Col. Tom Snodgrass (Ret.), Right Side News
A Catholic Priest Has Set A Standard He Expects Bishops To Meet
Father George Rutler, pastor of the Church of St. Michael in Manhattan, has warned Christians that the ultimate objective of Muslim religious leaders is Islamic domination of Christian and Western civilization. This objective was clearly stated by Mohammad, creator of the Islamic cult.
“I have been commanded to fight people until they testify that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah”
In view of such an unambiguous threat, in his commentary Father Rutler has reminded Christians that active defense of their faith is an obligation.
The Catholic Church has always maintained that the defiance of an evil force is not only a right but an obligation. Its Catechism (cf. #2265) cites St. Thomas Aquinas: “Legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for someone responsible for another’s life, the common good of the family or of the State.”
For those who would argue that Christ counseled non-violence, Father Rutler points out in his commentary warning the difference between an individual responding to personal insult and the Christian Church defending its very existence from evil.
Turning the other cheek is the counsel Christ gave in the instance of an individual when morally insulted: Humility conquers pride. It has nothing to do with self-defense.
To remind Christians of their faith’s history of defending itself against Islam that has been forgotten (or suppressed), the priest recalls Christian saints who went into battle against Islamic jihadists.
Saint John Capistrano led an army against the Moors in 1456 to protect Belgrade. In 1601, Saint Lawrence of Brindisi did the same in defense of Hungary. As Franciscans, they carried no sword and charged on horseback into battle carrying a crucifix. They inspired the shrewd generals and soldiers, whom they had assembled through artful diplomacy, with their brave innocence.
With the examples of Islam-fighting saints in mind, Father Rutler sets the standard for Christian bishops.
A father is culpable if he does not protect his family. A bishop has the same duty as a spiritual father of his sons and daughters in the church, just as the civil state has as its first responsibility the maintenance of the “tranquility of order” through self-defense. [Emphasis added]
But today bishops don’t have to ride into battle against murderous Islamic jihadists to defend Christianity, instead modern day bishops must have the courage to confront the lie that “Islam is peaceful,” which is shielded by political correctness. But nevertheless the task of current Christian bishops is daunting and difficult because their battle is to get Christians to change their way of thinking from ignoring or denying the Islamic threat to their faith to facing the unpleasant truth and reality of the unending Islamic jihad against Christianity.
The dormancy of Islam until recent times, however, has obscured the threat that this poses — especially to a Western civilization that has grown flaccid in virtue and ignorant of its own moral foundations.
The shortcut to handling the crisis is to deny that it exists.
On the first day of the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, there were over 60 speeches, and yet not one of them mentioned ISIS.
Vice has destroyed countless individual souls, but in the decline of civilizations, weakness has done more harm than vice. “Peace for our time” is as empty now as it was when Chamberlain went to Munich and honor was bartered in Vichy.
Conclusion
The war for the soul of Christianity facing today’s bishops does not require their physical courage like saints of history in battle, but it does require tremendous moral courage to convince Christians that their religion is under existential threat and that they must change from being “flaccid in virtue and ignorant of Western Civilization’s moral foundations” to being armed with courageous virtue to defend Christianity’s moral foundations.
The question is, are Christian bishops and Christian laity up to the challenge?
