Real Catholic Blog

A nefarious group called the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which prides itself on stopping prayers from opening meetings of city councils and Nativity scenes in public areas in the grossly misunderstood name of the First Amendment, a group that bullies God loving organizations and Christians, now has set its sights on what it must think is its biggest fish yet: The U.S. Postal Service.

The USPS has a new stamp in honor of Mother Teresa, but the atheist group has set about to stop its issuance. In its efforts, not surprisingly for this group and others like it, it has taken to spreading lies and anti-Catholic propaganda. According to CatholicVoteAction.org’s Brian Burch:

A group called the Freedom from Religion Foundation is now spreading lies about Blessed Mother Teresa accusing this holy nun of having a ‘darker side,’ and calling her a ‘polarizing Roman Catholic figurehead.’

The stamp’s release date is scheduled for August. But we have no time to wait. CatholicVoteAction.org has established an online petition — StampOutBigotry.com — to Postmaster General Jack Potter to encourage the USPS to stick to its schedule and not bow to pressure from this anti-Catholic group. Click here to sign it!

But what’s behind the atheists’ real motivation to stop this stamp? After all, we heard nary a peep from them when stamps honoring Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., were issued. Both were religious figures. Dr. King, in particular, proudly cast his movement in the most Christian of terms and it fostered a groundswell of Catholics and Christian denominations to his side.

Maybe, as Mr. Burch suggests, it’s because Mother Teresa was an outspoken proponent of the unborn. He cites her closing quote at the 1994 National Prayer Breakfast:

From here, a sign of care for the weakest of the weak — the unborn child — must go out to the world. If you become a burning light of justice and peace in the world, then really you will be true to what the founders of this country stood for. God bless you!

Please stand up for Mother Teresa’s memory and all she did for the Faith. Sign the petition and do your part in your daily life to counter groups who try to impose their secular beliefs on the unsuspecting in our country. Then, in August, buy lots of Mother Teresa stamps!

The proposed Mother Teresa stamp. By getting it issued , we can stamp out another case of anti-Catholic bigotry.

Yesterday was the Feast of two great saints. One, Saint John of the Cross (see DoctorsoftheCatholicChurch.com) is better known and it was his feast celebrated on the Latin Rite calendar. Also, yesterday, celebrated in the Eastern Rite, specifically, the Maronite Rite (see MaroniteMonks.org), was the feast of my ancestor, Saint Nimatullah Kassab Al-Hardini (Hardini.org), a Lebanese Maronite monk who was the mentor to the best known Lebanese Maronite Saint, Saint Charbel, whose Feast is celebrated in the Latin Rite in July (see Catholic Online).

Saint Nimatullah (1808-1858) was known for many things (see Eparchy of Saint Maron). He was an efficient administrator, a scholarly teacher and a devout priest. He was especially noted for his love of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Blessed Sacrament (see Vatican biography). He spent many hours in Eucharistic Adoration, often at the expense of sleep, kneeling in the chapel, arms raised cross-like and eyes trained on the tabernacle (see LebaneseSaints.com). Although there are photographs of him, the image below is the most famous one, and was used at his canonization, and honors his devotion to the Blessed Sacrament.

There is volumes of information on Saint Nimatullah and other Maronite Saints. He lived an extradordinary life as a monk and was widely regarded from the Middle East to Rome, and was given great responsibilities. However, when the opportunity came to move to safer quarters at the outset of war, he remained, to look after those in need.

I could go on, but who better than John Paul The Great to speak of him? Saint Nimatullah was one in the last group of saints canonized by John Paul, on May 16, 2004.

Said the His Holiness about Saint Nimatullah:

A man of prayer, in love with the Eucharist which he adored for long periods, Saint Nimatullah Kassab Al-Hardini is an example for the monks of the Order of Lebanese Maronites as he is for his Lebanese brothers and sisters and all Christians of the world. He gave himself completely to the Lord in a life full of great sacrifices, showing that God’s love is the only true source of joy and happiness for man. He committed himself to searching for and following Christ, his Master and Lord.

Welcoming his brothers, he reassured and healed many wounds in the hearts of his contemporaries, witnessing to God’s mercy. May his example enlighten our journey and bring forth, especially in young people, a true desire for God and for holiness to proclaim to our world the light of the Gospel!

Devout to the Blessed Sacrament, in his love for the Lord and for the Church, Saint Nimatullah is a role model in many respects.

Despite the promises of the ”new face of communism” in countries such as China and Vietnam, where freedoms allegedly are granted and the societies gradually gain freedom, communism remains the same ideological dictatorship as it ever was, no matter the country, no matter the so-called modernization of it. Deacon Keith Fournier, of the Diocese of Richmond, Va., has written a piece for Catholic Online (Catholic.org)  that documents the absolute oppression of Catholic priests in Vietnam — physical attacks, arrests and mock trials leading to imprisonment or worse. Yet, our government and the international community does nothing, and even warms up relations with this dictatorship.

Deacon Fournier writes that this hostility is the “New Vietnam War,” but that this “Christianphobia” manifests itself in the West as well — including America — in the anti-life and anti-family movements, as well as in physically dangerous situations in the Middle East and Asia:

“Christianophobia” is a word coined by the Holy See to explain this growing anti-Christian sentiment in our age. It is spreading in the European community, in America and throughout the entire world. It is now showing its violent propensities in Vietnam. …

Over the last few years we have witnessed the evil inflicted against Christians in Iraq, the anti-Christian hostility spreading throughout the entire Middle East, the attacks against Christians in Asia and, in particular, the deadly violence in India. We have seen this evil “Christianophobia” spread into countless other places through the less blatant but still insidious anti-Christian ideology fueling so much of the anti-life, anti-family and anti- freedom ideologies of the declining West.

Sadly, we did not rise up the way we could or should when our brethren were attacked in Iraq. Nor did we act when they killed our brethren in India! We have done little to truly expose the dangers faced by Christians in the land where Jesus walked. In short, we Christians have failed in our watch.

We have another chance now. Ironically it comes in the Nation which so many of us, particularly Americans, still remember with regret, no matter which “side” of the failed Vietnam War we stood on, the Nation of Vietnam. That was then and this is now. There is a new Vietnam War being waged. They are attacking Catholic priests and seeking to silence the voice of authentic liberation, the Catholic Church. We must not fail this time.

Indeed, fail we must not. Pray we must. We also must not be afraid to educate our fellow citizens, Catholic and otherwise, including our elected representatives in Washington, to stand up to this persecution of priests in Vietnam.