"Catholic priest kidnapped in The Philippines"

From Spero News
By Martin Barillas

A Catholic missionary was abducted from his home on the evening of October 11 in Pagadian City on the island of Mindanao in the Philippines. Four assailants burst into the Father Michael Sinnott at his residence while he was strolling in the garden. Dragging him to a waiting pickup truck, he was then trundled into a waiting speed boat at a local beach.

The whereabouts of the octogenarian priest, born in Ireland, are still unknown, while no group has yet to claim responsibility for the terrorist act. There are distinct suspicions that a Muslim terrorist group may be responsible, since priests and other Christian missionaries have been abducted or murdered in the past by Abu Sayyaf – an ally of the al Qaeda terrorist network. Groups such as the Moro Islamic Liberation Front have operated for decades in hopes of setting up a separate Muslim state.

Father Shay Cullen, a fellow Irishman and priest who leads PREDA – a child welfare and advocacy organization in the Philippines – called for prayers. Said Rev. Cullen in an email, “Please pray and use all contacts to spread the news and we demand that no violence are used by the authorities but peaceful negotiation be conducted for his release. We are with you Father Michael in Sprit and prayer.”

Father Michael Sinnott (80), a member of the Columban order, is originally from Barntown in County Wexford, Republic of Ireland. Ordained in 1954, he was assigned to Mindanao in the southern Philippines in 1957 following his studies in Rome. Rev. Sinnott served in Mindanao until 1966 before being assigned to the theology staff in Dalgan Park, Navan. He returned to the Philippines in 1976 where he has served in a variety of pastoral and administrative roles. Since 1998 he has been involved with a school for children with special needs.

"Human Rights Priest Slain in Philippines"

From Catholic.net

CATUBIG, Philippines, SEPT. 14, 2009 (Zenit.org).- A Catholic priest who championed human rights for victims of injustice was shot in the head last week.

On Sept. 6, Father Cecilio Lucero, 48, was ambushed by some 30 men while driving from his parish in Catubig to Catarman, on the island of Samar.

The priest died immediately with a bullet to the head, and two men who were traveling with him were taken to the hospital with injuries.

Father Lucero was chairman of the Human Rights Desk and the Social Action Center of the Catarman Diocese.

The head of the diocese, Bishop Emmanuel Trance, is calling for "government officials to get to the bottom of this extra-judicial killing which has claimed the life of one of our priests," the Filipino bishops' conference reported.

The prelate said that in that area there have been some "18 killings during the past six months," and that Father Lucero sought a police escort because "he also feared for his personal safety."

"Second South African Catholic Priest Killed by Thugs"

From Catholic Information Service for Africa

The Catholic Church in South Africa, a nation plagued by violent crime, is mourning the murder of a second priest in slightly over a week.

Fr Lionel Sham, the parish priest of Mohlakeng in Johannesburg Archdiocese, was killed on Saturday, hours after being abducted from his home. He was 66.

Archbishop Buti Tlhagale of Johannesburg announced that police had found the body of Fr Sham, who went missing on Friday night.

Fr. Sham's death follows that of Fr Daniel Matsela Mahula, from Klerksdorp Diocese, on February 27. Fr Mahula was killed while driving his car by four hitch-hikers. A young priest, born on June 6, 1975, and ordained on December 22, 2002, he ministered at St. Peter's Catholic Church in Jouberton at the time of his death.

"All we can do now is pray with the family, the parish of Mohlakeng and the many people who loved and knew Lionel," said Archbishop Tlhagale. "I wish to express my own gratitude to the countless people who have looked for Fr Lionel and who have prayed for his safe return."

Archbishop Buti spoke of the great love Fr Sham shared with those he came into contact with. He was a friend and mentor to many people. He had worked at Boys Town, in various parish assignments, as administrator of the Cathedral of Christ the King in Johannesburg, rector of the Orientation Seminary in Welkom, Secretary of the Seminary Department of the Bishops Conference, Vocation Director and Vicar General.

Memorial services will begin Wednesday until next Monday. The funeral service will be on Tuesday, March 17 at the Cathedral of Christ the King.

"South Korea Church trains new priests for North"

From Reuters
By Jon Herskovitz and Kim Junghyun

SEOUL (Reuters) - The Roman Catholic Church of South Korea has started training priests to serve in North Korea, a country criticized by the United States and others for stamping out religion, for the first time in about 40 years.

"It's not something North Korea wants us to do. We are doing this with an eye toward the future when the two Koreas unify," Monsignor Matthew Hwang In-kuk, the Episcopal vicar of the Pyongyang Diocese, said in an interview with Reuters on Thursday.

Communist North Korea, which Church officials estimated had a Catholic community of about 55,000 just before the 1950-53 Korean War, does not allow priests to be permanently stationed in the country.

The five candidates began studies a few days ago for the priesthood, Monsignor Hwang said. The Church plans to recruit a new group each year.

It will take about 10 years to complete preparations and even then, they may not be allowed into the North.

Priests from the South do occasionally visit the hermit state, usually to accompany the delivery of aid or the start of a humanitarian project, and a visiting priest reportedly celebrated mass in Pyongyang when Pope John Paul II died.

There used to be about 20 priests in the Pyongyang diocese, which was incorporated into the Seoul diocese in 1970. The priests worked in the South but only seven of the group are still active, including Monsignor Hwang, who was born in Pyongyang in 1936 and fled North Korea during the Korean War at the age of 14.

"At the time when the Pyongyang diocese was incorporated into the Seoul diocese, it was a precondition for priests like myself to go back as soon as the two Koreas unify," he said.

The same applies to the five who just entered training for the priesthood, who are not been given any special preparation for serving in one of the world's most isolated states.

NEW PUSH NORTH

The Church in South Korea launched a new push into the North about three years ago when the Vatican named Nicholas Cheong Jin-suk as the new cardinal for South Korea. He also serves as the apostolic administrator of Pyongyang.

What is believed to be the first Catholic community in Pyongyang was formed in 1896. In 1927, the Pyongyang apostolic prefecture was carved out of the then Diocese of Seoul.

Japan's defeat in World War Two brought an end to its 1910-1945 colonial rule over Korea. The peninsula was then divided along Cold War battle lines and the new communist leaders in the North crushed any religion as they tried to build a cult of personality around state founder Kim Il-sung, historians say.

Priests and religious leaders were either killed or sent to political prison camps. Those practicing any faith faced punishment or death while the North's state propaganda launched a process to turn Kim Il-sung into a deity who would lead the masses to a place that would be a heaven on Earth.

Although the North says it protects religion, the U.S. State Department said in a report in 2008: "Genuine religious freedom does not exist." It quotes defectors as saying the North executes and arrests members of underground Christian churches.

The North built several churches, including a Catholic one about 20 years ago to show it allowed the practice of religion, but human rights groups have described the move as "a sham."

The South Korean Catholic Church will not say what it estimates to be the Catholic population in the North but outside groups have said it numbers in the few hundreds to about 4,000.

There are about 4.5 million Catholics in South Korea, which has a population of about 49 million and one of the largest percentages of Catholics of any country in Asia.

Monsignor Hwang has an old map of Pyongyang hanging in his office and gladly points out where his home used to be and how close his former church -- now long gone -- was to what has now become Kim Il-sung Square in the center of the city.

