Christians skip traditional Christmas Midnight Mass for fear of Muslims {Picure]

n Bangladesh, the Christians know what they’re up against. In the U.S., Christian leaders would regard these people are vicious Islamophobes. Don’t they realize that doing things like canceling Midnight Mass could harm the “Muslim-Christian dialogue”? Catholic churches in Dinajpur should expect a strongly-worded letter from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops!

“Bangladeshi Christians Skip Traditional Christmas Midnight Mass,” VOA News, December 24, 2015 (thanks to Pamela Geller):

Churches in Bangladesh skipped the traditional Christmas midnight mass services this year due to the increasing number of threats against Christian leaders, allegedly by Muslim extremists. Catholic houses of worship in the town of Dinajpur were among those that took the unusual step of opting out of holding the annual late night services because of security concerns voiced by the community.

“Several church leaders in Dinajpur have received death threats over the past weeks. Police advised us to remain as cautious as possible. All Catholic churches in this diocese decided not to hold mass at midnight this Christmas,” the bishop of Dinajpur, Sebastian Tudu, told VOA in an interview Thursday.

In Dinajpur, where unidentified gunmen shot and seriously wounded an Italian priest last month, services Thursday began at around 4 o’clock in the afternoon local time, ending before sunset.

Many Christian families across the country had told their community leaders this week that they would stay away from midnight mass this Christmas because they did not feel safe being out at night, said William Proloy Samadder, organizing secretary of the Bangladesh Christian Association, or BCA.       source