Kenyan Government on Recent Abduction

The Shabelle media outlet posted the following:

A Kenyan driver and two Italian nuns abducted by Somali militants on Sunday are safe, the Government has said. Spokesman Dr Alfred Mutua said they have established the trio was abducted by Al Shabab Militants from their Elwak home. “They are being held in Somaliland,” he said adding that the government had put in place measures to ensure their safe release.

There was however little progress reported according to the police. Deputy Police Spokesman Charles Owino told Capital News there were no fresh leads but expressed optimism the kidnappers would be tracked down. “We have nothing to report at the moment. The search for the nuns is going on but they have not been traced. Officers are still on the ground searching for them,” he told Capital News on telephone.

Mr Owino said officers deployed to rescue the three were still combing the Somalia border where security has been intensified. He could not confirm reports that the team conducting the search planned to cross over the border into Somalia. “I am not able to confirm that, let it be known that we are on the ground and that everything is being done to find them,” he asserted.

A senior police officer in El Wak however, confided that the security forces were planning to cross over the border to search for the nuns. “It is one of the alternatives that is being considered. Our officers are also talking to elders in that country (Somalia) to try getting the nuns and the vehicles that were stolen returned,” the source said.

The nuns who were working with a missionary group providing health care in El-Wak were abducted in the early hours of Monday when 60 men stormed the town. They are reported to have hurled a grenade and sprayed bullets at a police station in the town before they kidnapped away the nuns from a Roman Catholic Church.

The nuns have since been identified as Caterina Giraudo, 67 and Maria Teresa Olivero, 60.

The Chief of Vatican Spokesman, Rev Federico Lombardi on Tuesday said that Pope Benedict was aware of the incident and was praying for them.

Vatican "Right" to Die

From the AFP:

The Vatican on Friday firmly condemned an Italian court decision allowing a father to remove his comatose daughter from life support, saying "the right to die does not exist."

"Life is sacred, the right to die does not exist," the Vatican's "health minister" Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan said in an interview published by the Italian daily La Stampa.

On Thursday, Italy's highest appeal court upheld an earlier ruling that doctors could stop artificially feeding Eluana Englaro, 37, as it had been proven that the road accident victim's coma was irreversible.

"To stop giving food and drink to Eluana is tantamount to committing murder," said Barragan, who heads the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral Care.

"It means letting her die of hunger and thirst, condemning her to a monstrous end," he added.

Englaro has lain in a hospital in northern Lecco since January 1992, and her father Beppino Englaro has been seeking an end to her life support since 1999.

The lower court had accepted testimony that when fully conscious Eluana Englaro had stated her preference to die rather than being kept alive artificially.

Her father hailed the ruling, telling the daily La Repubblica: "I wanted justice and the judges gave it to me. They tried to put themselves in Eluana's place, (to understand) her thoughts, her strength, her freedom and her irreversible vegetative state."

Such a state "does not exist in nature, while medicine can take forced feeding and care to an extreme, even when it no longer serves any purpose," he said.

Barragan also spoke to La Repubblica, saying: "The term 'vegetative state' is appropriate for plants, not human beings."

All Carmelite Saints Day

If you're a Catholic, you are aware of the feast days known as All Saints and All Souls.

Did you know that there are feast days specifically for Carmelites that are in the same ilk as those feast day? They even follow each other, one day immediately after the other, as All Saints and All Souls of the larger Church.

On the Carmelite calendar, yes the orders have order specific calendars, today is the celebration of All Carmelite Saint. Tomorrow, November 15th, is the Feast of All Carmelite Souls.

So,

Happy All Carmelite Saints Day!

Consider asking the Carmelite saints to pray for a special intention today and be sure to offer a prayer tomorrow for the Carmelites who may be in Purgatory anticipating Heaven.

Priest to be Excommunicated

The following is from the NY Times:

The Vatican has informed a Roman Catholic priest in the United States that he will be excommunicated next week for participating in a ceremony it considers illicit and invalid: the ordination of a woman as a priest.

The priest, the Rev. Roy Bourgeois, 69, has been a member of the Maryknoll religious order for 36 years. He said he was anguished at the thought of excommunication, but could not disavow his actions.

In August, Father Bourgeois joined a ceremony in a Unitarian Universalist church in Lexington, Ky., in which a [female] friend claimed ordination as a Roman Catholic priest. Father Bourgeois gave the homily and laid hands on her.

