Poland Catholics Pray
Along Border In Controversial Event Seen As Anti-Muslim
By
On 10/7/17 at 3:17 PM
More than 300 churches endorsed the event and sent attendees to more than 4,000 different locations along the border.
Organizers say the prayer event marked the centenary of the apparitions of Fatima, when three shepherd children in Portugal said the Virgin Mary appeared to them, the Associated Press reported.
But, the news agency reported, the event also commemorated a large battle in the 16th century, which organizers said saved Europe from Islamization.
Fears of Islam were echoed by those in attendance.
"Islam wants to destroy Europe," Halina Kotarska, 65, told the AP as she prayed and clutched a rosary. "They want to turn us away from Christianity."
Critics of the event said praying along the border could be seen as celebrating the country's refusal to accept Muslim migrants, according to the BBC.
Rafal Pankowski, an expert on xenophobia and extremism told the BBC the prayers seemed like a way to express Islamophobia.
"The whole concept of doing it on the borders reinforces the ethno-religious, xenophobic model of national identity," Pankowski told the news organization.
But organizers say they chose the border because it symbolized wanting to "encompass the world with prayer," the BBC reported. Nearly 90 percent of the country is Catholic.
The country did not take part in a deal two years ago that would have allowed refugees into Poland.
Krzysztof Januszewski, 45, told the AP he worries Christian Europe is under siege by Islamic extremists.
"In the past, there were raids by sultans and Turks and people of other faiths against us Christians," Januszewski said. "Today Islam is flooding us and we are afraid of this too. We are afraid of terrorist threats and we are afraid of people departing from the faith."
Over One
Million Catholics Gather At Poland’s Borders, Pray The Rosary And Seek God’s
Help To Defeat The Forces Of “Secularization” And “Islamization” Of Europe
By Andrew Bieszad on
October 9,
2017 in Featured, General
One
Million Catholics gathered this past weekend at Poland’s borders, where praying
rosary they petitioned for God’s help to defeat the ‘forces of secularlization
and Islamization’ sweeping across Europe:
Thousands of Catholics in Poland got together along the country’s borders during the weekend and formed human chains to pray for God’s protection against the increasing “secularization” and “Islamization” of Europe.The participants gathered at various points along the 2,200-mile border with Germany, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Russia and the Baltic Sea, for the “Rosary at the Borders” event Saturday, which coincided with the Feast of Our Lady of the Rosary, Agence France Presse reported.Krakow Archbishop Marek Jedraszewski called on Catholics to pray “for the other European nations to make them understand it is necessary to return to Christian roots so that Europe would remain Europe.”Over 90 percent of the country’s 38 million citizens are Roman Catholic.“The key objective of this manifestation is to pray for peace,” Archbishop Stanislaw Gadecki, head of the Polish Episcopal Conference, was quoted as saying.The organizers noted how Christian fighters, under orders from the pope, fought the 1571 naval Battle of Lepanto against the Ottoman Empire to save Europe from Islam, according to The New York Times, which noted that the event was planned by a lay organization, the Solo Dios Basta Foundation, or God Alone Suffices.The prayer rally was also endorsed by Polish church authorities, with 320 churches from 22 dioceses taking part, according to The Associated Press.Prayers took place at some 4,000 locations, according to the organizers.“During the prayer, I was at the Chopin airport in Warsaw, and there were so many people that they were pouring out of the chapel,” Rev. Paweł Rytel-Andrianik, spokesman for the Polish Bishops’ Conference, stated. “This was an initiative started by lay people, which makes it even more extraordinary. Millions of people prayed the rosary together. This exceeded the boldest expectations of the organizers.”Rytel-Andrianik called it the second-largest prayer event in Europe after the 2016 World Youth Day.Prime Minister Beata Szydlo tweeted an image of rosary beads with a crucifix and sent greetings to all the participants.Halina Kotarska, a 65-year-old participant, was quoted as saying, “Islam wants to destroy Europe. They want to turn us away from Christianity.”Krzysztof Januszewski, another participant, stated: “In the past, there were raids by sultans and Turks and people of other faiths against us Christians. Today Islam is flooding us and we are afraid of this too. We are afraid of terrorist threats and we are afraid of people departing from the faith.”(source)
https://www.churchmilitant.com/news/article/video-of-polish-priests-speech-slamming-islam-goes-viral |
In
America, the people here generally speaking have a very short historical
memory. With the concept of “change” or “progress” worshipped as a veritable
idol in society, America has turned itself into a near rootless society lacking
any sort of identity that changes with the whims of each generation. However,
for most peoples around the world, this is not the case at all. People have
very long “historical memories,” and grudges held centuries ago or conflict
that have endured since the time of antiquity can and still do resurface given
the right conditions.
