For the repose of the soul of the hand maid of God, Cecelia.On August 15, 2002 three armed assailants entered the Sacred Heart of Jesus Monastery in Baghdad Iraq and found a solitary Assyrian nun preparing to quietly retire to her room. Read the rest of this entry »
ERITREA: CHRISTIAN WOMAN IN PRISON DIES OF MALARIA – Weakened by torture, Azib Simon succumbs to disease only a week after contracting it.
LOS ANGELES, July 23 (Compass Direct News) – Imprisoned and tortured for her Christian faith since December, 37-year-old Azib Simon died of malaria in Eritrea’s Wi’a Military Training Center last week. Weakened by ongoing torture, sources said, Simon contracted malaria only a week before she died. Christians in the prison are rarely given medical attention, and the sources said authorities refused to provide treatment for Simon’s malaria. She had attended the Kale-Hiwet Church in Assab, one of the independent evangelical churches that have been targeted by the country’s Marxist-leaning authoritarian regime. She was held at the notorious Wi’a Military Training Center, 20 miles south of the Red Sea port of Massawa, since her arrest in December 2007. On June 8 Compass learned that eight Christian brothers held at the Adi-Quala prison were taken to the medical emergency facilities as a result of torture by military personnel at the camp. Simon’s death makes a total of five Christians whom Compass has confirmed have died in Eritrean prisons after being tortured for refusing to recant their faith.
He just looks like a real man’s man – a tough son of a gun. Happy are we who can call on his friendship as a Christian who is still very much alive in Christ!
Tuesday December 04, 2007 INDONESIA: ISLAMIC EXTREMISTS SENTENCED TO PRISON FOR BEHEADING GIRLS – Light sentences meted out to Muslim militants for gruesome, premeditated murders.
LOS ANGELES, December 4 (Compass Direct News) – Three Islamic extremists were sentenced yesterday to 19, 14 and 10 years in prison respectively for beheading three Christian teenage girls and shooting two others non-fatally in 2005. A South Jakarta district court sentenced Rahman Kalahe to 19 years in prison, Agus Nur Muhammad to 14 years and Yudi Heryanto to 10 years after finding them guilty in the beheading of Theresia Morangke and Yarni Sambue, both 15, and 17-year-old Alfita Poliwo as the girls walked to school in Poso district in Sulawesi on October 29, 2005. Kalahe was also found guilty of involvement in a Dec. 31, 2005 bomb attack on a market in Palu that killed at least eight people. Abdul Muis was also convicted for this crime and likewise received a sentence of 19 years. The two men were also convicted of murdering the Rev. Irianto Kongkoli and two high school students in 2006. The court also found Syaiful Anam and Amril Niode guilty of bombing a marketplace in the Christian-inhabited town of Tentena, in Poso district, in May 2005, with Anam receiving a prison sentence of 18 years and Niode one of 15 years.
“The fragmentation of Islamic civilization. With birthrates in Muslim societies more than double the European average, Islamic countries are bound to put pressure on Europe and the U.S. in the years ahead. If, as is forecast, the population of Yemen will exceed that of Russia by 2050, there must be either dramatic improvements in the Middle East’s economic performance or substantial emigration from the Arab world to senescent Europe. Yet the subtle colonization of Europe’s cities by Muslims does not necessarily portend the advent of a new and menacing “Eurabia.” In fact, the Muslim Read the rest of this entry »
“Hear the voice of a Christian Martyr singing a hymn in Arabic to the Blessed Mother, while watching a slideshow of his funeral mass. Hear the angelic voice of Father Ragheed Ganni, a 35 year old Chaldean Catholic Priest killed on Sunday
June 3rd, 2007 with subdeacons Basman Yousef Daoud, Wadid Hanna and Ghasan Bida Wid right after celebrating mass at Holy Spirit Chaldean Catholic Church in Mosul, Iraq. The car of Father Ragheed and the three deacons was stopped by terrorists shortly after leaving the church.