He had known that excommunication was possible but said he thought it unlikely. His order summoned him to headquarters and gave him a warning but did not discipline him.
Then he received a letter dated Oct. 21 from the Vatican’s doctrinal watchdog, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, warning that if he did not recant, in writing, he would be excommunicated within 30 days.

“When I got the actual letter, I had to sit down,” he said. “I felt nauseous. I thought, this is serious stuff. The first thought that came to mind was, How am I going to explain this to my dad and my family?”'

Father Bourgeois informed the Vatican that he would not repent.

Father Bourgeois said he would try to appeal the Vatican’s decision. Excommunication, according to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, is “the most severe ecclesiastical penalty.” The person is forbidden to receive or administer sacraments.

Three Effects of Faith Directed Life

At this week's public audience Pope Benedict XVI focused on St. Paul's dedication to our Risen Lord. Pope Benedict noted that there are three fundamental marks of living a faith filled Christian life:

• The first attitude is the certainty that Jesus has risen, is with the Father, and because of that, is with us forever. Because of this, we are secure and free of fear. This was an essential effect of Christian preaching. Fear of spirits and gods was spread throughout the entire ancient world. And today as well, missionaries find -- together with so many good elements in natural religions -- the fear of spirits and the ill-fated powers that threaten us. Christ is alive; he has overcome death and has overcome all these powers. With this certainty, with this freedom, with this joy, we live. This is the first element of our living directed to the future.

• [A believer knows - Christ] is with me. And that in Christ the future world has already begun -- this also gives the certainty of hope. The future is not a darkness in which no one gets one's bearings. It is not like that. Without Christ, also for the world today, the future is dark; there is fear of the future -- a lot of fear of the future. The Christian knows that the light of Christ is stronger and because of this, lives in a hope that is not vague, in a hope that gives certainty and courage to face the future.

• We don't live as if good and evil were the same, because God only can be merciful. This would be a deceit. In truth, we live with a great responsibility. We have talents, we have to work so this world opens itself to Christ, so that it is renewed. But even working and knowing in our responsibility that God is a true judge, we are also sure that he is a good judge. We know his face -- the face of the risen Christ, of Christ crucified for us. Therefore, we can we sure of his goodness and continue forward with great courage.

The Pope concluded the audience with an adaptation of St. Paul the prayer that he taught earlier followers.

Noting that Paul taught them to say, "Maranà, thà, which literally means, 'Our Lord, come!'" Pope Benedict said that in this time time in history, "...totally and deeply, we too can and should say, with great urgency and in the circumstances of our time,

Come, Lord! Come to your world, in the way that you know.

Come where there is injustice and violence.

Come to the refugee camps, in Darfur and in North Kivu, in so many places in the world.

Come where drugs dominate.

Come, too, among those rich people who have forgotten you and who live only for themselves.

Come where you are not known.

Come to your world and renew the world of today."

Bishop - Catholics Should Defend Life

From the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

Zubik urges Catholics to defend right-to-life stance

Pittsburgh Bishop David Zubik said Thursday he will urge local Roman Catholics to fight any effort to expand abortion rights across the country.

"That is part of the beauty of being citizens of the United States," Zubik said. "We can speak to our legislators and let them know, as Catholics, where we are coming from."

Zubik returned from this week's U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Baltimore, where about 300 bishops adopted a formal blessing for a child in the womb and drafted a document asking President-elect Barack Obama not to erode gains made by right-to-life supporters. "We really felt that it was important for a statement to come out as soon as possible," Zubik said in a phone interview.

The bishops are concerned that Obama and a majority of pro-choice Democrats in Congress might approve the proposed Freedom of Choice Act, which would override state-by-state limits on when a woman can abort a pregnancy, Zubik said.

That could eliminate "freedom of conscience" clauses for doctors who refuse to perform an abortion and limits against late-term and partial-birth abortions.

Pittsburgh Catholics should call their lawmakers to voice opposition to the proposal, Zubik said. But that stance could set church leaders against supporters of Obama, who has said he would sign the act into law if Congress passes it.

Nationwide, Catholics supported Obama over Republican Sen. John McCain by 54 percent to 45 percent, according to a CNN exit poll. In Pennsylvania, a pre-election Franklin & Marshall College poll showed Obama with a similar lead among Catholics who were likely voters.
Fifty-seven percent of Allegheny County voters chose Obama, compared to 41 percent who voted for McCain.