For
example, it was 16 year ago that September 11th, 2001 took place. Yet look
within that 16 years how much has changed in terms of how people view the
attack. As far as it is concerned for the general public, the sentiment has
moved from “America was attacked by Muslim terrorists” to people going so far
as to even defend Islam publicly and with more vigor than before, and have
Islam accepted more by the greater society.
Now
as we have said before and it is always worth saying again, the situation with
Islam today was created by the governments of the world not in that the nature
of Islam itself has changed- the evil theological principles upon which it was
revealed were, are, and will remain consistent since they are a part of what
Islam considers to be divinely revealed truth- but that the already present
tendencies of Islam have been encouraged, nurtured, and protected for the
purpose of political upheavals. This has happened in every country around the
world today in some level (including Poland, as we have pointed out), but
America is a particular issue because lacking a sense of the past, we do not
have a clear vision for our future, and as such we live consistently in the
present, forgetting what was behind and unsure of what lies ahead. Hence, the
reason why ideas not just such as Islam, but many others are able to take root
and spread into society, and later disappear as though they never even existed
there to begin with.
Poland
is a nation that is very Catholic, and the Catholic Faith is what has kept that
nation from being completely annihilated by the Germans, the Russians, the
Austrians, and the Turks throughout the centuries. Were it not for the Faith,
they would have ceased to exist both as a people and a nation, and given their
geographic location they would likely have been divided up and completely
controlled in perpetuity by the Austrians, Germans, and Russians, as they were
for 150 years of their history.
While
there are many people in Poland who have left the Faith and given into the new
National Socialist rhetoric sweeping across Europe and the world today, the
core Catholic identity of that nation is what still holds it together, and as
many of these people are aware of based on their history, they have a real
reason to be concerned with their German and Russian neighbors. Germany today
is of particular concern because based on the rhetoric coming out of them,
their support of populism and nationalism, and the events of the last century,
Poland already sees what is coming in her future- she is likely going to be
invaded and beaten up in the same manner that Germany did last century, except
this time in a war likely involving nuclear weapons. Given the invitation and
importation of hundreds of thousands of Muslims into Europe, there is the added
threat of Islamic invasion regardless of how war with Germany begins or ends-
indeed, hundreds of thousands of people in any location near any nations’
borders means they will inevitably attempt to spread into Poland simply due to
geographic proximity. Given that Poland was involved with wars against the
Ottomans for centuries and that it was due to Polish armies that marched to the
Gates of Vienna and stopped the Ottoman siege of Vienna, she understands in a
particular way the threat they pose to Europe and Poland.
But
national socialism and Islam aside, her example of gathering as a nation to
pray the Rosary and seek the mercy of God for assistance in a time of great
trouble is an example for Christians throughout the world. Individual prayers
and rosaries are very good and necessary, and the more of them gathered
together the better. Indeed, when a man prays the Rosary, it is the second most
powerful form of prayer only surpassed by the holy sacrifice of the mass.
Likewise, one must also pray as well as lead a righteous life, for faith
without works in indeed dead, and indeed when one prays, one must seek to do
the will of God, for nothing else matters. Likewise, as we have mentioned, we
must be sure to pray for what is righteous, especially because remember it was
Germany who famously said for centuries Gott mit uns,
when nothing else could have been further from the truth. Since National
Socialism is coming back, one must be absolutely careful not to pray for that
which is evil.
Nevertheless,
the fact that one million Catholics gathered to pray the rosary for their
nation certainly means something. Even if Poland is invaded by her German
neighbor, the fact that there are still enough people there who love God and
His Church and are willing to make a public showing of their love means
something, and certainly their prayers will not go unheard.
If only America would take a lesson from
this.
INTERNET
SOURCE: http://shoebat.com/2017/10/09/over-one-million-catholics-gather-at-polands-borders-pray-the-rosary-and-seek-gods-help-to-defeat-the-forces-of-secularization-and-islamization-of-europe/
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