Every year on Human Rights Day (December 10) there is a march in Vienna against the persecution of Christians. Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff attended last week’s event, and sends the following report.
Lighting Torches for the Forgotten Persecuted Christians
by Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff
Every year on December 10 — commemorating the signing of the UN Declaration of Universal Human Rights — hundreds of Christians gather in front of the word-famous Vienna Opera for the purpose of forcing awareness of this persecution millions of Christians worldwide into the public consciousness. This year around 600 men, women and children took time from their busy pre-Christmas schedules and sent a strong signal to the thousands of busy and bustling Christmas shoppers on Vienna’s famous shopping street, Kärntner Strasse, carrying torch lights and banners.
Notably absent was Archbishop Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, who predictably decided that sending a strong signal to persecuted Christians in Islamic countries and North Korea did not fit into his filled-to-capacity Advent schedule. He did, however, find the time to attend a concert for “refugees” in St. Stephen’s Cathedral. I spoke to a couple from Texas who attended the march for the first time and who told me they had expected the cardinal to head the procession. They were visibly disappointed when I told them the cardinal had never attended and would in the future refrain from attending the march. Nevertheless, they expressed interest in organizing a similar event in Houston.
Also missing were the many hundreds of Oriental Christians, i.e. Syrian-Orthodox and Coptic Christians. Neither lay people nor clergy showed up to show their interest in marching for their fellow brothers and sisters in the Middle East. Shameful!
As is the case every year, the march was lined with stressed-out shoppers who paused to acknowledge the procession. Sadly, hatred of Christians was expressed by passersby using relevant vocabulary. On the other hand, kindness was displayed by a shop assistant, who handed out a bottle of water free of charge after one of the marchers had his eye burned by speck of torchlight fire. Furthermore, there were reports of some passersby who spontaneously wept at the sight of so many people demonstrating their love and support for those Christians suffering at the hands of fellow human beings.
The march culminated in an ecumenical religious service in St. Stephen’s Cathedral.
Please note that there is also a March for Persecuted Christians, modeled after the Viennese one, held annually in Orlando, FL, organized by Pastor Bruce Lieske and the Team Esther. For further information, please watch this YouTube video. Also see this Facebook page on the Prayer March for Persecuted Christians .
It is so baffling. Or is it? From Ireland all the way across western Europe the dhimmis turn their Lights out and build great Islamic barracks and so called “asylum centers”. Yes it is very queer indeed.
The Herr Kardinal is absent because he is one of the (so-called) elites, who are quaking in their boots in the face of the latest Muselman invasion.
The Syrian and other Middle-Eastern Christians are absent because a) they are still Arabs, and b) they know exactly what their non-Christian Arab brothers and sisters are capable of.
The Cardinal did not attend the march because, like a large number of like-minded people, he did not wish to be associated with the organisers. I experienced something similar when trying to organise a march in the UK.
“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.” (Matthew 7)
The cardinal and the rest of them? The day will come when they have to answer for what they have done.
It would be good if we could waken some of these people up before that day arrives, but it’s looking more and more like that’s just not possible. They have made their choice, and it’s all over for them.
We are experiencing the same problems here in Orlando, FL with the lack of participation from Churches and Synagogues.
It is ponderous to me how Christian leadership, of all denominations, can sit idly by in silence as their brothers and sisters in faith are persecuted, imprisoned, tortured, and murdered because of their faith.
So keep up the great work Elisabeth (ESW) and if any of you are in Orlando, FL April 16-17, 2016 come join us for our Prayer March For Persecuted Christians and Jews.
In the USA it is the churches who are being paid by Obama’s government to bring Muslims into the country and settle them! This is a rich vein of income, so they are doubly traitorous! Like Judas, they are doing it for the money, under the feint of ‘Christian love’. That would be like Christ inviting the money-lenders into the Temple instead of tossing them out!
Okay, DiMu, let’s try this one.more.time.
The churches in the USA are not being paid by Obama’s government to bring Muslims into the country…Got that?? I’ve repeated this information ad infinitum, ad nauseam, but still this fabrication continues to make the rounds. It is the deeply righteous but sadly uninformed who continue to spread these untruths. Are you one of those surface readers, DiMu, or do you perform the due diligence required to be able to discuss a subject with enough background information to provide light instead of heated attacks?
It is traitorous to Truth for you to come on this forum and call people names whilst throwing Scriptural references around.
Those “faith-based” orgs are big bureaucracies created back in the 80s (or so) by opportunists who saw a great chance to co-operate with government – in this case, the Office of Refugee Resettlement (which is now a sub-agency of Homeland Security). ORR and some sub-group of the State Department contract with bureuacracies who stick a religious name in front of their scam ops. Because business is booming the “faith-based” orgs have even had to sub-contract some of the work out to other groups.
THESE FAITH-BASED BUREAUCRACIES ARE NOT CONNECTED TO THE CHURCHES. THEY RECEIVE NO CHURCH FUNDING FOR THEIR OPERATIONS. Every dollar comes from our tax revenues. Currently, ORR’s funding is in the billions.
Here they are:
Church World Service (CSW)
Ethiopian Community Development Council (ECDC)
Episcopal Migration Ministries (EMM)
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS)
International Rescue Committee (IRC)
US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants (USCRI)
Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services (LIRS)
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)
World Relief Corporation (WR)
Please research this topic. Ann Corcoran at Refugee Resettlement Watch has been writing about these criminal operations for almost a decade now. EVERY SINGLE DAY.
Do the research, DiMu. Google is your friend.
Some additional information:
According to police there were 1,500 marchers. This is good news.
Hoping for this many attendees in Orlando!