of Brooklyn do *youse *live in?

Wow, my bad! what part of Brooklyn do *youse *live in?

I live in Bay Ridge.

Back to topic, I’ve always wondered, what part of *“Father, may they be one…,” * don’t the various Christian church leaders understand?