Catholic News 2
HONOLULU (AP) -- An active duty U.S. soldier was arrested on terrorism charges after authorities say he pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group and said he wanted to "kill a bunch of people."...
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican leaders are hoping to stage a climactic vote on their health care bill next week, though internal rifts over divisive issues like coverage requirements and Medicaid cuts leave the timing and even the measure's fate in question....
ITTA BENA, Miss. (AP) -- A U.S. military plane used for refueling crashed into a soybean field in rural Mississippi, killing at least 16 people aboard in a fiery wreckage and spreading debris for miles, officials said....
The Islamic State group's mix of a local insurgency and digitally connected global jihadis gives the group staying power and the means to relaunch its future, from small cells of extremists escaping the war zone in Iraq and Syria to those who never went there in the first place....
(Vatican Radio) Thousands of people are gathering in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica to remember the victims of Europe's worst massacre since World War Two. Listen to Stefan Bos' report In July 1995, some 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed by Bosnian Serb forces after they overran the town during the Balkan bloodshed. Some 70 new coffins will join 6,504 white gravestones of Srebrenica men and boys already buried at the Srebrenica-Potocari Memorial.For the relatives of those victims, that moment will represent some closure.Ahead of the Tuesday's ceremony, thousands of people marched across Bosnia-Herzegovina to the memorial site to remember those who died 22 years ago. They include marcher Medina Gusic. "It's just too much. It is the right thing to do [to participate in the march]," she said, close to tears.Not among those buried here is local radio journalist Nihad Catic, who was one of the roughly 8,000 Muslim men and boys who were killed.On the a...
(Vatican Radio) Thousands of people are gathering in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica to remember the victims of Europe's worst massacre since World War Two.
Listen to Stefan Bos' report
In July 1995, some 8,000 Muslim men and boys were killed by Bosnian Serb forces after they overran the town during the Balkan bloodshed. Some 70 new coffins will join 6,504 white gravestones of Srebrenica men and boys already buried at the Srebrenica-Potocari Memorial.
For the relatives of those victims, that moment will represent some closure.
Ahead of the Tuesday's ceremony, thousands of people marched across Bosnia-Herzegovina to the memorial site to remember those who died 22 years ago. They include marcher Medina Gusic. "It's just too much. It is the right thing to do [to participate in the march]," she said, close to tears.
Not among those buried here is local radio journalist Nihad Catic, who was one of the roughly 8,000 Muslim men and boys who were killed.
On the afternoon of July 10, 1995, as Bosnian Serb forces closed in on his hometown of Srebrenica, he turned on his microphone and recorded what would be his last cry for help. "Srebrenica is turning into a vast slaughterhouse," he shouted, his voice urgent and desperate.
DEAD, WOUNDED
"The dead and wounded are continuously being brought to the hospital. Will anyone
in the world come and witness the tragedy that is befalling Srebrenica and its people?"
The recording is all his mother has. But she has pledged to continue to search for his remains for the rest of her life, if that's what it takes.
Prosecutors at The Hague war crimes tribunal have called for a life sentence to be imposed on the Bosnian Serb military commander, Ratko Mladic, for genocide and crimes against humanity committed by his forces during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war.
But Natasa Kandic, a Serbian peace activist, has her doubts saying many Serbs regard him as a hero. "Mladic will be sentenced for genocide, but it will not change the picture of ordinary people about what happened in Srebrenica," she said.
"For them, Ratko Mladic is a hero. They will celebrate Ratko Mladic. They will not mention [and] they will not talk about the victims, they will talk about Ratko Mladic," Kandic added.
RE-OPENED WOUNDS
The 22nd anniversary of the massacre has also re-opened wounds in the Netherlands.
Last month, a Dutch appeals court largely upheld a 2014 ruling finding the Netherlands responsible for the deaths of at least 350 Bosnian Muslim men in the Srebrenica massacre.
It said that the Dutch state acted unlawfully in July 1995 as peacekeepers handed the men over knowing the dangers they faced.
