Archbishop Matokas cries for help to the international community of nations: 'If someone would like to drive us Christians out of the country, then they would succeed. We don't know any more what we should say. Families want to leave. It is horrible!'
Bagdad [kath.net/Fides] In Baghdad a new wave of attacks against Christians: On Wednesday in the early morning between 4 and 6AM explosive devices were set off at several Christian homes.
The attacks took the lives of at least three people and 26 were wounded, as reported by a representative of the Interior Ministry. Already on Tuesday evening, three Christian homes were attacked in Mansur. No one was injured in those attacks.
"What could we do, what should we say?", complained the Syro-Catholic Archbishop of Baghdad, Atanase Matti Shaba Matoka. "In our communities there is great panic. The wave of violence will become much greater. Ten days ago there was a terror attack against our Cathedral. Today our homes were targeted. Families are aggrieved and want to flee. It is horrible!"
Before his visit to stricken families the Archbishop said to Fidesdienst: "All of the forewarning and urging the government has done nothing to halt this wave of violence which has swept over us.
Police are standing in front of the churches, really it's the homes of our faithful which have become targets of attack. Among the victims there are Christians of various confessions in the district of Doura. The terror knocks on our doors. The families are horrified. This is not life any more, they say."
If one would like to drive us from the land, then it would succeed. This country is the victim of desolation and terror. The suffering of Christians will become ever greater and lead them to leave their country. We don't know any more, what we should say."
Finally, the Archbishop appealed to the international community of nations and the world Church: "We pray for a quick response of the international community of nations and hope for the assitance of the Holy Father and the world Church.
Today there is nothing else for us to hope for and to pray and to put our lives in the hands of God. Through their tears the Iraqi Christians are saying: In manus tuas, Domine".
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Tara Clemens
Anchorage attorney, convert to Catholicism and Holy Family Cathedral parishioner Tara Clemens has been accepted for the postulancy at Corpus Christi Monastery, a Dominican religious cloister in Menlo Park, Ca. The mission of the cloistered Dominican nuns is to honor and promote devotion to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.
The target date for Clemens’ entry at the monastery is June 8, 2011 – pending resolution of her educational debt.
Clemens completed an aspirancy, a month-long visit at the monastery, in February. The postulancy would be Clemens’ second step in the eight-year discernment process toward taking final, life-long vows as a cloistered nun.
But first, Clemens must resolve her school debt.
“This is the one hurdle keeping me from entering religious life,” Clemens told the Catholic Anchor.
Although she is working to pay down the debt, the balance is “significant, especially in today’s economy,” Clemens explained, so “I will not be able to enter religious life without the generous support of others.”
To this end, she is working with the Labouré Society, a non-profit organization that assists aspirants in resolving educational debt so they are free to enter the priesthood or religious life.
Paying off the debt by June is “no small task,” Clemens observed, but “with God all things are possible.”
Tax-deductible contributions may be made to the Labouré Society in honor of Tara Clemens at labouresociety.org/.
Read more about Clemens’ journey to the cloistered monastery at catholicanchor.org/wordpress/?p=934. And visit Clemens’ online blog at supporttarasvocation.wordpress.com.
In his announcement, President McLean noted that Mr. Berquist was surrounded by his family when he passed and that he had “died a holy and peaceful death, having been anointed by (college chaplain) Fr. Buckley on Monday afternoon.” Dr. McLean went on to say that “Mr. Berquist was a mentor to generations of students, alumni, and faculty. He was one of the principal authors of the college’s founding document, A Proposal for the Fulfillment of Catholic Liberal Education, and a renowned disciple of St. Thomas and Aristotle. He was a deeply faithful Catholic whose piety and holiness inspired all who knew him.”
