Priests seek to exorcise ‘demon’ – Video

Lorna McDonald from Southbrook Road, Belle Vale who is being terrorized by a spirit in her bedroom and the council are charging her bedroom tax!

Priests visit home of Liverpool bedroom tax victim to exorcise demon

Priests visited the home of a Liverpool bedroom tax victim to try to exorcise a demon she says has occupied her spare room.

Lorna McDonald has had a churchmen visit her house on several occasions since she started to report ghostly goings on, and they have performed prayers and rituals to try to banish the demon.

Lorna was left living alone in the Belle Vale house after her 22-year-old daughter became too terrified to stay there when she claims a mysterious demonic shape appeared in a photograph taken in the room, and mirrors began to fly off the walls.

The room is now empty, and Mrs McDonald, 46, is racking up arrears, and she cannot be rehoused because she owes money. Although she believes the spirt – which she claims has assaulted her and left her with bruising on her body – has taken up residence in the room, government rules on ‘under-occupancy’ of bedrooms don’t cover paranormal house guests and she is still eligible to pay the charge.

Catholic Arch diocese leaders confirmed they had visited the semi-detached home in Southbrook Road, and continue to support Mrs McDonald.

Christian faith healers have also visited and are analyzing photographs they took while they were there to look for any signs of supernatural presence.

Mrs McDonald said: “My daughter moved out about nine months ago because she was petrified.

“It all started with noises. We had a mirror on the wall and I thought my daughter had dropped something on the wooden floor, but the mirror had started shaking.

“My mum won’t come here any more. Neighbours walk past and make the sign of the cross. I asked a man if he’d come and decorate and he asked if there’d be a priest there because he was too scared to come in the house.”

A priest from a local church has visited and blessed the house and said prayers which Mrs McDonald said included saying “I demand you leave your attachment to Lorna and kneel at the foot of the Lord, go to the place God has provided for you.”

The mum-of-two said while the priest was there a small statue of the Buddha suddenly flew across the room.

A spokesman for the Catholic Archdiocese said there had been ceremonies carried out both at Mrs McDonald’s home and in church, adding: “We can confirm that a priest has visited the house on several occasions and we continue to offer support to resolve the situation.”

A spokesperson for Liverpool Housing Trust (LHT) said: “We are aware of Mrs McDonald’s concerns and met with her again last week to discuss the matter.

“In addition, since 2010, we have made repeated offers of support with financial matters and have been in long-standing discussions with her.

“We will continue to work with Mrs McDonald so that we can provide our support.”

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/priests-visit-home-liverpool-bedroom-7597347

From sex worker to priest to member of Parliament?

Raymond Gravel won the 2006 federal by-election in Repentigny for the Bloc Québécois. Because Catholic doctrine normally bars clergy from being politically active, he received special permission from the pope to seek the nomination. Photograph by: Ian Barrett , The Canadian Press

MONTREAL — From a sex-trade worker in Montreal’s Gay Village to an outspoken member of the Roman Catholic clergy to a federal member of Parliament, Raymond Gravel’s many identities tumbled one into the next over his 61 years of life — forming an odyssey that left an indelible mark on the individual people he encountered and on Quebec society in general.

Gravel’s journey ended peacefully Monday morning at a hospital in Joliette. A lifelong smoker, he had been diagnosed with lung cancer in August 2013.

Condolences began pouring in almost as soon as the news of his death broke, with Premier Philippe Couillard and Prime Minister Stephen Harper among the first to express their sadness. The current MP for Repentigny — the riding Gravel represented in the House of Commons between 2006 and 2008 — also issued a statement Monday afternoon.

“(Gravel) was a man who, through his courageous positions, his extraordinary empathy and his devotion to public life in all its forms, earned the respect of everyone — no matter their political allegiances,” said Jean-François Larose.

Born Nov. 4, 1952 in St-Damien-de-Brandon, Gravel left home at the age of 16. His early life was marked by a dark period of drug addiction, and he was open about the fact that he had once worked as a male escort. He left the sex trade behind after he was so badly beaten by a client that he ended up in intensive care.

Gravel then worked in two gay bars before turning to the Roman Catholic Church in the early 1980s. He entered the seminary in 1982, despite the fact that his progressive views frequently clashed with those of the Vatican. After more than two decades as a parish priest, Gravel announced his intention to run as the Bloc Québécois candidate in the 2006 Repentigny byelection.

Because Catholic doctrine normally bars clergy from being politically active, he received special permission from the pope to seek the nomination. He won the Bloc stronghold by a comfortable margin.

The outspoken clergyman remained dedicated to his pre-established principles during his time in office. He opposed Bill C-484, which would have recognized injury of a fetus during a crime as a separate offence from an injury to the mother, and later voiced his support for the late Dr. Henry Morgentaler receiving the Order of Canada.

Two years after his election, the rebel priest was ordered by the Vatican to either give up the priesthood or leave politics. He chose to return to the church, announcing he would not run again in 2008.

In 2009, Gravel saw a brief return to the public spotlight when he presided over the funeral for Olivier and Anne-Sophie Turcotte, the two young children slain by their father, cardiologist Guy Turcotte. The experience reportedly left him deeply troubled.

“If this drama can help parents love their children more, the deaths of Olivier and Anne-Sophie Turcotte will not have been in vain,” Gravel would later tell a reporter for the Catholic News Service.

In late 2013, even as he underwent cancer treatment, Gravel appeared on the talk show Tout le monde en parle, sitting alongside then-social services minister Véronique Hivon and voicing his support for Quebec’s proposed right-to-die legislation.

Gravel’s funeral will take place Friday in Joliette.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Obituary%20Raymond%20Gravel%20went%20from%20worker%20priest/10109482/story.html

Novena for the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary – Day 7

HONORING THE IMMACULATE HEART OF MARY – 7th Rose – Crown of Roses 

THE SECRET OF THE ROSARY –  St. Louis de Montfort

Ever since  Blessed Alan de la Roche re-established this devotion the voice of the people, which is the voice of God, called it the Rosary. The word Rosary means “Crown of Roses,” that is to say that every time people say the Rosary devoutly they place a crown of one hundred and fifty-three red roses and sixteen white roses upon the heads of Jesus and Mary. Being heavenly flowers these roses will never fade or lose their exquisite beauty.

    Our Lady has shown her thorough approval of the name Rosary; she has revealed to several people that each time they say a Hail Mary they are giving her a beautiful rose and that each complete Rosary makes her a crown of roses.

    The well-known Jesuit, Brother Alphonsus Rodriguez, used to say his Rosary with such fervor that he often saw a red rose come out of his mouth at each Our Father and a white rose at each Hail Mary. The red and white roses were equal in beauty and fragrance, the only difference being in their color.

    The chronicles of Saint Francis tell of a young friar who had the praiseworthy habit of saying the Crown of Our Lady (the Rosary) every day before dinner. One day for some reason or other he did not manage to say it. The refectory bell had already been rung when he asked the Superior to allow him to say it before coming to the table, and having obtained the permission he withdrew to his cell to pray.

    After he had been gone a long time the Superior sent another Friar to fetch him, and he found him in his room bathed in a heavenly light facing Our Lady who had two Angels with her. Beautiful roses kept issuing from his mouth at each Hail Mary; the Angels took them one by one, placing them on Our Lady’s head, and she smilingly accepted them.

    Finally two other friars who had been sent to find out what had happened to the first two saw the same lovely scene, and Our Lady did not go away until the whole Rosary had been said.

    So the complete Rosary is a large crown of roses and the Rosary of five decades is a little wreath of flowers or a small crown of heavenly roses which we place on the heads of Jesus and Mary. The rose is the queen of flowers, and so the Rosary is the rose of all devotions and it is therefore the most important one.

 

 

 

Novena in preparation for the Solemnity of the Assumption  –  Day Seven

Majestic Queen of Heaven and Mistress of the Angels, thou hast received from God the power and command to crush the head of satan. Therefore, we humbly beg of thee, send forth the legions of Heaven, that under thy command they may seek out all evil spirits, engage them everywhere in battle, curb their pride, and hurl them back into the pit of hell. Quis ut Deus? “Who is like unto God?” With firm confidence we present ourselves before thee, our most loving Mother, afflicted and troubled as we are, and we beg thee to let us understand the love you have for us by granting this petition, if it is according to the Will of God and profitable for our salvation:

(mention your request)  Also include – The massacre of Christians in Syria, Iraq, Nigeria and all persecuted Christians.  Pray that the black mass, scheduled  for Sept. 21, in the Oklahoma City Civic Center, may be canceled.

