What next?

VATICAN: MARY IS MUSLIM-CATHOLIC BRIDGE

"The Marian academy in Rome launched a 10-week webinar series titled "Mary, a model for faith and life for Christianity and Islam" in collaboration with the Grand Mosque of Rome and the Islamic Cultural Center of Italy.

"Based on his belief that Mary is "a Jewish, Christian and Muslim woman," Fr. Gian Matteo Roggio, organizer of the Muslim-Catholic dialogue series on Our Lady, is seeking to mobilize Mary as a model of "open borders" between religious and multicultural worlds.

"Islamic historian Raymond Ibrahim told Church Militant that "this series is yet another attempt to try to convince Catholics that Islam is somehow similar to their Faith when, in fact, Islam appropriates the names and sacred auras of biblical figures but then recasts them with completely different attributes — ones that reaffirm Islam as the 'true' faith."

Raymond Ibrahim previously blasted the grand imam of al-Azhar Ahmed al-Tayyeb for "repeatedly contradicting all the lofty sentiments in the document he signed with the pope," as the Holy See marks the anniversary of the Abu Dhabi deal, which was signed Feb. 4, 2019.

"In an exclusive interview with Church Militant, Ibrahim called out the "doublespeak" of Sheikh al-Tayyeb "if only when speaking in Arabic and appearing on Arabic media, as opposed to when 'dialoguing' with naïve Western leaders who are all too eager to believe what they want to hear."

In October 2020 Church Militant reported that Pope Francis' Muslim dialogue partner Grand Imam Ahmed al-Tayyeb had demanded "an international law banning criticizing or insulting Islam — a day before three Catholics were slaughtered in Nice's Notre-Dame Basilica."

POPE TO HOST INTERFAITH PRAYER AT ‘BABEL’

"VATICAN CITY (ChurchMilitant.com) - Pope Francis' proposed interreligious prayer service for Muslims, Yazidis, Mandaean-Sabean and other religions at the site of Ur during his Iraq visit is being slammed as more evocative of the 'Tower of Babel' than the 'House of Abraham.'

"Nottingham University's Hebrew Bible scholar Gavin Fernandes told Church Militant that "there are several reasons why this is a bad choice of venue for such an event."

"The academic ... expressed surprise that the interreligious meeting was being held in the shadow of a ziggurat explicitly evocative of the Tower of Babel in the book of Genesis — a structure representing totalitarian humanism and flagrant defiance of God."

Having seemingly embraced idolatry, what next?

OVER 100 CATHOLIC LEADERS CONDEMN ‘SACRILEGIOUS AND SUPERSTITIOUS ACTS’ AT AMAZON SYNOD

Postscript [10.03.2021]

What next? - ‘Muslims are triumphantly declaring that the pope has surrendered to Islam’

"ERBIL, Iraq (ChurchMilitant.com) – Pope Francis’ Iraq trip has triggered a tidal wave of mockery on social media, with Muslims gleefully announcing that the pontiff has surrendered to Islamic supremacy, an Iraqi Muslim convert has told Church Militant...

"While the pope’s visit has certainly created a feel-good atmosphere among Catholics, Aza is predicting that 'the collateral damage for evangelism among Muslims' will be monumental." Full report here.

Making a difference!

Church of England women bishops                                                                                                                                                               Source: Church Militant

When the Church of England formally approved plans for women bishops the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby said: "Today we can begin to embrace a new way of being the church and moving forward together. We will also continue to seek the flourishing of the church of those who disagree."

Hilary Cotton, the then chairwoman of Women and the Church (WATCH), said she would like to see women ultimately make up a third of bishops, around 40 posts, "in order to make a difference".

They certainly have.

Mutual flourishing of those who disagree soon flew out of the church window.

Now Church Militant reports that "Nineteen prelates, including five women bishops, abstained from a pro-life vote as Britain's House of Lords voted 355–77 to approve the government's extreme abortion regime in Northern Ireland.

"Bishops Sarah Mullally (London), Rachel Treweek (Gloucester), Vivienne Faull (Bristol), Christine Hardman (Newcastle) and Elizabeth Lane (Derby) belong to the cohort of 26 Church of England bishops who sit in the House of Lords as Lords Spiritual.

"Seven male bishops, shamed by a previous Church Militant exposé, voted against the Abortion (Northern Ireland) (No 2) Regulations statutory instrument on Monday. 

