Monday, April 14, 2008
THE CHURCH UNDER FIRE
The Catholic Church is increasingly coming under fire as indicated in the story blogged below and in two other stories linked at NOR.
First in the Philippines:
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Suspected al-Qaida-linked militants bombed a Roman Catholic cathedral compound and a bank in the southern Philippines, police said. No one was injured in Sunday's blasts.
Police have been placed on the highest level of security following the dawn explosions in Zamboanga city, regional police Chief Superintendent Jaime Caringal said.
Read it here.
Then here in the States a Catholic college closes under threats:
CHICAGO (AP) — Officials of a Catholic liberal arts college shut it down indefinitely Friday and told students to leave campus after threatening messages were found scrawled in the bathroom of a freshman dorm.
Graffiti were found twice this month at St. Xavier University's Regina Hall, including a message Thursday that read, "Be prepared to die on 4/14," President Judith Dwyer said in a statement.
Officials closed down campuses in Chicago and suburban Orland Park, along with classroom space in downtown Chicago, and canceled all classes for the school's 5,700 students. Buildings where community events are planned will remain open, Dwyer said.
"In this day and age, given Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois University, when you have a threat made against students or other members of the university community, you have to take steps to ensure that everyone is safe," university spokesman Joe Moore said Friday. "Even if that means erring on the side of being overly cautious."
Read the rest...
Not only the Catholic Church is coming under fire. In Russia the Orthodox are experiencing something similar:
Police in at least one Russian region are advising priests to buy guns to protect themselves and churches from thieves in the area. The suggestion comes after icons worth thousands of dollars were stolen from churches.
During the latest raid in the Kostroma region, a gang of ten men believed to be organised criminals, blocked the nearby bridge, cut the electricity supply and phone lines and poisoned a guard dog before storming the church.
But what they hadn’t expected were the powers of a particularly brave priest, who’s lucky to be alive after being shot at when he confronted the mob.
The men though fled with eight religious icons worth about $US 300,000.
The story is here.
Add to these stories the implications of Father's change in the distribution of the Eucharist because of "incidents" taking place in the area here.
