What did Benedict XVI Really Say?

The complete text of the Pope's address at Regensburg can be found on the Vatican website. Lots more there than just the comments that made the Muslims so wickedly angry.

The best understanding of Benedict XVI and Islam that I've seen is found at The Observer, where a short history of Manuel Palaiologos is also found. The author, John Hooper in Rome, states:

Under Benedict, the key issue, in Vatican-speak, is not 'dialogue' but 'reciprocity'. Even before his election, there was a growing feeling among Catholic prelates that dialogue with Islam consisted largely of Catholic initiatives.

What is more, endless discussion did not seem to be solving the biggest outstanding problem between the two religions: that while Muslims were free to build mosques, worship and proselytise in the West, Christians were often denied religious freedom in Islamic countries.

Also read the short post by Mary Alexander who notes that the flag of Saudi Arabia displays a sword--wonder where that came from?

Mohammed's Command

Pope Benedict XVI has reminded us of Mohammed's command to spread Islam by the sword. Hopefully, his next step will be to encourage Muslims to become Christians. Yes, it does happen. See the ex-Muslim site for stories of why Muslims converted to Christianity.

What a contrast with John Paul II who blindly (and I'm being charitable!) apologized for the Crusades, entered a mosque to pray, and kissed the Koran.

Spraying for Heretical Pests

One of our fruit trees is well loaded with delicious apples at this time of year. To control pests, I sprayed the tree twice in the dormant stage with oil spray, and then used a commercial spray from late April through June when spraying stopped.

Since then, the tree has been partially reinfected and a few apples have worms--but the apples are not nearly as badly infected as in previous years. [For those readers who do not believe in commercial sprays, I previously painted a ring of sticky material around the trunk to keep insects from crawling up the tree, but the sticky stuff also adheres to young grandchildren!]

It seems that a reasonable comparison can be made between the Church and an apple tree. The apples are Catholic members of the Church who are prime targets for hereretical pests. Should the Church be sprayed routinely to eliminate the pests and other infectious diseases? If sprayings [appropriate disciplinary actions in the Church] are done, then pests will be killed to leave unblemished Catholic apples without worms.

Has the Church been sprayed since Vatican II? I would say almost no spraying to kill heresies has been done since 1960. The pests have full access to the tree and devour the apples as they wish. That's why so many rotten apples lie on the ground never to produce edible fruit.

Wikipedia Articles on Abortion

The Global Family Life News is an articulate publication of the Population Research Institute, founded by Fr. (Dr.) Paul Marx and headed by Steven W. Mosher. The August-September issue contains a section, Global Monitor, that describes population control issues in countries around the world. A new book written by the parents of Terri Schiavo is reviewed. The indefatigable Fr. Paul Marx also contributes three full pages to the current issue of this glossy, color publication.

The most interesting fact in this issue is noted by a woman who has returned from teaching English in China. She states that she found some of the wealthy Chinese families had quite a few children. For 12,000 yuan (approximately $10,000 US), a Chinese family can purchase the privilege of having another child. The government pockets the profits of selling people their own children.

Steven Mosher, the President of POP, was a speaker at a pro-life conference in Kansas City that I attended many years ago, before he became a Catholic. He was the first to tell the world that Chinese women were being forced to have abortions. There was a second non-Catholic who gave a talk on abortion at this conference. Dr. Bernard Nathanson was a Jewish doctor who was a co-founder of the National Abortion Rights Action League but who had recently become pro-life.
After the conference, Steven Mosher and Dr. Nathanson retired to a hotel room to talk with other speakers, mostly Catholic. I was told the meeting lasted until about 3 AM. I've often wondered if their conversion stories did not have a beginning in Kansas City.

NOW TO THE POINT--
A sidebar in Mosher's magazine encourages

you and any of your pro-life associates to become active as Wikipedia contributors and editors. There is a big problem with bias in articles on some topics, and abortion is one of those--there are a number of pages about abortion and related topics. Wikipedia works pretty much by consensus and numbers and there tend to be more pro-choicers making determined efforts to control articles than pro-lifers. They often try to get away with bias, and in greater numbers, they can. More pro-lifers need to balance things out, remove the bias, etc.