Good and tender Mother, thou shalt ever be our hope and the object of our love. Mother of God, send forth the Holy Angels to defend us and drive far from us the cruel foe. Holy Angels and Archangels, defend and keep us.

    Mary, Queen Assumed into Heaven, I rejoice that after years of heroic martyrdom on earth, thou hast at last been taken to the throne prepared for thee in Heaven by the Holy Trinity. Lift my heart with thee in the glory of thy Assumption above the dreadful touch of sin and impurity. Teach me how small earth becomes when viewed from Heaven. Make me realize that death is the triumphant gate through which I shall pass to thy Divine Son, and that someday my body shall rejoin my soul in the unending bliss of Heaven. From this earth, over which I tread as a pilgrim, I look to thee for help. I ask for this favor:

(Mention your request again)

When my hour of death has come, lead me safely to the presence of Jesus to enjoy the vision of my God for all eternity together with thee.

                                              _______________________    

Litany of the Immaculate Heart of Mary 

Lord, have mercy.   Christ,have mercy.

Christ, hear us.    Christ, graciously hear us.

God the Father of Heaven,    Have mercy on us.

God the Son, redeemer of the world, Have mercy on us.

God the Holy Ghost, Have mercy on us.

Holy Trinity, one God, Have mercy on us.

Make our family life holy, Immaculate Heart of Mary

Sanctify our clergy, Immaculate Heart of Mary

Make our Catholics more fervent, Immaculate Heart of Mary

Guide and inspire those who govern us, Immaculate Heart of Mary

Cure the sick who confide in thee, Immaculate Heart of Mary

Console the sorrowful who trust in thee, Immaculate Heart of Mary

Help those who invoke thy aid, Immaculate Heart of Mary

Deliver us from all dangers, Immaculate Heart of Mary

Help us to resist temptation, Immaculate Heart of Mary

Obtain for us all we ask of thee, Immaculate Heart of Mary

Help those who are dear to us, Immaculate Heart of Mary

Bring back to the right road our erring brothers, Immaculate Heart of Mary

Give us back our ancient fervor, Immaculate Heart of Mary

Obtain for us pardon of our many sins and offenses, Immaculate Heart of Mary

Bring all men to the feet of thy Divine Child, Immaculate Heart of Mary

Obtain peace for the world, Immaculate Heart of Mary

Let us pray.

O God of infinite goodness and mercy, fill our hearts with a great confidence in Thy Most Holy Mother, whom we invoke under the title of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and grant us by her most powerful intercession all the graces, spiritual and temporal which we need, through Christ Our Lord. Amen.

Complete Prayer to Saint Michael

O glorious Archangel Saint Michael, Prince of the heavenly host, be our defense in the terrible warfare which we carry on against principalities and powers, against the rulers of this world of darkness, spirits of evil. Come to the aid of man, whom God created immortal, made in His own image and likeness, and redeemed at a great price from the tyranny of the devil. Fight this day the battle of our Lord, together with the holy angels, as already thou hast fought the leader of the proud angels, Lucifer, and his apostate host, who were powerless to resist thee, nor was there place for them any longer in heaven. That cruel, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil or Satan who seduces the whole world, was cast into the abyss with his angels. Behold this primeval enemy and slayer of men has taken courage. Transformed into an angel of light, he wanders about with all the multitude of wicked spirits, invading the earth in order to blot out the Name of God and of His Christ, to seize upon, slay, and cast into eternal perdition, souls destined for the crown of eternal glory. That wicked dragon pours out. as a most impure flood, the venom of his malice on men of depraved mind and corrupt heart, the spirit of lying, of impiety, of blasphemy, and the pestilent breath of impurity, and of every vice and iniquity. These most crafty enemies have filled and inebriated with gall and bitterness the Church, the spouse of the Immaculate Lamb, and have laid impious hands on Her most sacred possessions. In the Holy Place itself, where has been set up the See of the most holy Peter and the Chair of Truth for the light of the world, they have raised the throne of their abominable impiety with the iniquitous design that when the Pastor has been struck the sheep may be scattered. Arise then, O invincible Prince, bring help against the attacks of the lost spirits to the people of God, and give them the victory. They venerate thee as their protector and patron; in thee holy Church glories as her defense against the malicious powers of hell; to thee has God entrusted the souls of men to be established in heavenly beatitude. Oh, pray to the God of peace that He may put Satan under our feet, so far conquered that he may no longer be able to hold men in captivity and harm the Church. Offer our prayers in the sight of the Most High, so that they may quickly conciliate the mercies of the Lord; and beating down the dragon, the ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, do thou again make him captive in the abyss, that he may no longer seduce the nations. Amen.

V: Behold the Cross of the Lord; be scattered ye hostile powers.

R: The Lion of the Tribe of Judah has conquered the root of David.

V: Let Thy mercies be upon us, O Lord.

R: As we have hoped in Thee.

V: O Lord hear my prayer.

R: And let my cry come unto Thee.

V:  O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, we call upon Thy holy Name, and as suppliants, we implore Thy clemency, that by the intercession of Mary, ever Virgin, immaculate and our Mother, and of the glorious Archangel Saint Michael, Thou wouldst deign to help us against Satan and all other unclean spirits, who wander about the world for the injury of the human race and the ruin of our souls. Amen.

 Prayer to Saint Michael – Short version

 Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle, be our defense against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him we humbly pray, and do thou, O heavenly hosts, by the power of God, thrust into hell satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world for the ruin of souls. Amen.

St. Michael ora pro nobis.

Homeschooled boy, 16, ‘shoots dead parents who banned him from soda, the Internet and PG-13 movies’

       

Police say the teen gunned down his parents Ryan and Elena Callens, age 48 and 49, in their home in Frisco, Texas, about 2am Monday. The 16-year-old, whose name was not released, was prohibited from drinking soda, had all of his online activities monitors and wasn’t allowed to watch any R-rated movies. The PG-13 films he watched were screened to remove sex, violence and other adult content.

• Ryan and Elena Callens, 48 and 49, were killed in their Frisco, Texas, home Monday morning
• Police arrested their 16-year-old son, but have not given a motive
• Neighbors say the teen was the youngest of five children, but was kept out of high school
• Any movies that the teen was allowed to see had to be stripped of violence and other adult content, neighbors say

Shocking: Ryan and Elan Callens, 48 and 49, were killed by their youngest son at 2am on Monday, police say. Neighbors say the parents were ‘strict’ with the 16-year-old

Mr Callens owned his own company, Callens Innovation Group, and Mrs Callens homeschooled the teenage suspect. Police have no motive in the murders

Jonathan Marcum, 15, who played with the teenage suspect, said the Callens closely monitored what their son did online and restricted what he was allowed to watch and even what he ate, according to the Dallas Morning News. ‘They didn’t allow any PG-13 movies, and if they did they would have it on Clear Play, which would take all the violent moments and skip it,’ Marcum told KXAS-TV.  ‘So there was pretty much no violence in that family.’ Teens in the neighborhood said the Callens were very strict with the 16-year-old suspect and that any time the teen broke the rules, he would be punished. ‘His parents were really uptight on him,’ William Castillo, who played sports with the boy, told the Morning News.  Neighbors say the boy went to public elementary school and middle school. However, his parents kept him out of the classroom and homeschooled him instead of sending him to high school. One neighbor said the teen preferred it that way and that he said he’d ‘never go back’ to school.

The murders shook up the quiet, middle-class neighborhood in Frisco, Texas, where the Callens lived. The family, even the teenage suspect, was well know to their neighbors as friendly

Authorities removed several bags of evidence from the home, including a computer. They worked at the crime scene until well into the evening

Neighbors say they had no indication anything was wrong with the teen. One neighbor boy said ‘There was pretty much no violence in the home’

The boy was the youngest of the Callens’ five children. He has two siblings who are in college, one who just finished college and an older sister who attends Centennial High School in Frisco. At least one sibling was home at the time, but was not hurt, authorities say. 