Some 5,000 people had sought shelter from Bosnian Serb soldiers in a United Nations base, which was defended by the lightly-armed Dutch peacekeepers - known as Dutchbat. Thousands more had sought protection outside the base.
But after the base was overrun, the Muslim men and boys were told by the Dutch peacekeepers they would be safe and handed over to the Bosnian Serb army. They never returned.
Edinburgh, Scotland, Jul 11, 2017 / 12:38 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Twelve men are set to be ordained priests in Scotland this year, a 20-year high that Catholic leaders credited to prayers and other work to encourage vocations.“It is great news to see the biggest number of ordinations to the priesthood for over two decades,” said Bishop John Keenan of Paisley. “I want to thank our people who have been praying faithfully in their daily rosary groups for vocations all these years and who now have the joy of seeing God answer their prayers.”Since the year 1997, when 12 men were ordained priests, Scotland has averaged five ordinations a year. In 2008, there were no ordinations.Bishop Keenan heads Priests for Scotland, the national vocations office for the Catholic Church. He told the Scottish Catholic Observer that there seems to be a rise in the numbers of men approaching vocations directors to apply for seminary.The bishop credited prayer, as well as vocations dire...
Edinburgh, Scotland, Jul 11, 2017 / 12:38 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Twelve men are set to be ordained priests in Scotland this year, a 20-year high that Catholic leaders credited to prayers and other work to encourage vocations.
“It is great news to see the biggest number of ordinations to the priesthood for over two decades,” said Bishop John Keenan of Paisley. “I want to thank our people who have been praying faithfully in their daily rosary groups for vocations all these years and who now have the joy of seeing God answer their prayers.”
Since the year 1997, when 12 men were ordained priests, Scotland has averaged five ordinations a year. In 2008, there were no ordinations.
Bishop Keenan heads Priests for Scotland, the national vocations office for the Catholic Church. He told the Scottish Catholic Observer that there seems to be a rise in the numbers of men approaching vocations directors to apply for seminary.
The bishop credited prayer, as well as vocations directors for new ideas, creating new structures, and using social media and monthly informal gatherings that helped identify and support those who feel a call to the priesthood.
He also noted “growing numbers of women with new interest in the religious life to provide for the many needs of the marginalized or excluded in our society.”
The bishop said the country needs spiritual leaders, rather than political leaders, “in order to guide us out of a cultural decline that is now beyond the power of politics to solve.”
“There is a huge amount to be done to restore to Scotland the Christian strength whose absence lies at the heart of so many of our recent and most perplexing anxieties and there is a sense that God is raising up just such leaders for this task of our times.”
Four men have been ordained in the last two weeks.
One of the new ordinands, Father Jonathan Whitworth, reflected on how to best encourage vocations to the priesthood.
“I have to say that young men are calling out for something that is radical because they have been sold something of a false reality by the world at the moment,” he told the Scottish Catholic Observer.
“By radical I mean you give your all to it; you take your chance with God. If you want more priests, show our youngsters good, holy priests and they will want to be a part of it.”
Five priests are set to be ordained for the Diocese of Motherwell, one for the Archdiocese of Glasgow, one for the Diocese of Paisley, two for the Diocese of Aberdeen, two for the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham, and one for the Salesian religious institute.
KUWAIT CITY (AP) -- U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has departed for Qatar as he tries to mediate a dispute between the energy-rich country and a quartet of Arab nations....
MOSUL, Iraq (AP) -- Sporadic clashes continued on Tuesday in Mosul, even after Iraq's prime minister declared a "total victory" over the Islamic State group in the city and at least one airstrike hit the Old City neighborhood that was the scene of the fierce battle's final days....
BOSTON (AP) -- Europeans often hid in plain sight as Latin Americans, Asians and others living illegally in America were sent packing. But now they're starting to realize they are not immune to President Donald Trump's crackdown on illegal immigration, and they're worried....
ISLAMABAD (AP) -- It's dusk. The shadows of three men brandishing assault rifles welcome the reader to the Facebook page of Lashkar-e-Islam, one of 65 organizations that are banned in Pakistan, either because of terrorist links or as purveyors of sectarian hate....