“They were forced to get down from the car and asked to declare their conversion to Islam. When the four martyrs refused they were brutally gunned down with machine guns. Lord, protect all the innocent people of Iraq and all those trying to defend them. Jesus we trust in you and we are sustained by the prayers of your most holy mother to whom you never refuse a request. We pray for the repentance and conversion of Father Ragheed’s killers and all other terrorists. May she who gave birth to us at the foot of the cross beg you for mercy. “
It is really tough to listen to or watch this with dry eyes.
UPDATE: Someone emailed the following to me, I wanted to share it – I hope that is alright.”I clicked over to your blog and found your post on Fr. Ragheed from Iraq.He came to visit our parish back in 2002 or 2003 (I forget?)… and we got to know him personally very well. My husband and I took him out to lunch on a couple occasions…He was a beautiful person… I enjoy reading about him. Thanks for your blog post.”
I had not known Father Ragheed had spent any time in America. That was fascinating to learn. Thank you for sharing that.
For the blessed repose of the handmaid of God Gayle Williams.
Aid Worker Gayle Williams Shot Dead In Afganistan By Taliban
KABUL – A female aid worker was shot dead in the Afghan capital yesterday in a killing claimed by the Islamic Taliban which accused her group of “preaching Christianity.”
Gayle Williams, 34, of British and South African nationality, was shot several times as she was walking to work in a western suburb of Kabul, said the SERVE Afghanistan aid organization for which she had been working for 2-years.
Pray for the Chrisitans of Pakistan and for the conversion of those who persecute them.
“Pakistan: Elderly Christian killed in axe murder,” from Compass Direct News, September 4:
ISTANBUL, September 4 (Compass Direct News) – Four Pakistani Muslims killed an elderly woman with an axe over a dispute with her husband, who has been unable to prosecute them due to his low social status as a Christian.
Case workers said the alleged culprits targeted the couple for theft and later murder because they believed Pakistan’s legal system would not prosecute them for murdering Christians. The suspects’ connections to mafia and national politicians further emboldened them, they said.
Lalji Nayak, martyr for the faith in Orissa by Nirmala Carvalho With a knife pressed to his throat, threatened with death, he did not renounce his Christian faith. But there are others who, under threat, have been forced to convert to Hinduism. Injured Christians attacked even in the hospital. Three more villages attacked in the district of Kandhamal. The missionaries of Mother Teresa want to return to take care of leprosy and tuberculosis patients.
Why isn’t ANY of this getting ANY attention in the mainstream media?
Pray for the Christians of Orissa and for the conversions of those trapped in the sins of violence.
Christian father and son hacked to death in Orissa by Nirmala Carvalho The man was a very influential Christian leader. Radical Hindus seek to eliminate community leaders. Widespread mistrust of police action. Four extremists have been arrested after a long delay, accused of raping a sister.
Bhubaneshwar (AsiaNews) – Two tribal Christians, a father and his son, were killed by a group of Hindu extremists on the night of October 2 in the village of Sindhupanka, in the district of Kandhamal.
They were Dushashan Majhi and his 15-year-old son, Shyam Sunder Majhi. The two were sleeping amid the remains of their home, destroyed the day before by Hindu radicals. Dushashan was the leader of a Christian community, highly respected and influential. The elimination of community leaders has become the prime objective of fundamentalist groups, to stop the Read the rest of this entry »
“Orissa has seen rising tensions between Christians and Hindus” seems to be a VERY polite euphamism for “Christians have been getting beat up, raped, killed, and have had their homes destroyed.
Dare we hope there can be some justice to be found?
Keep the persecuted Christians of India in your prayers.
Four arrested over India nun rape
Orissa has seen rising tension between Christians and Hindus
Four people have been arrested in the eastern Indian state of Orissa in connection with the rape of a Catholic nun more than a month ago, police say.
At least one police officer has been suspended, officials say.
The 29-year-old nun lodged a complaint on 25 August alleging rape by a member of a Hindu mob in Kandhamal district.
Police are criticised for being slow to act – they say they have been trying to keep the peace in the area, which has seen weeks of Hindu-Christian violence.
