THE CHILDREN'S CRUSADE

WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW IS ANOTHER CHILDREN'S CRUSADE TO CONVERT THE 'HEATHEN' MUSLIMS. HOWEVER, IMPLEMENTATION IS THE PROBLEM. ON AUGUST 15, 1534, THE SOCIETY OF JESUS WAS INFORMALLY INAUGURATED BY A FEW PRIESTS INCLUDING IGNATIUS OF LOYOLA AND THE YOUTHFUL FRANCIS XAVIER. IT FOLLOWED THE SPIRITUAL EXERCISES OF ITS FOUNDER IGNATIUS. BOTH IGNATIUS AND FRANCIS WERE EX-ARISTOCRATIC SPANISH YOUTH WHO REJECTED THE TRAPPINGS OF A SPOILED SOCIETY TO DEDICATE THEMSELVES TO GOD. FRANCIS XAVIER BECAME A JESUIT MISSIONARY PROSELYTIZING CHRISTIANITY TO ALIEN LANDS. HE EXCHANGED HIS SOUTANE FOR REGIONAL GARB AND CIRCULATED AMONGST THE CROWDS. HIS SUCCESSFUL, CONVERSION TECHNIQUE WAS THREE FOLD. FIRST, TO KNOW THE LOCAL PEOPLE ON THEIR OWN SOCIAL AND CULTURAL TERMS. SECOND, TO WIN THEIR FRIENDSHIP. THIRD, TO ADOPTED THE CHRISTIAN MESSAGE TO THE EXISTING IDIOM AND TRADITION. WITH WHOM DID THE JESUIT BEGIN? THE CHILDREN. GIVEN THE FACT THAT MUSLIM SOCIETIES ARE CLOSED TODAY, IS IT POSSIBLE TO AGAIN LIFT THE VEIL OF IGNORANCE? IS IT POSSIBLE TO ENTER OTHER WORLDS AND CONVERT FROM WITHIN? HOW DO MISSIONARIES NOW FIND THE FASCIST JIHADISTS HERE AT HOME AND ABROAD? THESE QUESTIONS REGARDING CONVERSION OF THE 'HEATHEN' HAVE BEEN ASKED MANY TIMES OVER, OVER MANY MILLENNIA AND THE ANSWER HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE SAME. TO SPARE THEIR SOULS FROM HELL, WE MUST GO FORTH. THE ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA CALLED ST. FRANCIS XAVIER, THE "GREATEST ROMAN CATHOLIC MISSIONARY OF MODERN TIMES." 450 YEARS HAVE ELAPSED SINCE THE 'APOSTLE OF THE INDIES' WALKED THE EARTH. WHO WILL WALK IN HIS SANDALS AGAIN? OR IS THIS NEW CRUSADE IMPOSSIBLE?