Massive Child Abuse is Acceptable Behavior in Islam

https://ex-muslim.tv/

Video is 1:30. Viewer discretion advised.

Beating children is a tradition well rooted in Islamic law and in many Islamic countries across the world.

Lesson: Child abuse is acceptable in Islam

As Today's Gospel Says, Actions Speak Louder than Words!

"Observe all things whatsoever they tell
 you, but do not follow their example.
For they preach but do not practice."
Matt 23

Jesus advises his listeners in today's gospel to obey what the Pharisees say, but not to imitate their actions.
That's a good lesson for us as we face the crisis in the Church. Let's look at some recent actions of members of the hierarchy (and the pope) and reflect on the consequences of those actions for the faith of the little ones in the pew.

Jesus was always concerned about simple believers and the responsibility of the teachers not to scandalize them. Today we are exposed to scandal on a daily basis from within the Church herself by false shepherds. And it is a serious threat to the faith.

• Amoris Laetitia: It goes without saying at this point that the actions arising out of the document Amoris Laetitia undermine the indissolubility of marriage.

A Great Idea for the Bishop's Lenten Appeal!

Most dioceses are in the midst of their big yearly fundraising program usually labeled the Bishop's Lenten Appeal. While we support some of what our appeal finances (particularly the seminary and seminarians) there is soooo much we can't support that we don't give at all or put in only a token amount so the pastor gets credit for participation. Then we give directly to things we do support: pro-life, the Poor Clares, faithful seminaries, authentic Catholic education, etc. We refuse to pour money into lobbying for open borders or supporting "charities" that fund intrinsic evils like abortion and contraception while they propagandize for liberalism.

Ex-Muslim Says He Doesn't Believe the Fairy Tale of Islam Anymore

https://ex-muslim.tv/

(23 second video)

Lesson: Islam is a fairy tale therefore it's the original fake news (as opposed to the Good News)

Well, this is amusing - a lego-style Donald Trump. Now all we need is a Lego White House!

You too can own your very own Donald Trump lego-type figure with hair that is interchangeable with a hard hat that reads "Make America Great Again." And Trump holds an executive order. I wonder if his other hand can hold a pen. Wouldn't that make a nice desk item for the President Trump lover in your family.

And this is not the only Trump item available. Check them all out here.

You can use some of your tax savings to buy a gold-plated $100 bill (for $6.95) with Trump's picture on it or a Trump lover's T-shirt.

I'm an Ex-Muslim Because I was Tired of Hating and Cursing My Enemies

https://ex-muslim.tv/

(This video is 40 seconds long)

Instead of hating and cursing his enemies, ex-Muslim Mohamad Faradi chose to love his enemies because "all of us are made in the Image of God." He was tired of cursing his enemies in a culture filled with hatred, fear and war. He says that the message of love healed his heart. Lesson: Christianity is filled with love; Islam is filled with hate.

Does My Face Look Happy Right Now?

The Family is the corporeal Image of God in this world - Man / Woman / Child. This family (husband's explanation is below the 52 second video) has all the attributes of God - love, kindness, calmness, forgiveness (well..."probably"), reconciliation and humor.

We need to send this child to Rome to scold Pope Francis. 

Random And Meandering Thoughts

AB Sorondo's Chinese Utopia.

• What times we live in eh? The Vatican is betraying the faithful Chinese bishops and throwing the persecuted underground Church under the bus. Retired Chinese Cardinal Zen has been very outspoken about the betrayal which has elicited the usual Vatican response -- a rebuke (without naming him).

• Telling the truth these days isn't popular at the Vatican. Archbishop Marcelo Sanchez Sorondo, head of the Vatican's Pontifical Academies for Sciences and Social Sciences, praised the current bloody Commie bosses who, according to him, have made the country a Utopia: no drugs, no "shantytowns," a country that has taken on a "moral leadership that others have abandoned." (This was likely a reference to Trump pulling out of the Paris Accord. China, of course, is a bastion of ecological responsibility!) The bishop must be clueless about the millions of forced abortions in China, the fact that most of the meth in the Philippines comes from China as well as the synthetic opioids that end up in the U.S., and that many people in the country live on the equivalent of a dollar day. Archbishop Sorondo apparently lives in the Potemkin Village!

