Monday, March 31, 2003

Murder in Michigan Church



Neither the victim nor the murderer were members of the church.



From Guardian Unlimited:



The priest at St. Paul's Albanian Church was preparing to distribute the sacrament when the attacker stood up, yelled, ``Yes, I am here'' and shot the victim in the back of the head and several more times after that, said witness Luigi Gjokaj, 42. He then fired into the air and yelled, ``I done what I was supposed to do.''



Some of the approximately 1,000 churchgoers fled after the shots, most running for the doors while a few leapt through windows, Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said. The suspect was wrestled to the ground by nearby worshippers, one of whom was injured as he sought to subdue him.




Update (4/1/03):



From The Detroit News:



St. Paul's Rev. Anton Kqira said Monday he had spent the last 24 hours talking to police, parishioners and relatives of the men involved who called from as far away as Europe to offer apologies for what happened Sunday.



"We can't have any services until (Cardinal Adam) Maida or someone blesses the church," said Kqira. "Blood has been spilled inside it."



Kqira had finished his sermon when witnesses said Pepaj shouted "I am here behind you" at the surprised Isufaj. Eight shots rang out in the pews, and enraged parishioners disarmed Pepaj and pummeled him to the floor. At least seven of 1,400 worshippers suffered minor injuries diving through plate glass windows to escape.



"We were fortunate no one else was injured," said Kqira.



The church opened its Rochester Hills doors in September after more than 20 years at Twelve Mile Road in Warren, where it had similar problems with serious gunplay.




Pope Speaks About Eucharist Encyclical

Pope Speaks About Eucharist Encyclical



From Zenit News:



I wished to dedicate, precisely to the subject of the Eucharist, the encyclical that, God willing, next Holy Thursday, I will sign during the Mass of the Lord's Supper. I will hand it symbolically to the priests instead of the Letter that I usually address to them and, through them, to all the People of God on that occasion.



From this moment I entrust to Mary this important document, which is centered on the intrinsic value and importance for the Church of the sacrament that Jesus left us as a living memorial of his death and resurrection.



We also turn to Mary, to pray for the victims of the conflicts that are taking place. With afflicted and trusting insistence, we invoke her intercession for peace in Iraq and in every region of the world.

Sunday, March 30, 2003

Pope Continues to Call for Peace



From Ananova:



Saying that God's love reaches every person, John Paul said that "human beings, aware of such a great love, cannot not open themselves up to an attitude of fraternal welcome" toward others.



Praying to the Virgin Mary for the victims of conflict, he said: "Let's invoke with grief-stricken and confident insistence her intercession for peace in Iraq and in every other region of the world."








The Unpleasant Life of an American Soldier in Iraq



Lest we glorify the life of a soldier too much, Ron Martz paints a stark picture of what its like in the Atlanta Journal Constitution:



[this] was not nearly as dramatic or dangerous as the situation in which Sgt. 1st Class Brett Waterhouse, 37, of Gainesville, Fla., found himself that morning.



Waterhouse was using one of the fighting positions around the intersection as a toilet when a man approached and began screaming at him in Arabic. Waterhouse tried, with his limited Arabic, to tell the man to go away, but the intruder continued to scream and throw rocks.



Waterhouse was hastily completing his business when the man launched one final, sizable rock that was going straight for his head. Waterhouse fended off the rock with one hand, cutting a finger.



"That could have killed me if it had hit me in the head," Waterhouse groused.



When the man continued to approach, Waterhouse and several other soldiers pulled their weapons and shot the man.








Saturday, March 29, 2003

Pope Says War Must Not Become "Religious Catastrophe"



From UK News Yahoo:



"Let us not permit a human tragedy to become a religious catastrophe," he said on Saturday.



The Pope is against the war in Iraq and led the Vatican in a diplomatic campaign to try to avert it.



The Iraq conflict has put the Vatican on a collision course with Washington because the Pope has refused to bless the conflict as a "just war".



The Vatican is very concerned that the war could lead to worsening situations for Christians living in predominantly Muslim countries, such as Iraq and Indonesia.
Supporters Hopeful of Sheen's Canonization



I plan on supporting his cause in all that I do.



From Pantagraph.com - News:



Catholic investigators are looking into reported miracles attributed to Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, and supporters hope those will lead to Sheen's canonization within a few years.



The El Paso-based Archbishop Fulton John Sheen Foundation is receiving hundreds of letters attesting to the famous television evangelist's virtues and even crediting him with miraculous intervention in people's lives.



The Diocese of Peoria, where Sheen was ordained, opened the case for Sheen's sainthood last fall, and investigators need to prove two miracles before the pope will canonize the El Paso native.



Suicide Bomber Kills Five US Soldiers at Checkpoint



Sad, sad news. Everytime deaths are announced I think of my fellow coworkers who have sons serving in Iraq. This war has brought the tragedy of 9/11 to the heartland. We may not have been in New York, Washington, or Pennsylvania on September 11th but now the tragedies of that day are being felt personally by the rest of us throughout the country.



From the Washington Post:



Capt. Andrew Wallace said slain Army soldiers were part of the 1st Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, manning a checkpoint on a highway north of Najaf. A taxi stopped near the checkpoint, the driver waved for help, and the car exploded as five soldiers approached, Wallace told Associated Press Television News.



At U.S. Central Command in Doha, Qatar, officers confirmed the incident, but said they had no details.