Zubik said he would not punish vocal Obama supporters by refusing them sacraments such as communion, but said he understands and respects bishops who are taking such positions.
"They are perfectly within their right to do that," he said.

Zubik said Catholics ultimately will be judged by how much they embraced the teachings of the faith.

"What I always tell people is this: 'If you make a decision, you have to imagine yourself looking at God eyeball to eyeball,' " Zubik said. "I think, in the end, we are all going to be judged by how sincere we were with God and how much we embraced the teachings of our faith."

Locally, perhaps no devout Catholic was a more outspoken supporter of Obama than Steelers Chairman Dan Rooney, who appeared at a rally with Obama and gave him a Steelers jersey a week before the election. Rooney could not be reached for comment.

The bishop might not be judgmental, but Rooney might have to make amends with one of his brothers.

Pat Rooney, one of five Rooney brothers who own shares in the Steelers, said he hopes Dan Rooney's influence and the Steelers brand name did not sway Catholic voters. He questioned how Catholics could balance a religious obligation to oppose abortion with a political inclination for a pro-choice president.

"We can't be smorgasbord Catholics, because morality cannot be negotiated," Pat Rooney said.
In politics, conflicts between governing and staying true to faith long have shadowed Catholics elected to public office.

Pastor to Obama Voters - Reconcilation or No Communion

Dear Friends in Christ,

We the People have spoken, and the 44th President of the United States will be Barack Hussein Obama. This election ends a political process that started two years ago and which has revealed deep and bitter divisions within the United States and also within the Catholic Church in the United States. This division is sometimes called a “Culture War,” by which is meant a heated clash between two radically different and incompatible conceptions of how we should order our common life together, the public life that constitutes civil society. And the chief battleground in this culture war for the past 30 years has been abortion, which one side regards as a murderous abomination that cries out to Heaven for vengeance and the other side regards as a fundamental human right that must be protected in laws enforced by the authority of the state. Between these two visions of the use of lethal violence against the unborn there can be no negotiation or conciliation, and now our nation has chosen for its chief executive the most radical pro-abortion politician ever to serve in the United States Senate or to run for president. We must also take note of the fact that this election was effectively decided by the votes of self-described (but not practicing) Catholics, the majority of whom cast their ballots for President-elect Obama.

In response to this, I am obliged by my duty as your shepherd to make two observations:

1. Voting for a pro-abortion politician when a plausible pro-life alternative exits constitutes material cooperation with intrinsic evil, and those Catholics who do so place themselves outside of the full communion of Christ’s Church and under the judgment of divine law. Persons in this condition should not receive Holy Communion until and unless they are reconciled to God in the Sacrament of Penance, lest they eat and drink their own condemnation.

2. Barack Obama, although we must always and everywhere disagree with him over abortion, has been duly elected the next President of the United States, and after he takes the Oath of Office next January 20th, he will hold legitimate authority in this nation. For this reason, we are obliged by Scriptural precept to pray for him and to cooperate with him whenever conscience does not bind us otherwise. Let us hope and pray that the responsibilities of the presidency and the grace of God will awaken in the conscience of this extraordinarily gifted man an awareness that the unholy slaughter of children in this nation is the greatest threat to the peace and security of the United States and constitutes a clear and present danger to the common good. In the time of President Obama’s service to our country, let us pray for him in the words of a prayer found in the Roman Missal:

God our Father, all earthly powers must serve you. Help our President-elect, Barack Obama, to fulfill his responsibilities worthily and well. By honoring and striving to please you at all times, may he secure peace and freedom for the people entrusted to him. We ask this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.

Amen.

Father Newman
St. Mary's Catholic Church
Greenville, SC

Seconds to You, a Scholarship for Him

How would you like to help someone with just three clicks of your left mouse button?

Come on... It'll take you between 3 and 10 seconds.

Yes, only 10 seconds even with a dial-up connection. I speak from experience.

The American Papist needs your assistance!!!

Please click HERE or on one of those other off-colored words to help.

Humanist "Godless Holiday Campaign"

The following is a portion of a press release issued yesterday:

"Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness' sake," proclaims a new holiday ad from the American Humanist Association. Already appearing today in the New York Times and Washington Post, the message will soon be blazoned on the sides, taillights, and interiors of over 200 Washington DC Metro buses.