"We (the priests from the North) will perhaps be dead before unification, but the students hopefully won't be."

"Nun beaten and robbed in Upper Darby; 2 youths sought"

From the Philadelphia Daily News
By Stephanie Farr

UPPER DARBY, Pa. - An 82-year-old nun lay motionless in an Upper Darby church parking lot after she was brutally robbed and beaten last week, until a schoolboy came to her aid.

"God sent him to save her, to save her life," said the Rev. Peter Quinn, pastor of St. Alice's Church, adding that the nun considers the still-unidentified boy her "angel."

Now, Upper Darby police are hoping for a break in the unsolved robbery.

The attack on the nun, who is with the Dominican Order and lives at the convent in St. Alice's parish complex, on Hampden Road near Sansom Street, happened about 3 p.m. Feb. 2 in the complex parking lot as she returned from service work in Philadelphia, Upper Darby Police Superintendent Michael Chitwood said.

The nun, who has not been named by police or the church, was in her off-white habit, carrying her purse in a canvas bag, when she heard someone calling out to her, according to police.

When she turned around, she was punched in the face and fell to the pavement, semiconscious, Chitwood said.

The nun remembers little about her attackers but believes that there were two, and that her main assailant appeared to be between 13 and 15 years old, Chitwood said.

While she was on the ground, the attackers pulled at her bag, all the while kicking and stomping her, not quitting until she let go of her bag, according to police.

The thieves got away with her identification card, her Social Security card, her keys and a few bank cards, Chitwood said.

After the attackers fled on Hampden Road, the nun lay frightened and paralyzed until a boy with a bookbag attended to her and rang the convent door for help, Quinn said.

"One bad kid and one good kid," Quinn said.

"Pray for the [bad kid] who had a bad experience in his early childhood, so that he could learn from that and be better.

"And thank God for the angel."

The nun suffered a fractured pelvis, injuries to her right eye and a facial cut that required five stitches, police said.

She was taken to Delaware County Memorial Hospital, where she was treated and released, and she has since had trouble walking, Chitwood said.

The parish complex is directly across the street from the site of a brutal November home invasion in which Hoa Pham, a Vietnamese immigrant and an active member of St. Alice's Parish, was murdered.

His alleged killer, Jermaine Burgess, was held for trial after a preliminary hearing Monday.

"It makes a person feel that these two things have followed one another in too short a period of time," Quinn said.

"Larger families see the attacks piling up"

And Baby Makes How Many?
"In an era of shrinking broods, larger families can feel under attack."

From the New York Times
By Kate Zernike

THE comment from the photographer at Sears was typical. “Are these all yours?” she asked, surveying Kim Gunnip’s 12 children.

“No,” Mrs. Gunnip replied, “I picked some up at the food court.”

But it was harder to find a retort for the man in line at the supermarket, who said within earshot of her youngest children, “You must have a great sex life.”

Now her family, like other larger families, as they call themselves, is facing endless news coverage of the octuplets born in California and a new round of scorn, slack jaws and stupid jokes.

Back when the average woman had more than three children, big families were the Kennedys of Hickory Hill and Hyannis Port, “Cheaper by the Dozen,” the Cosbys or “Eight is Enough” — lovable tumbles of offspring as all-American in their scrapes as in their smiles.

But as families have shrunk, and parents helicopter over broods tinier yet more precious, a vanload of children has taken on more of a freak show factor. The families know the stereotypes: they’re polygamists, religious zealots, reality-show hopefuls or Québécois in it for the per-child government bonus. And isn’t there something a little obsessive about Angelina Jolie’s quest for her own World Cup soccer team?

“Look at the three shows on TLC that have bigger families,” said Meagan Francis, the 31-year-old author of “Table for Eight,” which stems from her experience raising four children (she is expecting her fifth next month). “One is about religious fundamentalists, one has sextuplets, the other is a family of little people,” she said, referring to, respectively, the Duggars of “17 Kids and Counting,” “Jon and Kate Plus Eight” and “Little People, Big World,” about two dwarfs raising four children, three of average stature, on a pumpkin farm in Oregon.

“You get the feeling,” Ms. Francis added, “that anybody who has more than three kids is either doing it for bizarre reasons or there’s a medical anomaly.”

In the last several days, the British government’s environmental adviser declared it “irresponsible” to have more than two children. And Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House, asserted that including contraception in the stimulus package could reduce government spending. Ms. Pelosi, herself the mother of five, was arguing against unwanted pregnancies, not families who choose to have big broods. But no matter — larger families see the attacks piling up.

Read the rest of the article HERE.

"Nun, 72, tells of mugging"

From the Telegraph
By Richard Savill

Photo at left: Sister Lorna at St Mary's Convent, Wantage, Oxfordshire after being mugged in the street speaks of her ordeal Photo: SWNS

Sister Lorna, 72, was just yards from the door of her convent when the robber stole her handbag in broad daylight.

But the man, in his 20s, only escaped with an umbrella and a bus timetable because Sister Lorna had hidden her purse, which contained £12 for the collection, in her habit.

She said: "I was shocked. I am 72 years old and I cannot walk very fast any more. I was frightened he might come back."

She added: "Luckily the thief did not get my purse. Years ago I would put it in my handbag but because muggings are becoming common I started putting it in my pocket. I suppose it is a sign of the times that even nuns are not safe."

Sister Lorna has been a nun at St Mary's Convent, Wantage, Oxon, for 37 years helping drug addicts, homeless people and reformed criminals in the community.

Last Tuesday she went for a walk in a park and sensed she was being followed.

"As I walked through a small wooded area I was aware that someone was watching me. I held my bag a little tighter and walked on.

"I didn't look round but decided to cut through to a main road between a row of houses. I was a few yards down the snicket when I felt someone come up behind me and snatch my bag from my arm.

"I let go immediately and watched him run off down the path and round the corner."

Sister Lorna, who once worked as a missionary nurse in South Africa, said of the robber: "I just feel sorry for him and wish this chap no ill-feeling.

"What I find the saddest part of all this is that the man who mugged me was probably the sort of person I try and help."

Cardinal Foley on Seminarians in the Holy Land

When you think it is tough being at your seminary...

From Zenit

ROME, DEC. 1, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Life for Palestinian Christians is ever more stressful, but seminarians there are making the necessary sacrifices for their formation, says the leader of a group that seeks to aid the Church in the Holy Land.

Cardinal John Foley, grand master of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem, affirmed this today in an address which marked the beginning of a week-long planning session for the order. This consulta, which takes place every five years, will conclude Friday with a papal audience.

The cardinal welcomed the knights and ladies of the order: "I am truly honored to be with you in reflecting on how we can help more effectively and more extensively our fellow Christians in the Holy Land and on how we can thus deepen our spiritual lives in union with Jesus Christ whose life, death and resurrection, in the land we seek to serve, made it truly holy."

This chivalric order seeks to form in its members the spirit and ideal of the Crusades from which it originated. This includes preserving the faith in the Middle East and defending the rights of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land.

Speaking of his own recent visit to the Holy Land, Cardinal Foley highlighted "the difference which our order makes in the Holy Land in the number and quality of the schools, parishes and charitable institutions which we help to support."

