Islamic Children See First Line of Communication Between Father and Mother is VIOLENCE

THE BIG TEN
Worshiping a false god, killing, hatred,
adultery, revenge, no forgiveness,
pridefulness, stealing, lying, coveting

"Violence is the first option to solving problems in the Islamic family. Muhammad was married to 13 women at the same time, he waged 80 wars in the last eight years of his life, he took women as prisoners of war and made sex slaves of them - why should an enlightened person of the 21st Century not criticize this man? Why does he deserve immunity from criticism?" - Hamad Abdel-Samad, Egyptian-German scholar

Video:
Hamad Abdel-Samad on MEMRI (Middle East Media Research Institute)

Must read: Deo Volente: Top Ten Acts of MERCY by the Prophet of Islam

Praying for You While I'm on Retreat; In Your Kindness, Please Pray for Us!

Our Lady's Lamp will be shining brightly
as my annual Ignatian retreat begins.

I'm leaving today for my annual five day silent retreat with Fr. James Buckley (FSSP) using the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius. This particular retreat will have three generations of Kreitzer women attending, since I will be there with my daughter and her daughter, our oldest grandchild.

What a blessing! And what a memory! We plan to get a photo with Fr. Buckley together. I imagine this may be the first time he has a retreat with three generations from the same family.

My daughter has attended several times over the past 15 years with me, but this will be a first time for the third generation.

Guest Post: When a Father has Courage, He stands Up to Dragons!

"The wicked witch is dead!"

Editor's note: Fr. Sobus didn't choose the title for this post. I did. He is, indeed, a man of courage. May God give us many more such priests. Remember, you fathers out there, one of the most important things you can do for your children is to give them an example of courage. It isn't easy standing up to a corrupt bishop or a corrupt culture, but like the early Christian martyrs, we face murderous tyrants. Teach your children to be martyrs. It may come to that.

Fathers' Day Post by Fr. James Sobus

One of the most powerful scenes in that great classic movie, The Wizard of Oz, was the castle scene. Do you remember that one? Dorothy and her friends were trapped inside the castle of the Wicked Witch of the West and being chased by her furry castle guards and the flying monkeys. Then the grande encounter occurs: It’s Dorothy and her companions face to face against the Witch and her minions. It seemed the odds were completely against them. The scarecrow’s arm is set on fire by the Witch and Dorothy, in an attempt to save him grabs a bucket of water and tosses it at the burning arm but inadvertently splashes water on the Witch melting her to death. Then comes the moment of truth: what will the Witches’ minions do to Dorothy and her friends for having killed their leader??? To their shock and amazement, the soldiers bow down proclaiming, “Hail to Dorothy, the Wicked Witch is dead!”

Of Cults and Cult Leaders and the Sad Story of Fr. Jonathan Morris

It's painful to read the stories about former priest, Jonathan Morris, and his exit from the Legionairies of Christ and the priesthood. Steve Skojec wrote about his own experience with the Legionairies in Why I'm Not So Quick to Judge Jonathan Morris for Leaving the Priesthood. I laughed a little when I read the article (about not judging) because, as my colleague Chriss experienced personally, Skojec can be pretty quick to judge someone if he or she dares to disagree with him even in small matters. But that's a discussion for another day.

Islam in Canada's Public Schools - Boys in front, girls in back and girls with their period in the faaaar back

Muslims want you to know
that these 8 girls are menstruating.

Girls are not only separated from boys in this public school's mosque in the cafeteria, but girls having their periods are separated from girls not having their periods. 

All girls are separated from boys by a long barrier of folded wooden cafeteria tables. 

Next, girls having their periods are placed in the far back separated from girls not having their periods. Apparently, they are not to pray kneeling with their backsides toward Heaven like the others, so there's even a rule about that.

Who is checking which girls are having their periods? Or does this Islamic command go by the honor system? And has anyone checked the hijabed woman standing up front by the boys to see if she is currently menstruating? What makes her worthy of standing in the male section?

Of Power and Pointy Hats: The Next Church Scandal is about the MONEY!

I like to read the Brits' view of things and here's  a U.K. story about Wheeling and the money scandal from the Catholic Herald. 

A new report gives a disturbing insight into the way that money circulates among Church leaders. How long can it continue?

Here's a bit from the article:

Bishop Sheen in Rochester: The Alinsky Connection

In a 1974 Playboy interview Saul Alinsky said,
"If there is an afterlife, and I have anything to say
  about it, I will unreservedly choose to go to hell."

What can I say? The bloom is off the rose. I can still appreciate much of Fulton Sheen's work, but I can never read it again without a critical eye.  Learning about Sheen's Teilhard enthusiasm got me looking a little deeper into his social justice work. Stephanie Block, an expert on Alinsky community organizing, told me awhile back about Fulton Sheen's connections to Alinsky activities in Rochester. I didn't look into it at the time and forgot about it. It's disturbing to see that Sheen was an active enabler of Alinsky's radicalism. If he were alive today, I hope he would realize the error of some of his beliefs and actions and repudiate them. We'll never know. 

Would Sheen have supported a priest like Fr. Michael Pfleger in Chicago? I can't imagine it, but the priest he made his social justice guru, Fr. David Finks, sounds a lot like Pfleger who's even too much for liberal Cardinal Blase Cupich. Finks worked with the Alinsky organization FIGHT that targeted Kodak. During his tenure at the USCCB, he helped to create the notorious Catholic Campaign for Human Development which allowed Alinsky organizing groups (that support intrinsic evils condemned by the Church) to pick the pockets of the faithful. He later left the priesthood and married. And this was the man in whom Sheen put so much trust. It is disheartening to see how a man can be misled into undermining the good he does with their right hand, by the evil he supports with the left. But I don't intend to inter the good Sheen did with his bones. We have much to thank him for: his vigorous opposition to Communism, his constant urging for priests to make a daily holy hour, the excellence of so much of his writing, the conversions he fostered like Bella Dodd. Pray for Fulton Sheen and learn a little more about him in this 50 year old snapshot from Catholic Digest.

Th Devil's Advocate Needs to Look at This One! Fulton Sheen and Teilhard de Chardin: Strange Bedfellows?

Teilhard de Chardin

I've read many books by Fulton Sheen and watched a number of his old TV shows from Life is Worth Living. Much of what he's written is beautiful, insightful, and thought provoking. But one thing completely baffles me -- his fulminating admiration for Teilhard de Chardin. 

What got me thinking about this was a sermon I listened to from Pentecost Sunday contrasting the "Apostle of Rome," St. Phillip Neri, and Chardin, the "Apostle of Modern Thought," Chardin's story is creepy to say the least.

In his writings he describes an encounter in the desert with "The Thing" that sounds similar to the encounter Mohammed had in the desert with an angel, a dark angel for sure! As described, the event bears NO resemblance to any encounter with Christ any saint has ever described. I'm even curious as to whether the "companion" Chardin mentioned was a "spirit guide." Here's how Father described it in his sermon contrasting Chardin's bizarre encounter to the mystical union between St. Philip Neri and Jesus:

The Bus, The Bollard, and The Blessed Mother

We returned last week from our Pilgrimage to Italy with a small group from our parish, including our pastor, Fr. Dennis Kleinmann.  Three things in particular that we witnessed will forever stand out as the most remarkable memories of the trip. 

The first involves our tour bus, which was a normal European touring coach, our excellent driver, and our wonderful tour guide, Marco.