It's the first ad campaign of its kind in the United States, and the American Humanist Association predicts it will raise controversy over humanist ideas.

The exterior posters will appear on buses in Northwest Washington starting Tuesday, November 18. The interior posters will begin December 1 in Northwest and Southeast.

"We expect these bus signs to generate a lot of public interest," said Fred Edwords, director of communications for the American Humanist Association.

Such high-profile promotion isn't new to the American Humanist Association. Throughout 2008, humanist advertising has become more visible across the nation. In particular, highway billboards have been erected just outside of New York City, Philadelphia, and other major cities. They read: "Don't believe in God? You are not alone."

Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League, responded:

“Codes of morality, of course, have always been grounded in religion. For those of us in Western civilization, its tenets emanate from the Judeo-Christian ethos. By casting this heritage aside, and replacing it with nothing more than the conscience of lone individuals, we lay the groundwork for moral anarchy. And that is because there is nothing that cannot be justified if the only moral benchmark is what men and women posit to be right and wrong. Indeed, every monster in history has followed his conscience."

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority spokeswoman Lisa Farbstein said ads are accepted as long as they aren't obscene or pornographic. Personally, I find it obscene for an organization to promote the emptiness of non-belief.

Let's hope (and pray) that people use this $40,000 campaign as a reminder to pray for the unbelieving to be given the gift of faith. If each time one of the ads is seen such a prayer is said, this could have some very positive results.

May the angels and saints join us in praying for these lost souls.

USCCB Statement to President Elect

BALTIMORE—Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), voiced hope for the Obama Administration but pointed to possible obstacles to our desired unity, in a Nov. 12 statement at the end of the annual fall assembly of the USCCB.

"The bishops of the Catholic Church in the United States welcome this moment of historic transition and look forward to working with President-elect Obama and the members of the new Congress for the common good of all," he said.

He said that "the unity desired by President-elect Obama and all Americans at this moment of crisis will be impossible to achieve," if the administration's policies increase abortions.

"Aggressive pro-abortion policies, legislation and executive orders will permanently alienate tens of millions of Americans, and would be seen by many as an attack on the free exercise of their religion."

"We express again our great desire to work with all those who cherish the common good of our nation," he added. "The common good is not the sum total of individual interests: it is achieved in the working out of a common life based upon good reason and good will for all."


Cardinal George's Prepared Statement:

STATEMENT of the President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops"If the Lord does not build the house, in vain do its builders labor; if the Lord does not watch over the city, in vain does the watchman keep vigil." (Psalm 127, vs. 1)

The Bishops of the Catholic Church in the United States welcome this moment of historic transition and look forward to working with President-elect Obama and the members of the new Congress for the common good of all. Because of the Church's history and the scope of her ministries in this country, we want to continue our work for economic justice and opportunity for all; our efforts to reform laws around immigration and the situation of the undocumented; our provision of better education and adequate health care for all, especially for women and children; our desire to safeguard religious freedom and foster peace at home and abroad. The Church is intent on doing good and will continue to cooperate gladly with the government and all others working for these goods.

The fundamental good is life itself, a gift from God and our parents. A good state protects the lives of all. Legal protection for those members of the human family waiting to be born in this country was removed when the Supreme Court decided Roe vs. Wade in 1973. This was bad law. The danger the Bishops see at this moment is that a bad court decision will be enshrined in bad legislation that is more radical than the 1973 Supreme Court decision itself.

In the last Congress, a Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) was introduced that would, if brought forward in the same form today, outlaw any "interference" in providing abortion at will. It would deprive the American people in all fifty states of the freedom they now have to enact modest restraints and regulations on the abortion industry. FOCA would coerce all Americans into subsidizing and promoting abortion with their tax dollars. It would counteract any and all sincere efforts by government and others of good will to reduce the number of abortions in our country.

Parental notification and informed consent precautions would be outlawed, as would be laws banning procedures such as partial-birth abortion and protecting infants born alive after a failed abortion. Abortion clinics would be deregulated. The Hyde Amendment restricting the federal funding of abortions would be abrogated. FOCA would have lethal consequences for prenatal human life.