Hanoi, Sep 22, 2008 / 04:56 pm (CNA).- The simmering property disputes between the Catholic Church and the Vietnamese government were again aggravated on Sunday when a Hanoi official accused the Archbishop of Hanoi of inciting riots, making false allegations against the government, ridiculing the law, and disrespecting the nation.
Speaking in Moscow, the Orthodox prelate charged that Catholic clergy and religious still maintain “an ultimate goal of proselytism among the Orthodox population” in Russia, the Interfax news service reports. Catholic officials have repeatedly denied such a goal.
Oh Balderdash!
He either just doesn’t get it… or just doens’t want to see.
What is Patriarch Aleksy -or “Comrade Drozdov—the ‘blackbird’”, as he was known in the KGB parlance – afraid of? Less than 700K Catholics against the state church that is full of priests, monks & seminarians, has history, state support, and the culture behind it.
You know if JP2 of blessed memory, had designs on a “uniate invasion” of Russia, it certainly could have been started.
From around the world it is easy to imagine 1000s of priests and religous mobilized and sent forth – a few dozen Jesuits here, a few dozen Franciscan there, toss in some Dominicans, some Divine Word missionaries, a cadre of Oratorians, a couple of Missionaries of the Poor, toss in some Opus Dei, add a few Miles Jesu members, grab a handful of Legionairies, relieve the over-flowing Benedictines of France of a few members, and relocate some Norbetines, a few extras from the FSSP, some diocesan priests, and a few busloads of newly ordained, rosy-cheeked 20somethings fresh out of the Ukrainian underground and before you know it, you have the makings of a unia and you could be doing land-office business. 4 Million baptists in Russia, you know… Heck, open up a university, and start opening Catholic schools, and they would have filled.
Hey, we all know that there are convents full of little old Fillipino and Italian nuns that can make rosaries faster than you can tie a shoe! Statues of OL of Fatima and scapulars enough for every man woman and child could have flooded the land. Priories, novitiates, seminaries, and other houses of formation could have been filled up. I truly believe more than a few Orthodox priests could have been entreated to enter a unia.
But we didn’t. The Pope didn’t direct that. Some of us might even be tempted to say placation was the order of the day. How many Ukrainian Catholics were exiled? How many parishes do they have in Russia?
Inconvienant fact #1: Catholics who were exiled into the depths of Russia are still Catholic, they live there now, they deserve priests and parishes. It isn’t a Vatican conspiracy. We didn’t plant them there as fifth-columnists. Remember who did.
Inconvienant fact #2:]: There is no “Orthodox gene” in Russian DNA. Holy Osmosis has not set in. The idea that the whole of Russia is Orthodox is blind hubris. [url=http://www.ecpat.net/eng/Russia.asp] Russia is now one of the main producers of child pornography in the world, 6 out of 10 pregnancies in Russia end in abortion. The black market is thriving, drugs & HIV infections are worse than ever… This is not a nation that has wholesale turned to Orthodoxy. I wish to God it were, that’s for sure. But it isn’t.
Inconvienant fact #3: Some Russians – I met two a decade ago in Chicago – have read their way into the Catholic Church. Having access to the world wide web and a command of (in this case Englisyh & German, some Polish) they read about the Catholic Church, and found they agreed with the claims made therein. Some Russians have come to accept the apologia for the Roman Church on their own. Others, not forgetting efforts by the KGB to infiltrate the ROC, do not want to belong to it. We didn’t go looking for them, they came looking for us.
Inconvienant fact #4: Islam is gaining ground in a real and serious way in throughout the whole of the Russian Nation. Does the Patriarch prefer to stymie the growth of the Catholic church so he can deal with that? How does “Catholic proselitizing” compare to the Saudi money that is funding the growth of Islam in Russia and the ex-USSR?
Using these numbers, one attempt to estimate numbers of practicing followers of different religions in Russia arrives at the following results: 3-15 million Russian Orthodox; 2.8 million Muslim; over 1.5 million Protestant (including at least 900 thousand Pentecostals); no more than 500 thousand Buddhists; 300 thousand followers of New religious movements; 60-200 thousand Roman Catholic; 50-80 thousand Old Believers.
