Michael Fitzgerald of Liverpool has just received the red hat. Judging by a brief email interview in Catholic.com, we shouldn’t expect much original thinking from him, not by 21st Century standards, anyway. His bailiwick is, essentially, the rubric of “a need for Islamic ecumenism.”
Bickerstaff prays he may be forgiven for asking a simple question here: Why? Islam has been a sworn enemy of Christianity since Muhammed walked on this earth. To suggest otherwise with boilerplate like “we should prudently engage in dialogue with them and work together for moral values and justice and peace” accomplishes nothing. The two institutions’s morals–or “values” as we must call them these days–are poles apart and that cannot be changed without one of the two being eradicated. To believe differently is naive at best.
Yet naivité is exactly what the Cardinal displays when answering the question: “what should every Catholic know about Islam?”
His answer?
That Muslims believe in one God, and since there is only one God, they believe in the same God as us. They have a high idea of this God which excludes incarnation, so they do not believe that Jesus is the Son of God. This is the main difference between us.
Interesting default logic there. This writer suspects there are more than a few Christians and Jews who would not only disagree with that syllogism, but be deeply offended by it, with good cause.
The Cardinal goes on to give equally silly and illogical answers to other questions, at one point quoting from Paul VI’s Lumen gentium, to no great enlightenment.
Wouldn’t it be lovely if Cardinal Fitzgerald and others, e.g., the Pope, would divert some of their energies from “dialogue” with emirs and concern themselves more with the present deplorable state of Holy Church? Islam is strong and growing. The Catholic Church is neither. Making overtures to Muslims will not improve matters for the Church one whit.
The Taos Tatler 