He gave particular mention to the seminary in Beit Jala that receives support from the order. He said, "I was very favorably impressed not only by the quality of the clergy of the Latin Patriarchate but also by the quality and spirituality of the seminarians, many of whom make great sacrifices to continue their priestly studies, especially since many of them are unable to return home during holiday periods, because of restrictions on their mobility imposed by Israeli authorities."

Since his first visit to the Holy Land in 1965, "the situation of our fellow Christians has become ever more stressful," said the cardinal. "Especially in the Palestinian territories, their opportunities for housing, for employment, for travel, and even for access to their land have become increasingly more difficult."

Cardinal Foley expressed his hope for the consulta to draw out ideas for helping "the descendants of the original Christians in the land made holy by the presence of Our Lord and savior Jesus Christ."

"Kenya: Bandits Kidnap Two Italian Catholic Sisters in North-East"

From Catholic Information Service for Africa, November 10, 2008

El Wak, Kenya - Bandits are holding two Italian Catholic nuns they captured in a Sunday night ambush in the small town of El Wak on the Somali border in North-Eastern Kenya.

The sisters, members of the Contemplative Missionary Movement of Fr De Foucald, are Maria Teresa Olevero and Catarina Giraudo. Their condition and whereabouts were still unknown at the time of filing this report.

The bandits opened fire at the sisters' house before breaking in. A watchman at the house said he heard one of the sisters screaming as they were taken away.

El Wak is an outstation (sub-parish) of Mandera Parish, located some 230 kilometers away. The two sisters and a few other Catholics, mostly civil servants, were the only Christians in the majority Muslim town.

The Diocese of Garissa where El wak is located is also largely Muslim. The sisters' service to the local people included offering medical and nutritional care to malnourished children, expectant mothers and the elderly. They also ran a small dispensary.

The bandits are suspected to be from one of two clans that have been fighting in the area. The attackers also overran government quarters in the town and took away vehicles and other valuables.

According the public broadcaster KBC, there are fears that the bandits may have crossed the border into Somalia with the nuns and stolen vehicles.

Sr Maria Teresa has been in Kenya since 1972, while Sr. Catarina, a nurse, has served the East African nation since 1974. The latter has been in El Wak since 1984.

Mandera Central District Commissioner Ole Tutui confirmed the Sunday attack to KBC, saying the bandits lobbed a bomb at government quarters but no injuries or deaths were reported.

The attackers used heavy weapons mounted on a vehicle from where they sprayed the town with bullets. The district police chief Akello Odhiambo said that security personnel was pursuing the attackers.

Recently, the government launched a massive security operation in Mandera to quell inter-clan fighting over grazing land and water and to wipe out bandits. The operation came under severe criticism from politicians, local people and the civil society over allegations of serious human rights violations perpetrated by the security personnel.

On Saturday, the government said it would deploy more security officers, including the army, on the porous borders of Somalia to prevent foreign militia from crossing into the country and inciting clashes among clans in North Eastern Province.

Banditry is rife in Somalia, which has had no government since 1991. The country is also believed to have bases for the Al Qaeda terrorist network of Osama bin Laden.

"Orissa victim Fr. Bernard Digal passes away"

From Mangalorean.com

By Team Mangalorean

Chennai/Mumbai October 28, 2008: Fr. Bernard Digal, one of the victims of Orissa carnage who was beaten up mercilessly by the Hindu fundamentalists on August 25, lost his battle for life and succumbed to the injuries today October 28, 2008.

Archbishop of Cuttack-Bhubaneshwar Raphael Cheenath SVD in a communiqué with Mangalorean.com said that Fr. Digal had been to Chennai to visit the Vicar General of the Archdiocese who had undergone a bypass surgery. While in Chennai Fr. Digal again developed health complications due to the internal injuries that he had received, and was admitted to St. Thomas Hospital in Chennai where he was operated by the doctors to remove a blood clot from his brain.

Archbishop Raphael Cheenath SVD rushed to Chennai to be at his side when he learnt that Fr. Digal's condition further deteriorated. Fr. Bernard who was kept on respirator slipped into coma as both his lungs collapsed and he passed away on the night of Tuesday, October 28, 2008 at 9:25pm(local time).

Archbishop Raphael Cheenath who administered the Sacrament of anointing of the Sick, mourning the death of Fr. Digal said that, "The Church in Orissa is blessed with a Martyr for the suffering and persecuted Church. May he now enjoy the Crown of glory from His Lord and Master, he said adding "Let us continue to show our solidarity and our spiritual closeness to our people in Orissa."

According to the Archbishop, Fr. Digal's body will be flown to Archbishop's house in Bhuvaneshwar today October 29, 2008. Fr. Digal was a native of Raikia (Khandamal district) and he had mentioned in his will that he would be laid to rest in his native place after his death. "If the situation permits, we will fulfill his wish and he will be laid to rest according to his will," Archbishop told mangalorean.com.

Fr Digal was brutally beaten up on August 25 and was left in the forest half naked and bleeding the entire night. He was later admitted to the Holy Spirit Hospital in Mumbai.

"The Christians in the district of Kandhamal have a powerful intercessor in heaven, Fr. Bernard will now continue his work for our people from his heavenly home," he said.

"Fr. Bernard Digal to be laid to rest today"

From Mangalorean.com

Bhubaneshwar Oct 30, 3008: The Mortal remains of Rev. Bernard Digal, the victim of Orissa violence, accompanied by Archbishop Raphael Cheenath SVD, arrived in Bhubaneshwar at 2:00pm today October 30, 2008.

The body flown in to Bhubaneswar from Chennai was escorted by police personnel from the airport to Capital hospital and was released at 5.00pm after conducting the postmortem. Hundreds of Priests, religious and the people from all over the state are flocking to pay their respect and homage at St.Vincent Church, where his mortal remains have been kept for public viewing.

According to Fr. Joseph Kalathil, heavy security has been deployed near St.Vincent Church where funeral mass will be held on Friday, October 31st at 10.00am.

Fr Bernard Digal(47), died on Oct. 28 at St. Thomas Hospital in Chennai where he was operated by the doctors for a blood clot in his brain. Fr. Digal who was also a treasurer of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar archdiocese, underwent treatment at a hospital in Mumbai, after which he was convalescing in Chennai where he was visiting an ailing senior priest of the archdiocese.

In another significant move, government of Orissa today has ordered a probe into the death of Fr. Digal following a complaint lodged by Vicar General of the Archbishop’s House. It has been stated in the complaint that, Fr. Digal was attacked by the mob in Sankarakhol of Kandhamal district and was abandoned in a forest area where he was left to bleed before he was taken to hospital. It has also been stated in the complaint that Fr Digal was treated in different hospitals in Bhubaneswar, Mumbai and Chennai.

Fr. Digal was born in January 1962 in Raikia of Kandhamal district. He was ordained a priest in May 1992 for the Archdiocese of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar.

"Indian Priest Dies After Beating"
From Zenit

NEW DELHI, India, OCT. 30, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Father Bernard Digal, 45, died in a hospital Wednesday from wounds he sustained in late August, when he was beaten by Hindu extremists.

The priest served in the Archdiocese of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar, in the state of Orissa, the hotbed for a large portion of the anti-Christian violence that has plagued India since the August death of a Hindu leader.

