Christmas in a Nutshell

This rather good video is doing the rounds:

Islam to be Majority in Europe by the End of the Century

Examiner.com reports just before Christmas:

… Sociology professor at the Catholic University of Louvain (Belgium), and member of the Royal Academy of Belgium, Felice Dassetto has published a new book entitled “The Iris and the Crescent.”

The author illustrates that Islam is well on it’s way to becoming the most practiced belief sysytem in Europe, and will soon eclipse Christianity.

The Italian-born Dassetto asserts that Muslims will comprise the majority of the population of his adopted home of Brussels by 2030.

The book’s title references the yellow iris flower which has historically symbolized the Brussels region of Belgium for centuries; and of course, the cresent of Islam.

The number of Muslims has tripled over the past 30 years, all the while, fully 1/3d of all European children will be born to Muslim families by 2025.

The litany of Christianity’s downward spiral in Europe is delivered rapid fire-style:

1. Islam is the most practiced religion in the United Kingdom.
2. In London, more Muslims attend mosques on Friday than do Christians churches on Sunday.
3. The Oude Kerk, the oldest church in the city of Amsterdam, where the Kings of Holland were crowned, is now a museum.
4. The only “church” in the largest Dutch city that is crowded is the church of Scientology, a six-story building in the thick of the city center.
5. Only 7% of Dutch Catholics now go to Sunday Mass and 16% of children are baptized.
6. In Austria, which was 90% Catholic in the 20th Century, Islam will be the majority religion among Austrians aged under 15 by 2050.
7. The French case also shows that the often exaggerated “Eurabia” threat is more a quality phenomenon of religious attendance than of demographic takeover.
8. In France, there are now more Islamic mosques being build – and more frequently so – than Catholic churches, and there are more practicing Muslims than practicing Catholics in the country.
9. Overall, the total number of mosques in France has already doubled to more than 2,000 in the last 10 years.
10. The best known French Islamic leader, Dalil Boubakeur, Rector of the Great Mosque of Paris, recently suggested that the total number of mosques should double yet again, to 4,000, to meet the growing demand.

There is, however, an ember of hope for Europe’s Christians…

Ongoing ecumenical dialouge has been taking place between the Catholic Church, the Russian Orthodox, and the Greek Orthodox Churches.

With a return to traditional beliefs of virtue, fidelity, and moral courage, there will be a restoration of Christian culture and spirituality to the continent.

Iraq: Midnight Mass Canceled Over Security Concerns

From CNS:

Chaldean Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk in northern Iraq told the  agency Aid to the Church in Need that Christians will spend Christmas in  “great fear” because of the risk of new attacks.

All services and Masses have been scheduled for daylight hours, he said in an interview with Rome-based AsiaNews.

“Midnight Christmas Mass has been canceled in Baghdad, Mosul and Kirkuk  as a consequence of the never-ending assassinations of Christians,” he  said, citing the Oct. 31, 2010, attack on the Syrian Catholic cathedral  that left 57 people dead in the Iraqi capital.

Archbishop Sako also expressed concern over the growing conflict between  Sunni and Shiite Muslims vying for political power. He said the  conflict has led to growing instability, especially in the days since  the pullout of U.S. military troops in mid-December.

The archbishop’s concerns follow a series of incidents in the northern  province of Kurdistan, which had been considered safe haven for  Christians.

Read more.

Lets us remember the the Church in Need this Christmas.

HT

 

Queen’s New Chaplain: Women Bishops are Wrong

How refreshing:

The Queen has appointed an outspoken critic of women bishops to be her new chaplain.

As the Church of England’s General Synod prepares to give final approval to the appointment of women bishops, opponents of the move have been given a morale boost.

Mandrake can disclose that the Queen has appointed one of the most outspoken critics of women bishops as her chaplain.

“It’s almost like a nod of approval by the Royal family and Church of England to receive this honour,” claims the Rev Preb Paul Lockett. “It shows that they still see the traditionalist voice as an important one that ought to be heard.”

He adds: “I will keep speaking about my traditionalist views, and making sure they’re heard. I can only say what I believe, and we need to make sure there is a code of practice and respect that fits with the authority a bishop should have, which can be done only when the bishop is male.”

Read here.

Will Jeffrey Steenson be the First Ordinary of the US Ordinariate?

It was announced by Cardinal Donald Wuerl of Washington a few weeks ago that the American Anglican Ordinariate will be erected on 1 January 2012. Already, it seems that nearly 70 Episcopalian priests are planning on joining the US Ordinariate, whilst a few former bishops have also been tipped to join. Several Anglo-Catholic and Anglican Use parishes will also be expected to seek formal membership of the new Ordinariate once it has been created in just over a week’s time. It appears, too, that a few Traditional Anglican Communion (Anglican Church in America) congregations are keen to join the new structure – which will allow all these Anglican groups to retain their patrimony whilst also entering into full communion with Rome.

Last night, Virtue Online (The Voice of Global orthodox Anglicanism) confidently reported that the former Episcopal Bishop of Rio Grande, Jeffrey Steenson, is expected to be appointed the US Ordinariate’s new Ordinary. Steenson is already a Catholic priest, having left the Episcopal Church four years ago – following an Anglican ministry that lasted over 24 years. He entered into full communion with the Catholic Church in December 2007 during a private ceremony celebrated by Cardinal Bernard Law in Rome’s Santa Maria Maggiore basilica. The former Episcopal bishop was subsequently ordained into the Catholic diaconate 12 months later, whilst Archbishop Michael Sheehan of Santa Fe ordained him into the sacred priesthood in 2009. The Catholic Archdiocese of Santa Fe covers roughly the same area as the Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande.

Since his ordination as a Catholic priest, Fr Steenson has been actively engaged in preparing for the erection of the US Anglican Ordinariate. He has been seen at several Anglican Use events and conferences, whilst he has also been helping Cardinal Wuerl to implement Anglicanorum Coetibus in the United States – a task that the Archbishop of Washington was asked to carry out by Pope Benedict XVI. In fact, Fr Jeffrey Steenson was actively present when Cardinal Wuerl announced the date chosen for the creation of the US Ordinariate.

It seems that a few recent leaks from inside the Vatican have confirmed that Steenson will most likely be appointed as the first Ordinary for the new US Anglican Ordinariate on 1 January 2012…

Read on here.