Virginia Catholic Conference, Abortion, and the Tenth Amendment

My pastor recently asked me if I would be the point of contact in the parish for the Virginia Catholic Conference (VCC) which is basically the Catholic lobby group for the two Virginia dioceses, Arlington and Richmond. I rarely say yes to anything without giving it serious consideration and research, so I've been examining the VCC website and looking at their 2018 legislative agenda.

Not surprisingly, their agenda is filled with issues that are questions of prudential judgment (on things like immigration, gun control, consumer protection, etc.) rather than issues involving non-negotiable moral imperatives like abortion and same sex "marriage"; but I'll set that aside for a moment.

Saudi Blogger Got 1000 Lashes and 10 Years in Prison

Raif Badawi

https://ex-muslim.tv/

The wife of jailed Saudi blogger Raif Badawi, sentenced to ten years in prison and 1,000 lashes, said the first flogging (50 lashes a week for 20 weeks) nearly killed him. Of the large crowd gathered to watch, she said: "The crowd was cheering like it was a beach party."

Badawi was led by Saudi officials into the middle of the square in front of al-Jafali mosque in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. His crime is "insulting Islam by calling for free speech on his website." His treatment by authorities in Saudi Arabia is a vicious act of cruelty. In addition, Raif's lawyer received 15 years in prison for defending him. Lessons:  (1) Islam is cruel and (2) there is no freedom in Islam.

I've Seen People Being Beheaded in Public Squares

https://ex-muslim.tv/

People think that ex-Muslims only are in danger in countries where sharia law is practiced, but this Australian ex-Muslim is scared of being beheaded even though he's now in a free country.  Raised in Saudi Arabia, he says if his family knew he was an ex-Muslim and speaking out against Islam they would kill him. This man has seen people beheaded in public squares in Saudi Arabia and says that the same people killing their fellow Muslims are now in Australia. On his Facebook page he gets many death threats from Muslims such as, "The day will come when we will cut your head off, freak infidel." Lesson: Facebook censors "Islamophobia", but Facebook allows Muslims to issue death threats.

Fr. Spadaro and the Long Knives for Raymond Arroyo!

My colleague at Restore D.C. Catholicism has a great post on Fr. Spadaro's attack on Raymond Arroyo.

Father Spadaro Points Long Knives At Raymond Arroyo - Call Him Out On It

Spadaro retweeted a silly Twitter post calling for EWTN to be put under interdict unless they fire Arroyo for daring to criticize some of the appalling swill being brewed at the Vatican. Really...the vindictiveness of these clerics staggers the imagination. They strain at the gnat of orthodoxy and swallow whole the camel of heresy. I posted on Spadaro awhile ago pointing out how disingenuous he is. That seems to be a common quality of FOF (Friends of Francis).

What Are You Reading for Lent?

I always pick out a book for Lent to be my primary reading material. Since I read St. Francis de Sales Sermons for Advent, I decided to read his Sermons for Lent. He is, of course, addressing his sermons to religious, but they nevertheless are fruitful for the laity.

Since we arrived back from our Florida trip on Ash Wednesday and I had several days of catch up, I didn't read his Ash Wednesday sermon until this morning at adoration which is on fasting and how to do it properly and well. He firsts wants the reader to recognize how beneficial fasting is, so he describes four fruits of fasting well:

• fasting fortifies the spirit, mortifying the flesh and its sensuality
• it raises the spirit to God
• it fights cocupiscence and gives power to conquer and deaden its passions
• it disposes the heart to seek to please only God with great purity of heart

Islam is the Casual Evil That Poisons Everyone Who Calls Themselves Muslim

https://ex-muslim.tv/

American ex-Muslim Bosch Fawstin was raised in the Bronx by Albanian Muslim parents around the poisons of misogyny and Jew hatred. In Islam there is a casual admiration for Hitler, Islam's favorite infidel because Hitler killed more Jews than anyone. Every Islamic woman Bosch knew had been beaten by their husbands and his mother mourned the birth of her own granddaughters because of misogyny in Islam. Lesson: admiration for Hitler and Jew hatred is considered white supremacist thinking and is a cultural sin, but when Muslims hold the same admiration for Hitler because of their supremacist Islamic thinking, it becomes a cultural sin to speak out against Islam's hatred for Jews. 

