Name: Father Christopher J. Rossman
A Catholic priest of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in KS currently assigned as the Associate Pastor of Prince of Peace parish in Olathe, KS.
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Continuing our blog entries on Islam, I want to begin to look at some of the points made by Ergun and Emir Caner in their book, "Unveiling Islam" published by Kregel Publications and which you can purchase online at Barnes and Nobel or Amazon. This book was published in 2002, just a year after the 911 attacks, but as far as I can tell, its relevance and material are exactly the same today and are not tainted by the attacks when presenting an understanding of Islam. In this blog, I want to simply present two basics of the faith and then we can get into the specifics in coming entries. All my cited quotes below come from their book.
In their book, these two brothers do an excellent job of trying to explain Islam, the semantics and grammar of the faith and relationship with Christianity. Each chapter discusses an element of the Islamic faith and examines its view of Christianity from the Muslim perspective. The brothers also use quotes from the Qur'an, Hadith and Sunnah. According to Islam, the Qur’an is the "exact word-for-word copy of God's final revelation [to Muhammad]" (p. 83). The Qur'an is the highest authority of the Islamic faith. Following in importance, however, are the Hadith and Sunnah. The Hadith is "a narration of the life of the prophet [Muhammad] and what he said" (p. 95). The Sunnah is the 'moral code' of Islam. It details the life of Muhammad in terms of his ethics and lifestyle in which Muslims are commanded to follow. These three books make up the whole of the Islamic faith, strictly speaking. Factions and splinter groups, over the years, have distorted and often completely altered the truth of these tenets, however, causing much of the violence and misunderstanding of the faith today.
VERY briefly, the Qur'an teaches that a Muslim has no guarantee of entering eternity and that God can arbitrarily decide to send you to hell. Their God is a completely distant, wrathful and isolated God, who does not communicate with Muslims personally and who acts as a judge of the worthiness of a Muslim. The hope of a Muslim entering eternal life is based on the "divine balance scales" (p. 149) weighing in their favor. A Muslim believes that if they are 51% good then at their judgment before God they will enter eternal life. Unfortunately, their understanding of good and bad, right and wrong is based on the tenets of the three books mentioned above, which include commands of violence against infidels.
The ONLY way to guarantee entry into eternal life is is to die in jihad. According to the authors, jihad "strictly speaking...means a continuing holy war against them [non-believers of Islam]" (p. 185). Both the Qur'an and Hadith explicitly command jihad against infidels (especially Christians) and, most importantly, states that dying in jihad balances the scales. the Hadith says, "we took part in jihad...the deeds done by us at that time...be enough to save us from punishment in that the good deeds compensate for the bad ones" [hadith 5.58.254] (p. 191). No wonder jihad against infidels, Christians, Jews and Americans, is a common desire of Muslims.
Now that we have a tiny bit of understanding as to the sources of Islamic beliefs and how Islam views infidels, we can begin examining whether Islam is predominantly a violent faith. As always, comments are welcome. Until next time...God bless.
Its been a few months since we have discussed the Islamic faith, but I wanted to spend at least a couple of blogs on it especially in light of the Holy Father's visit to Turkey at the end of November and the increased clash between Sunni's and Sh'ites in Iraq.
The Pope visited Turkey on November 28th through December 1st. This was a visit that had been planned long before his speech in September that enraged many Muslims. His primary purpose was to meet with Bartholomew I, the leader of the world's 300 million Orthodox Christians. After the speech, however, he expanded his agenda to include meetings with Muslim leaders in hopes of improving Muslim-Christian dialogue.
I discussed concerns in a couple of previous blogs (Sept. 17 & 18) about whether Islam is a violent faith. We had discussed the question of the violence of Islam in a blog entry from March 21st as well as a series of blog entries in February (Feb. 19, 21 & 22). At the time, I think our concenus was that in general Islam is not a violent faith. After reading an interesting and very informative book, however, I have to question that determination.