Father Mrutyunjay Digal, secretary of Archbishop Raphael Cheenath of that archdiocese, announced the priest's death to the Fides news agency. He said the community was in "a moment of mourning, of silence and of prayer for the entire local Church."

"During his life, Father Bernard showed determination and courage to give testimony and die for Christ," the secretary added. "He has died as an authentic Christian; immediately after the attack he suffered, he pardoned his enemies and persecutors."

The Fides agency cited Indian Christian organizations in reporting that some 100 Christians have died as a result of the wave of persecution, while thousands have been wounded. Some 15,000 Christians are living in refugee camps and perhaps as many as 40,000 more have fled to the jungle to hide from the extremists.

"Four wounded in attack on priest by suspected Abu Sayyaf in Basilan"

From ABS-CBN NEWS

ZAMBOANGA - Four people were wounded when suspected extremists ambushed a Catholic priest on Saturday in Basilan, the military said.

Father Mon Libot only suffered bruises but his four military and civilian bodyguards were wounded in the attack by members of bandit group Abu Sayyaf on the island of Basilan, said military spokesman Maj. Eugenio Batara.

The gunmen staged the ambush while Father Libot's group was driving down a dirt road in Sumisip town to attend religious services, said Batara.

The priest's escorts were able to return fire, forcing the attackers to retreat. Philippine Marines have been sent to hunt the gunmen down, the major said.

The Abu Sayyaf is a small gang of self-styled Islamic freedom fighters based largely on Basilan and neighboring Jolo island that security agencies have linked to the Al-Qaeda terror network.

It has staged numerous attacks on Christians and foreigners and is on the US government's list of foreign terrorist organizations.

School Run by Carmelite Sisters Bombed in Pakistan

From the Assyrian National News Agency

Peshawar (AINA) -- Terrorists bombed a Catholic girls school on October 7. The Convent Girls' School Sangota, run by the Sri Lankan Apostolic Carmelite Sisters, was completely demolished. An unknown number of militants entered the school late in the evening and ordered the attendants to leave the building, which was later destroyed by the explosion. No one has claimed responsibility for the bombing.

No one was injured in the bombing because the school was closed a few days prior because of threats. The school was threatened by the Taliban last year and ordered to shutdown.

In the past two years in Pakistan's restive North West Frontier Province, the Taliban have attacked more than 150 girls schools.


A slightly different version from The Christian Post:

A Catholic-run girls’ school in North-West Frontier Province was bombed Tuesday by Pakistani Taliban.

The Convent Girls’ School was bombed by local Taliban and the school building was destroyed, according to the Catholic Church’s National Commission for Justice and Peace (NCJP).

No one was killed or hurt because the school, run by Sri Lankan Apostolic Carmelite Sisters, was closed at the time due to threats. The sisters had also vacated the convent.

“We have very grave and deep concerns about the current instability and violence in Pakistan,” said Alexa Papadouris, advocacy director at U.K.-based Christian Solidarity Worldwide, in a statement Wednesday. “We wish to offer our sincere condolences to the victims of terrorism.”

In the past two years, more than 150 girls’ schools have been attacked in the North-West Frontier Province by Pakistani Taliban, the NCJP claims.

Bomb threats are also regularly occurring in Pakistan’s major cities, including Islamabad and Lahore. On Tuesday, three bombs were detonated among fruit juice shops in a shopping area in Ghari Shau, Lahore.

CSW’s sources in Pakistan describe the general situation as on the verge of becoming “a war zone.”

“These are absolutely senseless attacks aimed simply at spreading fear and terror into the hearts and minds of people,” said Group Captain (Rtd) Cecil Chaudhry, executive secretary of the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance. “The victims are ordinary people, many from poor backgrounds. We appeal to the international community for support for the people of Pakistan at this time.”

Muslims make up about 97 percent of Pakistan’s population, while Hindus make up 1.5 percent, and Christians, 1.7 percent.

With the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in Pakistan, which is nearby Afghanistan, Jammu and Kashmir, the plights of Christians have only increased and the freedom of religious minorities has steadily been attacked.

Last September, a group of Islamic militants in North West Frontier and Punjab provinces threatened Christians "to either convert to Islam, leave the country or face death."

“We call on the international community to take the crisis in Pakistan extremely seriously, and to work with the new Government of Pakistan to bring an end to terrorism in the country,” Papadouris urged.

Sister Nirmala Meets Orissa Chief Minister, Prays With Him For Peace

From the Union of Catholic Asia News

BHUBANESWAR, India (UCAN) -- The head of the Missionaries of Charity congregation met the chief minister of Orissa on Oct. 7 to express the Church's concern over anti-Christian violence in the eastern Indian state.

Sister Nirmala Joshi, who succeeded Blessed Teresa of Calcutta as congregational leader, told UCA News on Oct. 8 their "cordial" meeting ended with both praying together for peace in the state.

The diminutive nun met Naveen Patnaik, who heads Orissa's two-party coalition government, and presented him a letter explaining the Church's concern over the six-week-long Hindu violence against Christians in the state.

At the end, Patnaik, Sister Nirmala and local Missionaries of Charity superior Sister Suma prayed together Saint Francis of Assisi's famous prayer, "Lord make me a channel of your peace."

The meeting took place inside the chief minister's office in the state capital of Bhubaneswar, 1,745 kilometers southeast of New Delhi. Sister Nirmala's letter thanked the chief minister for the "strong action" he has taken in the past few days to check the violence.

According to sources in Cuttack-Bhubaneswar archdiocese, the situation in the state is "better now," with no violence having been reported since Oct. 3. The violence began after the murder of a Hindu leader on Aug. 23 and has claimed at least 52 lives to date.

Hindu extremists have also burned down around 4,500 houses and 100 churches. The most-affected area is Kandhamal district, where the slain Hindu leader was based. Some 50,000 Christians have been driven from their homes there and hundreds were forced to convert to Hinduism.

Sister Nirmala's letter said it was "sad to see" innocent people being attacked and forced to live without their religious freedom. Such acts degrade Hinduism, which respects all religions, remarked the nun, a Hindu convert to Catholicism.

Her letter said she wanted the chief minister to continue taking "strong actions" to help restore peace and normalcy in the state, particularly in Kandhamal.

Meanwhile, the state police reported they have arrested 1,000 troublemakers from the affected areas. They also claimed to have arrested five people who were in a mob that attacked a Catholic priest and nun on Aug. 25, as well as the man who raped the 28-year-old nun.

Sister Nirmala told UCA News she was glad the administration has started taking "strong action" and expected such measures to continue and help build confidence among people so they can go back to their villages from relief camps.

An estimated 25,000 people now live in 17 relief camps, including one Sister Nirmala's nuns run about 20 kilometers from Bhubaneswar. Almost an equal number of people reportedly live scattered in city slums and with relatives elsewhere, archdiocesan sources said.

Sister Nirmala's letter brought to the chief minister's notice that the camp dwellers live without the chance to practice their faith, and she stressed the need for them to be able to return to their villages.

Meanwhile, a group of some 40 riot-affected people met Orissa Governor M.C. Bhandare on Oct. 7. State opposition leader J.B. Patnaik led them, demanding a high-level probe into the sectarian violence. The governor represents the Indian president in a state.

They reportedly dismissed the state's claim that affected people have started to return to villages from the relief camps. People leave relief camps, they acknowledged, but go to distant places because they do not feel safe in the villages.