Neighbors in the middle-class neighborhood were shocked by the murders, according to KTVT. They say the teen was a ‘good kid’ and that the Callens were friendly fixtures in the neighborhood, where they have lived for eight years. ‘From what we saw, he had a very good heart,’ Nikki Williston, 15, told the Morning News. Authorities have not said where the teen got the gun he used to kill his parents. Neighbors say they don’t believe the Callens owned a firearm. 

Mr Callens owned his own company, The Callens Innovation Group, which he operated out of his home in Frisco. Police worked at the house until well into the evening on Monday – removing several bags of evidence, including at least one computer.  Police said they do not have a motive in the killing. 

Read more:

• Dallas Morning News: Frisco teen charged in parents’ deaths ‘was very sheltered,’ friend says
• Teen Suspect in Custody in Frisco Double Homicide, Police Say | NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth
• Frisco Teen Arrested, Accused Of Murdering His Parents « CBS Dallas / Fort Worth

Video: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2722879/Home-schooled-boy-16-banned-soda-Internet-PG-13-movies-arrested-shooting-dead-strict-parents.html#ixzz3ACNbzeQg

Robin Williams – Top 10 Reasons to be an Episcopalian

The comedian Robin Williams has died

He was celebrated for stand-up routines as well as television and movie roles. Episcopalians may particularly remember his list of the Top 10 Reasons to be an Episcopalian.

10. No snake handling.

9. You can believe in dinosaurs.

8. Male and female God created them; male and female we ordain them.

7. You don’t have to check your brains at the door.

6. Pew aerobics.

5. Church year is color-coded.

4. Free wine on Sunday.

3. All of the pageantry – none of the guilt.

2. You don’t have to know how to swim to get baptized.

And the Number One reason to be an Episcopalian:

1. No matter what you believe, there’s bound to be at least one other Episcopalian who agrees with you.

http://www.episcopalcafe.com/lead/popular_culture/robin_williams_has_died.html

There is no middle way between Catholicism and Atheism. Hence, Protestants have abandoned themselves to the extreme of Atheism or Materialism, denying every maxim of faith. Oh, God! How does it happen that these new masters of faith do not see that being separated from the Catholic Church, and having lost obedience to her, they have also lost the rule of faith, so that at the present time they have no sure rule by which they can ascertain what is of the faith or what is not; thus, they walk in the dark, changing the articles of their belief from day to day. On the other hand, its constant uniformity of doctrine in the dogmas of faith, from its first foundation by Jesus Christ, demonstrates the truth of the Catholic Church. It has been the same in all ages, so that the truths we believe at the present day were believed in the first ages.

 St. Alphonsus Maria Liguori

Council For ‘Interreligious Dialogue’ Slams Islamic Caliphate for its Crimes, Barbarism

Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue slams Islamic Caliphate crimes and barbarism

Caliphate militants are responsible for inhumane actions like public executions, humiliation of women, and terror towards Christians, Yezidis and members of other religions. The Vatican body calls on Islamic religious leaders and governments to condemn these crimes and prosecute their authors to boost their credibility and willingness to engage in dialogue. The goal is to strengthen the coexistence between Christians and Muslims that has lasted for centuries amid the ups and downs.

The Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue deplores in no uncertain terms the acts of violence by the militants of the Islamic caliphate in the Middle East, especially in Iraq and Syria.

(Asia News) –  The Vatican body calls on the members of all religions and on the international community to join in the condemnation. It also calls on Islamic religious leaders to condemn the use of religion as a false justification for terrorism and to make the culture of coexistence and dialogue that has developed in the past few years more real and credible.

The full translation of the statement issued by the Pontifical Council is presented below.

The whole world has witnessed with incredulity what is now called the “Restoration of the Caliphate,” which had been abolished on October 29, 1923 by Kamal Ataturk, founder of modern Turkey.  Opposition to this “restoration” by the majority of religious institutions and Muslim politicians has not prevented the “Islamic State” jihadists from committing and continuing to commit unspeakable criminal acts.

This Pontifical Council, together with all those engaged in interreligious dialogue, followers of all religions, and all men and women of good will, can only unambiguously denounce and condemn these practices which bring shame on humanity:

-the massacre of people on the sole basis of their religious affiliation;

-the despicable practice of beheading, crucifying and hanging bodies in public places;

-the choice imposed on Christians and Yezidis between conversion to Islam, payment of a tax (jizya) or forced exile;

-the forced expulsion of tens of thousands of people, including children, elderly, pregnant women and the sick;

-the abduction of girls and women belonging to the Yezidis and Christian communities as spoils of war (sabaya);

-the imposition of the barbaric practice of infibulation;

-the destruction of places of worship and Christian and Muslim burial places;

-the forced occupation or desecration of churches and monasteries;

-the removal of crucifixes and other Christian religious symbols as well as those of other religious communities;

-the destruction of a priceless Christian religious and cultural heritage;

-indiscriminate violence aimed at terrorizing people to force them to surrender or flee.

No cause, and certainly no religion, can justify such barbarity. This constitutes an extremely serious offense to humanity and to God who is the Creator, as Pope Francis has often reminded us. We cannot forget, however, that Christians and Muslims have lived together – it is true with ups and downs – over the centuries, building a culture of peaceful coexistence and civilization of which they are proud. Moreover, it is on this basis that, in recent years, dialogue between Christians and Muslims has continued and intensified.

The dramatic plight of Christians, Yezidis and other religious communities and ethnic minorities in Iraq requires a clear and courageous stance on the part of religious leaders, especially Muslims, as well as those engaged in interreligious dialogue and all people of good will. All must be unanimous in condemning unequivocally these crimes and in denouncing the use of religion to justify them. If not, what credibility will religions, their followers and their leaders have? What credibility can the interreligious dialogue that we have patiently pursued over recent years have?

Religious leaders are also called to exercise their influence with the authorities to end these crimes, to punish those who commit them and to re-establish the rule of law throughout the land, ensuring the return home of those who have been displaced. While recalling the need for an ethical management of human societies, these same religious leaders must not fail to stress that the support, funding and arming of terrorism is morally reprehensible.

That said, the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue is grateful to all those who have already raised their voices to denounce terrorism, especially that which uses religion to justify it.

Let us therefore unite our voices with that of Pope Francis: “May the God of peace stir up in each one of us a genuine desire for dialogue and reconciliation. Violence is never defeated by violence. Violence is defeated by peace.”

http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Pontifical-Council-for-Interreligious-Dialogue-slams-Islamic-Caliphate-crimes-and-barbarism-31876.html

R.I.P. – Last picture of Robin Williams who had not been seen in public for three weeks…

The star of Good Will Hunting, Good Morning Vietnam and Mrs Doubtfire, who battled depression and an addiction to drugs and alcohol for decades, was found unconscious in his mansion just outside San Francisco at around noon yesterday (3pm EST). Marin County Sheriff’s Office believe Williams asphyxiated himself and an autopsy will be carried out later today. It is not known if he left a suicide note. His distraught wife Susan Schneider, together left, revealed her husband had died and said: ‘This morning I lost my husband and my best friend, while the world lost one if its most beloved artists and beautiful human beings. I am utterly heartbroken’. Friends and colleagues like Steven Spielberg, Steve Martin, Danny DeVito, Ellen DeGeneres and Ben Stiller all took to social media to express their grief while theaters and comedy clubs all over America carried their own tributes (bottom right). Last month the married father of three was back in rehab and his publicist said he had been ‘battling severe depression of late’. He was last seen in public on his birthday – July21 – when he posted a photograph and his Night at the Museum co-star, Crystal the monkey, center.

‘Make God Laugh’: Last picture of Robin Williams who had not been seen in public for three weeks after rehab stint for ‘severe depression’ as police radio traffic reveals suspected suicide by hanging

• The legendary comic actor, 63, was found dead at his home in Tiburon, California
• Coroner said the cause of death is believed to be suicide due to asphyxia
• Police radio traffic revealed he died from ‘suspected suicide by hanging’
  
• His third wife Susan Schneider said: ‘I lost my husband and my best friend, the world lost one of its most beloved artists and beautiful human beings’
• President Obama said: ‘He made us laugh. He made us cry. He gave his immeasurable talent freely and generously to those who needed it most’
  
• Williams had battled depression and addiction to drugs and alcohol for years
  
• He won an Oscar for the 1997 film Good Will Hunting

Oscar winning actor and comedian Robin Williams has been found dead at his home in California after apparently killing himself at the age of 63.

