Book Review: "Submission" - a novel on Islam and the decomposition of Western Europe

Soumission [Submission] (publisher: Flammarion), the latest novel by Michel Houellebecq, reaches bookstores on January 7. For François Maillot, director of the La Procure [religious] bookstore in Paris, such a work prompts Christians to wake up.

François Maillot
[French Christian weekly] La Vie 
January 5, 2015

[...]

This book has not yet been released, and everyone already knows the plot. It is about France in 2022, which witnesses the confrontation, in the second round of the presidential elections, of the candidate of the National Front and the chairman of the Muslim party, Mohamed Ben Abbes. The narrator, François (I cannot but see in the choice of this name the designation of this character as the archetypal Frenchman...), a university professor who is a Huysman* expert, but who remained an atheist, witnesses this incredible electoral conclusion, while completely tied down in the problems of his personal life, limited to his university career and the angst of not being anymore capable of seducing women[...]. Faced with this political storm, a mysterious character of the secret services, Alain Tanneur, will give him the comprehension keys that will lead him to accept the idea of submitting himself to Muslim domination.

"Nous y sommes... Ce n'est qu'un début." This is just the beginning

A terrorist attack and a massacre in a newspaper in Paris. The following day, to the south of the city, a related individual shoots down a female police officer. On the very next day, a hostage situation in the outskirts of the Paris airport to the north of the city. Then, hours later, another hostage situation in the Porte de Vincennes region of Paris, shutting down completely the beltway (périphérique) around the city.

Just yesterday we said that, "such events will become each time more common in the upcoming decades as frightening wars of religion of unknown violence unfold by installments throughout the cherished cities and fields of that Europe all Christians love so much." At this very moment, experts on French television and radio networks are openly using the word "guerre" (war) about the moment, and one declares openly: "Nous y sommes... Ce n'est qu'un début." (We've reached it...this is just the beginning.)

The Crisis of the Church is a Crisis of Bishops:French bishop defames Melkite Catholic Patriarch over Syria, cautions against "demonization" of jihadists

Bishop Dagens

From the blog of the Society of St. John Chrysostom:

The Tablet - Bishop denounces Melkite Greek Catholic Patriarch

The above blog post not only reproduces the Tablet article, but also provides a detailed chronicle of Bishop Claude Dagens' attack on Patriarch Gregory III on Radio Notre-Dame and the Patriarch's response. Bishop Dagens also called for a war to topple the Assad regime, in the opposite sense of the Pope's insistent calls for peaceful and negotiated solutions. 

Le Salon Beige's brief report on the matter quotes the Bishop as saying during his interview: Il faut faire très attention à ne pas diaboliser tous les jihadistes! (We must be very careful not to demonize all jihadists!)

To our knowledge, not a single Latin-Rite Bishop has stood up so far in defense of the Melkite Patriarch. 

Claude Dagens, Ordinary of the Diocese of Angoulême since 1993, is no "ordinary" French bishop, being the sole Catholic cleric who is an immortel of the Académie française, occupying Seat No. 1. It will be of interest to our readers (though not a complete surprise) that he happens to be one of the few French bishops who have completely blocked the application of Summorum Pontificum in his diocese, with the result that the sole Traditional Latin Mass in his diocese is served by the Fraternity of the Transfiguration, which is affiliated with the SSPX. 

16 killed in Nigerian Catholic Cathedral [Updated]

More attaks by Islamic terrorists today claimed the lives of scores of Christians in the state of Kaduna, Nigeria, including 10 killed and 50 injured in an attack to the Cathedral of Christ the King, of the Diocese of Zaria. [Update: the number of Catholics killed in the attack in the Cathedral has risen to 16.]

From the local paper Daily Trust:

Breaking News: Kaduna confirmed death toll now 34, ...156 wounded

... From the blast at the Christ the King Cathedral at No. 80 Yoruba street Daily Trust confirmed 10 dead and over 50 injured. .

...  Three churches were attacked this morning by suicide bombers in Kaduna. One went off at the Evangelical Church of West Africa (ECWA) church, Wusasa and another at the Christ the King Cathedral Catholic church at No. 80, Yoruba Street, Sabon Gari, Zaria, just behind the Army Depot, Zaria where all Nigerian soldiers receive their basic training. The third church, Shalom Church at Trikania close to Abuja Fly over and Textile Labour house, was hit by multiple explosions around 10:17am.