Anyone with school-age children knows Wikipedia is the largest on-line encyclopedia. It is accessed countless times a day, especially by young people, who will be influenced by what they find there. You can help.

Three Kansas City Meetings

The First Meeting
Bishop Finn is inviting everyone to attend tomorrow night's Ecumenical Rally against the Cloning Amendment. Dr. Alan Keyes is a featured speaker, and he is one of the best I've ever heard--especially when he debated other candidates for President of the U.S. a few years ago.

If you are able, join me and many other Catholics, Christians, and other people of good will at the VisionAmerica Rally to pray and advocate for the defeat of the Amendment 2 ballot initiative.

On Nov. 7, voters will decide whether our Missouri Constitution will be amended to authorize a type of biological experimentation on frozen human embryos, and also clearly includes cloning to produce human embryos and destroy them for their stem cells. Adult stem cell research has been successful and is supported by the Church.

The rally will be held at 7 p.m., Sept. 11, at the First Baptist Church, 10500 E State Rte 350, Raytown, MO and is open to the public.

The Second Meeting
Right to Life of Kansas will host its annual convention, "Turning Back to God as Creator," in a few more weeks. The meetings will start at 8:30 AM, October 14, 2006, at St. Paul Catholic Church Activity Center in Olathe, KS. Speakers include Hugh Owen, Jim Sedlak, Fr. Phil Wolfe, FSSP, Elmer Feldkamp, and several representatives from local Kansas City groups that aid unwed mothers keep their babies.

The cost of banquet, lunch, and sessions is $25, and students need to pay only for the evening banquet ($15) where Fr. Wolfe is expected to give one of his dynamic talks. To make a reservation, call 1-800-833-6632, or mail your check with name, address, and phone number to Barbara Rew, 516 E. Grace Terr., Olathe, KS 66061.

The Third Meeting
The Fellowship of Catholic Scholars is meeting on September 22-24 at the Hilton Airport Hotel. Their convention, "Sacrosanctum Concilium and the Reform of the Liturgy," will feature such speakers as Archbishop Malcolm Ranjith Patabendige Don (in absentia); Dr. James Hitchcock, Father Samuel Weber, OSB, Susan Treacy, Father Chrysoganus Waddell, OCSO; Denis McNamara and Duncan Stroik; Father Paul Mankowski; Kenneth Whitehead; Monsignor James Moroney; Helen Hull Hitchcock; Msgr. Stuart Swetland; and Russell Shaw. While I don't agree with all these speakers, it should be an interesting program that some of you might try to attend.

Of particular interest will be Archbishop Ranjith's address on "To the Heart of the Mystery," to be presented at 2:10 PM on Friday, September 22. It may be that his address will indicate the progress of the forthcoming papal exhortation that will finalize the proceedings of the synod of Bishops held in October 2005 on "The Eucharist, Source and Summit of the Church’s Life and Mission.”

In June, Archbishop Ranjith was interviewed by "La Croix" and I-MEDIA on liturgical issues, as is described in Chiesa. Archbishop Ranjith criticized the "many tendencies that have banished from view the authentic meaning of the liturgy.” He stated there is "a necessary correction, a reform of the reform. We must return to the liturgy in the spirit of the Council.”

To I-MEDIA, he said that every day, the Congregation for Divine Worship receives new complaints about serious liturgical abuses, and complaints that local bishops have failed to correct them. If the Church fails to curb these abuses, he said, "people will attend the Tridentine Mass, and our churches will be empty... We cannot conceal this. It is of our responsibility to be vigilant. Because, in the end, people will attend the Tridentine Mass and our churches will be emptied. The Tridentine Mass does not belong to Lefebvristes." He followed up on July 13 with additional comments that he said clarified his June 2006 remarks.

Ambrosius of The Cornell Society for a Good Time has more background information on Archbishop Ranjith who is favorable to the old Latin Mass and met in 2001 with Bishop Fellay of the SSPX.

The Kansas City convention program and registration is available here.