At the retreat I was on at the beginning of January, I read a book titled, "Unveiling Islam" written by Ergun and Emir Caner. These two are brothers and are converts from Islam to Christianity. They stated that the purpose of writing their book is: "not an academic exercise, but an easily understood panorama of Islam, explaining motives, beliefs and history. It is meant to guide and encourage every person who wants to be more effective witness [of Christianity] to Muslims" (p. 26). In the course of reading their book, one realizes that there is a deeply rooted directive of intolerance and mission of destruction against Christians. Now, as I read this book I kept asking myself, "Are these two brothers who hold a grudge against their former faith and simply want to bash it?" As I progressed through the book, though, their presentation and evidence supporting their claim of intolerance of Christianity was well grounded. As I explore a few of their prudent points in the next couple of blog entries, I will let you decide for yourself.
Before I close this entry, I want to point out that even if the core of the Islamic faith promotes violence and intolerance toward the Christian faith, it does not mean that all Muslims or even the vast majority of Muslims are married to this belief or even pursue it actively. I have met a number of Muslims in my life and not one has shown intolerance of me or tried to kill me. Yet, like all faiths, there are those who follow the tenets of their faith to the letter. In these coming entries, it will be our task to determine if their tenets instruct all Muslim to wipe out Christianity, whether most Muslims adhere to such tenets if they do exist and whether there is a chance of dialogue between Muslims and Christians as Pope Benedict is hoping. As always, I welcome your comments and input. Until next time...God bless.
Today hundreds of thousands of people descended on Washington D.C. to proclaim that all life is precious. The annual March for Life, in observance of the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision legalizing abortion, brings pro-life advocates from all over the U.S. to walk from the White House to the steps of the Capitol as a message to government and to the whole country that killing innocent babies in the womb is wrong and immoral.
Since the Roe vs. Wade decision on January 22, 1973, over 45 million unborn babies have been aborted. This morning President Bush spoke to the marchers via audio broadcast where he said, "It is important for all Americans to remember that our Declaration of Independence states that every person has a right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." I thought one of his other comments was quite appropriate for our mission. He said:
"As we move forward, we've all got to remember that a true culture of life cannot be built by changing laws alone. We've all got to work hard to change hearts," Bush said. "The sanctity of life is written in the life of all men and women. And so I think, go forth with confidence that a cause rooted in human dignity and appealing to the best instincts of our citizens cannot fail" (Fox News).
Now, I know some may not like President Bush or his foreign policies, but one has to respect anyone who steps forward to defend the most precious and defenseless of all life - the unborn.
I found it interesting how the media covered the event today. As you all know, I am not fond of the media whatsoever, but the following titles and locations from the major media outlets will help you figue out which is the most pro-life. The media outlet (listed in no particular order), headlines and location of the story are as follows:
One other media outlet had an article on the march, although this isn't a suprise at all: Catholic News Service. What was cool was two sections of their article. The first said:
Among featured speakers was U.S. Sen. Sam Brownback, a Kansas Republican..."We need a culture of life that respects all life ... from conception to natural death," said Brownback, a Catholic. The unborn person is unique, is sacred, is beautiful" and he or she "deserves protection"
The second portion of the article featured both my archbishop and the archbishop of St. Louis. My archbishop had spoken to Sen. Brownback privately and stated that he "thanked him for making the sacrifice for running for national office." As most of my readers know, Sen. Brownback is running for the 2008 Presidency.
Archbishop Burke led the rally's final prayer where he encouraged the pro-life advocates to continue their "daily engagement in the fostering of human life ... without exception, without compromise." I think his prayer is the best advice we can take in our proclamation for the Culture of Life. Until next time...God bless.
Well, I made it through the first week of my LAST semester!!! It really wasn't much of a week because we haven't had most of our classes yet. But it is my LAST semester!!! We won't have many classes on Monday or Tuesday either because most of the school went to the March for Life in Washington D.C. But that's ok, because it's my LAST semester!!! Did I mention that it is my LAST semester?