The star of Good Will Hunting, Good Morning Vietnam and Mrs Doubtfire, who battled depression and an addiction to cocaine and alcohol for decades, was found ‘unconscious and not breathing’ in his mansion just outside San Francisco at around noon yesterday. Marin County Sheriff’s Office said it believed Williams’ death was a suicide due to asphyxia – reportedly by hanging – and an autopsy with toxicology tests will be carried out later today. Williams had not been seen in public since his birthday three weeks ago and it is not known if he left a suicide note. Last month the married father of three was back in rehab ‘fine-tuning’ his sobriety in a year where he had been working on six movies and a TV series, and his publicist said he had been ‘battling severe depression of late’. His distraught wife Susan Schneider revealed her husband had died in a statement last night and said: ‘This morning I lost my husband and my best friend, while the world lost one if its most beloved artists and beautiful human beings. I am utterly heartbroken’.

Tragic passing: American actor and comedian Robin Williams poses for a photograph in Sydney in 2011 while he was promoting his voice over work in Happy Feet 2

On July 21, in what could be the last picture of the comedy giant, Robin Williams posted this photograph to Instagram on his birthday of himself and his Night at the Museum co-star, Crystal the monkey, who will also be familiar to viewers of the Hangover trilogy

‘Utterly heartbroken’: Robin Williams’ third wife Susan Schneider, pictured together, revealed her husband’s death and said: ‘This morning I lost my husband and my best friend, while the world lost one if its most beloved artists and beautiful human beings. I am utterly heartbroken’

Dearest wish: A shot of the marquee at the Laugh Factory in West Hollywood paying tribute to the late Robin Williams on August 11, 2014 in Los Angeles, California

Poignant: Flowers, messages and other tributes are scattered across the comedian’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as fans come to terms with his death

Friends and colleagues such as Steven Spielberg, Steve Martin, Danny DeVito and Ben Stiller all took to social media to express their grief and offer condolences to Williams’ third wife and three children, Zachary Pym, 31, Zelda Rae, 25 and Alan, 22. President Obama issued a touching tribute to the actor and comedian, and said: ‘Robin Williams was an airman, a doctor, a genie, a nanny, a president, a professor, a bangarang Peter Pan and everything in between. But he was one of a kind. He arrived in our lives as an alien – but he ended up touching every element of the human spirit. ‘He made us laugh. He made us cry. He gave his immeasurable talent freely and generously to those who needed it most – from our troops stationed abroad to the marginalized on our own streets. The Obama family offers our condolences to Robin’s family, his friends, and everyone who found their voice and their verse thanks to Robin Williams.’

The Los Angeles’ Laugh Factory, where he inspired countless other comedians, issued their own tribute to the Oscar winning actor and entertainer by changing their banner to read ‘Robin Williams Rest in Peace. Make God Laugh.’ Emergency crews were called to the legendary comic’s house in Marin County, just north of San Francisco at approximately noon on Monday and his third wife, Susan Schneider issued a statement confirming the 63-year-old’s death. Police radio traffic from the initial 911 call reported the death as an ‘apparent suicide by hanging,’ CBS News reports.  Williams, who won an Academy Award for his supporting role as a fatherly therapist in the 1997 drama Good Will Hunting, had been suffering from severe depression recently and had sought treatment for his ongoing alcoholism. He was last seen alive on Sunday evening. His wife Susan said: ‘As he is remembered, it is our hope the focus will not be on Robin’s death, but on the countless moments of joy and laughter he gave to millions,’ said Schneider. The star’s 25-year-old daughter Zelda Williams tweeted a poignant quote shortly after her about her loss. She posted an exerpt from Antoine De Saint-Exupery’s novella The Little Prince which read: ‘You – you alone will have the stars as no one else has them… In one of the stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing. And so it will be as if all the stars were laughing, when you look at the sky at night… You – only you will have stars that can laugh.’ She finished the post with the words: ‘I love you. I miss you. I’ll try to keep looking up, Z.’ Williams’ last tweet and Instagram post came on July 31, – 11 days before his apparent suicide – in which he wished Zelda a happy 25th birthday, posting a picture of himself with her as a child. ‘Quarter of a century old today but always my baby girl,’ he wrote. It is understood Williams was unconscious and not breathing when he was discovered. The coroner’s office said it appears to be suicide but they are still investigating what happened. A statement by the Marin County Sheriff’s Department in California said: ‘On August 11, 2014, at approximately 11:55 am, Marin County Communications received a 9-1-1 telephone call reporting a male adult had been located unconscious and not breathing inside his residence in unincorporated Tiburon, California. The male subject, pronounced deceased at 12:02 pm has been identified as Robin McLaurin Williams.’ ‘The Sheriff’s Office, as well as the Tiburon Fire Department and Southern Marin Fire Protection District were dispatched to the incident with emergency personnel arriving on scene at 12pm.  Outside the family home in a neighbourhood of low-slung houses with water views, people left flowers and talked about the man who rode his bike around and had a smile and a wave for children on the street. ‘It wasn’t like having a celebrity,’ said Sonja Conti who said the actor would often ask about her dog and nicknamed him ‘Dude.’ ‘He was just a normal, nice guy. People left him alone.’ Another neighbour, Kelly Cook, 50, described Williams as a ‘private man’ who would often be seen cycling around the area. She said her children would call him ‘the funny man’ and he would often speak to them when he was out walking his pug called Lenny.

‘UTTERLY HEARTBROKEN’:  ROBIN WILLIAMS’ WIFE PAYS TOUCHING TRIBUTE TO ‘MY HUSBAND AND BEST FRIEND’

Robin Williams’ wife revealed that he had died and released a moving statement. Susan Schneider said: ‘This morning, I lost my husband and my best friend, while the world lost one if its most beloved artists and beautiful human beings. I am utterly heartbroken,’ she began. ‘On behalf of Robin’s family, we are asking for privacy during our time of profound grief. As he is remembered, it is our hope that the focus will not be on Robin’s death but on the countless moments of joy and laughter he gave to millions.’ Shortly afterwards his daughter Zelda, 25, tweeted  an excerpt from Antoine De Saint-Exupery’s novella The Little Prince which read: ‘You – you alone will have the stars as no one else has them… In one of the stars I shall be living. In one of them I shall be laughing. And so it will be as if all the stars were laughing, when you look at the sky at night… You – only you will have stars that can laugh.’

Family: Actor Robin Williams and with then wife Marsha Garces Williams, sons Cody, Zachary with girlfriend Alex, daughter Zelda arrive at the 62nd Annual Golden Globe Awards in 2005

Poignant tweet: Zelda Williams posted an Antoine De Saint-Exupery quote from The Little Prince on Monday following her father Robin Williams’s death

Final post: Williams celebrated his daughter Zelda Rae’s 25th birthday on July 31, posting a touching black and white photo of himself cradling his baby girl

One of his last photographs: This photograph of Robin Williams was taken in July at a local Dairy Queen in Minnesota during his stay at a rehabilitation facility which he checked himself into for treatment for alcohol addiction

Known as ‘the funniest man alive’, Williams fought drug and alcohol problems when he became the star of Mork & Mindy, on his path to stardom. He had stayed mainly sober for 20 years but in July he went into rehab to use the 12-step program he championed, this time during a brief stay at a Minnesota facility. Publicist Mara Buxbaum said at the time that Williams had not fallen off the wagon, but was ‘taking the opportunity to fine-tune and focus on his continued commitment, of which he remains extremely proud.’ This year he has six movies either out or due for release and had also been working on the TV series The Crazy Ones – but it was axed after one season. He admitted he returned to TV after nearly three decades because two divorces have left him short of cash. The comic’s breakups cost him £20million and he claims to need a ‘steady job’. He was also selling his £20million California ranch due to his sizeable alimony payments. The 62-year-old, said: ‘Divorce is expensive. I used to joke they were going to call it “all the money”, but they changed it to “alimony”. ‘It’s ripping your heart out through your wallet.’ His marriage to Valerie Velardi ended in 1988 after the pair had been together for 10 years. The actor then wed his son’s nanny Marsha Garces with whom he stayed for 19 years and had two children with. The couple divorced in 2008. Williams is now married to graphic designer, Susan Schneider. In the interview the actor also opens up about his long battle with alcohol and drugs. Williams said that he was confronted with two other choices apart from doing TV: go on the road doing stand-up or do small independent films for very low pay. He said: ‘The movies are good, but a lot of times they don’t even have distribution. There are bills to pay. My life has downsized, in a good way. I’m selling the ranch up in Napa. ‘I just can’t afford it anymore.’

