Stuff Going On This Week

Reclaiming Fatherhood conference this weekend in Chicago for men affected by abortion.


The horrors against Christians in Orissa, India are still going on and the violence is spreading. It is stomach-churning stuff:

"As The Catholic Herald went to press some human rights groups reported as many as 40 people murdered. Conservative estimates suggested that some 6,000 people had fled to government-run refugee camps, with an estimated 5,000 more hiding in forests around Kandhamal. But Church groups said tens of thousands had fled the violence.

In one of the worst reported incidents, a lay Catholic in Tiangia was literally ripped apart by a frenzied mob while two others were left so badly injured they later died from their wounds.

Religious and priests have also been targeted and at least six have been seriously injured. One 21-year-old lay missionary was burned alive in the orphanage where she was working and several nuns have been raped, according to reports. Members of the Missionary Sisters of Charity - the order founded by Blessed Teresa of Calcutta - were pelted with stones leaving one sister seriously injured, said Asia News, a Vatican-based news agency.

In another incident rioters tried to set a priest on fire, but then stripped and beat him instead while a nun who was with him was raped repeatedly by the assailants. The mob tried to force the priest to also rape the nun as the police stood by, according to Catholic News Service, a US-based press agency. When the priest refused they attacked him with iron bars.

The rioting escalated, spreading across the region, and police and paramilitaries extended the curfew from nine districts to three more on Monday. Although officials said that the violence would be over by the weekend the clashes continued. On Sunday night four more churches and dozens of houses were burned down.

Tension began spreading to other Indian provinces including Karnataka and Madya Pradesh in central India where Bajrang Dal groups, the VHP's youth wing, burnt effigies of missionaries.Scuffles between Hindus and Christian students also broke out."

Indian Christians have declared this Sunday to be a day of prayer and fasting in solidarity for the victims.


Dr. Mark Miravalle has a interesting "Marycast" about a Lourdes Marian Congress taking place September 4 - 8.