Grateful for your prayers

As some of you know, one of my nephews was in a serious motorcycle accident on Wednesday and has been in the ICU. Thank you for your prayers, which are much appreciated.

As the photo shows, my cat has been by the phone waiting for good news. Today it seems there was improvement and we're hopeful that he can now start his long road toward healing.

I ask for your continued prayer and positive thoughts.

Praying 24/7 since 1878: The Francisan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration

Sister Constance Walton talks with ABC affiliate, WXOW TV 19, about the Franciscan Sisters of Perpetual Adoration prayer request process. The sisters and their partners in prayer have been praying 24/7 since 1878. The news story was picked up by CNN headline news and aired across the globe. For more information, visit http://www.fspa.org/Prayer/index.html or go directly here.

Sad News

I was saddened to hear of the sudden, unexpected death of Michael Dubruiel, a Catholic author and Amy Welborn's husband. Amy, who writes Charlotte was Both and is an author, was extremely kind to me when I began writing this blog and she and her young children are in my prayers and thoughts.

I want to pass this along from her blog (and I offer this link to Michael's books) and a link for a collection

We are devastated and beg your prayers.

Many thanks for all of the prayers and notes. It is overwhelming. Many have asked what they can do of a material or concrete nature. All I can say is to simply buy his books. Not from me, because I am in no position to fill orders, but from anywhere else. He long ago promised God that he would give all the royalties of The How To Book of the Mass to the children’s college funds, which he did faithfully. It is in good shape because of that. Buy them, read them, and give them away to others. Spread the Word. That is what he was all about.

Prayers for Senator Kennedy

Sen. Ted Kennedy had a seizure at the inaugural luncheon and has been taken by ambulance to a hospital.

A Republican House leadership member told FOX News that Kennedy had a seizure at the end of the lunch, the seizure lasted a while. He was taken out on a wheelchair and had to have his legs lifted up to get him out of the room. via foxnews.com

Please keep Sen. Kennedy and his family in your prayers.

[UPDATE: Testing has suggested the collapse was due to fatigue, Kennedy's doctor told the press. The Senator is expected to be released in the morning.

Sorry about the slow blogging

I'm using the days off to convert my work into accessible form, so it's less hectic during the work week. Asking for prayers for my mom who had a bad fall yesterday, broke her pelvis and wrist but, fortunately, is otherwise okay.

Sisters of Mercy's motherhouse in Brooklyn closes

After 146 years, sisters are bidding each other farewell as they move to other places as the Convent of Mercy closes its doors after the order decided that money for renovations that would cost more than 20 million dollars, including accessibility needs for an aging population, could better be spent to promote its work elsewhere.

The convent, also the motherhouse for the order where retired nuns stayed, has a long history dating back to days before the social services system took care of orphans. Nuns of the order, also called the Walking Sisters because they went out into the community to help those in need, took in children and cared for thousands of them. The chapel had small pews built in the front for the youngest children, their place of honor.

You can read about the convent's history here.

I'll be keeping these good women in my prayers and my heart as they adjust to new homes, not easy to do, particularly at this time of the year. Please join me in prayer if you wish to.
[image description: in the photo, sisters say goodbye to each other. One nun kisses another in a wheelchair on the forehead as others have a conversation.]

Haitians need urgent help and prayers after Tropical storm Hanna

Three days after the storm, convoys are still unable to get food to children in orphanages and large numbers of people due to washed out roads which have cut off those in Gonaives. Haiti's government has few resources to help and relief organizations that are doing their best are looking for help from the international community.

Some 250,000 people are affected in the Gonaives region, including 70,000 in 150 shelters across the city, according to an international official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to release the information. Argentine Lt. Sergio Hoj estimated that half of Gonaives' houses remained flooded Thursday.

Many houses were torn apart. Families huddled on rooftops, their possessions laid out to dry. Overturned cars were everywhere, and televisions floated in the brown water.

....

Up to 400 people huddled in the Roman Catholic Church and the residence of Bishop Yves-Marie Pean, turning it into a de facto refugee camp. Many camped out on the watery grounds, while the lucky ones rested on chapel pews.

"We have shared with them what we had, but now we don't have food or drinking water," Pean said by telephone. "What is left is for the babies. We are praying together in solidarity in this very difficult moment. via cnn.com

...

Ad Melkert, associate administrator of the U.N. Development Program who just returned from Haiti, admonished international donors to do more.

"The poverty in the rain and mud of Haiti that I witnessed is nothing less than a disgrace," he said. "Many actors or potential actors try to play their part, ranging from the national government to multilateral and bilateral donors and NGOS. They all need to do more and better." via npr.org

How to help go to Food for the Poor

UPDATE:

...the U.N. World Food Program said Thursday it was sending a food-laden boat to Gonaives from the capital, Port-au-Prince, and would set up a base in the stricken city.

''All roads able to access Gonaives are cut either by bridges that have collapsed, by trees that have fallen down, or by waters that have washed away parts of the streets,'' U.N. food agency representative Myrta Kaulard said.

She said the U.N. peacekeeping mission was also hoping that its helicopters could take more U.N. personnel along to begin handing out aid, which includes 19 tons of biscuits, 50 tons of water, and water purification tablets. Via NYTimes.com

UPDATE: First aid ship has arrived in port to assist Gonaives region.

