Per Christum

“…I took the simplest and most explicit Christian name: “Cristiano.” Since yesterday evening therefore my name is Magdi Crisitano Allam.

“For me it is the most beautiful day of [my] life. To acquire the gift of the Christian faith during the commemoration of Christ’s resurrection by the hand of the Holy Father is, for a believer, an incomparable and inestimable privilege. At almost 56 […], it is a historical, exceptional and unforgettable event, which marks a radical and definitive turn with respect to the past. The miracle of Christ’s resurrection reverberated through my soul, liberating it from the darkness in which the preaching of hatred and intolerance in the face of the “different,” uncritically condemned as “enemy,” were privileged over love and respect of “neighbor,” who is always, an in every case, “person”; thus, as my mind was freed from the obscurantism of an ideology that legitimates lies and deception, violent death that leads to murder and suicide, the blind submission to tyranny, I was able to adhere to the authentic religion of truth, of life and of freedom…

I know what I am headed for but I face my destiny with my head held high, standing upright and with the interior solidity of one who has the certainty of his faith. And I will be more so after the courageous and historical gesture of the Pope, who, as soon has he knew of my desire, immediately agreed to personally impart the Christian sacraments of initiation to me. His Holiness has sent an explicit and revolutionary message to a Church that until now has been too prudent in the conversion of Muslims, abstaining from proselytizing in majority Muslim countries and keeping quiet about the reality of converts in Christian countries. Out of fear. The fear of not being able to protect converts in the face of their being condemned to death for apostasy and fear of reprisals against Christians living in Islamic countries. Well, today Benedict XVI, with his witness, tells us that we must overcome fear and not be afraid to affirm the truth of Jesus even with Muslims.

For my part, I say that it is time to put an end to the abuse and the violence of Muslims who do not respect the freedom of religious choice. In Italy there are thousands of converts to Islam who live their new faith in peace. But there are also thousands of Muslim converts to Christianity who are forced to hide their faith out of fear of being assassinated by Islamic extremists who lurk among us. By one of those “fortuitous events” that evoke the discreet hand of the Lord, the first article that I wrote for the Corriere on Sept. 3, 2003 was entitled “The new Catacombs of Islamic Converts.” It was an investigation of recent Muslim converts to Christianity in Italy who decry their profound spiritual and human solitude in the face of absconding state institutions that do not protect them and the silence of the Church itself. Well, I hope that the Pope’s historical gesture and my testimony will lead to the conviction that the moment has come to leave the darkness of the catacombs and to publicly declare their desire to be fully themselves.”

More from Zenit.

“I realize what I am going up against

but I will confront my fate with my head high,

with my back straight and the interior strength

of one who is certain about his faith.”

— Magdi Christian Allam.

Some voices in Europe and other places are presently criticizing the pope for his high profile baptism of Magdi Allam at the Easter Vigil. They assert that the pope is somehow taunting Islam and unnecessarily putting Mr. Allam’s life in danger, and perhaps the pope’s as well. I cannot know the pope’s mind. But I would like to suggest why he might do something so dramatic and frankly foolish in the eyes of the world:

I think the pope is making all kinds of points.

• He wants to uphold the example of this man who has stood up to Islam already for many years.
• He also wants to make an issue of the Muslim practice of assassination of those who convert out of it. Imagine the shame heaped on Islam if Allam is killed.
• He wants to show Muslims that reasonable and rational people, the very best of Islam are ashamed of what Islam has become.
• He wants to make a point to sleepy Europeans that Christianity is a faith worth dying for.
• He wants to give all the world an example of Christ-like willingness to die for the good, rather than to kill.
• He wants the world to know that it is superior to suffer violence than to commit it.
• He wants to show the world the moral and spiritual superiority of Christ and Christianity.
• He wants to show the world that the willingness to innocently suffer violence for one’s faith is not reserved to the earliest ages, but is a very present reality.
• He wants to highlight that Christians throughout the world willingly suffer violence for their faith every day.
• He wants to bring about religious freedom, a true liberation of personal conscience in the lands of Islam.
• He wants to give the Muslim world an example of Christian virtue that they will notice.
• Should Mr. Allam or Benedict lose their lives, he would want to offer martyrs for the sake of the Muslim world.