What if the methodologies in that study were problematic and the numbers were double or triple or quadrouple what was reported? That still leaves us with a window of 12-60 members out of a population of 141,377,752
Its time to give up the ghost and quit the saber rattling that “The Catholics are coming! The Catholics are Coming! Jesuit uniate-makers have been spotted on the horizon!”
It is old, it is tired, it is false, and his time and efforts to oppose Catholicism would definately be better spent trying to grow and teach his own faithful.
HOW A 20 YEAR OLD GIRL WAS BURNT TO DEATH BY A CHEERING CROWD
Fr. Edward Sequeira, a priest belonging to the Society of Divine Word (SVD), was one of those who was seriously injured when his mission station was attacked by the mob in Orissa.
Currently recuperating at Burla Medical College Hospital, Sambalpur, Fr. Sequeira, upon gaining consciousness, narrated the story to his brother Commodore Valentine Sequeira who writes:
A large mob of more than 700 people were returning after attending the cremation of Swami Laxmananand Saraswati who was killed along with four others Saturday evening by suspected Maoist guerrillas at his Jalespata ashram. Read the rest of this entry »
INDIA: POLICE DO LITTLE TO PROTECT CHRISTIANS IN ORISSA
Survivors fleeing to state capital continue to receive accounts of violence. BHUBANESWAR, India, September 4 (Compass Direct News) – Christian victims of Hindu extremist violence who have fled to the capital of the eastern state of Orissa said state police have been mere spectators as mayhem continued a 12th consecutive day.
Attacks on Christians and their property and institutions began in Orissa’s Kandhamal district following the killing of a Vishwa Hindu Parishad (World Hindu Council or VHP) leader, Laxmanananda Saraswati, and four of his disciples on August 23. Maoists claimed responsibility for the murders on Monday (Sept. 1), though the statement did nothing to slow Hindu extremist violence that Christian leaders say has claimed more than 100 lives.
Among those who have fled to Bhubaneswar was Father Prabodha Kumar, a Catholic priest who reached the Catholic Archbishop’s House in the capital after a seven-day journey from Onjamundi village in Kandhamal. He was among other fearful sojourners at the house whose mobile phones constantly rang with news of more attacks from their relatives, friends and church members in interior villages of Kandhamal.
Fr. Kumar looked deeply troubled after one such phone call yesterday.
“My brother has been forced to ‘reconvert’ to Hinduism, as he was told that if he did not do so, his house would be destroyed,” he said.
Mr. Joseph Kung of the Cardinal Kung Foundation writes in the July newsletter:
One Year Later
It has been a year since Pope Benedict XVI made public a letter that he wrote to the Catholic Church in the Peoples’ Republic of China. While there are so many issues in the Pope’s letter that we could reflect upon together, I will only concentrate on the following few points:
Some Chinese bishops “not wishing to be subjected to undue control exercised over the life of the Church, and eager to maintain total fidelity to the Successor of Peter and to Catholic doctrine, have felt themselves constrained to opt for clandestine (underground) consecration.” However, they are not recognized by the Chinese Authority. Pope Benedict XVI hopes that “these legitimate Pastors may be recognized as such by governmental authorities”.
For the repose of the soul of the hand maid of God, Cecelia.On August 15, 2002 three armed assailants entered the Sacred Heart of Jesus Monastery in Baghdad Iraq and found a solitary Assyrian nun preparing to quietly retire to her room. Read the rest of this entry »
Wednesday August 06, 2008
IRAN: CHRISTIAN COUPLE DIES FROM POLICE ATTACK Hosts of house church succumb to injuries following raid; daughter still in custody.
