When we arrived for Holy Mass yesterday evening. It was the Feast of Our Lady of Knock and as we parked our car we noticed a group of young Asians looking boys. There were six of them, they had bikes and they had mobile phones. I had a thought, are these up to no good. Of course we are used to people from many foreign countries; so that is not the problem. Something felt wrong. I said to my husband could they be terrorists. We went on into the Church and everything was normal except one of the boys had come in for Mass with his hat on. And his phone started to play the sort of eastern type music just for a few seconds before Mass started. We had been asked to ensure mobile phones were switched off. Anyway after Mass I usually finish a few prayers while everyone is leaving to avoid the little crowd, then I leave usually when there are just three or four people left in the Church. As I was coming out, I realised three or four of the boys were talking to the Priest who usually stands at the door to say a few words as we leave if we want to. They kept him in conversation as everyone left. As I passed them I thought are they keeping the Priest busy until everyone leaves and then getting ready to assault him with phone cameras ready to put it on U Tube. One of the boys was man sized. And the only person left in the Church by then was an eighty six year old woman who locks up and tidies up after Mass. I thought the Priest should not be left alone with them. They were definitely not Catholic, as I heard one of them asking the Priest why did God make Jesus, and the Priest start to explain it to them. I went to my husband and said we can't leave in case they are getting ready to do harm. I asked my husband to go back and wait near by. I asked the Priest if my husband could speak to him when he was finished talking to the boys, of course he said yes. But I wanted the boys to know we would be around until after they left. They must have kept the conversation going for at least half an hour. One of them left after about ten minutes but the other five hung on a long time. I am convinced it is very unusual for five or six kids to decide to enquire about the Faith after Sunday evening Mass when it is well gone seven o'clock in the evening. You would make an appointment to speak to some one surely. I spoke to the old lady who was clearing up and she told me she was worried about them and would be there. I thought if they start any nonsense I will phone the police straight away and then go on the defence even if it kills me. I was surprised no other men stayed. And I am convinced Churches need to keep a strong young man around to protect our Priests. My husband looks like a tough guy, but I can guarantee you he would not say boo to a goose in reality, and I am pretty sure he could not pack a punch if he tried; but he does look strong. And bless him, he stayed near the Priest until the boys had gone off on their bikes. The final thing that I noticed was; as the boys were coming to get their bikes which were next to our car, I could hear them speaking in their foreign language and having a good laugh. That did not seem like they were interested in the Christian Faith to me, just not right somehow. Sorry it is wordy; but I needed to get it off my chest. What would you have done. I hope if these young boys were up to no good, we did the right thing. It just all seemed very odd.
You did the right thing....something seemed wrong here...I would have been suspect too! Trust your instincts on these matters and error on the side of caution.
God love you, Julia, and your husband, for protecting your priest from who knows what could have happened! I'm sure there were many extra angels, sent by Our Lord, to guard you while you guarded him. Well done!
God bless you and your husband Julia. It sounds fishy and you have to go with your gut instincts these days. I adore in downtown Boston on a weekday night starting at 9pm until about 10pm - 10:30pm. The doors are locked around 9pm, but anyone can walk in before that and sometimes the doors are late to get locked. It is right near Fenway and the game empties out around 9:30pm so throngs of fans walk by the open windows so I can hear the rowdiness and sometimes drunkenness. And college students will be getting back in a week and we are right near a college. I don't feel unsafe for the most part, but I do look at others in the church with more caution these days. It is important to know where your exits are and have an exit strategy in your head just to be prudent.
SgC, I did try and recall if I had seen the boy who came in to Mass go up to receive at Holy Communion. But the truth is, once I arrive in the Church I have so many people to bring to Jesus at each Holy Mass, including Padraig and everyone on the Forum here; I do not notice much going on around. So I could not recall if he went up to receive Holy Communion.