Finally, Magdi Allam, now on the world stage, may be safer than if he had not been in the spotlight. Who knows?

I was born on Holy Saturday, April 16, 1927, in Marktl am Inn. the fact that my day of birth was the last day of Holy Week and the eve of Easter has always been noted in our family history. This was connected with the fact that I was baptized immediately on the morning of the day I was born with the water that had just been blessed. (At that time the solemn Easter Vigil was celebrated on the morning of Holy Saturday.) To be the first person baptized with the new water was seen as a significant act of Providence. I have always been filled with thanksgiving for having had my life immersed in this way in the Easter mystery, since this could only be a sign of blessing. To be sure, it was not Easter Sunday but Holy Saturday, but, the more I reflect on it, the more this seems to be fitting for the nature of our human life: we are still awaiting Easter; we are not yet standing in th full light but walking toward it full of trust.

(Joseph Ratzinger, Milestones: Memories, 1927-1977, p. 8 )

The courage of this pope throughout his life is a reflection of his baptism. And last night’s baptism was an act of religious courage and fortitude virtually unknown in the Western World in the modern age. But, such acts of religious conviction as a matter of life and death are almost a commonplace for Christians throughout much of the world.

May the boldness of Magdi Christian Allam and countless Christians in Africa, India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Vietnam, Iraq and China now embolden the rest of the Church is announcing the Good News of Jesus Christ, crucified for us and Risen!

The story of the pope’s baptism was completely new to me when I just read it over at Ad Te Levavi Animam Meam.

I regularly read and enjoy Stand Firm, a conservative Anglican blog. However, it is becoming apparent to me (from some Stand Firm contributors and the commenters who frequent the blog) that many “orthodox” Anglicans are more evangelical than catholic, and are willing to dismiss classic Anglican beliefs and practices in light of modern evangelicalism. Thus it seems like “orthodox” Anglicanism is shaping up to be an evangelical and/or reformed version of Anglicanism, which, I understand, is the form of Anglicanism growing in the global south.

Two recent articles/discussions on Stand Firm have illustrated this. First, there is a sermon Fr. Matt Kennedy gave about Infant Baptism, in which he defends the practice based on Scripture. Nonetheless, scroll down and read the comments and see the general suspicion towards infant baptism, even among “orthodox” Anglican commenters. I can understand Baptists and Pentecostals denying infant baptism, but I never thought Anglicans would question the practice.

Next, David Ould, a contributor to Stand Firm, has written about John 3, and unlike virtually every Christian writer prior and up to the 16th century (including Luther), argues that the water Jesus speaks of in John 3 is not baptism (see Are Catholics Born Again? by Per Christum contributor Jonathan for an explanation of Catholic Teaching about John 3). It seems like many commenters are arguing against Ould’s thesis, but I think these two examples illustrate the difficult road ahead for “orthodox” Anglicans, who can’t even agree on issues like baptismal regeneration, infant baptism, women’s ordination, divorce and remarriage, etc.

I know that conservative Anglicans are united in their opposition to the sexual permissiveness that is common in the Episcopal church, but opposing TEC’s sexual innovations is certainly not a basis to form a strong union or new group of churches, especially with such strong disagreement on other major issues remaining unresolved. Plus, I suspect that catholic-minded Anglicans will point out that from a Catholic and Patristic perspective, denying baptismal regeneration is just as heretical as same-sex marriage.

I am afraid that if “orthodox” Anglicanism is going to look a lot like dressed up evangelicalism, there isn’t going to be room for those who see Anglicanism as a branch of the church catholic. “Orthodox” Anglicanism may well turn out to be as innovative as progressive Episcopalianism.

UPDATE 1: Anglican priest Fr. Jeffrey Steele has responded to David Ould over at De Cura Animarum.