YOU KNOW TROUBLE IS COMING, WHEN YOUR ALLIES START TO COME AT YOU.

 (posted by Frenchie)

Bishop Barron the very mediatic, some say charismatic (in the secular sense) Auxilliary Bishop of Los Angeles. A cleric present on almost any form of media, the founder and promoter of the successful program "Word on fire", was recently elevated to the title of  Bishop of the Winona- Rochester Diocese (South East Minnesota), by Pope Francis.

Many speculated that this promotion, might be a punishment in disguise, for being too successful, and at times too independent from his brother bishops of the USCCB. It has been heard in some corridors that some of the more radical leftist members of the USCCB, who have grown extremely wealthy from their unholy alliance with very controversial "Catholic" members of the Democratic party; were particularly unhappy with some of his positions, as well as his large reach into the Catholic Online Community.

The Church receiving literally billions of dollars from the federal government, through its social services, like Catholic Charities and a multitude of other charities groups, for handling the flow of illegal immigrants and other social re organisation outfits. This has in turn created large fiefdoms in Archdioceses in large urban areas. This was spearheaded by former Cardinal of Washington DC, Mc Carrick, who has been disgraced 4 years ago,following a set of revelations about his long and depraved life of sexual abuse.

None the less, former Cardinal Mc Carrick had a long and successful path, thanks to his ability to raise funds, and his hobnobbing with important politicians on the East Coast. Facts that he was able to parley into his own promotion at the Vatican, and a high profile which allowed him to become a de-facto King maker within the USCCB. This is how he promoted a sizeable group of Bishops, Archbishops and Cardinals.

Most importantly he made sure to grow near every "Catholic" politico in Washington DC, including but not limited to  Nancy Pelosi and Joseph Biden. There was a definite tit for tat, with all these powerful political figures, which ultimately led to an embarrassing silence from most of US Bishops when said politicos drifted further and further to the left, on most social issues, including gay marriage and of course Abortion.

These corrupted relationships have led us to where we are now, with the current Cardinal of DC, a protege of Mc Carrick refusing to even criticize the president of the USA when he wraps himself in his "Catholic faith" to support Abortion, which even our extremely liberal Pope calls a sin of the gravest kind.

This why is was particularly surprising to read in the Pilot, the official paper of the Archdiocese of Boston a stirring column by the newly minted Bishop of Winona-Rochester, denouncing the scandalous position of the President of the United States...

The surprise is even bigger because it happened with the obvious authorization of Cardinal O'Malley, another liberal prince of the Church, who also is one of the biggest backer of the NCW.

You can read this Article Here

This is a welcome development, even if I don't hold my breath waiting for a change of attitude from the Bishops of the USCCB, towards the scandalous positions of our so called Catholic politicos.

Here on Guam, we are still to hear any form of criticism from our Church leaders about the continuous, arrogant and scandalous promotion of abortion by Governor Lou Leon Guerrero, and some of the key members of her administration.

We know that Archbishop Byrnes initiated a first step, with a personal and private letter to the governor, demanding that she mend her ways on the subject. In the meantime, nothing has happened. As the Archbishop is off island, with no plan to come back, we certainly should not expect much from our chancery.

HMMMM...

The Archdiocese of Detroit (Latin: Archidiœcesis Detroitensis) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church covering the Michigan counties of Lapeer, Macomb, Monroe, Oakland, St. Clair, and Wayne. It is the metropolitan archdiocese of the Ecclesiastical Province of Detroit, which includes all dioceses in the state of Michigan. In addition, in 2000 the archdiocese accepted pastoral responsibility[2] for the Catholic Church in the Cayman Islands, which consists of Saint Ignatius Parish[3] on Grand Cayman (the Archdiocese of Kingston maintains a mission sui iuris jurisdiction over the Cayman Islands).[4] -LINK

A NEW SEMINARY IN ANOTHER U.S. TERRITORY?

This post continues to draw the most views by far. 

We have no evidence yet that the continued interest in O'Malley, at least on this blog, has anything to do with what appears to be O'Malley's renewed push to establish another Redemptoris Mater seminary in another U.S. Territory to replace Guam's.

But...

Earlier this year, a youngish, bearded priest, with a thick Spanish accent showed up at Holy Cross parish in Christiansted, St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands. Another priest confirmed that the new priest was from Boston and had been sent to St. Croix by O'Malley, the archbishop of Boston, and host to a Redemptoris Mater seminary. The priest also confirmed that the Spanish priest from Boston was "in the Neo." 

O'Malley formerly was the archbishop of the Virgin Islands but has no authority there now. So it was curious how O'Malley could "assign" a priest from his diocese to the diocese of the Virgin Islands. The timing was curious given that a new bishop, originally from Africa, was appointed bishop of the Virgin Islands and was said to be very supportive, if not enthusiastic, about the Neocatechumenal Way. 

And then the Spanish priest from Boston shows up. 

After a few weeks in Christiansted, the Spanish priest moved to St. Ann's Parish in Barronspot, St. Croix, a parish known for its departure from tradition and its pentecostal type worship. A perfect place to grow "the Neo." 