FOCA would have an equally destructive effect on the freedom of conscience of doctors, nurses and health care workers whose personal convictions do not permit them to cooperate in the private killing of unborn children. It would threaten Catholic health care institutions and Catholic Charities. It would be an evil law that would further divide our country, and the Church should be intent on opposing evil.

On this issue, the legal protection of the unborn, the bishops are of one mind with Catholics and others of good will. They are also pastors who have listened to women whose lives have been diminished because they believed they had no choice but to abort a baby. Abortion is a medical procedure that kills, and the psychological and spiritual consequences are written in the sorrow and depression of many women and men. The bishops are single-minded because they are, first of all, single-hearted.

The recent election was principally decided out of concern for the economy, for the loss of jobs and homes and financial security for families, here and around the world. If the election is misinterpreted ideologically as a referendum on abortion, the unity desired by President-elect Obama and all Americans at this moment of crisis will be impossible to achieve. Abortion kills not only unborn children; it destroys constitutional order and the common good, which is assured only when the life of every human being is legally protected. Aggressively pro-abortion policies, legislation and executive orders will permanently alienate tens of millions of Americans, and would be seen by many as an attack on the free exercise of their religion.

This statement is written at the request and direction of all the Bishops, who also want to thank all those in politics who work with good will to protect the lives of the most vulnerable among us. Those in public life do so, sometimes, at the cost of great sacrifice to themselves and their families; and we are grateful. We express again our great desire to work with all those who cherish the common good of our nation. The common good is not the sum total of individual desires and interests; it is achieved in the working out of a common life based upon good reason and good will for all.

Our prayers accompany President-elect Obama and his family and those who are cooperating with him to assure a smooth transition in government. Many issues demand immediate attention on the part of our elected "watchman." (Psalm 127) May God bless him and our country.

Child in the Womb Blessing Approved

BALTIMORE—The U.S. bishops approved the Order for the Blessing of a Child in the Womb for use in the dioceses of the United States with a 223-1 vote November 11, at their General Assembly in Baltimore. The bishops also approved a Spanish version of the blessing with a 224-0 vote.

The Blessing of a Child in the Womb was prepared by the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities after receiving requests from dioceses for such a blessing and not finding an existing blessing for a newly conceived child. In March, 2008 a blessing was prepared and submitted to the Committee on Divine Worship. The proposed blessing is distinct from the Blessing of Parents before Childbirth found in the Book of Blessings.

The Blessing of a Child in the Womb Within Mass and Outside Mass, in English and in Spanish, upon recognitio by the Congregation on Divine Worship and the Sacraments in Rome for use in the dioceses of the United States of America, will be included in future editions of the Book of Blessings (de Benedictionibus) when the text is revised.

Recovery from Vandalism

Unfortunately, multiple churchs in the Richford, Vermont area were violated last week. Refreshingly, however, the congregations did not allow the violations to keep them from their Sunday worship. Below is a story from a local television station:

Sunday morning's mass at the All Saints Church was the first since it was reconsecrated by the bishop Saturday night.

"It was just so spiritually uplifting," organist Fredda Ploof said. "I've never witnessed anything like that before. It was very emotional."

Ploof said the ceremony made the church feel sacred once again. Monday night, it had been broken into. The tabernacle that holds the Eucharist -- the sacramental body of Christ -- was vandalized. "We consider the church holy, very holy," she said. "And for anybody to come in like that, it's like invading our religion and how we respect this as a house of God."

All Saints is just one of four area churches broken into or vandalized over the past week. A church in Cavendish was burglarized, and a church in Berlin, New Hampshire, sustained an estimated $20,000 worth of damage. Just up the road from All Saints, Our Lady of Lourdes, in East Berkshire, was broken into Tuesday night. While nothing appeared to have been taken, the church was ransacked.

"Somebody came in and took Christ forcefully out of the church, in the blessed sacrament," Rev. Karl Hahr said. He serves both Franklin County parishes and said the break-ins were not just acts of vandalism, but attacks on Jesus Himself. Catholics believe Jesus is present in the hosts, or wafers shared in the Eucharist."They had smashed the doors in, so it was heartbreaking to see it," he said. "It was hard to see if they took any of the hosts."

The tabernacle used in Sunday's mass is about half the size as the one that was destroyed. The original one weighed about a hundred pounds, and was found dumped in the church basement. Hahr said police have not named a suspect or a motive. "It's either idiots that don't realize there's nothing of monetary value kept in the church," he said. "Or there's a possibility it's a hate crime. I'm hoping it's not that, but it's always a possibility."

