France And Islam

Skanderbeg

Yesterday two young Islamic fundamentalists went into a Church in a small village in Normandy, France and murdered the Priest while he was celebrating the liturgy. The attackers were 19 years old and the priest was 86 years old. Fr. Jacques Hamel died a martyr for his Catholic faith.

The day before that, I was listening to the Dennis Prager Show. Prager had two guests on who had written a book. The guests were General Michael Flynn and Michael Ledeen and their book is The Field of Fight: How We Can Win The War Against Radical Islam and Its Allies.

Flynn and Ledeen gave the standard Western drivel on Islam. While agreeing with some of what they said, they didn’t have the right answer. The right answer is to replace their religion with Catholicism. The Catholic Church has always been the best deterrent against Islam. The greatest enemy of Islam has been the Catholic Church. This is true both ideologically and militarily.

The best apologists against Islam have been Catholic. This is true in both the first and second millennia of the Church. St. John of Damascus, Peter the Venerable, St. Francis of Assisi, and St. Thomas Aquinas have been the best Christian voices against Islam intellectually and spiritually.

The best military leaders against the Islamic world have been Catholic. The great Catholic Charles Martel defeated the Moors at Tours, France in 732. The great Catholic Albanian Skanderbeg fought the Ottoman Turks led by Sultan Mehmet II. Sultan Mehmet II had just conquered Constantinople and he wanted to finish off Rome, the Capital of Christendom. The Albanians under Skanderbeg held them off for 15 years until Skanderbeg died of old age. The Albanians held off the Turks off for another 10 years until Albania was conquered. At this point the Turks went to Italy, but the army was exhausted. The Turkish campaign in Italy was short-lived and a grand failure. Rome remained the capital of Christendom. Don John of Austria led the Holy League Navy in the huge naval victory at Lepanto in 1571. Jan Sobieski defeated the Turks at Vienna with the largest cavalry charge in the history of warfare in 1683.  The greatest enemy of the Islamic crescent has always been the Catholic cross.

Whether the problem be theology or warfare, the answer is Catholicism, not western democracy or liberal values. A good example of this is the last 50 years. Western Europe has a large significant Islamic population and now they are wondering what to do. Western democracy and liberal values are useless in the face of Islamic terror. In the last 18 months, hundreds of French citizens have died from Islamic terror attacks. Whether it was Charlie Hebdo, the Paris attacks, the Nice attacks or the murder of Fr. Hamel, France has greatly suffered from Islamic terrorism.

I am sure many French muslims are recoiling in horror at the murder of the Priest and the other attacks. Regardless, they need the same spiritual help as the men who carried out these attacks. They need the writings of the great Catholic apologists, whether it be St. John of Damascus, Peter the Venerable, St. Francis of Assisi, or St. Thomas Aquinas. They need to be involved in great Catholic rituals and devotions from the Mass, to the rosary, to the great pilgrimages taken by the faithful.

France is the home of many great Saints from ancient saints like St. Hilary of Poitiers, to modern ones like St. Therese of Lisieux. Although the country is deeply secular, it needs to return to its Catholic roots. It needs to stop being politically correct and make the French Muslims the priority. It needs to return to Catholicism since it is the only way that French civilization will survive Islam. It will also show great love toward the Muslims by bringing them to Christ and His Church.