Of Shakespeare and Radical Agendas

My Shakespeare book club met yesterday to discuss The Merchant of Venice. After talking about the play and its topical allusions to events of the day, i.e., executions of the Jesuit martyr Robert Southwell for being a Catholic priest and Elizabeth's Jewish physician for allegedly plotting her murder, etc. we watched the film version of the play with Al Pacino as Shylock and Jeremy Irons as Antonio (2004).

Appalling is too tame a word to describe what the director, Michael Radford, did to Shakespeare's script although many modern critics celebrated the film which made Shylock the hero and the Christians the villains. It as an anti-Christian, pro-homosexual rant that twisted Shakespeare in every which way to meet Radford's own perverse, modern agenda which was apparently to turn Shylock into a tragic hero and cast the Christians as the devilish demons and Jew persecutors.

I Told My Devout Family I Am Taking Off My Veil

https://ex-muslim.tv

Her brother brutally beat her and her mother fears the wrath of God for Esraa's sin of not wearing a veil. Lesson: in Islam it's considered a sin to take off the veil, but in Islam it isn't considered a sin to viciously beat your sister.

May the Wind of Freedom Blow Away the Last Hijab Ever Forced on a Woman's Hair

https://www.ex-muslim.tv/

While "Islamophobia" is made a crime punishable by fines and prison time, ex-Muslims are speaking out trying to find a media voice for their side of the coin, none of which the mainstream media will publish since being an ex-Muslim goes against their agenda and that of the Left, the European Union, United Nations and the 57 member nations of the Organization of Islamic Countries.

Ex-Muslim.tv is a group of courageous ex-Muslims featuring a series of short two minute videos of ex-Muslims explaining why they left Islam.

Each day during Lent I will post videos from ex-Muslim.tv. These beautiful young ex-Muslim men were all killed by Islam. Lesson: in Islam apostasy is a sin, but it isn't a sin in Islam to brutally murder an apostate.

Sunday Meditation: Isolation is the Devil's Workshop!

 Family life is an antidote to isolation!

I was reading the Lectio Divina (commentary on the Gospel) in my Magnificat before Mass this morning and stopped abruptly to reflect a bit when I reached this passage from St. John Chrysostom:

"The Spirit drags Jesus into the desert, since he wanted to draw the devil there; and Jesus gave occasion to him not only on account of his hunger but also on account of the place: for then most especially does the devil attack, when he sees people isolated and by themselves."

Jesus was attacked and tempted in His isolation. When, I asked myself, have I been most tempted to discouragement and despair? Isn't it when I feel alone, abandoned by those around me? I remember one Christmas years ago when many challenges robbed me of joy. Surrounded by family, I nevertheless felt alone, my spirit locked in darkness. I felt isolated and unhappy, but resisted the temptation to rob joy from those around me. So I smiled and prepared the feast although my heart felt like a stone. By the end of the day, serving others had lifted my spirits considerably. Which I think is a serious lesson. When we stop looking at ourselves in our misery and look outward to others (and especially to the face of Jesus), we cannot remain stuck in the slough of despond.

Guest Post: Young Eastern Europeans Study Free Market Ways with Project Arizona

"It's the North Star of my life to look to God."

Dexter Duggan has a fascinating article at The Wanderer describing a project in Arizona that brings Eastern European interns to the United States to learn free-market philosophy to take home to their countries. These young adults know the reality of Communism and state very clearly that those who advocate for socialism have little understanding of what it really entails. We live in times when many who spout off about everything, know almost nothing. Check out Dexter's article. Here's the beginning:

Of Lent and Computer Crashes

It's been an interesting week. My computer crashed last Saturday while we were vacationing in Florida. One minute it was working fine and the next all I could get after the welcome message was a black screen.

You never realize how dependent you are on technology until it fails you. It seems the poor computer was dying. Fortunately, my techie son-in-law could retrieve the data from the hard drive and I now have an Apple (installed tonight) that I need to learn how to use. Oh goodie! He assures me it is more secure than my old laptop and besides four of my children have switched to Apple and think they're great. Who am I to argue with all my smart, tech-savvy kids?