Hahr explained that while the tabernacle holds tremendous value to the church and its parishioners, it does not have much value outside. It appears gold but is actually made of steel, so it's not likely to be sold for scrap.

Whatever the motive, Hahr said parishioners are ready to forgive whoever did this. "We're used to going to confession and being forgiven ourselves," he said, "so it's very easy to begin to forgive."

For video footage of WCAX-TV's reporting of this story, please click HERE.
An earlier story by WPTZ on the burglary may be found HERE.

94-Year-Old's Service to the Church

Ran across an article in The Dominion Post today that I'm so glad not to have missed. I think you'll like it too.

New Zealander Noel Byford suspects he is the world's oldest altar boy. Every weekday at 7am, the 94-year-old, despite blindness and spinal damage, arrives at St Mary's Parish church in Taihape to begin a dutiful routine in preparation of the altar for Mass.

It has been this way for the past three years, since Father Bill Casey asked his most regular attendee if he could be his weekday altar server, filling the same role as the primary school-age altar boys and girls who help the priest prepare for liturgies at weekend services.

Mr Byford missed out on being an altar boy as a child and, more than 80 years on, he's taken on the role with total devotion.

Sometimes there are only four people at morning mass, but the diminutive Mr Byford performs his duties with absolute reverence.He slowly lights candles, retrieves the sacramental wine and wafers from locked cabinets and prepares them for communion, and rings a bell three times.

"I love it. I really do. I'm fond of my faith," he says.

Last month, Mr Byford was honoured with a Benemerenti Medal, sent from the Vatican, honouring his years of service to St Mary's.

He wears the gold medal on its yellow and white ribbon pinned to his heavy green suit; thick head of hair on his head, cane in hand.

The medal - which director of Catholic communications Lyndsay Freer says is held by only a few dozen New Zealanders - was an honour to add to the other accomplishments that have punctuated Mr Byford's long life.

The self-made businessman and former Taihape mayor was born in 1913. His mother went into hospital when he was six and later died.

His father told him: "We'll all meet in heaven." The young Noel Byford took this literally, and so began a lifelong commitment to his faith. "It had an impression on me. I kept that in mind."

At his modest home on the edge of Taihape, statuettes of Christ and Mary watch over him from the wall as he eats. He says grace before a lunch of tomato and ham sandwiches.

Mr Byford moved from Hawke's Bay to Taihape as a 19-year-old to take up a horse-and-cart milk run. It was 1933. "I was only going to stay a while, save up and get my fare home again. But I'm still trying to get my fare." On his milk run, he met brown-haired Marjorie, who came to the gate in a pink top with white dots.

"I often remember that summer's morning, when God gave me no warning," he says, reciting a ditty he wrote about their courtship.

A mate of his was very fond of Marjorie but Mr Byford asked her to a dance and so began a relationship that grew to marriage and produced five children, 21 grandchildren and 35 great-grandchildren.

Sitting in a soft chair, hunched by 94 years of life, Mr Byford wonders whether he should feel guilty about cutting his mate's grass: "Was it a dirty trick?"

Marjorie - "my wife, my bride" - died in 1983. "She's always got my heart."

Gumboot capital Taihape, a popular tea stop south of the Desert Road on State Highway 1, has about 1800 residents. It's only a small rural town but it was here that Mr Byford launched a construction, transport and ready-mix business that employed 68 people and was worth several million dollars by the time he retired in 1993.

Mr Byford was mayor of Taihape from 1983 till 1989, spent 20 years on the Power Board and is a life member of Victim Support. Alongside photographs of him on official mayoral business on his dining room wall is a mirror featuring an image of Christ.

Now he will need to find some space, between the landscape paintings and family photographs, for the certificate celebrating the outstanding and meritorious service of quite possibly the world's oldest altar boy.

Catholic Nuns Kidnapped

By MOHAMED SHEIKH NOR,

Associated Press Writer Mohamed Olad Hassan contributed

MOGADISHU, Somalia (AP) — Gunmen seized two Italian Catholic nuns from a church in northern Kenya before dawn Monday and took them across the border into a Somali region largely controlled by Islamist insurgents, officials and witnesses said.