The Counsel of Trent

From Messa in Latino:

On Holy Thursday, in the Church of San Lorenzo, in central Trent, [Father Giorgio Butterini, a Franciscan,] delivered to his faithful a leaflet of prayers, including the following: "In the name of Allah, the Compassionate and the Merciful. Praise be to Allah, Lord of the worlds, the Compassionate, the Merciful, the King of Judgment Day. We worship you, and we ask you for your help, guide us on the path of righteousness..."

Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia: Destroy all churches in the Arabian Peninsula

From Arabian Business.Com:

Destroy all churches in Gulf, says Saudi Grand Mufti

The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia has said it is “necessary to destroy all the churches of the region,” following Kuwait’s moves to ban their construction. 

Speaking to a delegation in Kuwait, Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah, stressed that since the tiny Gulf state was a part of the Arabian Peninsula, it was necessary to destroy all of the churches in the country, Arabic media have reported. 

Saudi Arabia’s top cleric made the comment in view of an age-old rule that only Islam can be practiced in the region. The Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia is the highest official of religious law in the Sunni Muslim kingdom. He is also the head of the Supreme Council of Ulema (Islamic scholars) and of the Standing Committee for Scientific Research and Issuing of Fatwas. 

A Kuwaiti parliamentarian said last month he wanted to ban the construction of churches and non-Islamic places of worship in the Gulf state. MP Osama Al-Munawer announced on Twitter he planned to submit a draft law calling for the removal of all churches in the country. 

He later clarified that existing churches should remain but the construction of new non-Islamic places of worship should be banned.

The Egypt-based news agency Bikya Masr notes (in Christians angry as Saudi Grand Mufti calls for churches to be destroyed) that this declaration comes only a few months after Saudi Arabia partnered with Switzerland in establishing an institute of tolerance. 

Regem Martyrum Dominum, venite adoremus

Thank you, dear Muslims, for more martyrs who will intercede for us in heaven, where they are with God Incarnate.

From The Wall Street Journal (and other sources), in the spirit of the Child Jesus, who was natus ad hoc, that is, to die for us:

DECEMBER 25, 2011

LAGOS, Nigeria — An explosion ripped through a Catholic church during Christmas Mass near Nigeria's capital Sunday, killing at least 25 people, officials said. A radical Muslim sect waging an increasingly sophisticated sectarian fight claimed the attack and another bombing in the restive city of Jos, as explosions also struck the nation's northeast.

The Christmas Day attacks show the growing national ambition of the sect known as Boko Haram, which is responsible for at least 491 killings this year alone, according to an Associated Press count. The assaults come a year after a series of Christmas Eve bombings ... .

Let us pray for the wounded and for the families of the deceased: Omnes sancti martyres, orate pro nobis.

Teaching Catholic girls to become good Muslims

Sometime in October of this year, students of the Saint-Pierre School (a Catholic school in the Diocese of Luçon, located in the commune of Les Essarts in the Vendée) visited the mosque of La Roche-sur-Yon, accompanied by their teachers. The purpose: to "soak in" the spirit of Islam. It seems that they succeeded, judging from these pictures:

Source: Website of the Italian District of the SSPX

H/t: Messa in Latino

Liberation: like the Allies in Rome

OK, not exactly:

Libya's transitional leader has declared liberation of the country ... . Mustafa Abdul-Jalil also told thousands of supporters at a ceremony on Sunday that Islamic Sharia law would be the "basic source" of legislation in the country, and that existing laws that contradict the teachings of Islam would be nullified. [CBS News and several sources.]

[The Telegraph adds:] Mr Abdul-Jalil went further, specifically lifting immediately, by decree, one law from Col. Gaddafi's era that he said was in conflict with Sharia - that banning polygamy.

Rome, by the way, is slightly closer to Tripoli, the capital of Italy's former colony in North Africa, than it is to Paris, Brussels, Berlin, or Athens. Let us pray for Christians in nations with Muslim majorities!

Well, at least, "we'll always have Paris" - and Assisi!

["Meeting of the religions for peace", promoted by the Catholic Church in Paris on the same day as the Assisi pilgrimage. Image source: Sant'Egidio]

Grazie, Bishop Crusade!!!Takbir to be heard all over Milan

So, no reciprocity from Saudi Arabia, then? How appropriate that the Bishop's name is Crociata (Crusade)!

Italy: Muslims thank Italian bishops leader for backing Milan mosque 

Milan, 25 May (AKI) - Italy's largest Muslim group has sent a message to Italy's highest ranking bishop to thank him for his organisation's support for a project to construct a mosque in Milan, the country's conservative business hub. 