"Indian bishops demand police take action against nuns' attackers"

By Catholic News Service

NEW DELHI (CNS) -- The Catholic Bishops' Conference of India is demanding police officials take action against people who attacked Missionaries of Charity nuns in central India.

On Sept. 5, about 300 Hindu fundamentalists barged into a train coach and took four infants from two Missionaries of Charity nuns and two helpers, reported the Asian church news agency UCA News. The nuns from Raipur were taking the babies, all younger than two months, to an orphanage their congregation operates with a government license in Indore, about 500 miles south of New Delhi.

Divine Word Father Babu Joseph, spokesman for the bishops, called the attack "heinous" and "most contemptible." In a Sept. 6 statement, he appealed to law-enforcement agencies to "take stringent action against the perpetrators of crimes against the hapless religious women who have given their life for the sake of the most unfortunate ones in society."

"It is most regrettable," he added, "that organizations that claim to represent Hindu interests show utter insensitivity toward those whose services are received by members of their own community."

Sister Mamata, one of the Missionaries of Charity nuns, recounted the incident to UCA News Sept. 8, saying that Hindu extremists entered their coach at Durg, about 25 miles into the journey.

The intruders shouted anti-Christian slogans and forced the nuns off the coach, she said. Some women among the extremists snatched the babies while others verbally abused Christian missionaries in general for converting the poor under the pretext of service, she said.

Police took the nuns, their helpers and the Hindu extremists to their office at the railway station. Sister Mamata said the police and Hindus had closed-door talks, while the police denied the nuns permission to use the station's telephone to seek assistance. She said the radicals forcibly took the adoption papers from the nuns, alleging they were false.

Someone who happened to arrive at the station allowed the nuns to use his cell phone to contact the Raipur archbishop's residence. Priests at the residence informed a Missionaries of Charity convent in Bhilai, and two nuns came to help their colleagues.

However, the Hindu radicals beat up one of the Bhilai nuns and their driver and deflated their vehicle's tires before police intervened, Sister Mamata said.

She said that even while the nuns were under police protection the Hindu extremists continued to abuse them.

"They even threatened to kill us, saying, 'This is your last journey,'" Sister Mamata recalled. She said the police kept the nuns and their helpers in custody and returned the sisters to the respective convents in Bhilai and Raipur by 3 a.m.

The infants were reportedly admitted to a government hospital in Durg, Sister Mamata reported.

"Come what may, I will fight to get them back," she said.

The incident occurred on the 11th anniversary of the death of Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, who founded the Missionaries of Charity. On that day, nuns at the order's headquarters in Calcutta prayed for peace in Orissa, where Hindu-Christian violence that began in late August had left 27 dead by Sept. 9.

"More martyrs: a Carmelite priest is massacred in Andhra Pradesh"

Thanks be to God that there are still men in this world willing to say yes to God and make the radical commitment to serve Him, His Church and His people in places where the faithful are few, but persecution abounds.

From AsiaNews.it
by Nirmala Carvalho

38 year old Fr. Thomas Pandippallyil, was assassinate don the night of August 16th on his way to a village to celebrate Sunday mass. His body showed signs of torture, with wounds to his face, his hands and legs broken and his eyes pulled from their sockets. The bishop of Hyderabad denounces the growing climate of “violence against Catholics” in the country.

New Delhi (AsiaNews) – “Father Thomas is a martyr: he sacrificed his life for the poor and marginalised. But he did not die in vain, because his body and his blood enrich the Church in India, particularly the Church in Andhra Pradesh”. Those are the words of Msgr. Marampudi Joji, archbishop of Hyderabad and secretary of the bishops’ conference of Andhra Pradesh (a state in South East India), commenting the barbarous killing of the Carmelite priest Thomas Pandippallyil, 38, assassinated on the night of August 16th in Mosalikunta, on the road between Lingampet and Yellareddy, 90 km from the regional capital.

On the night of August 16th his body was found on the roadside by a group of people, not far from the village of Balampilly; the body of the Carmelite of Mary Immaculate carried wounds to the face while the hands and legs had been crushed and the eyes gouged out. His motorbike was found one kilometre on from the body. According to witnesses, Saturday afternoon Fr. Thomas celebrated mass in Burgida, before setting out for another village in the district where he was to have celebrated Sunday mass. The last people to have seen him alive were religious sisters from Lingapetta convent, where the priest had stopped for supper before continuing his journey.

“P. Thomas is a martyr – said Msgr. Marampudi, archbishop of Hyderabad, on hearing of the brutal murder. The Indian Church is shocked and deeply saddened by this barbarous killing, the result of a growing climate of intolerance and violence against Christians in this country”. The prelate immediately made his way to the area where the massacre took place and speaks of a “traumatized” Christian community. He forcefully denies accusations of “proselytism and forced conversions”. Given that there are “five families of Catholic faith” in the parish where Fr. Thomas was murdered.

Msgr. Marampudi Joji maintains the crime is the result of a climate of “jealousy of the Catholic Church”, whose only fault is that of trying to help develop the abandoned rural areas of the country and support and aid those who are “victims of violence and oppression”. “Priests and nuns – continues the archbishop of Hyderabad – have for decades been at the service of the least fortunate in India, and this makes them targets of forces of evil who do not want the marginalized and impoverished to become empowered”.

The remains of Fr. Thomas Pandippallyil will be laid to rest on Wednesday in the Carmelite provincial house in Balampilly: the priest was actively involved in educational field. He joined the Chanda mission of the CMI on 24th June 1987. He was ordained a priest in 2002. He was the rector for the Chanda mission province of the CMI, and also worked as hospital administrator, school manager and mission centre director.

A vocation in response to evil.

From PatrickMadrid.com

Below is a powerful letter written by Sister Lucy Vertrusc, a young nun, to her mother superior. It is a difficult story about God's will, vocations and abandonment to Divine Providence. Certainly it is not to say that God caused what happened to Sister Lucy, but indeed it was allowed to happen. Sister Vertusc became pregnant after she was raped in 1995, along with two other sisters, during the war in the former Yugoslavia. The content of the letter was originally publised in an Italian newspaper at the request of her mother superior. I find it particularly poignant after watching the new Batman movie "The Dark Knight". A film filled with horrible acts of violence, which ultimately asked the question - what do good people do, when unspeakable evil is forced upon them? What is our answer to the senseless violence of our world? Sister Vertusc knows the truly heroic answer...

"I am Lucy, one of the young nuns raped by the Serbian soldiers. I am writing to you, Mother, after what happened to my sisters Tatiana, Sandria, and me.

Allow me not to go into the details of the act. There are some experiences in life so atrocious that you cannot tell them to anyone but God, in whose service I had consecrated my life nearly a year ago.

My drama is not so much the humiliation that I suffered as a woman, not the incurable offense committed against my vocation as a religious, but the difficulty of having to incorporate into my faith an event that certainly forms part of the mysterious will of Him whom I have always considered my Divine Spouse.

Only a few days before, I had read "Dialogues of Carmelites" and spontaneously I asked our Lord to grant me the grace of joining the ranks of those who died a martyr of Him. God took me at my word, but in such a horrid way! Now I find myself lost in the anguish of internal darkness. He has destroyed the plans of my life, which I considered definitive and uplifting for me, and He has set me all of a sudden in this design of His that I feel incapable of grasping.