"Even though the House of Bishops at the Church of England's General Synod stated in February that 98.3% of abortions in the United Kingdom are immoral, only Apb. Justin Welby (Canterbury) and Bps. Paul Butler (Durham), Christopher Cocksworth (Coventry), Timothy Dakin (Winchester), Julian Henderson (Blackburn), Donald Allister (Peterborough) and James Newcome (Carlisle) voted pro-life in Parliament.

"'Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne?' asks the prophet Isaiah. The answer appears to be yes, if she happens to be a bishop in the Church of England," lamented Dave Brennan, director of pro-life Brephos.

""One argument for having bishops with 'real-life experience' is that they can apparently bring their insights to bear on 'real-life' issues," Brennan noted. "But that hasn't happened with bishop of London Sarah Mullally who, despite having been a midwife and the U.K.'s chief nursing officer, is mum on abortion." 

"One argument for having these 'Lords Spiritual' — and indeed an established church — is that they can be the moral conscience of the nation. If this is the caliber of our 'conscience' as a nation, it is no wonder we are plunging into such dissipation," he added. "

Not a difference one might have expected!

The new Church Militant

The Triumph of Bazzer                                                                     with apologies to Cornelis de Vos

A tweet after the Synod vote to allow women bishops which ended centuries of tradition in the Church of England read, #ItisFinished. - But not quite what it seemed, apparently.

From this morning's Telegraph - "Women bishops: The hate mail was always from other Christians"! Having achieved their goal without the desired complete wipe-out of traditionalists, the chip remains firmly embedded on the shoulder of one said to have been "in the vanguard of campaigning for equal rights at the altar for 30 years". She complained: "It’s a huge journey that’s still unfolding, and there’s a very long way still to go,” she says of the protracted and bruising war that has raged within Anglicanism for decades. “There is always going to be some resistance, but then there always has been. There’s been resistance to me taking on every role I have ever taken on." Could it be that it is not her sex which is the problem? She is not alone in complaining.

Members of Synod hardly had time to lower their hands last week before a supposed contender for first woman bishop in the CofE, the Rev Rose Hudson-Wilkin weighed in with "The truth":  There’s a "palpable feeling of fear about the struggles the first women bishops will face". Asked if, after all these years of bitter battle over the ordination of women, the Church is institutionally sexist she answered frankly. "It’s there, you can’t escape it. It’s not something I dwell on. You don’t give oxygen to that sort of behaviour."

Somewhat curiously the Chaplain to the Speaker of the House of Commons added: "But it’s clear that whoever ends up blazing a trail will have a fight on their hands with the forces of conservatism within the Church if not with Anglican churchgoers themselves – three quarters of whom want female bishops. The public and Hudson-Wilkin’s parishioners in Dalston and Haggerston have shared with her a “real sense of joy and excitement” about the new development." [Note: The CofE is a tiny proportion of the Anglican Communion where the overwhelming majority of churchgoers definitely do not want female bishops - Ed.]

So they have the vote, liberals have all the power, 'three quarters of Anglican churchgoers' want female bishops but they still have a fight in their hands! I suspect that the fight she refers to is the fight hinted at by the Rev Canon Dr Alison Joyce in the Telegraph article:

Moreover, the gains that women priests have made, believes this 56-year-old mother of two grown-up daughters, have come with a high price tag – notably the “protections” built into the new legislation for the minority who continue to resist their advance. "What concerns me most is when the Church sets up structures so that people never have to be ‘contaminated’ by any glimpse of women’s ministry at all. I find that deeply disturbing. We have to encounter each other." So were the concessions made to traditionalists a step too far? "It’s tiresome,” she replies, “but one hopes eventually they will learn to grow in love and grace." Love and grace? Perhaps she could lead by example!

Back in the Church in Wales there is no pretence of showing love and grace following the triumph of Bazzer, the arch disciple of the Presiding Bishop of TEC, after succeeding in allowing women bishops with no meaningful concessions to anyone who remains faithful to the Holy Catholic Church. Over the weekend he and his Bench sitters moved on from playing snakes and ladders, joining delegates at a conference in Llandudno to play with cardboard boxes made for the occasion. The organizer, another "in the vanguard of campaigning for equal rights at the altar", spent some time in TEC country where she witnessed a woman bishop celebrating at the altar. That was enough to convinced her of the soundness of feminist theology despite the pleas to TEC by the then Archbishop of Canterbury not to split the Anglican Communion.

With no sign of love and grace from Dr Morgan or from his chief architect the Archdeacon of Llandaff who no longer has to pretend that she desires unity, their militancy has spread back across the border to the Church of England.

The three main sessions at the Llandudno Conference were: "Where are we?",  "Who are we?" and "Why are we?" They have their answer here: