SIR – I suggest that Robert Pellegrinetti think more critically about Islam (Letter, August 12). Yes, we can distinguish between “Islamic” and “Islamist”, but where do radicals and extremists get their ideology from if not from the Koran itself and the example of their warrior-prophet in 7th-century Arabia?
There are over a hundred verses urging Muslims to pursue and kill “infidels”, including pagans, Jews, Christians and those regarded as not true Muslims (e.g., 8:64 “O prophet of Allah, incite the believers to fight” and 8:60 “Strike terror into the hearts of Allah’s enemies”). Even if many Muslims do not engage in military jihad, they would deep down support terrorism in the name of Islam and not condemn it publicly.
By all means let us “build bridges” with Muslims, but let us not forget that for most of their history, Muslim armies applied their supremacist ideology in subjugating non-Muslims through jihad. First, it was the Middle East (which had been mostly Christian), followed by other conquests around the world. As for Europe, there were repeated attempts by the Ottoman Turks to invade it, ending in defeat at the gates of Vienna in 1683.
Hence we can speak about “Islam waging war on Christianity”. Today, instead of armies, individual radicals are practising jihad, while others use political and even democratic means to infiltrate and dominate public life and institutions. So let’s open our eyes and not be naive about the dangers of Islam spreading in the West.
Yours faithfully,
Dr Joseph Seferta
Sutton Coldfield
SIR – In the final words of her letter (August 12) regarding the best focus for promoting vocations, Sister M. Valery Walker OP is surely right in saying that the young must first “love the Lord”. They must be inspired to do so in the home, and at school.
Would that all the young would hear the rallying cry given to the university undergraduates at Oxford by Blessed John Henry Newman: “Blessed are they who give the flower of their days, and the strength of soul and body to Him; blessed are they who in their youth turn to Him who gave his life for them, and would fain give it to them to implant it in them, that they may live for ever. Blessed are they who receive – come good, come evil, come sunshine, come tempest, come honour, come dishonour – that He shall be their Lord and Master, their King and God.”
Yours faithfully,
Fr Michael G Murphy
Cork
SIR – The concept of martyrdom in the Catholic Church is not as restricted as Dan Hitchens proposes (5th August; Letters, 12 August).
Who is and who is not is for the determination of the Church.Whilst there is only one ground of martyrdom there are five facts of martyrdom as follows:
• in odium fidei – from hatred of the faith
• in defensum castitatis – in defense of chastity
• ex aerumnis carceris – from the hardships of incarceration
• per testimonium caritatis fortis – by witness of heroic charity
• ex acertatibus et vexationibusque pro fidei quibus pertulit – by reason of the force and violence which were endured for the faith.
Which category of martyrdom does, say, Blessed Oscar Romero fit into? He was murdered because he spoke out against the oppression of the poor. The key to understanding who was and who was not included in the list drawn up to propose martyrdom is whether the people at the time saw them as martyrs.
Whether or not Fr Hamel’s spoken words “get behind me Satan” or his action of pushing away one of his attackers detracts from his “fame for martyrdom” will ultimately be judged by the church. I for one hope that his martyrdom will not suffer the fate of politically correctness that the remaining English Reformation martyrs have appeared to suffer.
That Fr Hamel is a martyr who was murdered in odium fidei appears clear to me. His killers targeted a priest, entered a holy building during Mass, the principal liturgical action of the Church, and following an Islamic sermon desecrated the sanctuary of the Church by giving Fr Hamel the martyr’s crown. As with the Italian priest Fr Santor, murded in Turkey in 2005, I look forward to a beatification cause being introduced for Fr Hamel. Until that time it is right and proper to pray for the repose of his soul.
Yours faithfully,
Christopher Keeffe
West Harrow
SIR – Your report (19 August ) of the latest pronouncements by Bishop Burns of Menevia on the long standing campaign to save Aberystwyth’s Victorian Church of Our Lady of the Angels and St Winefride’s, presents only part of the picture.
It is true that the latest appeal to the Vatican has been rejected, but the decision deals only with some of the concerns raised. For this reason alone it is unlikely to be the final word on the subject. In any event the parishioners’ campaign for common sense strongly supported locally and elsewhere will continue.
St Winefride’s, a Victorian gem built in 1874, has been closed on the orders of Bishop Burns for four years apparently on safety grounds, but there has been a consistent refusal to discuss the matter properly with parishioners or to agree to an independent survey of the building.
The bishop’s latest plan to rehouse Aberystwyth Catholics, by rebuilding a derelict 1970s site in the suburb of Penparcau, would saddle the parish with a debt of over £300,000 for a church of poor design and construction.
A church also situated in entirely the wrong location to serve the town’s Catholic population and in the wrong location for the people of Penparcau, who seem fed up with the general over development of the locality and the challenges this creates for residents.
Thousands of pounds of the money of Aberystwyth Catholics would be wasted.
Important conservation bodies, including The Royal Commission for the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, The Victorian Society, Save Great Britain’s Heritage and the Aberystwyth Civic Society, also say that St Winefride’s should be preserved.
Aberystwyth Town Council is of the same opinion and the planning authority Ceredigion County Council is not in favour of demolition.
The vast majority of Aberystwyth Catholics, in my view, want their money to be spent to refurbish St Winefride’s in the town centre and not squandered by an out-of-touch diocese on an unwanted and badly judged plan.
Yours faithfully,
David C Subacchi
Wrexham
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