Having Washed Off the Ashes, Now What?

Yesterday those who went to mass were told by the priest or deacon as he marked their foreheads with ashes, “for dust you are and unto dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:19)  Anyone who is not Catholic might consider this a terrible pronouncement of the uselessness of this life.

Is RCIA the best the Church Can Offer Those Seeking to Enter the Bark of Peter?

My grandson, Aidan Thomas, will be receiving his First Communion this spring and our whole family is revving up with excitement. He has a great yearning, obvious to us, to receive the Body of Christ on his tongue and be one with the rest of his family in the practice of our faith. 

Don't Fall for the Seamless Garment Scam!

Cardinal Bernardin,
scam artist extraordinaire 

Cardinal Joseph Bernardin made a career out of speaking with an orthodox tongue while he undermined serious moral issues. His "seamless garment" provided cover to many pro-abortion Democrats like Ted Kennedy who could posture on the moral high ground as a serious Catholic while he voted to dismember babies in the womb. I mean he opposed executing serial killers, for heaven't sake! How much more "Catholic" can you be?

I wrote the other day about the 14 Catholic senators who refused to support the ban on aborting babies after 20 weeks who feel the pain of being torn limb from limb. Many of the abortion-enabling politicians use the "seamless garment" to justify themselves. They continually tell us how much they just luuuuuuv the weak and vulnerable...with one exclusion (well, millions of exclusions actually) -- babies waiting to be born. Hey, the babies can't vote and won't be fodder for elections for years, so who needs 'em? After all, the feminists and pro-abort adults can vote and pandering to them is a career enhancer for Democrats.

Overcome the Darkness with the Light of Hope!

When you think the world's in twilight before dark
consider you may be seeing the coming dawn!

There is much these days to rob the most optimistic Catholic of hope. The dark clouds gather not only over our world and our country, but over the Church as well. When oppressive gloom begins to depress us, we would do well to remember the slogan of the Christophers: “It’s better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.” And if we have eyes to see, that single candle illuminates signs of hope everywhere, because hope is higher and wider than despair. Let me share a few examples.

Anthony Esolen, the persecuted English professor who got into hot water with the diversity barbarians at purportedly Catholic Providence College, recently described an experience at his new academic home, St. Thomas More College in Merrimack, NH:

Liberals Are Cannibals; They Eat Their Own

Democrats and Republicans busy
about their cannibalistic rituals

"Late last week, New York Times columnist David Brooks tried to wake liberals up to the dangers of their abortion fixation -- and became a punching bag instead. The Left unleashed on Brooks for focusing on the party's greater good, responding with all sorts of vile, profane-laced tirades for committing the unforgiveable sin: questioning their abortion orthodoxy."

What a laugh to see "tolerant" liberal cannibals light a fire under their cauldron to cook Brooks after he dared to challenge their sacramental rite of abortion. You know...their "abortion on demand without apology and with no limits" policy. I have to say reading about it made me laugh.

Fr. Tom Collins on Illegal "Immigrants"

Infiltrators are like strangler
fig trees that suck the life
out of their hosts until death!

I am concerned at how the left is being allowed to determine the terminology used to define the whole immigration issue. Those who have entered our nation illegally are not immigrants, they are infiltrators. Immigrants respect the laws, customs and traditions of the nation that is graciously hosting them. They also intend to enhance the life of that nation with the blessings of their own historical and cultural heritage. Infiltrators, on the other hand, furtively enter a nation. They despise its laws and traditions and treat it much as a parasite treats a host, sucking out its life-blood while infecting it with lethal pathogens.

It is sad that we allow drug traffickers, human traffickers, violent gang members, rapists, kidnappers, jihadists and murders to be dignified by Democrats with the name, “immigrants”. Also, the lax enforcement of our immigrations law demanded for years by many Democrats has encouraged parents to urge their unaccompanied vulnerable children to go on a hazardous journey to America through a gauntlet of merciless human traffickers and drug smugglers looking for some more “mules” to transport their lethal contraband into the United States. It is interesting to note how many Democrats want to treat such parents as human rights’ heroes, while at the same time they want to vigorously prosecute for child neglect any American mother, who merely leaves her  sleeping child in her house for two minutes, while she gets a cup of sugar from a next-door neighbor. 