When I was a teenager, I wrote in my Diary: Nothing is mine, I belong to no one, and no one belongs to me. Someone, instead grabbed me one night, a night I wish never to remember, tore me off from myself, and tried to make me his own . . .

It was already daytime when I awoke and my first thought was the agony of Christ in the Garden. Inside of me a terrible battle unleashed. I asked myself why God had permitted me to be rent, destroyed precisely in what had been the meaning of my life, but also I asked to what new vocation He was calling me.

I strained to get up, and helped by Sister Josefina, I managed to straighten myself out. Then the sound of the bell of the Augustinian convent, which was right next to ours, reached my ears. It was time for nine o'clock matins.

I made the sign of the cross and began reciting in my head the liturgical hymn. At this hour upon Golgotha's heights,/ Christ, the true Pascal Lamb,/ paid the price of our salvation.

What is my suffering, Mother, and the offense I received compared to the suffering and the offense of the One for whom I had a thousand times sworn to give my life. I spoke these words slowly, very slowly: May your will be done, above all now that 1 have no where to go and that I can only be sure of one thing: You are with me.

Mother, I am writing not in search of consolation, but so that you can help me give thanks to God for having associated me with the thousands of my fellow compatriots whose honor has been violated, and who are compelled to accept a maternity not wanted. My humiliation is added to theirs, and since I have nothing else to offer in expiation for the sin committed by those unnamed violators and for the reconciliation of the two embittered peoples, I accept this dishonor that I suffered and I entrust it to the mercy of God.

Do not be surprised, Mother, when I ask you to share with me my "thank you" that can seem absurd.

In these last months I have been crying a sea of tears for my two brothers who were assassinated by the same aggressors who go around terrorizing our towns, and I was thinking that it was not possible for me to suffer anything worse, so far from my imagination had been what was about to take place.

Every day hundreds of hungering creatures used to knock at the doors of our convent, shivering from the cold, with despair in their eyes. Some weeks ago, a young boy about eighteen years old said to me: How lucky you are to have chosen a refuge where no evil can reach you. The boy carried in his hands a rosary of praises for the Prophet. Then he added: You will never know what it means to be dishonored.

I pondered his words at length and convinced myself that there had been a hidden element to the sufferings of my people that had escaped me as I was almost ashamed to be so excluded. Now I am one of them, one of the many unknown women of my people, whose bodies have been devastated and hearts seared. The Lord had admitted me into his mystery of shame. What is more, for me, a religious, He has accorded me the privilege of being acquainted with evil in the depths of its diabolical force.

I know that from now on the words of encouragement and consolation that I can offer from my poor heart will be all the more credible, because my story is their story, and my resignation, sustained in faith, at least a reference, if not example for their moral and emotional responses.

All it takes is a sign, a little voice, a fraternal gesture to set in motion the hopes of so many undiscovered creatures.

God has chosen me-may He forgive my presumption-to guide the most humble of my people towards the dawn of redemption and freedom. They can no longer doubt the sincerity of my words, because I come, as they do, from the outskirts of revilement and profanation.

I remember the time when I used to attend the university at Rome in order to get my masters in Literature, an ancient Slavic woman, the professor of Literature, used to recite to me these verses from the poet Alexej Mislovic: You must not die/because you have been chosen/ to be a part of the day.

That night, in which I was terrorized by the Serbs for hours and hours, I repeated to myself these verses, which I felt as balm for my soul, nearly mad with despair.

And now, with everything having passed and looking back, I get the impression of having been made to swallow a terrible pill.

Everything has passed, Mother, but everything begins. In your telephone call, after your words of encouragement, for which I am grateful with all my life, you posed me a very direct question: What will you do with the life that has been forced into your womb? I heard your voice tremble as you asked me the question, a question I felt needed no immediate response; not because I had not yet considered the road I would have to follow, but so as not to disturb the plans you would eventually have to unveil before me. I had already decided. I will be a mother. The child will be mine and no one else's. I know that I could entrust him to other people, but he-though I neither asked for him nor expected him-he has a right to my love as his mother. A plant should never be torn from its roots. The grain of wheat fallen in the furrow has to grow there, where the mysterious, though iniquitous sower threw it.

I will fulfill my religious vocation in another way. I will ask nothing of my congregation, which has already given me everything. I am very grateful for the fraternal solidarity of the Sisters, who in these times have treated me with the utmost delicacy and kindness, especially for never having asked any uncareful questions.

I will go with my child. I do not know where, but God, who broke all of a sudden my greatest joy, will indicate the path I must tread in order to do His will.

I will be poor again, I will return to the old aprons and the wooden shoes that the women in the country use for working, and I will accompany my mother into the forest to collect the resin from the slits in the trees.

Someone has to begin to break the chain of hatred that has always destroyed our countries. And so, I will teach my child only one thing: love. This child, born of violence, will be a witness along with me that the only greatness that gives honor to a human being is forgiveness.

Through the Kingdom of Christ for the Glory of God."

"Portrait: Iraqi Christian's path to the priesthood"

When Baghdad fell to American troops five years ago, Yusuf Rabat was studying at a seminary in the city.

From the Telegraph
by Damien McElroy

He could never have anticipated how his cloistered path to the priesthood would be thrown into turmoil by the new era after Saddam Hussein's downfall.

Babel College, which housed an ancient library, was a treasure of the eastern Christian Church and narrowly escaped the looters who pillaged Baghdad from the day Saddam was toppled.

"I never thought when I left for Baghdad that such terrible things would happen. We were on own from the first day of war," said Mr Rabat, 32.

When the looting subsided, Baghdad's suburb of Dora, where the college was located, steadily fell under the sway of Islamic insurgents. Mr Rabat left to study in Rome in 2005, shortly before the seminary evacuated its entire staff, who moved en masse to Irbil in northern Iraq in 2006.

Some 500 Christian families also fled Dora after they were threatened by Islamist radicals. Letters delivered by night had demanded forced conversions and the marriage of Christian girls to Islamist fighters.

The tragedy of Iraq's Christians overshadowed Mr Rabat's time in Rome. He would regularly attend vigils where prayers were offered for brethren under threat.

Mr Rabat's former neighbours were kidnapped and held to ransom. Bombs exploded at Christian churches in Baghdad and women were forced to wear the veil in public.

Then extremists killed his cousin, Ragheed Ganni, a prominent priest who was shot as he celebrated mass last year.

Catholic dioceses in Ireland, where Fr Ragheed had studied, invited Mr Rabat to visit last summer.

"They asked for mementos of him and erected an altar in his honour at a place of pilgrimage," he said. "It was amazing to see the impact he had and sad that he was no longer here."

The trip inspired a determination that he would return to Iraq after his ordination.

The ordeal of Iraq's Christians is far from over but Mr Rabat, now Fr Paulos, is adamant that an ancient community will survive.

"Two Chinese priests missing after being detained by government officials in May"

From Catholic News Agency

Stamford, Jul 15, 2008 / 02:53 am (CNA).- As the Beijing Olympic Games approach, two priests who tried to attend services for the World Day of Prayer for China on May 24 are still missing after having been detained by the Chinese government.