Memorial: A boy leaves flowers at the home of Robin Williams a brilliant shapeshifter who could channel his frenetic energy into delightful comic characters like Mrs. Doubtfire or harness it into richly nuanced work like his Oscar-winning turn in Good Will Hunting,

Flowers for the ‘Funny Man’: Mikalya Cook, 12, of the neighborhood, prepares to place flowers at the front gate of US actor Robin Williams, where he was found dead in Tiburon, California on Monday

Last seen: The comedian was last seen in public in June at San Francisco Zoo where he fed a howler monkey that was named ‘Robin’ after him

Off stage and camera Williams had endured a struggle with personal demons that manifested themselves in well publicized drug and alcohol problems. Williams was a close friend of Blues Brothers and Saturday Night Live star John Belushi and was one of the last people to see the actor alive before his death by drugs overdose at the Chateau Marmont Hotel in Los Angeles in 1982. The star of Good Morning Vietnam said that experience forced him to evaluate his own wild lifestyle and led to him seeking help for his addictions to alcohol and cocaine. ‘Was it a wake-up call? Oh yeah, on a huge level,’ he once said. Williams managed to maintain his sobriety for two decades but in 2006, relapsed and sought treatment. Williams described his family’s reaction to this relapse in a September 2013 Parade Magazine interview: ‘It was not an intervention so much as an ultimatum. Everyone kind of said, ‘You’ve got to do this.’ And I went, ‘Yeah, you’re right.’

Oscar winner: Robin Williams took home the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1997 for his role alongside Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting

Iconic: Tributes have appeared at the Boston bench where Robin Williams’ character in Good Will Hunting gives a monologue on life, love and art to Matt Damon’s Will

‘I’M SORRY TO BE BREAKING THIS NEWS’: CONAN O’BRIEN FORCED TO REVEAL ROBIN WILLIAMS’ DEATH DURING FILMING OF HIS TALK SHOW

TV talk show host Conan O’Brien emotionally broke the news of the death of his friend Robin Williams to his studio audience during filming last night.

His voice cracking with emotion, O’Brien, who interviewed the Hollywood star a number of times, announced the news to gasps of astonishment from those watching. Sombrely facing the camera towards the end of filming, the 51-year-old said:’This is unusual and upsetting, but I’ve got some news during the show  that Robin Williams has passed away. ‘I’m sorry to everyone in our studio audience that I’m breaking this news. This is absolutely shocking and horrifying and so upsetting on every level.  ‘We’re absolutely stunned to get this news,’ His guest, Canadian comedy actor Will Arnett, who appeared in the 2006 road comedy RV with Williams, added: ‘As funny as he was – he’s one of the all-time greats – he was even better as a person. ‘He was just the loveliest and one of the kindest guys that anyone ever worked with.’ His divorce from his wife of 19 years and mother of two of his three children, film producer Marsha Garces, came a couple of years later and many outside his family’s inner circle opening suspected his substance abuse struggles were to blame. The relapses, it seems, had happened before. In that same Parade interview, Williams described a 2003 relapse, which came after 20 years of sobriety, to the magazine: ‘One day I walked into a store and saw a little bottle of Jack Daniel’s. And then that voice—I call it the lower power—goes, “Hey. Just a taste.” Just one.’ I drank it, and there was that brief moment of “Oh, I’m okay!” But it escalated so quickly. Within a week I was buying so many bottles I sounded like a wind chime walking down the street. I knew it was really bad one Thanksgiving when I was so drunk they had to take me upstairs.’ He described feelings of loneliness and fear that pushed him back towards alcohol at the time he was filming Christopher Nolan’s Insomnia in Alaska with Al Pacino.

Inside: These real estate pictures show the interior of the home in Tiburon, California which is owned by Robin Williams and his family and where the comedy legend was found dead on Monday (pictures date from before Williams purchased the home)

Touching: AJ Polis leaves a flower alongside a placard and a photo of the late actor Robin Williams as Mork from Ork, as people pay their respects at the home where the 80’s TV series “Mork & Mindy”,was set, in Boulder, Colorado

Sure to grow: A bouquet of flowers and a mock Oscar statue lay on Robin Williams star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles on Monday

You will be missed: Flowers are placed in memory of Robin Williams, the Academy Award winner and comic supernova whose explosions of pop culture riffs and impressions dazzled audiences for decades and made him a gleamy-eyed laureate for the Information Age

Public thanks: Flowers are placed in memory of actor/comedian Robin Williams on his Walk of Fame star in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles

‘I was in a small town where it’s not the edge of the world, but you can see it from there, and then I thought: drinking. I just thought, hey, maybe drinking will help. Because I felt alone and afraid. It was that thing of working so much, and going f***, maybe that will help. And it was the worst thing in the world.’ In a revealing interview with ABC News‘ Diane Sawyer in 2006, the legendary comic opened up about drinking again and said that his descent back into alcoholism was ‘very gradual’. ‘It’s the same voice thought that … you’re standing at a precipice and you look down, there’s a voice and it’s a little quiet voice that goes, ‘Jump,’ Williams told Sawyer.  With trademark humor, Williams attempted to make some light of his battle with the bottle during his interview with Sawyer, calling addiction a predator that lies in wait and is always present. ‘It’s fine now, I’m OK. Then, the next thing you know, it’s not OK. Then you realize, ‘Where am I? I didn’t realize I was in Cleveland’, he said. While he recently sought help in Minnesota, in 2006, Williams spent two months in Oregon’s Hazelden Springbrook treatment center. In 2006, he said that he was only drinking, having kicked his well-documented problems with cocaine. Williams often seemed at odds with his public persona, struggling to be seen as something more than just a man with a gift to make people laugh. ‘It’s hard because people want to know you’re a certain thing,’ he told The LA Times in 1991

FANS TURN PARK BENCH FROM FAMOUS SCENE IN GOOD WILL HUNTING INTO TRIBUTE FOR ROBIN WILLIAMS

The bench in Boston where a memorable scene from Good Will Hunting was filmed has been turned into a memorial for the film star. The seat is by a lake in  the city’s Public Gardens and formed the backdrop of the famous monologue delivered by his character Sean Maguire, a psychiatrist reaching out to troubled genius janitor Will. In a much-loved scene from the film, which earned Williams a best supporting actor Oscar, Maguire, a widower, calmly takes apart his young, talented patient’s intellectual aloofness and cynical attitude. Maguire says: ‘You’re a tough kid. And I’d ask you about war, you’d probably throw Shakespeare at me, right? “Once more into the breach, dear friends”. ‘But you’ve never been near one. You’ve never held your best friend’s head in your lap, and watch him gasp his last breath looking to you for help. ‘I’d ask you about love, you’d probably quote me a sonnet. But you’ve never looked at a woman and been totally vulnerable… to have that love for her, be there forever, through anything, through cancer. ‘And you wouldn’t know about sleeping sittin’ up in the hospital room for two months, holding her hand, because the doctors could see in your eyes that the terms ‘visiting hours’ don’t apply to you.  ‘You don’t know about real loss, ’cause that only occurs when you’ve loved something more than you love yourself.’ Now fans have written quotes from the film in chalk on the floor around the bench, such as the monologue’s final challenge: ‘Your move, chief’. Another wrote: ‘Sorry guys, I went to see about a girl’ in reference to the scene where Williams talks about the moment he met his beloved wife. Flowers have also been placed at the site. ‘They still say, ‘That’s the little manic guy. He’s the little adrenaline guy. Oh, yeah, he touches himself. He doesn’t do that anymore. But wait a minute. He’s the little manic guy who played the really quiet guy and then the really scary guy. Oh, no, wait….’  Others often saw his manic need to tell jokes as a classic shield to hide his real feelings. ‘He was always in character — you never saw the real Robin,’ said Jamie Masada, founder and chief executive of the Laugh Factory to The LA Times. ‘I knew him 35 years, and I never knew him.’ ‘He was a wonderful guy,’ Masada said to The LA Times.  ‘I remember John Belushi and Robin, both of them always complained to me — no matter where they were people would recognize them.  ‘They sold their privacy to the public. They could be in the middle of talking in the street and someone would come up for an autograph…. he didn’t realize how much he sold his privacy to people.’ Robin Williams’ half-brother has paid tribute to the star, saying he meant a ‘very great deal’ to him. McLaurin Smith-Williams, 67, shared a mother, Laura McLaurin, with the tragic comic – who was found dead from apparent suicide at his home in Tiburon, California, earlier today – and is still coming to terms with the shocking news.

