Shacking Up In Belgium

It's been going on for years. Islam is slowly but assuredly conquering Europe; neighborhood by neighborhood, town by town. In their campaign, Muslims have had little need to resort to military methods. For some time now, the tide of Islamic immigration to western Europe has been swelling. While it is true that many Islamic victories have been accomplished by peaceful means, civil disobedience and at times violent protest have marked colonization activities in some areas. As might be expected, the Catholic Church has been involved in the goings-on. In Belgium, for example, Catholic bishops have made their churches available for use as flop houses where undocumented aliens, who coincidentally happen to be mainly Islamic, might shelter while avoiding deportation. The bishops aren't so dumb. They are well aware that their government is loathe to enter church sanctuaries in order to enforce the law.

Most of the immigrant squatters in the churches are Muslims. They display banners in the church showing the name of Allah...The squatters are living in the churches. "Church occupations" by illegal immigrants have been going on for a number of years in Belgium. They are not really "occupations" because the Bishops condone the actions and actively support them…(Paul Belien, Allah Takes Over Catholic Church, (C) May 7, 2006)

It is reported that some 700 Muslims are living in one Catholic church. It is entirely conceivable that a large European church or a cathedral might easily accommodate such a number for worship. However, having that many people living in one must surely limit individual privacy and place a great strain sanitary facilities.

Belgian Church Organizes Illegal Immigrants, © Paul Belien 2006

The squatters live in tents in the churches. The tents are being provided by Catholic relief organisations. They have also been offered radios, television sets and computers. Ibid.)

Given all the things that clutter a church, such as pews, altars, baptismal fonts, religious statues and the like, one might suspect that precious few tents could be fitted inside even a large cathedral. Not so. One way to create space so that an ancient Catholic church or cathedral might be turned into a campground for illegal Muslim aliens is to move things out of the way. All those things that might contribute to crowding have been moved out of the way; ostensibly by Islamic squatters but perhaps by RCC officials.

Once space has been cleared, some of it is used for tenting, while another part is in essence converted into an Islamic mosque where the squatters might attend to their relligious duties.

The Muslim squatters hold Islamic prayer services in the church. The altar has been moved and the statue of Our Lady covered by a cloth to hide her from the eyes of the Muslim believers.--(Ibid.)

I haven't learned what measures have been taken to provide as many as 700 sanctuary squatters with adequate facilities for bathing and elimination of bodily wastes in the churches. One Catholic bishop has made a gesture to help ease the potty shortage by inviting illegals to share his quarters.

Two weeks ago Monsignor André Léonard, the Bishop of Namur, who thinks that churches and chapels, as they have no sanitation or conveniences, are not suitable for accommodating lodgers, opened his episcopal residence (which is government property) to the “sans-papiers.” In today’s newspapers he says that it is “inhuman to expel people who are well integrated in our country.” Bishop Léonard demands that the law be changed. (Belgian Church Organizes Illegal Immigrants, Op. cit.)

I just have to wonder whether the Monsignor takes care of his own religious duties in private or joins in the five daily prayers of Islam. Then there's the question of nuns or other women serving in the residence: if there are any, must they dress in accordance with Islamic tradtion? Has the Monsignor sworn off, temporarily at least, bacon, pork chops and snails? So many questions. So few answers.

The perceptive reader might wonder why the parishioners who normally use the occupied churches aren't protecting those buildings and artifacts they supposedly consider to be sacred. Perhaps the Belgian bishops are sending them away to worship in other places which at present hold no interest for Islamic squatters. On the other hand, it certainly appears that seeing a gaggle of Islamic tough guys loitering at the entrances to the occupied religious buildings just might be all it takes to lead Belgian Catholics to go elsewhere to fulfill the religious obligations placed on them by the RCC.

Muslim Protest Goup In Belgium, © 2005 Gilliland 2006

That certainly would give me something to think about.