I am very happy to introduce my book to American readers. This year The Mosque of Notre Dame turned ten years old. So far, it has been published in Russian, Serbian, Polish, Bulgarian, Turkish, and French, and translated into Norwegian. I find it hard to express my appreciation to all the novel’s friends and supporters, whose selfless efforts have made it possible for the book to reach countless new readers around the world.

Still, I am sometimes enveloped by a sense of gloom. I am terrified that we are losing precious time. The danger described in The Mosque of Notre Dame grows every day. I began writing this novel after the fall of the Twin Towers in 2001, but before the mass murder of schoolchildren in the Russian city of Beslan by Islamic terrorists in 2004. Do most Americans even know about the horrible tragedy of Beslan— those three days during which all Russians sat, glued to their television screens, praying? Chechen Muslim terrorists had attacked a village school and kidnapped more than 700 children, imprisoning them in a stuffy gymnasium built to accommodate 100 people. Before the suspense and horror ended, 333 people, including rescuers, were murdered. Half of those killed—186 of them—were children as young as 9 years old.

If facts cannot be silenced, they still can be distorted. Do Russians know about the fall of the Twin Towers? Definitely. But how many bizarre Russian versions of this event have I heard over the years, according to which the Towers were toppled by “non-Muslims”? For some reason, someone is very interested in preventing discussion about the threat to our civilization posed by Islamic occupation.

The character of Sophia, the principal heroine of my novel, appeared in my imagination after I read a news story about a twelve-year-old Russian girl, the daughter of a businessman, who was kidnapped by Chechen bandits. The girl was held for more than six months and was tortured and abused. To speed the father’s ransom payments, the kidnappers cut off two of her fingers. Eventually, the girl was rescued and the kidnappers arrested.

An American offered to pay for the girl’s rehabilitation at a U.S. clinic—since all her family’s resources had been spent on her ransom. But the rescued girl was refused entry to the United States by the State Department. Strangest of all, the story of this poor, wounded girl being barred entry by the usually generous U.S. government went virtually unreported in America’s news media.

It is worth noting that, at the time, many people in the West had been making excuses for the Chechen criminals. So perhaps it was inconvenient that, unlike mere words, a maimed child’s injuries offer incontrovertible evidence of the depravity of the people the Western press likes to call Muslim “militants.”

A thought crossed my mind: If there is no justice in this world, will this girl seek vengeance when she grows up? As it turned out, she chose another, better path. That is why I do not mention her name. But as the story develops in my novel, the heroine chooses vengeance—a lonely, bitter path.

Most of the large-scale events the book describes have not yet taken place in our world. The European Union has not turned into Eurabia—so far. For now, vineyards have not been cut down. The great paintings of Western art have not been burned. And the magnificent Cathedral of Notre Dame has not been turned into a mosque. But how the year 2048 will turn out for Europe and the West depends on us.

This book must be read today, because tomorrow may be too late.

Elena Chudinova
Calvados, France - Moscow, Russia IV August

This today from Breitbart:

Polish football (soccer) fans unveiled an enormous anti mass migration banner at Sunday’s Silesian Wrocław match against Poznań. Images from the match last night show a giant crusader defending Europe from invading jihadists in boats labelled USS Hussein, USS Bin Laden and USS ISIS.

Just a week after Poland voted to kick out every left-wing member of it’s national parliament, ordinary Poles have again shown the spirit which led them to elect the nationalist conservative Law and Justice party, with football fans unveiling an over-sized anti-migration banner at Sunday’s match. FULL REPORT HERE

REMNANT COMMENT: It might be a little soon for this but I'm going to do it anyway--with a wish and prayer for the resurrection of Catholic Poland.

Bishop Mercy of Laodicea to the Apostle Paul. Grace and peace to you.

I was recently sent a copy of your first letter to the Corinthians and I have a few matters I would like to address with you.

I marvel at your conception of God when you say:

“Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple. ” (1 Cor. 3:16-17)

This from the New York Times' Ross Douthat:

"My dear professors!

"I read with interest your widely-publicized letter to my editors this week, in which you objected to my recent coverage of Roman Catholic controversies, complained that I was making unfounded accusations of heresy (both “subtly” and “openly”!), and deplored this newspaper’s willingness to let someone lacking theological credentials opine on debates within our church. I was appropriately impressed with the dozens of academic names who signed the letter on the Daily Theology site, and the distinguished institutions (Georgetown, Boston College, Villanova) represented on the list.I have great respect for your vocation. Let me try to explain mine.

"A columnist has two tasks: To explain and to provoke. The first requires giving readers a sense of the stakes in a given controversy, and why it might deserve a moment of their fragmenting attention span. The second requires taking a clear position on that controversy, the better to induce the feelings (solidarity, stimulation, blinding rage) that persuade people to read, return, and re-subscribe.

"I hope we can agree that current controversies in Roman Catholicism cry out for explanation. And not only for Catholics: The world is fascinated — as it should be — by Pope Francis’ efforts to reshape our church. But the main parties in the church’s controversies have incentives to downplay the stakes. Conservative Catholics don’t want to concede that disruptive change is even possible. Liberal Catholics don’t want to admit that the pope might be leading the church into a crisis." READ FULL REPORT HERE


REMNANT COMMENT: What's this? No apology? No groveling? No boot-licking? Who is this strange man and from what planet does he hail?  

(If and when they banish him from the Old Gray Lady, I hope Mr. Douthat will consider coming our way. The Remnant is small but it's becoming a rapidly-expanding refugee camp for homeless Catholic writers who want to speak the truth in a world growing increasingly allergic to it.)

http://www.adelantelafe.com/category/the-remnant/ 

REMNANT COMMENT: Please help us spread the word that Remnant articles and TV episodes are now available in Spanish.

It is our firm conviction that a target-rich environment for the Catholic counterrevolution is the world-wide Spanish-speaking Catholic community.

Please share this link and help us bring Catholic Tradition back to our Hispanic and Latino brothers and sisters. And many thanks to our friends and allies at Adelantela Fe for helping to make this apostolic outreach possible.  Viva Cristo Rey!

This from our friends over at Rorate Caeli: "Yes, he said it over the phone to his favorite journalist, Italian editor Eugenio Scalfari of La Repubblica (the Pope's favorite newspaper), in a conversation on October 28, revealed by the latter in an editorial published this Sunday.

"There is no reason to doubt its general accuracy. We are way past the time of doubting the general accuracy of the Scalfari quotes. Not now, that the papal interviews to Scalfari have been published on the Vatican website, that they have been occasionally published by the Vatican publishing house (LEV) itself - for instance, as part of the book to the right." READ FULL REPORT HERE

REMNANT COMMENT: Gee, do you suppose this is true? Can't be. Must be another bad translation. Or more likely, it's just a lot of evil, leftist, communist media spin. We know our Pope Francis would never say such a thing. He's on the side of the angels, and, HELLO!, he's super humble.

And if the atheist Scalfari is a liar, why would the Pope keep giving him interviews? I mean.... right?