‘VERY SAD, VERY UPSET’: COMEDY LEGEND’s ONSCREEN MRS. DOUBTFIRE DAUGHTER MARA WILSON LEADS TRIBUTES

Tributes were pouring in after the shocking news of Robin Williams’ death broke on Monday.

Two decades on: Mara Wilson was six-years-old when she starred with Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire and took to Twitter on Monday to express her grief at Robin Williams’ death

Mara Wilson, who played his on-screen daughter in Mrs Doubtfire, was amongst the first to pay their respects to the late actor, whose tragic death aged 63 at his Tiburon, California home is being treated as suspected suicide. The actress, who is now 27, was devastated. She tweeted: ‘Very sad, very upset, very glad I did not have to hear about this though Twitter. Probably going to be taking some time off it for a while.’ Sally Field, who also starred in the movie, said in a statement: ‘I feel stunned and so sad about Robin. I’m sad for the world of comedy. And so very sad for his family. And I’m sad for Robin. ‘He always lit up when he was able to make people laugh, and he made them laugh his whole life long…. tirelessly. He was one of a kind. There will not be another. Please God, let him now rest in peace Robin’s representative told MailOnline: ‘Robin Williams passed away this morning. He has been battling severe depression of late. ‘This is a tragic and sudden loss. The family respectfully asks for their privacy as they grieve during this very difficult time.’

Sadness: The Matilda actress, 27, said she’d need some time away from the social network

Close: Mara played Robin’s on-screen daughter in 1993’s Mrs. Doubtfire. They are pictured centre with Lisa Jakub (L) and Matthew Lawrence (R)

Grief: Robin Williams on the set of The Butler in 2013, tweeted by Lenny Kravitz who wrote: ‘Robin Williams, it was an honor to know you. #restinpeace’

McLaurin has previously talked about how Robin and his other half brother Todd – who had the same father as the funnyman, but who passed away in 2007 – used to meet up with their families every year.  He told the Chicago Tribune in 1991: ‘All three of us grew up as only children – Todd, myself and Robin. I was adopted by my mother’s parents after her divorce from her first marriage. Todd grew up with his mother. ‘We all get along famously. Todd is no blood relation to me, but we’re real close.’ Robin’s first two wives, Valerie Velardi, whom he was wed to from 1978 to 1988 and Marsha Garces Williams, whom he was married to from 1989 to 2008, have yet to comment on his death.

Read more / tribute videos: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2722409/Tributes-Robin-Williams-dead-apparent-suicide.html#ixzz3ABkSwONz 

Read more: Robin Williams’ ‘utterly heartbroken’ wife Susan Schneider pays touching tribute

 . Life and times of a beloved funnyman: Robin Williams’ rise to fame and his lifelong battle with drugs and depression

 . Robin Williams checked into Minnesota rehab center to ‘focus on continued commitment’ to sobriety before his tragic death

Robin Williams: the sadness of a clown that couldn’t be fixed

Williams, like many others, struggled with addiction and personal demons. Mental illness is a great leveler but is still too little understood.

All illness is a great leveler, but none levels like mental illness. It remains the poor relation of medicine. Research is paltry. Therapies are halfhearted. Drugs are primitive. But addictive and depressive illness seems to probe deep into the relations between individuals and those around them. It is the crack in the window that can seem beyond mending. The sadness of the clown goes beyond irony. It is one of the great mysteries of life.

Robin Williams: the sadness of a clown that couldn’t be fixed

 

Iraqi Christians ‘dying in crowded refugee camps’

 

Iraqi Christians driven from their homes by Islamic State fighters are beginning to die in crowded camps, witnesses have claimed.

Sahar Mansour, 40, who lectured in chemistry at the University of Mosul before she fled the city in June, said newborn babies, the sick and the elderly in the Ankawa refugee camp on the outskirts of Irbil are dying from diseases, thirst and malnutrition. Mansour now resides in the camp.

The same claim was made by Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Sako of Baghdad, who said in an August 11 statement that “death and sickness are grabbing the children and elderly people among the thousands of refugee families spread over the Kurdistan region.”

The patriarch also criticized the terms of US military intervention because it does not aim to recapture Christian cities and towns taken by the extremists.

Mansour told Catholic News Service in an email that the 70,000 refugees at Ankawa were also frightened that Islamic State fighters, formerly ISIS, had the capability to hit them within half an hour of launching an attack.

“Christians find Ankawa a safe place to stay, but some say that it is not good solution that we are all living here because it is an easy target for ISIS to attack,” she told CNS.

The camp at Ankawa was full, she added, and many Christians were sleeping outside in the town, wherever they could find space.

“The Christians are homeless. There are no places for them — (they are) only sitting in the churches, parks, streets, in this heat of sun,” she said.

“A lot of people are sick: elderly, infants and pregnant women sitting under the sun, and they cannot catch their breath. People are dying because of the shortage of medicine, water and food.”

Mansour wrote that there was great fear among the refugees that they were insufficiently protected.

“We are facing risk a real genocide and a human catastrophe,” she said. “We need protection. Please save our lives, we cannot stay in this country anymore.”

The Christian villages were now empty, she explained, adding: “It really looks like ethnic cleansing.”

As the Christian villages fell to Islamic State fighters between August 6 and 8, there was an influx of refugees into Irbil and Ankawa.

The roads were so jammed that it took 10 hours to make what would normally be a 90-minute trip, Mansour said. Some refugees walked for two days to reach Irbil.

Mansour added that the refugees were now questioning why the international community appeared so reluctant to help them. (?!!)

“We are wondering why nobody can stop ISIS?” she wrote. “Why are all afraid of ISIS? It is very strange how the world’s governments and the global community have turned a blind eye to the situation in Iraq. God help the people who are in the middle of all this.”

She appealed to the international community: “Please save our lives. We cannot cope any more … please pray for us to remain in our faith and not lose our faith in any kind of fear. I was born Christian. I am praying that I die Christian.”

Her sentiments echoed the concerns of Patriarch Sako, who said that the refugees sleeping in the streets and public parks were in a “deplorable situation” and that “humanitarian aid is insufficient.”

“The position of the American president, Obama, only to give military assistance to protect Irbil is disappointing,” he said. “The confirmation that this terrible situation will continue until the Iraqi Security Forces will fight along with Peshmerga against the ISIS militants is very depressing.”

“At the end, perhaps, Mosul will not be liberated (and) neither the villages in the Nineveh Plain,” he said, adding that the refugees would, as a result, be forced to stay in makeshift camps indefinitely.

http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/news/2014/08/12/iraqi-christians-dying-in-crowded-refugee-camps/

 

 

Iraqi Patriarch Expresses Urgent Need to Evacuate Christians to Baghdad “You tell me how to dialogue with a fanatic!!!”

Iraqi Patriarch Expresses Urgent Need to Evacuate Christians to Baghdad

“You tell me how to dialogue with a fanatic,” he says in an exclusive interview.

 

Chaldean Catholic Patriarch Louis Raphael I Sako says he is working with the government of Iraq to bring Christian refugees to Baghdad.

The majority of Christians who have been driven from villages and towns in the Plain of Nineveh are living in dangerous conditions, in makeshift  facilities that are now overflowing. In the Iraqi capital, there would be greater care in terms of hygiene, medical care and personal safety.

The Patriarch is also convinced that the American airstrikes are not enough to stop the pressure and advance of ISIS troops.

Your Beatitude, on CNN, Mark Arabo, a California businessman and leader in the Iraqi-American Christian community, spoke about a “Christian genocide” and a “systematic beheading of children” by ISIS, saying that “there’s a park in Mosul where they have beheaded children and put their heads on a stick.” Can you confirm or deny these reports?

Nothing like that. No beheadings. In Mosul money was stolen, but Christians have not been physically attacked. There was a large mass exodus and great panic in the Plain of Nineveh. People were literally driven out of their villages. There was one fatality—a man, during a tense moment as he was trying to cross a checkpoint.

Is it true that ISIS militants are asking Christians to pay a tax in order to save their lives and are likewise abducting women and taking them as their wives?

