Monday, April 22, 2013

Bishop McManus and dialogue with Muslims


In a previous post, I refuted Bishop Robert McManus' argument for rescinding the invitation of Mr. Robert Spencer to speak at this year's Catholic Men's Conference which was held in Worcester.  Specifically, Bishop McManus asserted that his decision was based, "..solely on the concern that Mr. Spencer's talk would impact negatively on the Church's increasingly constructive dialogue with Muslims."

And now we are suffering the aftermath of a heinous terrorist attack in Boston perpetrated by Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was radicalized by militant Islam and who possessed jihadist videos on his YouTube channel, and his younger brother Dzhokhar, who was more than likely influenced by the older brother's fanatical intolerance.

If our dialogue with Islam is as "constructive" as Bishop McManus would have us believe, why are Christians being put to death and persecuted by Muslims all around the world?  Why are Christian churches being destroyed? 

Lee Harris, in his important book entitled The Suicide of Reason: Radical Islam's Threat to the West, notes how Islam's fanatical intolerance isn't limited to the Taliban or groups which openly call for Jihad.  He writes, "Another example of the persistence of the fanatical intolerance of Muslims came to the world's attention in the same year as the cartoon riots.  A Muslim in Afghanistan had converted to Christianity - the same Afghanistan that the United States had liberated from the fanaticism of the Taliban.  But fanatical intolerance in Afghanistan clearly did not require an organization like the Taliban to keep it alive.  Here again, it sprang up quite spontaneously from the religious and learned mullahs and from the bulk of the peopleIslamic law demands that an apostate from Islam should be executed, and there were cries for blood that again took the form of riots and outrageous pronouncements from Muslim clerics, one of whom urged that the apostate be torn limb from limb by the people themselves.  Fortunately, due to pressure from the West, the man was flown out of Afghanistan to sanctuary in Italy." (p. 210).

There is a concerted effort within the Church to promote a false irenicism and some even wish to merge Christianity and Islam, which rejects the divinity of Christ.  Bishop McManus rescinded Robert Spencer's invitation to speak at the Catholic Men's Conference because he was worried Mr. Spencer's informative presentation might be offensive to Muslims in the State of Massachusetts.  I wonder how offensive he finds the Boston Marathon terrorist attack to be.

Important article written by Robert Spencer here.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dear friends, a number of my friends and one member of my family have given up allegiance to the Catholic Church which tolerates such essentially anti-Christian multi-culturalism, and others have soured on the Episcopal and ELCA denominations over similar stances. Until Christians begin to stand with Christian theology tall and above Islam, the stance of multi-cultural equality will sour more of us. Bishop McManus has put politics over Christ. May he be forgiven his sin, but may he also renounce it.

Michael Cole said...

Dzhokhar said, during an interview with police, that he and his brother were inspired by Islam which they converted to a couple of years ago.

Are you paying attention Bishop McManus?

Can Robert Spencer speak at next year's conference? And while we're at it, why is it that you freely listen to the Muslim community in Massachusetts and THEIR concerns but you didn't even give Robert Spencer the dignity of contacting him to explain your decision to un-invite him?

Strange days.

Paul Anthony Melanson said...

In the introduction to his book (see link to article within my Blog post), Robert Spencer says, "We must never think our obligation to be charitable can or should overwhelm our responsibility to bear witness to the truth."

If only Bishop McManus truly understood this!

Ellen Wironken said...

There is a call for the Holy See to investigate Bishop McManus and the Worcester Diocese.

See this link:

http://c.moreover.com/click/
here.pl?z8099785201&z=1600249774

D Goska said...

Thank you for this blog post. Also, may I please contact you? I don't understand the part of your profile that says "contact" and offers a word followed by "msn." Let me know. Thank you.

Paul Anthony Melanson said...

Danusha, thank you for your kind note. I may be reached at: cleghornboy@juno.com

Paul Anthony Melanson said...

http://www.catholicworldreport.
com/Item/2218/of_bishops_and_bombers.aspx#
.UX5qWbVaySo

Anonymous said...

Pope Francis set to commit “Islamophobia,” canonize 800 Christians murdered by jihadists after being ordered to convert to Islam or die

Posted by Deacon Robert Spencer on May 1, 2013
www.jihadwatch.org/2013/05/pope-francis-set-to-commit-islamophobia-canonize-800-italians-murdered-by-islamic-jihadists.html

This is not going to be good for the wonderful “dialogue” that is clearly accomplishing so very much. Remember the words of Bishop Robert McManus of Worcester last February: “My decision to ask Mr. Spencer not to speak at the Men’s Conference resulted from a concern voiced by members of the Islamic community in Massachusetts, a concern that I came to share. That concern was that Mr. Spencer’s 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 and possibly generate suspicion and even fear of people who practice piously the religion of Islam.”

So if the Pope highlights (as this canonization will, however indirectly) “extreme, militant Islamists and the atrocities that they have perpetrated” in Italy in 1480, will that “undercut the positive achievements that we Catholics have attained in our inter-religious dialogue with devout Muslims” in the Boston area, which are indeed such very great achievements, as we saw at the Boston Marathon? If Pope Francis wants to come to Worcester, will McManus bar him out of concern that his visit “might undercut the positive achievements that we Catholics have attained in our inter-religious dialogue with devout Muslims and possibly generate suspicion and even fear of people who practice piously the religion of Islam”?

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