In the message to Angelo Bagnasco, who leads Italy's Bishops' Conference (CEI), the UCOII said: "We are relieved and immensely grateful for the position voiced by senior officials from the Italian Bishops' Conference in support of official places of worship for Muslims, an issue which nowadays has wrongly become a political hot potato." 

"The brotherly solidarity of the great majority of Christians, which we have experienced at thousands of inter-faith gatherings and debates, has been strongly confirmed," the statement added. 

Speaking to journalists on Tuesday during the CEI's general assembly at the Vatican, CEI secretary-general Mariano Crociata said the Catholic Church backed "the right to freedom of worship and places of worship to exercise this fundamental right".

No Pater, please: we're secular

News of the celebration of the 800th anniversary of the dedication of the Cathedral of Reims, which took place last Friday:

According to the cultural assistant of the Mayor of Reims, Jacques Cohen, "we had to discuss with the archbishop [Abp. Thierry Jordan] so that the Our Father would not be sung or recited" during the ceremony for the eighth centennial of Reims Cathedral. "We [the staff of Socialist mayor Adeline Hazan] are secular [laïques]." They finally won their struggle. And if the Ave-Maria was tolerated, it was because the Cathedral is called Notre-Dame... "We had to negotiate, that took place directly between city hall and the archbishop. It was not simple," confirmed, outside the ceremony, auxiliary Bishop Joseph Boishu.

Celebrating the Muslim invasions

1300 years ago, the great Muslim invasion of Europe began as Arab armies led by Tariq ibn Ziyad crossed what was then still known as the Pillars of Hercules and would thenceforth be known as the Straits of Gibraltar (Jabal Tariq).

As darkness rapidly engulfed the Catholic Visigothic territories of the Iberian Peninsula, Christians would begin a journey of between a few decades and 750 years (depending on the region in which they lived in Hispania) of bloodshed, continuous humiliation, and repression.

Not for the Virginia Military Institute (thanks to Spanish daily ABC for alerting us to this), which celebrates with a conference the mostly horrendous years of Arab domination in the Iberian peninsula, and describes it thus:

Join academic, political, and cultural leaders to address topics vital to our future: how to transform education, promote tolerance, inspire political reform, and advance human development so that we can build on the spirit and historical successes at those times when Christians, Jews, and Muslims lived side by side in Western Europe, forging a society that lit the Dark Ages.

Right... "Lit" the Dark Ages in a bonfire of blood, sharia, and dhimmitude, right? Living as a dhimmi can be quite peaceful and spiritually inspirational - though it is not exactly living side by side with one's Muslim superiors... In our modest opinion,  as an institution dedicated to military matters, they should get ready to study the underlying inner strength which ignited a relentless crusade of seven centuries, from the revolt of Pelagius of Asturias in Covadonga (the Cave of Our Lady), in 718, and the great victory of Charles Martel in Tours-Poitiers, in 732, to the final extinction of Arab domination in the peninsula in Granada, in the significant year of 1492. 

What else do Muslims need to do in our own days so that scholars can stop romanticizing an inexistent peaceful and joyful Al-Andalus? 

How DARE the Pope ask for protection for Christians!!!

From the Grand Imam of Al Azhar (Islam's oldest and most prestigious center of learning) no less -- definitely not a "marginal" or "fringe" figure in Islam, and one of the 300+ signatories of the supposedly ground-breaking and pro-"dialogue" A Common Word Between Us and You addressed by Muslim scholars to the Pope and other Christian leaders.

Grand Imam of Al-Azhar accuses Pope of meddling

Egypt's top Muslim cleric on Sunday criticised Pope Benedict XVI's call for world leaders to defend Christians as interference in his country's affairs, the official MENA news agency reported.

CAIRO (Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Egypt's top Muslim cleric on Sunday criticised Pope Benedict XVI's call for world leaders to defend Christians as interference in his country's affairs, the official MENA news agency reported.

The call, following a deadly church car-bombing in northern Egypt, was "unacceptable interference in Egypt's affairs," Ahmed al-Tayeb, the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, the oldest Islamic seat of learning, told reporters. "I disagree with the pope's view, and I ask why did the pope not call for the protection of Muslims when they were subjected to killings in Iraq?" (Yes. The Pope should be a good dhimmi first and put Muslim concerns ahead of everything else before daring to ask for anything at all. CAP) he said at a news conference. Benedict at a New Year's Mass at the Vatican appealed for the "concrete and constant engagement of leaders of nations" to protect Christians in the Middle East, in what he termed a "difficult mission." In the wake of rising tension and "especially discrimination, abuse and religious intolerance which are today striking Christians in particular, I once again launch a pressing appeal not to give in to discouragement and resignation," he said.