These two reports are true. Christian women have been abducted, and taxes have been demanded. In particular, these Islamic fanatics ask Christians for money to allow them to return to their homes. But the Christians don’t trust them. They are people who continually change their minds: they are unreliable. Perhaps today a Christian pays, returns home to stay there in peace, and tomorrow the militants attack him again, and one never knows what the consequences will be.

The government in Baghdad has accused ISIS Sunni jihadists of having thrown hundreds of Yazidis into mass graves, including women and children who were still alive. What can can you tell us about this?

What you’ve heard happened to the Yazidis is true. More than a thousand women have been kidnapped. A great many children are dead. The people have neither food nor water and they feel cut off from the world. They don’t know where to go or what to do.

In speaking about the crisis in Iraq, Archbishop Sivano Maria Tomasi, the Holy See’s Permanent Observer to the United Nations in Geneva, has said that “military action at this time is needed.” What do you think about US military intervention?

Partial strikes are not enough. The solution to the crisis needs a broader agreement, with the involvement of the Kurdish government and the Iraqi central government. Without an overall strategy, the dream of seeing the people return to their homes will not happen.

At this time, do Christians have the right to organize in order to defend themselves, or do you only recommend that they flee?
But how would they organize themselves? First, their numbers are greatly reduced—400,000-500,000 in all. Beyond this, the majority have fled their villages. They are scattered here and there. And then, considering the numbers and their current situation, they wouldn’t be able to raise a militia. And they are facing hardened extremists.
In your opinion, what will we see happen in the days to come?

I fear that the situation is worsening. There is a problem with the refugees and the humanitarian emergency, and another problem with the political order. For now I don’t see any prospects. The whole world must mobilize itself for the situation in Iraq; otherwise, a stable and permanent situation, in my opinion, will permanently slip away.

Is dialogue with the ISIS Jihadists out of the question?

You tell me how to dialogue with a fanatic? You find yourself in front a wall, that’s it! At the beginning of the crisis, I tried to speak to one of them, but it’s difficult, there’s no trust and they continually change their minds.

Is there a risk that the influence of these Islamic Jihadists will reach Baghdad?

There is a risk that they’ll find sympathy. It would be difficult for them to reach Baghdad, but it’s not impossible.

How is the Catholic Church aiding the plight of the refugees?

In all the churches in the country, schools, dormitories, places to eat have been set up. In every city, in every village in the vicinity of the areas attacked by the militia, the reception areas are full. Now the best thing to do is to transfer as many people as possible to Baghdad. I am in contact with the government to make this happen.

How would this transfer need to take place?

The land routes are closed. The only possibility are airplanes. Here in the capital we have more space to accommodate these poor people who are likely to become exhausted at any moment. There are also hospitals and places to treat them. There are already 20 families who have arrived from that hell, but we hope to welcome more shortly.

What are the refugees telling you?

I have heard their testimonies and they are tragic. But I had already been in contact with them, during my visits to Irbil and the villages that had been attacked, with several Christians from those places. To hear it seems like a  return to the Middle Ages. My heart weeps in remembering such sad stories, which are marked only by fear and dread of being harassed, beaten and killed. They don’t have anything anymore, neither a house nor financial resources after years and years of sacrifice. But above all, they are afraid that this situation will last for a long time.

Iraqi Patriarch Expresses Urgent Need to Evacuate…

Feast of St. Clare, Virgin and Religious Foundress – Mass Propers

                                  SAINT CLARE

St. Clare, born at Assisi in Umbria, was the first of the holy virgins whom St. Francis, consecrating to God, bound to Christlike poverty. On a visit to St. Francis, she expressed to him her desire to become a Spouse of Christ. To St. Francis had been given a little chapel called the Portiuncula by the Benedictine abbot of Monte Subasio. St. Francis gave to Clare the rule of St. Benedict to follow, as he desired to graft his new foundation on to the old Order, so as to give it a canonical basis, one already recognized by Holy Church. St. Francis determined that Clare should not imitate the rich convents of Benedictines then in Umbria, but should go back to the early traditions of Benedictine poverty; thus it was that Pope Gregory IX was able to write to them before they had a rule of their own: “Now you are worthy daughters of the blessed Benedict.”

    Her sister Agnes and other women soon joined her; they walked barefooted, slept on the ground, observed perpetual abstinence, and made poverty the basis of their lives. St. Clare teaches us to have great devotion to the Holy Eucharist. In the midst of her extreme poverty she caused the Blessed Sacrament to be kept in a silver case placed in an ivory pyx. One day when the Saracens attacked the Convent of San Damiano, Clare herself held up the pyx containing the Blessed Sacrament like a shield between the nuns and the fury of the infidels. The enemy turned and fled. St. Clare passed to her Heavenly reward, August 11, 1253, and was canonized by Pope Alexander IV two years later.

 St. Clare mourning St. Francis 

 St. Clare  –   Dom Gueranger, Liturgical Year

 The same year, before any project of collecting son, Dominic founded the first settlement of the Sisters of her Order, the companion for the sky the father of Preachers received the Crucifix of San Damiano its mission with these words: “Go, Francis, and repair my house which is falling apart. ” And the new patriarch inaugurated its work by preparing, like Dominique, her future daughters sacred asylum where their immolation get all through the powerful Order he had founded. St. Mary of the Portiuncula, the cradle of Mineworkers, was not until San Damiano House of Poor Ladies, hold the thought of the seraph of Assisi. And a second time this month, the eternal Wisdom does she show us that any fruit of salvation, it seems to come from the word or action, shall first of silent contemplation.

Claire was similar to Francis himself using whose motherhood the Lord begat this multitude of heroic virgin, illustrious penitents, the Seraphic Order soon had all latitudes, coming to him more humble circumstances as the steps of the throne.

In the new knights of Christ, Poverty, that the father had chosen for Juvenile Dame, was also the sovereign of that which God had given him to emulate and daughter. Next to the last ends the God-man humiliated and stripped for us, yet itself already felt queen with her ​​sisters in the kingdom of heaven. In the nest of his destitution, she repeated with love, what gem wife never would equal compliance with God without any although the poorest mothers clasped tiny vile nappies close crib! So live it fearlessly defend, against the highest interventions, this privilege of absolute poverty whose application had startles the great Pope Innocent III, the final confirmation, obtained the day before the holy beyond death, appeared as the coveted reward of forty years of prayers and sufferings for the Church of God.

 The noble daughter of Assisi had justified the prophecy that sixty years earlier, announced to his pious mother hortulana as to enlighten the world; do well was the choice of name he was given at birth. “Oh! As powerful was this clarity of virgin cries in the Bull of canonization the Supreme Pontiff! As were his penetrating rays! She was hiding in the depths of the cloister, and its brilliance, piercing all, filled the house of God “. His poor lonely it never left, only the name of Claire seemed to carry everywhere with grace light and fertilized off to God and his holy father Francis cities.

 Wide as the world, which multiplied the admirable tradition of her virginity, her mother’s heart was full of ineffable tenderness for these girls she had ever seen. To those who believe that austerity embraced God withers the soul include these lines of his correspondence with the Blessed Agnes of Bohemia. I Ottocar daughter of Agnes repudiated for the imperial bure and renewed engagement in Prague located in Saint-Damien, “O my Mother and daughter told him our holy, if I have not written as often as you would have wished my soul and yours, do not be at all surprised: as you loved your mother’s womb, and I treasure you; but few messengers great perils roads. Now that the opportunity is presented to me, my joy is full, and I conjouis with you in the joy of the Holy Spirit.

As the first Agnes joins the Immaculate Lamb, and therefore is it given you, O fortunate, enjoy this union astonishment of heaven with Him whose desire delights every soul, whose goodness is all sweetness, whose vision is the blessed him the light of eternal light, the mirror without spot! Look in the mirror, O Queen, O Bride! Constantly at her reflection, raise your charms; outside, inside, adorn yourself virtues, adorn the property’s daughter and the wife of the Supreme King: O beloved, her eyes on the mirror, what delights you will be given to enjoy in God’s grace ! … However, remember your poor mother, and know that for me I have etched forever in your memory blessed my heart “.