Pope Benedict XVI had announced the day of prayer for May 24, the Feast of Our Lady of Sheshan. Thousands of Chinese pilgrims made a pilgrimage to Sheshan for the event, most of whom doing so with the approval of the Chinese government.

Those who did not have government approval risked arrest and detention.

All of the underground clergy for the Diocese of Shanghai were placed
under house arrest during May to prevent them from making the pilgrimage, the Cardinal Kung Foundation reports. Other underground Catholics were warned not to visit Sheshan on May 24.

The Catholic Church in China is split into two different groups: the official communist-controlled Chinese Catholic Patriotic Association and an “underground” Church which remains loyal to the Pope. Efforts to reconcile the two factions have increased under Pope Benedict XVI’s reign and have been amplified by his letter to the Church in China, issued in June of 2007.

Two underground priests from the Xuanhua district in the province of Hebei were among the pilgrims that fell victim to the state’s efforts to control the pilgrimage.

Father Zhang Jianlin, 42, was intercepted by Chinese authorities in Nanking on his way to Sheshan for the May 24 event. He was sent back to Xuanhua, where he was arrested and detained.

Another priest, the 45-year-old Father Zhangli, was arrested and detained a few days before May 24 to prevent his trip to Sheshan.

Both priests disappeared while in the custody of Chinese authorities. The Cardinal Kung Foundation says it has no knowledge of their status or location.

According to Reuters, police and government offices in Xuanhua District refused to answer questions about the priests or said they had no knowledge of the case. "Nobody would be detained unless they were suspected of violating the law," said an officer from the district public security office who refused to give her name.

"Priests Among Targets in Zimbabwe"

From Zenit

Aid Group Reports Continued Intimidation Before Runoff

HARARE, Zimbabwe, MAY 27, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Many Zimbabwean priests are in hiding out of fear for their lives, Aid to the Church in Need reported.

The statement Monday from the charity organization coincided with ongoing reports of an intimidation campaign leading up to the June 27 runoff election between President Robert Mugabe, 84, and opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai.

Tsvangirai won the March elections, but supposedly not by a wide enough margin to have clinched the victory. Results from that election were withheld for weeks; meanwhile human rights groups began to report torture and even the killing of those who had voted against Mugabe.

A priest, who remained anonymous for safety reasons, informed Aid to the Church in Need that people who voted against Mugabe's party have been kidnapped, tortured, maimed and raped by soldiers -- particularly in rural areas.

"Many Catholic priests and lay people are on the wanted lists of these soldiers and militia groups," he said, "and many of them are forced to remain in hiding following death threats."

Reprisals come after the Catholic Church joined with other denominations earlier this month to speak out about the country's deteriorating human rights situation, including the organized violence in areas that did not vote for Mugabe.

Making a bad situation worse, local hospitals are unable to care for the wounded due to lack of even basic painkillers, Aid to the Church in Need lamented.

The priest who spoke with the aid group said he fears the situation will only deteriorate as the runoff nears.

Food is being withheld from those who did not vote for Mugape, he said, and despite their best efforts, Catholic dioceses are unable obtain any food for the hungry.

In any case, with an inflation rate at 160,000%, food has been scarce for months.

A report on post-election violence by the Christian human rights organization the Solidarity Peace Trust, published in Johannesburg on May 21, contained up to 50 eye-witness accounts of orchestrated beatings, torture and the destruction of homes and shops.

On Disobedience and Being Labeled Conservative Among Other Things

The entire post below was written by Fr. John Trigilio's on his blog The Black Biretta. Fr. Trigilio is the President of the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy, and is a regular on EWTN. He is also a co-author of the very good "Catholicism for Dummies". The picture shows Fr. Trigilio on the far right presenting the book to Our Holy Father.


Cardinal complains of worldly values in Church
(ANSA) - Vatican City, February 14 -

A top Vatican cardinal complained on Thursday that Catholic priests are becoming worldlier, less obedient and increasingly reluctant to wear a cassock.

Absorbing the values of western society, priests are also less and less interested in prayer and community living and more interested in personal freedom, said Cardinal Franc Rode' in a conversation with ANSA.

''A drift towards bourgeois values and moral relativism are the two great dangers that weaken religious life,'' said Rode', who heads the Vatican department which governs monks, nuns and priests not attached to parishes.

The often-cited fall in vocations to the priesthood was actually not the main worry, the Slovenian prelate continued, noting that in 2006 vocations fell only 0.7%

''The biggest problem today is the climate of secularisation present not only in western society but also within the Church itself,'' he said. Without citing any names or specific episodes, Rode' listed a number of ways in which this change was visible among priests and members of religious communities.

They were: ''Freedom without constraints, a weak sense of the family, a worldly spirit, low visibility of religious clothing, a devaluation of prayer, insufficient community life and a weak sense of obedience''.

Despite the decline in standards, many young people were still attracted to the contemplative life of the monk or nun in an isolated community, Rode' said

''They are attracted because it is a radical life choice,'' he said.

Priests are disobedient because they were TAUGHT to be so, either in the seminary or in the diocese. All too often, theological dissent and liturgical abuse are tolerated if not endorsed in certain seminaries. Disobedience to the Magisterium and disregard for liturgical rubrics as found in the Roman Missal only leads to disobedience in other areas. Why should we expect clergy to obey their bishops and respect their pastors when they were trained by dissident theologians? A posteriori learning, obviously. When your superiors show contempt and disdain for their superiors and openly defy their rules and regulations, you learn and imitate that same behavior.

Many of us were persecuted for wearing a cassock, in the seminay and then in the rectory. Wordliness was experienced in the seminary, then in the rectory. Simple, humble and modest lifestyle was considered 'too pious'

After defending the Roman Pontiff and Magisterium in the seminary, many of us found we had to do it all over again in the parish. You expected some of the faithful to have been indoctrinated and brainwashed by the dissidents who flourished after the public repudiation of Humanae Vitae by Charles Curran, et al. What you did not expect was the cold shoulder if not open hostility experienced from your own diocesan colleagues. Peers in the local presbyterate are sometimes as dissident and disobedient as some of the radical faculty members from seminary days.

Sadly, in some dioceses, the priests and even chancery personnel who defy papal authority and who disregard liturgical norms and who contradict most of the catechism, are often given no reprimand. In fact, some of them are championed as avant garde progressives and get appointments to diocesan councils, committees, etc. Given almost guru status, these micreants often tell young clergy 'don't be too rigid or else you will be labeled a conservative.' Wearing a cassock in the rectory, using a chalice veil and burse at Mass, wearing a biretta at Stations of the Cross, wearing a cape at the cemetery, wearing cassock and surplice rather than an alb at a liturgical service outside Mass, ... these are considered omens and portents of a CONSERVATIVE. Pastors and diocesan officials cringe. If he has a Latin breviary, he will inevitably want to celebrate the TLM!!! Even the Novus Ordo in Latin and giving blessings in Latin are still considered taboo in some places. The sad reality is that the good guys never imposed their opinions or taste on others, whereas the radical left always wants to prevent a legitimate exercise of a valid option IF they themselves do not prefer it. Wearing a cassock is a matter of choice (DE GUSTIBUS NON DISPUTANDUM EST) If I choose to wear mine, it is my preference where and when (within reason and in accord with canon law). If my fellow clergy prefer to wear simple clerical garb (roman collar & suit), it does not bother me. However, my wearing a cassock bothers some priests. Wear french cuff under your cassock and they accuse you of being a closet Legionnaire of Christ or Opus Dei. Wear an expensive colored silk shirt and you are considered 'balanced.' The pathetic thing of it all is that the false doctrines and liturgical abuses being proliferated on the People of God often get ignored for a witch hunt to uncover those clerics who like to wear more traditional attire..

LEX ORANDI, LEX CREDENDI, LEX AGENDI If a priest is exposed and taught to celebrate the Divine Liturgy with reverence and to do it faithfully according to the rubrics, then he will do that in his parish. When he sees liturgical abuse in the seminary, he may imitate that in the parish. Defying liturgical law only inspires one to deny or distort doctrine since what we believe is intimately connected to how we worship. Reverence for the Mass, especially the Most Blessed Sacrament, is the backbone to believing in the dogma of the Real Presence. Disregard for the rules in the Sacramentary will entice one to ignore the Catechism since they both come from the same authority.

If a priest is trained to be disobedient in liturgical matters and/or is taught dissident heterodox theology, then he will infect his parishes where he is assigned unless he is able to recognize the contagion when it first appears. Opus Dei saved my vocation and a plethora of many others when they had an annual seminar for seminarians the week after Easter. Guys from around the country would gather at Arnold Hall retreat center to listen to Fr. George Rutler, Fr. Benedict Groeschel, CFR, Msgr. Wm. Smith, Dr. Janet Smith, Msgr. Lorenzo Albacete, Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz, Archbisop Raymond Burke, et al. We got more orthodox theology and liturgy in one week than in an entire year of seminary.

Unfortunately, even when men are sent to solid, orthodox seminaries, they may be sent after ordination to a very liberal parish run by a heterodox pastor who has general confession, lets non-ordained preach at Mass, insists that the faithful stand during the Eucharistic Prayer, and sits in his chair while Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion distribute the Blessed Sacrament. This same pastor will never preach against abortion, euthanasia, same-sex unions, contraception, or premarital fornication. He will, however, tell people that Jesus did not multiply the loaves of bread and two fish to feed five thousand, rather that He was able to get everyone to SHARE what they already had in their backpacks. This pastor who dislikes being called "Father" and prefers to be known as "Scott" rarely wears his roman collar and often ad libs prayers in the Mass.

A newly ordained gets sent there for his first 3 years of priesthood. Who wins and who loses? Say anything and they label you a troublemaker. Be faithful to the Church results in you disobeying the pastor (who in reality is disobeying Holy Mother Church) Once identified as someone leaning to the right, all your next assignments will be in liberal parishes with liberal pastors to help 'deprogram' you and make you less 'rigid' so you can be 'pastoral' rather than 'orthodox.'

We absolutely NEED good, solid and totally orthodox seminaries (and close those that are not). Our bishops need to keep an eye not only on seminary formation but also continuing formation of the clergy. Annual worshops and seminars (like those currently sponsored by Opus Dei and the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy) help priests of all ages at all stages to maintain their orthodoxy and to foster a pious and healthy spiritual life. Things have been improving with recent episcopal assignments and overhauls of some seminaries, yet there is still a lot to be done.
Too many good priests get DISILLUSIONED and then DISCOURAGED when heterodox colleagues get diocesan positions, promotions and honors while orthodox men, loyal to Rome and reverent in their Masses are ignored, ostracized and often villified. Worse yet is when a bishop or diocese places the highest priority on fiscal health of a parish over the spiritual health. Saving souls should be the PRIME DIRECTIVE, not saving dollars and cents. Teaching the TRUTH is what priests and deacons are ordained to do, rather than acting like corporate business managers who spend more time on the budget than on the catechism.

I noticed early on that the priests who joyfully threw out gold chalices and patens and raped the sanctuaries of their invaluable art did so under the false guise of showing solidarity with the poor. These same ICONOCLASTS, however, drive expensive cars, take expensive vacations, and dine at only the best restaurants. Apparently, once you skimp on God in His House, you can compensate yourself in minor luxuries, or so they think.

Fr. Trigilio continues in the combox on the same post:

CAVEAT - There are TWO extremes that need to be avoided. One is the almost hedonistic and materialistic tendency to compensate for giving up having a wife, children and handsome salary by getting as much consumer goods as possible and aggressively pursuing comfort and leisure. That is NOT what a priest is called to do. The other extreme, however, is to confuse the distinction between a diocesan (secular) priest and a religious order (regular) priest. The religious (Dominican, Franciscan, Benedictine, Augustinian, etc.) takes a solemn vow of POVERTY, Chastity and Obedience. That vow of poverty means he cannot and does not own ANYTHING. He does not own a car, computer, television, stereo, and has no credit card, no checking account. Everything is owned by the order and everything is shared. If he needs something, he must ask the superior for permission and ask the bursar for the money. All his temporal needs are provided by the order, however.

The diocesan priest does NOT take a vow of POVERTY. We are allowed to own private property (like the laity) but we are to also be POOR IN SPIRIT, i.e., be detached from our possessions. What we own cannot and should not own us. Diocesan clergy have their own cars but also pay their own car insurance. We pay taxes like our parishioners. We have to borrow money to finance a car like anyone else. The diocese does not provide us with everything as the religious order or community does for the religious priest who took the vow of poverty.

The other extreme, then, is to presume and falsely judge and compare diocesan clergy with religious clergy. The Fratecelli were a heretical group in the Middle Ages who maintained that Christ had absolute poverty, therefore all clergy had to own nothing. Even the Apostles and Disciples did not universally embrace such complete and total poverty. St. Mark's family was of modest wealth and provided the Upper Room for the Last Supper and Pentecost. While some of my diocesan colleagues give scandal, many do NOT. Many live simple, modest lives without having to live exactly like a religious who is vowed to poverty. Like our people, we have to find a BALANCE.

The moral virtue of TEMPERANCE or MODERATION is essential for clergy and laity alike. I have a satellite dish so I can watch EWTN as my local cable only carries it half a day. I also give 10% of my income to the Church vis-a-vis my parish, my diocese, EWTN and Opus Dei. Many of my colleagues do likewise.

What we diocesan clergy need to avoid is the appearance as well as the actuality of scandal in that we should not be seen living an extravagant life. Buying, owning and wearing expensive and designer clothing can give scandal but so does not wearing your roman collar when on duty. Driving the most expensive luxury car when your average parishioner can only afford a modest standard or full size car can be scandalous. At the same time, if your parish is in a rural area, you may need an SUV to get to your people in bad weather, especially when they need to be anointed in the middle of the night.

If a priest is paying an obscene annual fee to belong to an exclusive golf club, then that is scandalous. There are moderate priced courses he can use, especially if his average parishioner can only afford them.

Bottom line is that I personally do not feel morally bound to only buy generic food. I try to live a modest but not frugal life. If I try to be generous to the church and to the poor, then I have no qualm of conscience occasionally enjoying a nice meal at a fine restaurant. It is all a matter of BALANCE, moderation and prudence.

We diocesan priests will be judged on what we did or did not do, just like anyone else. If we were generous or stingy; orthodox or heterodox; good or immoral.

Thankfully, we have support with organizations like the Confraternity of Catholic Clergy to help us foster ongoing spiritual, theological and pastoral formation in a fraternal environment.