Thomas Collins

Covington VA

Great Men and the People Who Influence Them

This conversation about Donald Trump and G.K. Chesterton fascinates me.  When someone left a comment to my post last week about Dale Ahlquist and the American Chesterton Society I thought it a curious thing and I was glad, Mary Ann, when you, a great follower of Chesterton and a long standing member of "the club" picked up on it with your own post. 
Two facts I believe to be important need to be inserted here.

Pray for Priests, Especially the False Shepherds in Danger of Hell

Dymphna has a prayer for unfaithful priests on her blog that I prayed this morning. I invite you to join me. We need our priests desperately for the salvation of our souls. What a blessing when a bad priest repents and returns to the faithful service of his people. What a blessing if we love our priests so deeply and sincerely that we pray and fast and sacrifice for them, especially those most in need of the mercy of God.

Lord Jesus, High Priest and King of Kings, have mercy on us!

Our Lady, Queen of the Clergy and Help of All Christians, pray for us!

How Chestertonian is the American Chesterton Society?

For Dale Ahlquist and co.

Following my post Friday on the Chesterton Society's attack on Trump and discussing Dale' Ahlquist's support for allowing certain people living in adulterous situations to return to Communion, several Facebook Friends chimed in with interesting comments. I think what they have to say is worth sharing.

A lawyer friend said that "the saying [Dale mentioned] that the exception proves the rule means the opposite of what Dale suggests it means."

Just goes to show that being a fan of Chesterton doesn't necessarily mean you are as clear a thinker or as precise in your use of language.

If I'd Gotten Off That Train, I'd Be Dead Right Now

Captured Christian white slaves being auctioned
in the Muslim Ottoman Empire

This is a true story about how dangerous Europe (anywhere really but especially Europe with its millions of recent Muslim arrivals and skyrocketing crime against women) is today for unsuspecting young girls and women. My granddaughter is going to Europe this summer, but when I give warnings for her to "be careful" my daughter's response is exactly the same as Carlo's wife's response all those years ago.

When I was 19 and young, naive and innocent I went to school in Padua and Venice staying with friends of my parents, Carlo and Ann. It was a glorious experience but often I think back to how I certainly was almost kidnapped, drugged and sold into the white slave market. (Today it's called human trafficking.) At that time people thought the destination of a white slave was a harem deep in Saudi Arabia where women were cosseted and plied with lotions and oil on their skin, watched over by a eunuch and called to the bed of the sheikh at his command. However, now a more likely fate occurs to me - I might have been pimped out by the Mafia or sold to a Neapolitan drug gang.

Reminder: Pray the Rosary today for the Purification of the Church

Today is the rosary crusade project to pray for the purification of the Church and the triumph of the light of Christ over all sin and error. This is something we desperately need! As soon as I finish this post, my husband and I are lighting a candle and praying our rosary joined in heart with the many others dedicated to this purpose. Read about the project here and if you are late in reading this, remember that time is all one to God, and join in the rosary for these intentions.

Chesterton, Dale Ahlquist, and the Civil War in the Church

I'm a great fan of G.K. Chesterton and the American Chesterton Society. Let me amend that statement. I am a great fan of Chesteron and was a great fan of the Society. Dale Ahlquist, its founder, has done a splendid job bringing Chesterton to a modern culture that knew little about him. If Chesterton isn't yet a household word, there are many in the last two decades who have come to know him through Dale's work and programming on EWTN. I congratulate him for that.

Unfortunately there's a "but." The first problem for me was the Society jumping on the hate-Trump bandwagon. Up to that time I belonged to the Society, had attended several of their annual conferences, and subscribed to Gilbert, the Society's magazine. I did not renew my subscription, however, after the Society's taking sides that would have, if successful, guaranteed Hillary Clinton's election. After several anti-Trump articles, the final straw was a suggestion from one of their main writers to enter Chesterton's name on the ballot as a write-in. What insanity! So I did not renew my subscription and have no plans to attend another conference.