Franciscan family was not only to benefit from a charity that stretched all the noble interests of this world. Assisi issued Lieutenant Frederick II and the Saracen horde in the pay of the excommunicated, included what is holy bulwark for his country on earth. But it was mainly the princes of the Holy Church was the Vicar of Christ, that the sky like to see all experience the power of humility, the mysterious ascendancy which pleased the Lord to endow its elected. Francis was the first to do had he not, in a moment of crisis as experienced by saints, light management and asked for his seraphic soul? Of the elders of Israel came to the Virgin, who was not yet thirty years old then, messages of this kind: “To his dear sister in Christ, to his mother, Lady Claire servant of Christ, Ugolino Ostia, unworthy bishop and sinner. Since the time it took to deprive me of your interviews saints, save me from the joy of heaven, such bitterness of heart made ​​my tears flow as if I could not find the feet of Jesus the consolation that never refuses love, my mind would come to fail and my soul to blend. Where is the joy of this glorious celebrated Passover with you and the other servants of Christ. I knew I was a sinner; but the memory of the supereminence your virtue, my misery overwhelms me, and I think unworthy of ever finding this conversation saints, if your tears and prayers not get through for my sins? So I give you my soul; to you I entrust my spirit, for you answer me in the Day of Judgment. The Lord is coming soon Pope in Assisi; May I accompany you and goodbye! Say hello to my sister Agnes (it was the same sister Claire and her first daughter in God); greet all your sisters in Christ “.

 The great Cardinal Ugolino, who is over eighty years old, became shortly after Gregory IX. During his pontificate fourteen years, who was one of the most glorious and most laborious of the thirteenth century, it never ceased to interest Claire perils of the Church and the immense problems whose office threatened to crush his weakness . For, says the contemporary historian of our saint, “he knew what love can do, and that access the sacred palace is always free for virgins to whom the King of Heaven to give himself any request could be denied?”

Exile, who after the death of Francis was extended twenty-seven years for the saint had yet to finish last. Wings of fire, sighted by his daughters over his head and covering his shoulders, indicating that it also seraphic training was completed. At the news of the imminent departure of such an interesting whole Church, the Pontiff then, Innocent IV came from Perugia with the Cardinals in his suite. He issued one last test to the humility of the holy, ordering him to bless the bread before him we had presented to the blessing of the Supreme Pontiff; heaven, ratifying the invitation of the Pope and obedience Claire about these loaves made ​​at the blessing of the Virgin, they seemed all marked with a cross.

The prediction that Claire should not die without having visited the Lord surrounded by his disciples, was accomplished. The Vicar of Jesus Christ presided the solemn funeral Assisi wanted to make that which was his second glory before men and before God. Already they began regular chants for the dead, we prescribe lorsqu’Innocent wanted substituate the Office of the dead than virgin saints; However, the observation that a similar canonization, before the body had not even been given to the earth, would run the risk of seeming premature, the Pontiff left back songs accustomed. The insertion of the Virgin Catalogue of the Saints was that the rest deferred for two years.

Claire O, the reflection of the Bridegroom which the church is adorned in this world enough for you; this is what comes directly light. The clarity of the Lord delights in playing with the crystal of your soul so pure, increasing the joy of heaven, giving joy on this day in exile valley. Celestial lighthouse whose light is so soft, enlighten our darkness. May we with you, by the sharpness of the heart, spoke righteousness of thought, by the simplicity of the look, strengthen us the divine ray flickering in the soul hesitant and darkens our troubles, qu’écarte or breaks duplicity shared between God and the earth life.

Your life, O virgin, was not so divided. The highest poverty, that you had to master and guide, preserved your mind this fascination frivolity tarnishes the luster of real property for us mortals. The posting of whatever passes kept your eye fixed on eternal realities; He opened your soul to the seraphic ardor which were completed to make you emulate your father Francis. Also, like the Seraphim who only have eyes for God, your work on earth was huge; and St. Damian, while you vécûtes was a firm foundation on which the old world could support its ruins.

Deign us continue your rescue. Multiply your daughters and keep them loyal to follow the examples that will make them, like their mother, the powerful support of the Church. The Franciscan family in its various branches always warms your rays; that all the religious order illuminates their sweet clarity. Finally shine on all, O Claire, to show us what this life worth passing and one that should not end.

FEAST OF ST. CLARE, Virgin, Religious Foundress/ TUESDAY – NINTH WEEK AFTER PENTECOST

                                      “Dilexísti justítiam”

INTROIT: Psalm 44: 8

Satiásti, Dómine, famíliam tuam munéribus sacris: ejus, quæsumus, semper interventióne nos réfove, cujus solémnia celebrámus. Per Dóminum nostrum Jesum Christum Fílium tuum, qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitáte Spíritus Sancti, Deus…

Thou hast loved justice, and hated iniquity: therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. (Ps. 44: 2) My heart hath uttered a good word: I speak my works to the King. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end.

                    St. Clare and St. Elizabeth of Hungary

COLLECT

Graciously hear us, O God, our Savior that, as we rejoice in the festival of blessed Clare, Thy virgin, so we may be taught by the spirit of pious devotion. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, Forever and ever.

EPISTLE: 2 Corinthians 10,17-18 ; 11,1-2

Lesson from the Epistle of Bl. Paul the Apostle to the Corinthians

Brethren, he that glory, let him glory in the Lord. For not that he that commendeth himself is approved, but he whom God commendeth. Would to God you could bear with some little of my folly, but do bear with me. For I am jealous of you with the jealousy of God. For I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

GRADUAL: Psalm 44: 5

 With thy comeliness and thy beauty set out, proceed prosperously, and reign. Because of truth, and meekness and justice: and thy right hand shall conduct thee wonderfully.

ALLELUIA: Ps 44:15-16

 After her shall virgins be brought to the King: her neighbors shall be brought to thee with gladness. Alleluia, alleluia.

GOSPEL: Matt. 25: 1-13

Then shall the kingdom of heaven be like to ten virgins, who taking their lamps went out to meet the bridegroom and the bride. And five of them were foolish, and five wise. But the five foolish, having taken their lamps, did not take oil with them:  But the wise took oil in their vessels with the lamps. And the bridegroom tarrying, they all slumbered and slept.

 And at midnight there was a cry made: Behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye forth to meet him. Then all those virgins arose and trimmed their lamps.  And the foolish said to the wise: Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out.  The wise answered, saying: Lest perhaps there be not enough for us and for you, go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. Now whilst they went to buy, the bridegroom came: and they that were ready, went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut.

But at last come also the other virgins, saying: Lord, Lord, open to us.  But he answering said: Amen I say to you, I know you not. Watch ye therefore, because you know not the day nor the hour.

OFFERTORY:    Psalm 44: 10

The daughters of kings in thy glory: the queen stood on thy right hand in gilded clothing, surrounded with variety.

SECRET

May the offering of Thy consecrated people be accepted by Thee, O Lord, in honor of Thy saints, by whose merits it knoweth that it hath received aid in time of trouble. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God,

PREFACE   Common Preface

It is truly meet and just, right and for our salvation that we should at all times and in all places, give thanks unto Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty, everlasting God: through Christ our Lord. Through Whom the Angels praise Thy Majesty, the Dominations worship it, the Powers stand in awe. The Heavens and the Heavenly hosts together with the blessed Seraphim in triumphant chorus unite to celebrate it. Together with them we entreat Thee, that Thou mayest bid our voices also to be admitted, while we say in lowly praise:

SANCTUS, SANCTUS, SANCTUS Dominus Deus Sabaoth. Pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria Tua. Hosanna in excelsis.  Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini. Hosanna in excelsis.

COMMUNION Matt. 25, 4 and 6

The five wise virgins took oil in their vessels with the lamps: and at midnight there was a cry made, Behold the bridegroom cometh: go ye forth to meet Christ our Lord.

POSTCOMMUNION

Thou hast filled Thy household, O Lord, with sacred gifts; ever comfort us, we beseech Thee, through her intercession whose festival we celebrate. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God…

                               Death of St. Clare

“Our labor here is brief, but the reward is eternal. Do not be disturbed by the clamor of the world, which passes like a shadow” ~St. Clare of Assisi †

Holy mother Clare, you turned your back on the world. All smoke and noise  and embraced the eternal kingdom glorious, precious and eternal. Turning away from all that is destined to  is in that process already! Turn to dust. St. Clare, time is short! Pray that I might fervently focus my heart and mind on Christ, roll up my sleeves and get busy with the works of mercy and so be prepared for my Lord, so soon to come! Thank you holy mother Clare, for your prayers and help. Amen.