The Crusades Reconsidered

Howard Owens has been blogging recently about the Crusades. Like much else in Christian history, theology, and practice, the Crusades have been (deliberately) misrepresented in modern times.

Yesterday, Howard blogged a link to an article by Paul Crawford at Christianity Today:

Osama bin Laden called America's response to September 11, a "new crusade and Jewish campaign led by the big crusader Bush under the flag of the cross." He clearly meant to link the military campaign to European campaigns from a millennium ago, during which, the prevailing mentality holds, Christian warriors unjustly attacked Islamic possessions in and around Palestine.

By establishing this connection, though, the fugitive fanatic admits more than he alleges. In the Middle Ages, as in 2001, Islam struck first — and in such a way that the West would certainly respond....

The January/February issue of Catholic Dossier was devoted to the Crusades.

In a related vein, three recent issues of Catholic World Report have featured cover stories on Christianity and Islam. They are linked from the Collections section of The View.

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sun. 07/07/02 04:42:59 PM
Categorized as Classic.

"Mychal, Judged"

From Rod Dreher at The Corner:

Here's an essay that's been making the conservative Catholic rounds, asserting that the hero priest of 9/11, Fire Department of New York chaplain Mychal Judge, was not a homosexual. The author, Dennis Lynch, says he and others who knew Fr. Judge for some time never had the slightest hint that he was gay. That may be true, but that proves nothing. In fact, a number of people close to Judge, including former FDNY Commissioner Thomas von Essen, have said Fr. Judge came out to them (it seems beyond doubt that Fr. Judge affiliated himself with the dissenting gay Catholic group Dignity). Others close to him - like his brother Franciscan Brian Jordan - say they never knew about his private life. One friend of the late priest's said Judge was careful not to out himself to friends and congregants he figured might be upset by this knowledge. Fr. Judge's homosexuality does not take away from the fact that he did a world of good for the men and women of New York, and that he died heroically. Nor does his good work posthumously baptize his dissent from Church teaching, or prove the Church wrong, as some gay activists would have it. All can agree he was a flawed but good-hearted man who was loving, and was loved, and who died on a mission of mercy. Beyond that, I say it's up to God.

(See Fr. Mychal Judge Was Not "Gay".)

Lane Core Jr. CIW P — Sun. 07/07/02 04:02:18 PM
Categorized as Classic.