ISTANBUL, August 6 (Compass Direct News) – An Iranian Christian couple in their 60s died last week from injuries sustained when secret police raided a house church service hosted at their house and severely beat them, a source told Compass. Less than a week after Abbas Amiri’s funeral, his wife died from similar injuries and stress from her husband’s death, according to Farsi Christian News Network (FCNN). Police beat and arrested Amiri on July 17, along with seven other men, six women and two minors who were attending the service. He died in a hospital on July 30 from injuries sustained from the beating. His wife, Sakineh Rahnama, died on Sunday (Aug. 3) from stress-related causes, according to FCNN. Secret police raided the house church meeting hosted by Amiri and his wife in Malek Shahr, just outside the central Iranian city of Isfahan. They beat and arrested all those in attendance, including the two minors and the hosting couple. All those arrested at the house meeting are reportedly still in custody, including Amiri’s daughter and the two minors.
Keep the departed and their family in your prayers.
I’m thrilled that China’s Olympic propaganda stunt turned into such a fiasco yesterday and sorry that someone didn’t throw the torch into the Thames. But this is not just about Tibet: it would have been nice to see huge crowds of Christians yesterday, protesting at the vile persecution of believers in mainland China. Defiant faith: Bishop John Han was imprisoned on 11 occasions
Easter is the feast of the 8th Beatitude. In St. Matthew’s Gospel, the 8th Beatitude is taken from the lips of our Savior: “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for their’s is the kingdom of heaven.” The Easter Alleluia is so joyful because it sings the glory of Christ’s own martyrdom on the Cross, fulfilling God’s loving will. The Hebrew word “Alleluia” proclaims, literally, “O God, thy will be done.” Thus it celebrates the fullness of the 8th Beatitude: the victory of Christ over death.The death of martyrs, victims of persecution, is their gate to entry into the Kingdom of God. Martyrdom for them is a victory, triumphant and instantaneous. And martyrdom has been a continuing fact of life for the Catholic Church in China during the past 47 years. Read the rest of this entry »
This is a gathering of Catholics in a small village. They have being many years without a priest, but today Fr. Dang has come from the city of Kunming, more than 900 km. away, so the people from the village have spread the news around and everybody has come to the church, but the size of the crowd exceeds the capacity of the church, so many of the Christians have to attend Mass standing outside.
China has adopted the one child policy. This sight of brothers and sisters together is very seldom seen in the cities.
The Feast of Pentecost
See the whole slide show here. Whoever took this pictures has an artistic eye and a great love for the people.
Prayers for the Church in China today will echo in eternity. Remember them in your daily rosary, have Masses said for the faithful there, spread the word about them.
From the back seat of the gypsy cab, Ming-Chuan “Joseph” Kung watched Beijing blur by. Everything had been pre-arranged. Everything. As the hired driver steered through the streets of the capital city of the People’s Republic of China, the seven passengers – a small delegation of Americans in town for a human rights conference – rode mostly in silence. Only periodic, superficial chitchat and the heavy breathing of the car’s heater broke the stillness of that wintry January 8 in 1994.
Soon, the touristy section stacked with American-style hotels, designed for the comfort of Westerners spoiled by Capitalism, melted into the background. The well-lighted streets and sidewalks packed with people eating, drinking, laughing that Saturday evening gave way to another reality. Read the rest of this entry »
I think that many in the Catholic World know about the martyrdom of Fr. Ragheed and Subdeacons Ghassan, Wahid, and Basman. Here are a few pictures of them. Some of the pictures are from a memorial or their funeral. I can’t read Arabic so I don’t know for sure:
It would appear that Subdeacon Basman is at Fr. Ragheed’s left (our right.)
Holy Martyrs Ragheed, Ghassan, Wahid, and Basman, pray for us!
JAFFNA, Sri Lanka, APRIL 21, 2008 (Zenit.org).- A parish priest from the Diocese of Jaffna was killed in a landmine blast at Ambalkulam as he returned home from Mass.
Father M.X. Karunaratnam, the parish priest of Vavunikkulam, was returning from saying Mass Sunday at Mallavi, when he was killed in a claymore blast, an antipersonnel mine. The separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam control the Mallavi–Vavunikkulam Road he was traveling on.
Neither the Sri Lankan military nor the Tiger rebels have claimed responsibility for the attack.