The Italian Foreign Ministry said its crisis unit was working with its ambassador to Kenya to secure the nuns' freedom. The papal nuncio in Kenya is also involved, the ministry said.

The nuns were seized from their home in El Wak, on the Somali border about 420 miles (675 kilometers) northeast of the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, the Kenyan Red Cross said.

The bandits also stole three vehicles, the Red Cross said.

Aden Mohamed Isaqm, a local aid worker, said six gunmen hurled a hand grenade and fired a rocket at Kenyan police just after dawn prayers before seizing the nuns from the local church and driving toward the border.

Witness Shacban Mohamed Ali told The Associated Press that he had seen two foreigners in a car surrounded by militiamen.

The nuns had been visiting areas affected by a recent drought, Ali said.

The Catholic church has been the target of frequent attacks in Somalia, parts of which were once colonized by Italy. In 2005, insurgents dug up remains in an Italian cemetery where around 3,000 people were buried, and threw them into the sea. The following year an Italian nun working in a hospital in the capital was shot dead. Earlier this year, residents of the southern town of Kismayo began destroying an abandoned Catholic church after the town was taken by Islamic extremists.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since clan-based warlords overthrew a socialist dictator in 1991. The current weak and corrupt transitional government is supported by Ethiopian troops, who ousted the Islamists from the capital and much of the south in December 2006.

Unholy Clash

Below is a portion of an AP article:

JERUSALEM (Nov. 9) -Israeli police rushed into one of Christianity's holiest churches Sunday and arrested two clergyman after an argument between monks erupted into a brawl next to the site of Jesus' tomb.

The clash between Armenian and Greek Orthodox monks broke out in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, revered as the site of Jesus' crucifixion, burial and resurrection.The brawling began during a procession of Armenian clergymen commemorating the 4th-century discovery of the cross believed to have been used to crucify Jesus.

The Greeks objected to the march without one of their monks present, fearing that otherwise, the procession would subvert their own claim to the Edicule — the ancient structure built on what is believed to be the tomb of Jesus — and give the Armenians a claim to the site.

The Armenians refused, and when they tried to march the Greek Orthodox monks blocked their way, sparking the brawl.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said police were forced to intervene after fighting was reported. They arrested two monks, one from each side, he said.

A bearded Armenian monk in a red-and-pink robe and a black-clad Greek Orthodox monk with a bloody gash on his forehead were both taken away in handcuffs after scuffling with dozens of riot police.

Protest at Annual USCCB Meeting

WASHINGTON, Nov 07, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Pro-life Catholics from Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania will "welcome" Catholic Bishops to Baltimore with two days of protests, decrying what is being termed the USCCB's silence and treachery concerning the unborn during the 2008 Presidential Election.

Some protesters will wear "Obama Masks" and hold signs saying: "Bishops: Thank you for your silence!" and "Bishops: I couldn't have been elected without You!" Other signs to be unveiled.
Randall Terry, Protest Organizer states: "A key factor in the election of Barack Obama was the silence of U.S. Catholic Bishops. They had a duty to clearly and courageously defend the lives of unborn children; most of them failed miserably. Their silence and cowardice over the last 12 months paved the way for Obama's victory, and will cost millions of innocent babies their lives."

"The USCCB's document, 'Faithful Citizenship,' is a disaster," observed the Operation Rescue founder. "It was used by every pro-abortion Catholic in the country to justify voting for Obama. The double tragedy is that the Bishops ignored John Paul II's directives in 'Evangelium Vitae' (the Gospel of Life), and chose their own failed document to vindicate their silence and inactivity."

"God have mercy on them. Let's hope they recognize the abject failure of 'Faithful Citizenship,' and formally abandon it, or radically rewrite it in a way that accurately reflects Church Teaching," concluded Terry.

Not only will pro-lifers will provide media with Church documentation, showing the betrayal their duty, but they will also be acknowledging and honoring the handful Bishops who made clear statements regarding Church teachings.

Where:
Marriott Water Front
700 Aliceanna St.
Baltimore Maryland, 21202

Dates and Times:
Sunday, November 9, 2008, 2-5 pm,
Monday, November 10, 2008, 12 Noon - 2:00 pm

Okay, it may seem out of character for me to promote something that may intially seem to be against the Church, but my perspective of this is that, in this matter, many of the Bishops let the Church and her people down.