We do have an awesome priest practicum schedule this semester. We have been split into two groups of 3 and my group will meet on Mondays. We spend the first quarter of the semester practicing the parts of the Mass - from the greeting to the preparation of gifts - the Eucharistic Prayer - Communion and the dismissal. We are practicing these parts in a small chapel on the second floor of the seminary, the Mary, Mother of the Word chapel. Then the real fun begins. After practicing the parts, we will begin to practice celebrating virtual Masses in the theology chapel. We will be doing this in conjunction with the deacons-to-be who will be serving as our deacons as a part of their deacon practicum. These virtual Masses will be taped so we can review them later. The last third of the semester, we will be doing mock confessions and practicing Anointing of the Sick.
The mock confessions are really cool because Fr. Ramacoitti, who heads up the confession practicum part, brings in some of his parishioners who are given 'sins' to confess. We've been told that we will get everything from the old grandma who confesses falling asleep before completing her rosary to the married man who has an adulterous affair and then axe murders his mistress. Sounds like an interesting practicum.
Fr. Keller, who has been here at Cathedral with me as the associate and was just made our Director of Worship, is the teacher for the practicum. He is very astute to the real preparation we need. He is a good priest, a good role model and has a solid understanding of the experience we need to be good parish priests. It looks like the practicum class will be VERY practical and will really give us the preparation we need for ordination. But, most importantly...this is my LAST semester!!! Until next time...God bless.
Well, classes began on Tuesday...my last semester of seminary (WOO HOO!!!!!!!!!) Anyway, I have a light classload this semester, so it should be a good semester. I'll give you a quick rundown of my classes.
On Tuesdays and Fridays I have Sacramental Law, which is taught by Fr. Ramacoitti. This is the class we learn about the laws of the Church, especially with regard to the sacraments. For example, we learn what things prohibit a couple from marrying (such as one of them already being married). I am also auditing his other class, Temporal Goods, where we discuss managing the physical goods of a parish (the church building, vestments, accounts, etc).
On Mondays and Wednesdays I have Social Ethics. This is pretty much what it says. We study social issues in the world today and how the Catholic Church addresses these.
Also on Mondays and Wednesdays I have Psalms and Wisdom literature. We basically study the Book of Psalms and the Wisdom books of the bible (Song of Songs, Wisdom, etc).
Lastly, we have Priest Practicum, which is where we learn the rubrics (instructions) for celebrating the sacraments and we actually practice celebrating them. We will practice celebrating Mass, Anointing of the Sick, Reconciliation, RCIA and maybe some other Rites. The Reconciliation practice is especially cool because they bring in some outside persons who are given "scenerios" to bring to confession and see how we minister to them.
Overall, it should be a good semester. Regardless, the important thing is...its my LAST semester!!!
The picture at the top of the entry is of Deacon Ralph Werner and me at the Cathedral in our vestments just prior to assisting at Cardinal Arinze's Mass. We had hoped to get the photo with him it, but he was being bombarded by so many people that we didn't want to bother him. We're wearing red because we celebrated the Mass of the Holy Spirit. Until next time...God bless.
I was catching up on some reading recently and came across the November 13, 2006 issue of Newsweek, which was titled, A New Social Gospel. Most of the articles within focused on the fact that, although the Democrats took control of the House and Senate, religion plays an important role in society today. There are a couple of articles that were of great interest to me.
One of these articles was titled, Church Meets State. The subtitle, however, seemed to express the thorn in the side of Democrats regardless of their gains. The subtitle was: The left often complains that evangelicals have too much influence in American life. The reality is that the agenda of Democrats conflicts with that of the majority of the American people. Evangelicals, and in this case we can probably interpret this term to mean most main-line Christians including Catholics (this is a RARE instance in which I group Catholics with evangelicals), by and large support Culture of Life issues and issues of morality. Let me give a couple of examples:
With regards to Gay Marriage, the article said: ...the right has been been very successful at the state level - there are now only five states withough some kind of ban on gay marriage... (Newsweek, 13 Nov. 2006, p39).