My son in law is a policeman, so I might tell him about it privately and see what he thinks. My guess is the authorities in the UK would have an "if it ain't broken why fix it" mentality. There is a very definite fear of offending aliens in this country, and Christians do not count for much if anything these days. On the other hand, it has made me rethink how to go forward in the future. I am thinking of finding out where to buy pepper spray and carry it in my purse in case of attack. I would not go down without a fight. It is against the law in the UK to carry any weapons like knife or gun. I am also wondering if a little bottle of Holy Water would be a good idea to have on hand, and if these people are on Church property and certainly within the Church, it would not be wrong to sprinkle them with Holy Water and use the words of Baptism on them. That should be a huge reason for the evil one to keep them well out of my reach. I am also wondering if getting hold of some little pictures of Our Lady of Guadaloupe and having them to hand to give to any youth who are on Church property or in the Church. I would tell them the truth. Miriam in the Koran is Mary the mother of Jesus. And she is highly esteemed by the muslim prophet, so it would not be wrong to give them a little picture of Miriam and suggest they check out its miraculous properties on line. Mary can convert them the way she converted the Aztecs. Do you know Our Lady of Guadaloupe is standing on a crescent moon, which is black because there is no light in it. It is crushed to death. The crescent moon you see on top of Mosques represent mohammed the so called prophet. And God has revealed that the words of mohammed have no light in them, they are dead words from a dead man. We are told this in the Guadaloupe image in pictorial form. Anyway, I will stop rabbiting now. LOL
My gut feeling about muslims is they are not into stealing sacred things to abuse. They are more interested in spilling human blood or trashing sacred things where they find them. So as long as we are there to protect our sacred items, there would not be an outright attempt to steal unless it is something that can be sold and turned into cash. As Holy Father said it is not about religion really, it is about money and power. Maybe wrong on this; but someone else may be able to tell me something different.
R "Rabbit" away, Julia. I believe we are going to have to rely on our interior voices that spoke softly at first, but are becoming more prominent now. Our guardian angels will be given greater powers to help the faithful and we have to be aware of this heightened connection to the spiritual realm. I'm not stating this very clearly but I believe that as sin escalates so will the graces that God promises us.
I would be careful doing that, Julia. It might just be the spark that ignites the wrong type of fire. But then again, pray, and if the prompt to do it comes strong, then go ahead. I always wondered about the black moon. Thanks for this, Julia.
They could have been larking about, Julia, daring each other to check out what they believe is a place of idol worship. They might not have been Muslim or raised in any religion. Sad that these days any group of youngsters can be seen as a threat. The one who went inside for Mass could have been "casing the joint" to see what's worth stealing and how easy it would be. We had a spate of Church robberies here - I think they were mostly after the collection money held in the sacristry. Nowhere is sacred or safe any more. I would have done the same as you. Maybe I would have taken photos of them with my phone (if I knew how to use the camera on my phone). Then again, had they seen you do that it could have provoked an angry reaction. You might want to ask your son-in-law whether pepper spray is illegal in the UK.
I don't believe pepper spray is illegal in the UK. I had heard of people carrying it as far back as the 1960's in the city centres. It would be quite a challenge because if someone was carrying it and panicked they might spray everyone around them instead of the intended target. You know how people panic in an emergency sometimes. I did think about the photo facility on my phone; but as you say, it might cause an escalation in a situation that was met by just making sure there were a few people present until the young boys left. Please God this sort of thing will not happen again. We need to wear our Benedict Crosses or medals and Miraculous medals, and I wear a Saint Michael medal as well as the brown Scapula and a Scapula medal. And always wear the Rosary bead around my neck when not in use. I am armed to the teeth with holy sacramental. LOL
Ah they are lovely Pádraig, I bet it's them take you a walk though rather than the other way round lol
Oh come on...cats are better than dogs actually I would get a golden if I could but my cats would never adjust! You reminded me to get pepper spray. Always good to have. I think mace might be illegal but not pepper spray, at least here in the states. I have bought pepper spray at an army navy store. I think you can get it at camping stores like rei. or jogging stores.
They are good for going up hill. They use them for pulling sleighs uphill in North Japan. The bitch, Yuki is pregnant again, I think, I am guessing ten pups this time. The ex Satanist, whose video I posted above is so interesting. He is blind now but still gives talks with the approval of several USA Catholic Bishops, living at a secret location in Florida. . He is the real deal. I foten pray for him as I beleive he is in great danger. His name is Zachary King, bless him and is doing great work exposing this stuff. I ask your prayers for him. http://www.allsaintsministry.org/Home.html
I had a cat , Whiskey , Cathy who stil lcomes to the wondow from time to time. One thing I have always supected about cats is that they , 'see' things. I used to see her following things with her eyes that I could not see but that I think she could. But perhaps I am imagining this. http://www.petmd.com/news/health-sc...can-see-humans-cant-you-wont-believe-it-31380