“If I may direct a look of concern to the two of you: stop wrangling, will you?”
My dear Mrs. Don-O, I do not mean to wrangle, and always try to keep a civil tongue in my head. I hold no hatred for Roman Catholics, appreciate their real contributions, and particularly have enjoyed working alongside them in pro-life causes.
I feel a sense of responsibility to defend the innocence of the martyrs who came before me, though, I can’t bear to have them accused of persecution, their blood cries out. I don’t blame any current RCs for their death, but I can’t sit quietly and have them labelled as some sort of aggressors.
It’s sort of like listening to someone blame the Jews for the Holocaust. There were some “bad” Jews who did wrong things, like persecuted and turned in their own people, but they were a handful over and against millions, and I can’t be quiet were they to be blamed for their aggression during WW2, either. History must be remembered honestly, even if painful.
I am for example of German extraction, but do not hesitate to call the country of Germany to account for its horrible behavior in the 1930s/40s, while still acknowledging all the positive contributions of Germans and Germany. I also remember there were serious and faithful Germans who, at great risk to themselves, worked against the evil of the day. Not all the Germans were “bad.”
I have no interested in sparring with anybody, I just want to speak up for those who no longer can.
Peter the Aleut was an Orthodox fur-hunter purportedly killed by Catholics somewhere on the Pacfic Coast of North America in ca. 1815; Andrew Bobola a Polish Jesuit missionary reportedly killed by Orthodox Cossacks in Belarus in 1657. They are portrayed together in Heaven, where Love is.
Correction: that’s “Andrew” Bobola.