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Pastimes : Kosovo -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Tom Clarke who wrote (15977)	2/9/2000 10:36:00 AM
From: George Papadopoulos	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 17770

Albright perceived as a maid by the Albanians....LOL...this is a classic...what a great way to start a day...she swore at them but could not be translated...LOL...love it!

To: Tom Clarke who wrote (15977)	2/10/2000 7:00:00 AM
From: cody andre	Respond to of 17770

Molly Maid ...!

To: Tom Clarke who wrote (15977)	2/11/2000 5:22:00 AM
From: GUSTAVE JAEGER	Respond to of 17770

A glimpse of the religious Kriegspiel behind Europe's neonationalist upsurge..... Europe's Muslims worry bishops By JOHN L. ALLEN JR. NCR Staff Rome Catholics passing through Rome naturally gravitate toward St. Peter's square. In the shadow of the massive Bernini columns, many ruminate about where the church might be heading in the new millennium about to dawn. If Catholics want to see the future, however, they might do better to visit Rome's main bus terminal instead. There, as in other spots where one can peel back the layers of a city and see below the tourists and the local elites, travelers sometimes feel more like they're in Istanbul or Cairo than on the continent. Many signs are in Turkish or Arabic, fast food vendors sell couscous and hummus, and many of the women wear veils. Such scenes convey a truth with vast significance for the next century: Under the impact of three decades of north-south immigration, Europe today is where Islam meets the First World. That point has been much in the air at the Oct. 1-23 European synod, where the question of how the Catholic church here ought to position itself in the face of new diversity has been discussed in several interventions. Some speakers have warned of an Islamic conquest of Europe. "The 'dominion' has already begun with the 'petro-dollars,' used not to create work in the poor North African or Middle Eastern countries, but to build mosques and cultural centers in Christian countries with Islamic immigration, including Rome, the center of Christianity," said Archbishop Giuseppe Bernardini, a 72 year-old Italian who heads the Izmir archdiocese in Turkey. Bernardini said he has lived in predominantly Muslim nations for 42 years. His comments came in a written intervention submitted to the synod Oct. 13. Bernardini was not the only one to sound an alarm. "History teaches us that peaceful cohabitation between Islam and Christianity is precarious," said Alain Besan‡on, a member of the Institut de France and a synod participant. He warned that "a church uncertain of its faith is endangered by conversion to Islam." Besan‡on called on the church to educate its members to resist Islamic encroachment. In contrast, Belgian Cardinal Godfried Danneels -- while acknowledging the challenge of dialogue with fundamentalist forms of Islam -- challenged Catholicism to support the positive elements of the Islamic faith. "We have much to learn," Danneels said, such as "the transcendence of God, prayer and fasting, and the impact of religion on social life." Archbishop Karl Lehmann of Germany told journalists that Christians should better understand the internal dynamics of Islam in Europe before passing judgment. Fundamentalism is merely one element, Lehmann said; there are also moderates who would welcome Christian cooperation. The contrast among the four points of view suggests the basic choice facing church leaders: whether to embrace Europe's new pluralism or to fortify the church against it. "There is a desire among many Muslims in Europe to work out a form of Islam that is unique," said Jesuit Fr. Tom Michel, who runs the secretariat of interreligious dialogue for the Jesuit order worldwide. "The question is whether we'll meet them halfway." The Vatican's official 1999 count puts the number of Catholics in the world at just over 1 billion. While estimates vary, most experts peg the total number of Muslims at around the 1 billion mark as well. Since the 1970s, waves of Muslim immigration from North Africa and the Middle East have transformed the demographics of Europe. Because their families tend to have birth rates higher than the European average -- parts of Northern Europe would actually be de-populating were it not for immigration -- the Islamic presence in Europe has risen dramatically. According to U.N. statistics, the Islamic population grew by more than 100 percent in Europe from 1989 to 1998, to 14 million, representing approximately 2 percent of the population. (Over the same period, the Muslim population in the United States grew by 25 percent to 4.9 million.) The proof of what's happening is on the streets. Sections of Paris look and sound more like the West Bank than the Left Bank, and Marseilles is poised to become the first European city with a non-European majority. Some estimates hold that within 25 years, one in four residents of France will practice Islam. A resident who knows the scene in Rome says that in many of the city's famous Italian restaurants -- long considered carriers of Roman culture -- the cooking is often done by Egyptians. Advocates of pluralism welcome the new diversity. Across the continent, however, there is also a darker view, one that sees foreigners as competitors for jobs, for social services and -- perhaps most of all -- for cultural ascendancy. The European mood can be glimpsed from the Oct. 3 national elections in Austria, where the far-right Freedom Party captured almost 30 percent of the vote, by far the best showing yet for an extremist party in a European election. The party ran on an anti-immigrant platform, even resurrecting a term for 'over-foreignization' that had been taboo in the German-speaking world because of its association with Nazi racial policies. "We've got the Poles who concentrate on car theft. We've got the former Yugoslavs who are burglary experts. We've got the Turks who are superbly organized in the heroin trade. And we've got the Russians who are experts in blackmail and mugging," said Jorg Haider, the outspoken leader of the Freedom Party in a speech leading up to the election. Haider has proposed segregating Austrian schoolchildren from foreigners and limiting some social benefits to ethnic Austrians. [snip] Excerpted from: natcath.com