This is very telling because it goes on to say that the same type of amendment fails to get the 50+ votes needed in the Senate for a federal amendment. What that says to me is that the federal government plays their own politics and passes their agenda instead of the will of the people.
Another example is on birth control and sex ed. The left promotes the use of birth control and believes it should be the focus of sex ed. Of course, they take this stance because two of their biggest supporters are Planned Parenthood and major pharmaceutical companies who produce various forms of birth control. The evidence that evangelicals are winning this battle, however, is stated in this article saying: "the right has been wildly successful in expanding the use of sex ed programs that promote abstinence until marriage..."
These are just a couple of points that this article discussed and which seemed to show that the Democrats may have control of the House and Senate, but if they fail to listen to the moral and ethical beliefs of the evangelical voters, they may find that majority in Congress short-lived come 2008. Until next time...God bless.
Why do we go to Mass? Often, we go to Mass simply because we are supposed to. For us cradle Catholics we often go just because what we've always done. Yet, the first and primary reason we should participate in, rather than simply go to Mass is to
give praise and glory to God. He, in turn sanctifies us, making us holier persons. We are a part of the Church, the Body of Christ, and participate in Mass to enter into a deeper relationship with God.
At the Mass, we are participants in the Passion, death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. When we participate in the Mass, we are at the Last Supper where he gave us his Body and Blood. We are standing at the foot of the Cross, with the crucified Jesus…crucified for our sins. We are in the garden at the entrance to the empty tomb rejoicing at his Resurrection. At the Mass, we suffer, die and rise to new life with Christ.
We don’t simply attend Mass, rather we assist at the Mass each week. This does not mean must take on a ministerial role, such as Eucharistic Minister or Lector, to be assisting at Mass. The people have a very real part and a very real place in the Mass. The parishioner is at the Mass not as a spectator, but as a participant.
If you attend a movie or a play, you simply sit in the crowd and watch the show. The show is a one-way action, a sort of monologue, on the screen or stage that we just sit back and watch. But the Mass is much different. There is an interaction that takes place – an interaction that is vital to the Mass. The priest has a specific role, the ministers have a specific role and the people have a specific role.
At the Mass, there is a dialogue that takes place between the priest, acting in the Person of Christ, and the people. We are in a conversation with Jesus Christ himself. At the Mass, participate in the actions of Christ. If we are talking with and acting with Christ at the Mass, how could we ever imagine simply sitting in the pews and watching with half-interest. We shouldn’t and we can’t. Christ calls us to be a part of the Mass. He calls us to be a part of his Passion, his death and his Resurrection. At the Mass, we die and rise to new life…with Christ.
An article first appearing in the National Catholic Reporter (their describing themselves as 'Catholic' is a complete joke) and recently in the New York Times as well as being reported by CNN claims that 85% of Catholic dioceses responding to a survey by Villanova University said that they had uncovered embezzlement of Church monies in the past 5 years.
What is interesting about this story is the way in which it was presented and reported. For example, CNN Headline News completely distorted the story by simply saying that 85% of the Catholic Church has uncovered embezzlement in the past five years. That makes it sound as if 85% of ALL Catholic parishes have embezzlement problems. They said NOTHING about this being a study of dioceses and not individual parishes.
Let's take a closer look at this "study" and its "findings" that are so surprising according to the media. First, the study states "...85% of the Catholic dioceses RESPONDING to the survey..." and so raises the question, "how many dioceses responded?" There are 174 dioceses in the U.S. and of these only 78 responded. That is only 44% of all the dioceses in the U.S and only 38% of all dioceses reporting embezzlement. That seems like a poor sampling population. According to the National Library for Health, in order to obtain data with 95% accuracy from a survey, you need at least 80% responding. This study would need 140 dioceses responding to have any chance at being truly accurate.