Praying for lower gas prices

Literally. The Pray at the Pump group credits trekking to gas stations and leading groups in prayer to recent lower US gas prices. The group formed when seniors volunteering at a soup kitchen at the First Seventh Day Adventist Church in Petworth, outside of the US capital, discussed how higher gas prices meant they could no longer serve the people they were trying to help. They walked to a local Shell station and began praying. Since then, the group has traveled.


"We were down in Huntsville, Alabama. We finished praying," Mr Twyman said. "Immediately the owners came out and changed the gas prices. They brought it down. We had marvellous success down in St Louis, Missouri."

This week the group returned to the site of their first prayer meeting to celebrate. Singing "We shall overcome," they changed the words of the well-known hymn to "We'll have lower gas prices". via bbc.com

In most cases, such as Friday, the prayers are welcomed. But when Twyman's group gathered outside the Saudi Arabian embassy, "the Secret Service was called on us," he said. via www.stltoday.com

Members have also changed their driving habits, car pooling more often.

Catholics in China

Someone I know who visited China this past summer told me that she saw construction workers over there and added "I wouldn't want to be in anything that was built" after noting their lack of safety concerns. Even the workers' safety was greatly compromised. They were using bamboo scaffolds at great heights, for example.

We had this conversation before the earthquake and yesterday I asked her again about her visit. Her eyes teared up thinking about the magnitude of what happened over there. Unlike myself, who has never been to China, for her it's a place she's visited, seen and touched.

When I first started this blog, I found out it was blocked in China because it was Catholic and that was a concrete lesson in the extent of the oppression faced by Catholics in China. I've prayed for my Chinese Catholic readers ever since.

I found this article about Catholicism in China by John Allen from the National Catholic Reporter , which discusses the growth of religion in China, including Catholicism and Protestanism and the factors affecting it. China is the third largest Christian nation in the world and, despite the fact that Catholics are still persecuted there, they number 12 million. A Catholic is not an easy thing to be in China - they are divided against each other politically. And as much as Protestanism has grown, Allen discusses reasons why being Catholic in China is so difficult.

The events in China come at us from photos, video clips and news stories and commentaries may seem far away and distant to many of us. Our brothers and sisters whose lives are far more difficult than ours as they try to practice their faith, need our prayers right now, as do all of the Chinese people.

For a list of agencies that are helping with disaster relief, please click here.

In Our Prayers : Images

....of the evacuees from the wildfires, being served by some of the many volunteers.

[visual description: A long table is shown. On the left side are volunteers placing food on the plates of those on the right side.]

Grief Camp for soldiers' children

As Memorial Day weekend approaches, I'd like to remind everyone to pray for those grieving loved ones and friends lost in the war. Last year a group of families, including children of parents who died in Iraq and Afghanistan, gathered in Washington DC through a program called TAPS to work on their grief in groups.

One teenager, who lost his dad, shared how kids in school sometimes laughed at him when he tried to talk about his dad dying in the war. His grandmother, who lost her son, wonders if people understand her loss and the changes in her life since she has taken in her grandson to raise. A little girl said she wakes up at night alone and thinks of her dad as being asleep on the ceiling above her - so she can be near him. She writes that what's the matter with this situation isn't just that her dad died, but that it was four days after her birthday.

Yet, despite these poignant scenes, a thread of hope, laughter and joy comes out of their shared grief. If you click above, it will take you to the video. Let's pray for these folks as they meet this weekend to help each other heal.

TAPS can be found at http://www.taps.org/

On our prayer request list - tornado victims

{visual description: An aerial photo showing the devastation left by tornado.}

"God is here with us,through all of this."
-Rev. Gene McIntosh, Methodist minister Greensburg, Kansas in a CNN interview

St. Genevieve, the patron saint of natural disasters, who organized prayers for protection of Paris when it was besieged by the Franks and also helped provide food through leading an expedition. A process of her relics through Paris ended an epidemic. We pray to her to intercede on behalf of all those around the world facing the consequences of disasters, whether it be from tornadoes or hurricanes, war or any cause.

Day of Fast and Prayer for Zimbabwe

Over at From the Anchor Hold, Karen Marie has published a Pastoral Letter by the Zimbabwe Catholic Bishops' Conference on the current crisis in their country entitled God Hears the Cry of the Oppressed.

They are asking for prayers and fasting today. Please click on the link above to read the letter and learn more about what is happening.

Rutgers Team Accepts Imus' Apology

As Coach Stringer says let us hope this is a catalyst for change. Please keep everyone in your prayers as they journey on their road to healing and forgiveness.

On the way to the meeting, Governor Corzine was seriously injured in a car accident. He faces three to six months of being unable to walk, is presently on a respirator, has had one surgery and requires at least two more. Please remember him in your prayers as he recuperates.

Email prayer requests

For Y.D., who is undergoing surgery tomorrow.

For Chris, who is dealing with medical equipment issues.

For J.H., who is looking for a job.

For Mike, who is undergoing surgery on Wednesday.

For Betty , whose guide dog has to be retired.


Lord, please hear our prayers for these brothers and sisters who need Your help. We hope that You will grant them peace of heart. We pray that those of us here on earth who are near them will be moved to extend a loving hand and help to them, both in spiritual and practical ways. Finally, we ask that You guide them through these life changes safely through Your protection.

Amen.