People were really looking for direction this election. I have no idea how many people asked me if I knew where Catholic teachings placed the electorate, but there were quite a few. They wanted to know how doctrine should impact their vote. They wanted to be faithful to the Church!!!! Consciously, really and truly, wanted to vote in a morally relevant fashion -- yet didn't know how to go about so doing.

It wasn't just the people in my quiet country parish. This little blog had many visitors looking for Catholic and/or pro-life voting guides. They wanted to hear that the Church felt the evil of abortion supersedes other issues. They wanted to know that there is moral complicity in voting for a pro-choice candidate when the other one is very much more pro-life. They needed to know those things. Shamefully, they weren't told them.

Maybe if the Bishops are shown by the protest that the faithful recognize their need for direction, the Bishops will be less likely to shirk that responsibility.

Benedict XVI Offers Kind Words to President-Elect

From Reuters:

Pope Benedict XVI sent a telegram of congratulations to Obama yesterday to hail the “historic occasion”, Vatican spokesman Federico Lombardi said. The Roman Catholic pontiff offered Obama “his blessing so that God will support him and the American people, and that all people of goodwill can work to build a world of peace, solidarity and justice,” Lombardi said.

I'm wondering if the United States can be part of building a world wherein every life is respected. Where abortion isn't a choice and the infirmed expendable. It seems that a world of peace, solidarity and justice would be the world of people not consumed by a drive to secure their own well-being; rather, they would vigilantly be working for others'.

Doesn't quite seem to be the way of a FOCA backing man, but with God all things are possible. Thanks be to God that we may rely upon Him.

Rest and Hope

Loving God
In this hour in which one might despair
For reason tells us that we are in dark times
We turn to You to ask that Your will be done

Without You
We are mindless creatures of sopping waste
Designing elitist commonality
Numbed by hollow aching cries of emptiness

By Your Light
A righteous path of mercy is well lit
Leading us to the freedom of peace and joy
Realized in the glory of Your saving Love

So Father
Before this abyss we stand, hearts in hand
Asking Your forgiveness, renouncing our ways
We beg deliverance from what we deserve

We ask You
Blind us to that which we had blindly sought
Render man's vile death-filled promises null
For only in Your Truth we find rest and hope

Amen.

Formative Obama Event

The portion of an AOL article for your consideration:

It was an incident during his teenage years that became one of Obama's most vivid memories of the woman he called "Toot" — a version of the Hawaiian word for grandmother, tutu.

She had been aggressively panhandled by a man and, for safety's sake, she wanted her husband to take her to work. When Obama asked why, his grandfather said Madelyn Dunham was bothered because the panhandler was black.

The words hit the biracial Obama "like a fist in my stomach," he wrote later. He was sure his grandparents loved him deeply. "And yet," he added, "I knew that men who might easily have been my brothers could still inspire their rawest fears."

Obama referred to the incident again when he addressed race in a speech in March during a controversy over his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. "I can no more disown him than I can my white grandmother," he said.

Dunham was "a woman who loves me as much as she loves anything in this world but who once confessed her fear of black men who passed her on the street."

I cannot imagine how that must have impacted him. I mean I have imaginings of the damage it caused, but -- really -- something like that has to have warped the very center of his being. Shook and transformed his view of the world in ways that someone not faced with that can't fully understand. I can't even imagine sharing that story with other, let alone have it be my reality.

"My name is ___ & I'm a local volunteer calling for..."

Scott's embarked on a new enterprise this evening... political phone bank volunteer.

He has been a promoter of Senator McCain's campaign since August, so after a doctor's appointment in Hershey I took him to the PA state Republican National Committee headquarters from which he phoned registered voters asking them if we (Senator McCain's campaign) can rely up their support in tomorrow's election. Yep, my son can now add to his resume that he is proficient at script reading.

Oh, to think, this might be the first step in an illustrious telemarket-ing career.

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Might a mother dare to dream a dream of her son professionally interrupting people's meals? Hmmm...

The young woman pictured is Amanda -- another volunteer in search of people she could count on to vote for John McCain and Sarah Palin. Amanda was as laid back and friendly as you might expect someone with the casual poise to make do with a stool for a seat and an elephant to prop her feet upon while phoning the electorate.

A special thank you goes out to Dugi (sp?)! A real sweetheart, she is the one who took the pictures of Scott.