Secondly, if even ONE parish in a diocese reports embezzlement then they would respond that embezzlement had been reported in their diocese. Look at this way: if each diocese had a single case of embezzlement reported, then 78 parishes out of 19,081 U.S. parishes or 0.4% of parishes have embezzlement issues. Of course, the number is likely higher, but you can see how easily figures can be skewed.
Lastly, the articles make it seem as if the Catholic Church is the only religion with embezzlement problems. Let me give a few examples of embezzlement issues in other denominations:
It is obvious that the Catholic Church is not the only religion with theft issues. So, while I don't deny that there are certainly parishes in which money is being embezzled (this will happen as long as sin exists on earth) the "statistics" presented are skewed, inflated and were reported in a biased and deceitful way.
I will be away on retreat from January 7th through the 13th, so I will not be blogging again until Friday. When I blog on Friday, however, I have a string of blogs I want to post in the days following including the 2nd installment of Catechism 101 on the Mass. So, I hope everyone has a blessed week and I will blog at you again on Friday. Until next time...God bless.
A Happy 2007 to my readers. I hope you all had a blessed Christmas, enjoyable and safe New Year's eve and that the new year has been good to you so far. My new year has been good, but I will be returning to seminary on Saturday, so we'll see how it goes after that. Regardless, my new mantra will get me through: (one more semester...one more semester...one more semester!)
While surfing the net the other day, I came across an op-ed article in the New York Times. Written on Dec. 31st, the piece is titled, Truth, Justice, Abortion and the Times Magazine, and was written by Byron Calame who is the former deputy managing editor of the Wall Street Journal.
The opinion discussed an article written in The New York Times Magazine in April. In this article, the magazine focused on abortion in El Salvador and specifically on a woman named Carmen Climaco which the article claims was sentenced to 30 years in prison for having an abortion at 18 weeks. The purpose of the magazine article, written by Jack Hitt, was to point out what could happen to women if abortion were criminalized in the U.S. It even goes so far as to compare the El Salvador woman with a woman in D.C. having an abortion at 18 weeks.
You might ask, "the article is sad, but this is just more liberal media biased." I agree that it is media biased, but it is also much more. Calame did some research on this article, however, and discovered something disgusting. Quoting his op-ed piece, Calame reports, "It turns out, however, that trial testimony convinced a court in 2002 that Ms. Climaco’s pregnancy had resulted in a full-term live birth, and that she had strangled the 'recently born.'" Yet, this is never even mentioned in the article and Hitt, when confronted, claims that he received his information from the magistrate of the case and that he didn't pursue the documentation.
Calame obtained a copy of the court ruling with the clarified information simply by having a co-worker in El Salvador walk into the court building and asking for a copy. What's more, Times Magazine editors were made aware of the inaccuracy of the article, most notably by LifeSiteNews.com who posted a translated copy of the court document, and yet editors still refuse to print a correction. In fact, when Calame asked about the accuracy of the article and the questionable means it was allowed to go forward, Times Magazine editors said the following:
The article was "as accurate as it could have been at the time it was written. I also think that if the author and we editors knew of the contents of that third ruling, we would have qualified what we said about Ms. Climaco. Which is NOT to say that I simply accept the third ruling as ‘true’; El Salvador’s judicial system is terribly politicized."
Curious that the editors claimed that El Salvador's judicial system is "terribly politicized" because I was thinking the exact same thing about our media and specifically Times Magazine's agenda.
There is one last point of interest here. An abortion advocacy group, named Ipas, used this article as a means to seek donations to help their "cause" and so they could provide legal support to Climaco.
It just astounds me how the liberal media allows free-reign journalism and lets heresay pass to the public when stories suit their needs. And even when they're called onto the carpet about it, they refuse to right the wrong. This isn't media...this is blatant propaganda for the Culture of Death. Pray for the Truth to defeat the Lord of Lies in these battles (we already know Truth wins the war - Christ is Victorious!!!) Until next time...God bless.