The mortal remains of Father Karunaratnam were brought to St. Theresa’s Church at Kilinochchi.
Father Karunaratnam is the founder and chairman of the North East Secretariat on Human Rights, a Sri Lankan group that reports on rights issues related to minority ethnic Tamils. He had been transferred in 2006 from Jaffna to Vavunikkulam.
In 2006, Father Jim Brown, 34, and a lay coworker, the father of five children, went missing amid escalated warfare between the security forces and separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
In 2007, Father Nicholaspillai Packiyaranjith was killed in a claymore bomb explosion on the Pooneryn (Poonakari) Road, at Kalvi’laan, when he was taking relief food and humanitarian supplies to the refugee camp and to the Orphanage at Vidathalvu.
This past Sunday 29 deacons were ordained to the priesthood at Saint Peter’s in Rome by HH Benedict XVI. Among the priests was an Iraqi of the Chaldean Catholic Church – which has suffered in the martyrdom of one archbishop, one priest, and 3 subdeacons in the last 12 months.
Rather a bold move with a bold message by a pope who is developping a reputation for such! And a clear message at that – Catholics will not be driven underground in fear, Iraq’s Catholic Community is close to the heart of the Holy Father. Public reception of Moslem converts and public support for those who are persecuted my Moslems will be the norm.
Interestingly, among the guests in attendance for the ordination was none other than Assyrian Church of the East bishop Mar Bawai Soro – who has made known his intentions to bring his flock of some 6 priests, 30 deacons and 3,000 faithful in America into the Catholic Church via the Chaldean Catholic Church.
My, but doesn’t this picture speak volumes? Here’s the official photo caption:
New ordained priest Jarjis Robert Sayd of Iraq looks on during a ceremony lead by Pope Benedict XVI in which he ordained 29 new priests, in St. Peter Basilica at the Vatican, Sunday, April 27, 2008.
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What also speaks volumes is the presense – along side the Chaldean Catholic bishops at the Mass – of Bishop Mar Bawai Soro. Mar Bawai – a bishop coming out of the Church of the East – had made it known in January of this year that it is his intention – along with the faithful of his diocese – to enter into full communion with the Holy See by way of the Chaldean Catholic Church. Iraqi Christian blogger Baghdadhope righty and interestingly asks:
Equally certainly his very presence in the Vatican and the place of honor reserved to him by the ceremonial could be interpreted as a signal of “unofficial” welcome. Maybe the Holy Church is preparing to welcome among its loving arms a new bishop besides 29 new priests?
Mar Bawai and his faithful – one of whom a proud Cordelia preparing his first post on TBC – have been in my prayers for some time now. I invite all to join me in those prayers that these aspirations for full communion will be achieved.
If you hadn’t heard of this movement before… well you are not alone. Not one other Catholic blogger seems to have embedded the following video as content.
“Father Samuel Dinkha speaks to the San Jose congregation regarding H.G. Mar Bawai and his supporters “declaration of intent” to pursue full communion with the Catholic Church and unity with the Chaldean Catholic Church of the East.”
Many years to Father Jarjis Robert Sayd, Mar Bawai, and all the newly ordained priests!
On August 15, 2002 three armed assailants entered the Sacred Heart of Jesus Monastery in Baghdad Iraq and found a solitary Assyrian nun preparing to quietly retire to her room. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by asimplesinner 
Blessed Ivan Ziatyk, 1899 – 1952 
“Hear the voice of a Christian Martyr singing a hymn in Arabic to the Blessed Mother, while watching a slideshow of his funeral mass. Hear the angelic voice of Father Ragheed Ganni, a 35 year old Chaldean Catholic Priest killed on Sunday
Blessed Ana María Aranda Riera
Blessed Pacifico de Valencia
Blessed Bartolomeo Blanco Marquez
Blessed María Jordá Botella
Blessed Luis Urbano Lanaspa
Blessed Brunon Jan Zembol
Blessed Władysław Mączkowski
Mr. Joseph Kung of the Cardinal Kung Foundation writes in the 
Blessed Boleslao Strzelecki, 1896 – 1941
