D-Day: 80th Anniversary Thanksgiving and Apology

D-Day on 6 June 1944 was the largest amphibious invasion in history and was vital in the defeat of the Nazis in the Second World War. Source: Forces Net

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission web site gives the number of D-Day allied casualties as 156,000. Allied deaths totalled over 4,000 during Operation Overlord. 

On the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings we remember with gratitude all those who perished in conflict and grieve for families who lost loved ones defending our Island only to see their hard won freedom surrendered to an alien ideology. Examples here and here.

Churchill was right.

His resolve:

"We shall defend our Island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender, and even if, which I do not for a moment believe, this Island or a large part of it were subjugated and starving, then our Empire beyond the seas, armed and guarded by the British Fleet, would carry on the struggle, until, in God’s good time, the New World, with all its power and might, steps forth to the rescue and the liberation of the old."
 -Winston Churchill, House of Commons 4 June 1940.

His warning:

"How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia in a dog, there is this fearful fatalistic apathy. The effects are apparent in many countries, improvident habits, slovenly systems of agriculture, sluggish methods of commerce, and insecurity of property exist wherever the followers of the Prophet rule or live. A degraded sensualism deprives this life of its grace and refinement, the next of its dignity and sanctity. The fact that in Mohammedan law every woman must belong to some man as his absolute property, either as a child, a wife, or a concubine, must delay the final extinction of slavery until the faith of Islam has ceased to be a great power among men. Individual Muslims may show splendid qualities, but the influence of the religion paralyses the social development of those who follow it. No stronger retrograde force exists in the world. Far from being moribund, Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step; and were it not that Christianity is sheltered in the strong arms of science, the science against which it had vainly struggled, the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome."
- From Churchill Gets the Last Word on Islam (Middle East Forum)

His warning must not go unheeded.

Postscript 13.06.2024

Darren Grimes on the madness of the West’s new religious double standards
https://x.com/darrengrimes_/status/1800868307148718315

Some Epiphany!

Mary Teresa Streck is Ordained a Roman Catholic Woman Priest                    Source: Call to Action

The Epiphany season brings some unwelcome news for opponents of the ordination of women who fled Anglicanism for Rome. 

Reports suggest that the drive for change which has destroyed much of the Anglican Communion is gaining momentum in the Roman Catholic Church.

This is all very familiar for Anglicans who have witnessed the long, drawn out, chipping away of the faith as received until their Church has become virtually unrecognisable as evidenced by the near collapse of the Episcopal Church in the United States and the demise of Anglicanism in the UK.

The Irish Examiner reports that Fr Tony Flannery, a founder of the Association of Catholic Priests, who has been suspended from active ministry for the past eight years has asked whether the hierarchy in the Catholic Church will now change its approach to him after senior clerics expressed support for the ordination of women. 

In a statement issued on Sunday Fr Flannery highlighted comments made by the Archbishop-elect of Dublin, Dermot Farrell, in which the incoming Archbishop said he would 'like to see women becoming deacons in the church'.

"The Archbishop-elect of Dublin, Dermot Farrell, in an interview with the Irish Times, said he would like to see women becoming deacons in the church. He is reported as going on to say that 'the biggest barrier to having female priests in the Catholic Church is probably tradition, not the Scriptures'. In saying this he appears to undercut the main argument used by the Church against the ordination of women."

LifeSiteNews reports: Bishop Georg Bätzing, the head of the German bishops’ conference, supported in a new interview the idea of “ordaining” women to the diaconate and the priesthood and a blessing for homosexual and cohabitating couples. He also defended the idea of intercommunion. And he even claimed that the German bishops could make some of these changes without approval from Rome. 

Bätzing revealed in an interview with the German Catholic journal Herder Korrespondenz that already in the 1980s, he participated in discussions about the female “priesthood.” He argued that there are “well-developed arguments in favor of opening the sacramental [priestly] office also for women.” That is why he himself “often mention[s] the female diaconate, because I see there some more possibilities.” Mentioning the fact that Pope John Paul II and his successor “unanimously” stated that “this question has been answered,” the German bishop sees that “nevertheless, it [the question] is on the table.”...

... But with regard to the possibility of a liturgical blessing of so-called irregular couples – homosexual and cohabitating couples – the German bishop claimed that such a decision can indeed be taken by the German bishops “without Roman approval.” Bätzing then went on to say that he, however, is of the opinion “that we should change the Catechism in this respect.”

Back in 2013 WAMC reported that 'religious history' was made in Albany, New York, when the city's first "woman priest", Mary Theresa Streck, was ordained. "Streck will now carry on the ancient tradition: taking on the role of spiritual leader of a 40-person strong Catholic community — a rainbow congregation of gay, straight, divorced, married and single  folks." 

It is all so familiar for Anglicans. The warnings are there to be heeded.

Postscript [12.01.2021]

Pope Francis opens ministries of lector and acolyte to women