Tayeb, who renewed his condemnation of the New Year's Eve church bombing which cost 21 lives, said Azhar, the highest institute in Sunni Islam, would form a joint committee with the Coptic Church to resolve disputes between the communities. The committee, which should begin its work in two weeks, will "discuss reasons for deterioration (in Muslim-Copt ties) and propose appropriate solutions," he said. Tayeb later met with the head of Egypt's Coptic Church, Pope Shenouda III, at his headquarters in Cairo's St Mark Cathedral.

An Austrian David stands against the Turkish Goliath

I got this on Facebook two days ago and I've seen it reposted again and again on blogs and other FB profiles, but in case some of you haven't watched this:

Austrian MP Ewald Stadler adresses Turkish Ambassador 

(Note: this is NOT an endorsement of Mr. Stadler's other statements and political platform. CAP)

"I would like Christians in Europe to become more Christian..."

From a recent article in EUobserver:

EUOBSERVER / JERUSALEM - One of the luminaries of the international Jewish community, Rabbi David Rosen, has warned that Europe risks being "overrun" by Islam unless it rediscovers its Christian roots.

Speaking to journalists at a meeting in Jerusalem on Friday (26 November), Rabbi Rosen, the director of inter-religious affairs at the Washington-based American Jewish Congress, said that a predominantly secular and liberal Western European society is under threat from the rapid growth of Islamic communities which do not want to integrate with their neighbours.

"I am against building walls. My humanity is my most important component. But Western society very clearly doesn't have a strong identity. I would like Christians in Europe to become more Christian ... those who do not have a strong identity are easily overrun by those who do," the rabbi warned.

"I think there is a pretty good chance that your grandchildren, if they are not Muslim, then they will be very strong Roman Catholics," he told one Italian reporter. "I don't think a tepid identity can stand up to the challenge."

The rest of the article can be found here.

(In linking to the rest of the article, I am not necessarily endorsing everything in it. CAP)

Dhimmitude

Sandro Magister has drawn attention to the L'Osservatore Romano's publication on Friday of an eviscerated Italian version of the summary of the speech of Bishop Raboula Antoine Beylouni during the Special Assembly for the Middle East of the Synod of Bishops. (Rorate reproduced that speech two days ago.) According to Magister this speech's published form was heavily censored on the order of the Vatican Secretariat of State.

Below is the full text of the speech in English, with the equivalent portions removed by the Secretariat of State in bold:


For several years in Lebanon we have had a national committee for Islamic-Christian dialogue. There was also an episcopal commission from the Assembly of Catholic Patriarchs and Bishops of Lebanon entrusted with Islamic-Christian dialogue. It was recently suppressed to give more importance to the other committee, also because because it had not produced any results.

Sometimes dialogue occurs here and there, in the Arab countries, such as in Qatar, where the Emir himself invites, at his expense, personalities from different countries and from the three religions: Christian, Muslim and Jewish. In Lebanon the Télélumiere and Noursat networks, and other television networks, sometimes broadcast programs on Islamic-Christian dialogue. Often a topic is chosen, and each side explains or interprets according to their religion. These programs are usually very instructive.

With my intervention, I wished to draw attention on the points that make these encounters difficult and often ineffective. It should be clear that we are not discussing dogma. But even the subjects of a practical and social order are difficult to discuss when the Koran or the Sunna discusses them. Here are some difficulties which we have faced:

- The Koran inculcates in the Muslim pride in being the only true and complete religion, taught by the greatest prophet, because he was the last one. The Muslim is part of the privileged nation, and speaks the language of God, the language of Paradise, the Arabic language. This is why, he comes to dialogue with a sense of superiority, and with the certitude of being victorious.

The Koran, supposedly written by God Himself, from beginning to end, gives the same value to all that is written: dogma that supercedes all law or practice.

In the Koran, men and women are not equal, not even in marriage itself where the man takes several wives and can divorce at his pleasure; nor in the heritage where man takes double; nor in the testifying before judges where the voice of one man is equal to the voice of two women, etc...

The Koran allows the Muslim to hide the truth from the Christian, and to speak and act contrary to how he thinks and believes.

In the Koran, there are contradictory verses which annul others, which gives the Muslim the possibility of using one or the other to his advantage, and therefore he can tell the Christian that he is humble and pious and believes in God, just as he can treat him as impious, apostate and idolatrous.

The Koran gives the Muslim the right to judge Christians and to kill them for the Jihad (the holy war). It commands the imposition of religion through force, with the sword. The history of invasions bears witness to this. This is why the Muslims do not recognize religious freedom, for themselves or for others. And it isn’t surprising to see all the Arab countries and Muslims refusing the whole of the “Human Rights” instituted by the United Nations.

Faced with all these interdictions and other similar attitudes should one suppress dialogue? Of course not. But the themes that can be discussed should be chosen carefully, and capable and well-trained Christians chosen as well, as well as those who are courageous and pious, wise and prudent... who tell the truth with clarity and conviction...

We sometimes deplore certain dialogues on TV, where the Christian speaker isn’t up to the task, and does not give the Christian religion all its beauty and spirituality, which scandalizes the viewers. Worse yet, when sometimes there are clergyman speakers who, in dialogue to win over Muslims call Mohammed the prophet and add the Muslim invocation, known and constantly repeated: “Salla lahou alayhi was sallam”. (In ordering this sentence to be censored, is the Vatican Secretariat of State implying that it is acceptable for Christian representatives to call Mohammed the prophet and to use the aforesaid invocation -- which invokes peace and blessings upon Mohammed? Just asking. CAP)

Finally I would like to suggest the following:

Like the Koran spoke well of the Virgin Mary, insisting on her perpetual virginity and miraculous and unique conception in giving us Christ; just as Muslims take her greatly into consideration and ask for her intercession, we should turn to her for all dialogue and all encounters with the Muslims. Being the Mother of us all, she will guide us in our relations with the Muslims to show them the true face of Her Son Jesus, the Redeemer of mankind.

If it pleased God that the Feast of the Annunciation was declared a national feast day in Lebanon for Christians and Muslims, may it also become a national feast day in other Arab countries.

(H/t: Messa in Latino)

"The murderer shouted 'Allah Akbar!' "... and beheaded the victim

Well, well... so our first suspicions on the murder of Luigi Padovese, Apostolic Vicar of Anatolia and President of the Turkish Bishops' Conference, were not unfounded. AsiaNews reports:

[Alexandretta] - Today at 4pm local time the funeral will take place of Msgr. Padovese, killed by his driver, Murat Altun, strangely "crazed" last June 3. Meanwhile, new details have emerged on the dynamics and motives of the killing that has prostrated the Turkish Church.

...

Even the dynamics of the killing is clearer: the Bishop was stabbed in his house. He had the strength to go out the door of the house, bleeding and crying for help and there he was killed. Perhaps only when he fell to the ground, was his head cut off.

Witnesses said they heard the bishop cry out for help. But more importantly, is that they heard screams of Murat immediately after the murder. According to these sources, he climbed on the roof of the house shouted: "I killed the great Satan! Allah Akbar! ".

This call coincides perfectly with the idea of beheading, making sense that it is like a ritual sacrifice against evil. This correlates with the murders of ultranationalist groups and Islamic fundamentalists who apparently want to eliminate Christians from Turkey.

...

Establishing the truth is necessary for the Turkish State, because it shows its modernity and ability to guarantee rights, but it is also necessary for the Church. According to police sources, it seems that Murat is offering a new justification for his action: Mgr. Padovese was a homosexual, Murat, 26, was the victim, "forced to suffer abuse." The killing of the bishop was not martyrdom, but an act of "legitimate defence".

What else could one expect from Turkey and Turks?

Just another day in "The Eldest Daughter" - that is, فرنسا

1. The Strasbourg City Council unanimously approved yesterday the construction of a confessional Muslim cemetery under public administration, the first one in France. (Alsace has a different system in France in which the traditional religious confessions present for hundreds of years in the region - that is, the Catholic Church and Reformed and Jewish congregations - receive public support. Mohammedanism is not considered a "recognized confession", but that was no problem for the Council.)

2. Last Saturday, June 5, was the day on which the first stone of the mosque of Roissy-en-Brie), a building of 2155 square meters, was placed, in the presence of Chantal Brunel (MP for the constituency) and Sylvie Fuchs (Communist mayor of Roissy-en-Brie), as well as Sheikh Saeed Ramadan Al Bouti and Mohamad Nasereddin (Chairman of the Muslim Cultural Association of Roissy-en-Brie).

The mayor has contributed to this construction project by agreeing to lower the price of land, which used to be government-owned, by about 10%, at its sale in 2008 to the Muslim Cultural Association of Roissy-en-Brie, responsible for the project. The General Council of the Department of Seine-et-Marne also gave a contribution, of 185 000 euros, which will be matched by the contribution of the regional council of Île-de-France.

Félicitations à tous!

Source: Le Salon Beige