We are living in hard times.
The culture of death is pernicious, widespread and morbid. However, the world is not all darkness; humanity is not dominated by evil. As St. Paul reminds us, “where evil abounds, good abounds all the more.”
March, 28, 2011: Christians flee homes
Ethiopia: 10,000 Christians flee homes after 69 churches burned down
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=9665
Muslim extremists have burned down 69 Protestant churches– 46 of them Pentecostal– in southwestern Ethiopia. The violence started in the town of Asendabo following reports that the Qur’an was being flushed down the toilet at one of the churches. . . .
March 28, 2011: Christians in Middle East face martyrdom, need help, writes Vatican cardinal
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=9683
Christians in the Middle East are “experiencing the actuality of martyrdom” and desperately need the support of their brothers around the world, said the prefect of the Congregation for the Eastern Churches, as he introduced the annual Good Friday collection for the Church in the Holy Land. . . .
March. 28, 2011: Ivory Coast: convent hit by artillery
As the Ivory Coast descends into civil war, a convent of Poor Clare nuns has been hit by heavy artillery fire. The nuns, who were praying in the convent’s chapel, were not injured. The convent is located in Abobo, a suburb of Abidjan
March. 28, 2011: Mexico: death threats against 162 priests
http://www.catholicculture.org/news/headlines/index.cfm?storyid=9667
Over 1,000 Mexican priests were victims of attempted extortion last year, and 162 received death threats, according to an analysis by the Mexico-based Centro Católico Multimedial. Twelve priests have been murdered since 2006. . . .
Martyrs
http://www.fides.org/eng/documents/Missionari_uccisi_2010_final_english.doc
1-1-10 23 Church workers killed in 2010
The Fides list avoids use of the word “martyr,” the Church has not officially ruled on the circumstances of the deaths. Most of the deaths appear to be the result of ordinary criminal activity rather than hatred for the Catholic faith. But Fides lists all those who died while engaged in full-time work for the Church. Latin America accounted for most of the deaths: 14 pastoral workers were killed there this year (5 in Brazil, 3 in Colombia, 3 in Mexico, 2 in Peru, and 1 each in Venezuela and Ecuador). There were 6 killings in Asia (2 in Iraq, 2 in China, and 1 each in Turkey and India); 3 in Africa (all 3 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo); and 1 in Haiti. The Fides list provides the names of those who died, with the dates and circumstances of their deaths. Along with a number of botched robberies and assaults attributable to personal grudges, several incidents offer more disturbing details:
Bishop Luigi Padovese was killed by his driver at his home in Iskenderun, Turkey, on June 3. Although the driver (who had been recommended to the bishop by government officials) shouted an Islamic slogan after the murder, Turkish authorities have insisted that the assailant of the Italian-born official was emotionally disturbed, not a religious fanatic.
Father Carlos Salvador Wotto was found dead in Oaxaca, Mexico, on July 28. He had evidently been bound and tortured before being suffocated. He died in a region marked by frequent violent clashes between drug traffickers and police.
Father Herminio Calero Alumia was killed at a police roadblock in Colombia on August 20. Confused reports from the scene indicate that the priest’s traveling companions had been engaged in a scuffle with the police—for reasons that are not clear—when a shot was accidentally fired, killing him.