Given that Guam closed down the Redemptoris Mater Seminary here and the Neo-controlled Apuron ran away, it appears that O'Malley and friends are looking to replace what they had in Guam with a new foothold in the Virgin Islands with a bishop who, like Apuron, will either do their bidding or at least not get in the way. 

RESIST! WAKE UP! STOP OBEYING!

 "Under the Nazi regime, Sharav said, medicine was weaponized, as it has been today."

‘Resist, Wake Up, Stop Obeying’: Holocaust Survivor Draws Parallels in Current Society to Nazi Germany

CONTINUED

WHISTLE BLOWER CARMELITE?

 Kandit News just posted this story:

Whistleblower Carmelite....

Something was never quite right about "Dawn Marie's" stated reason for departing Guam after fifty years. 

“As (Mother Dawn) Marie tells it, the decision to relocate came after a series of events that eventually resulted in what she called a ‘toxic environment’ that made it too difficult for the nuns to continue in their way of life.” - Pang, Neil. “‘Toxic Environment,’ Carmelites explain departure from Guam.” Guam Daily Post. Nov. 16, 2016

Really? 

Isn’t the whole charism of contemplative orders such as the Carmelites to war against the “toxic environment” of this fallen world by their very presence and way of life in the very midst of the “toxic environment” left us by the fall of our first parents?

Isn't this the reason "our" Carmelites were invited to Guam in the first place in 1966?

And the “environment” of the Catholic Church in Guam was NEVER more “toxic” than it was in 2016 when the accusations against Apuron first began to surface: casting Guam's Catholic Church into its deepest and most terrible, "toxic" crisis. 

And it was in the midst of this CRISIS that the same "Dawn Marie" abandoned Guam and all its Faithful, many of whom (and their families) had sacrificially supported "our" Carmelites for decades. 

And:

Why is Mother Dawn now in Neocat-friendly Boston and NOT with her nuns...the nuns from Guam who she appears to have abandoned to (dumped at) a "home" in California:

“After 50 years of prayer for the island's faithful, the Carmelite order celebrated their final mass on June 14 of this year and, the next day, left for their new home in California, Marie said yesterday.” - ibid

As their prioress, Mother Dawn was consecrated to protect and provide for those nuns, many of whom are long-suffering daughters of Guam, and who were given no voice about their uprooting and being deposited and ultimately abandoned (by Dawn) on the other side of the world. 

But now "Dawn" is running free in neocat-friendly Boston. 

Why?

LETTER: ABORTION SUPPORTERS NEED NEW STRAW MAN

Recently, in a letter published in this paper, a well-known local physician asserted that abortion “should be the right to a personal choice and not prohibited by a government pushed by religious fanatics … ”

The belief that religion is the motivation behind anti-abortion legislation in Guam is unsubstantiated and untrue. CONTINUED

FINALLY AN ARCHBISHOP WITH COURAGE AND CATHOLIC LOGIC

Posted by frenchie.

Archbishop Cordileone of San Francisco crossed the proverbial Rubicon of the Woke totalitarian agenda, which forces people to use words intended to blurr the original meaning and/or intention.

On May 20th 2022 the Archbishop, took the extra ordinary step to sanction one of the most powerful person in the United States.

Both the president and the speaker of the House like to put forward their belonging to the Catholic faith, as an argument to support some of their actions in the political arena, which are in direct contradiction to Catholic teachings and Canon law.

The Archbishop had tried on several occasions to hand an olive branch to Nancy Pelosi, despite her repeated scandalous positions. He wrote to her highlighting the path to redemption, only to be greeted by scorn and derision. Leaving Archbishop Cordileone, no other choice that the one he took

 

In doing so, he has become an exception among Bishops, (including the Archbishop of Rome) in being willing to call a cat a cat. The lukewarm  USCCB has mostly shined by its silence and lack of courage.

You can read all the details of the situation Here

A couple of weeks ago, I  questioned why the Agana Archdiocese had not taken the same actions in regards to two local activists who continue to bring scandal and discord, to the Catholic Church on Guam, for advocating the same things that the Speaker of the House

Both Governor Lou Leon Guerrero

and her pitbull at the BWA

Jayne Flores

Have brought Scandal and division in the Catholic Church of Guam

The question therefore is where is Archbishop Byrnes?

 

 

Before you leave Archbishop, why don't you do the right, and the courageous thing for your flock?

NEW REVELATIONS ABOUT APURON SCAMS.

 Posted by frenchie

Apuron the disgraced former Archbishop of Agana and accused child rapist

apparently has not stayed still while the Archdiocese is reeling from 30 years of mismanagement, and when many good will people try to find a meaningful way to give some sense of closing to the victims of sexual abuse .

Kandit News, the Breaking News Organization run by Mr Torres (himself a victim of sexual abuse) reveals some of the Real Estate shenanigans  Apuron has engaged in, just before and after leaving the island.

You can read the article from Kandit News Here

Apparently Kandit News has dug into the real estate transactions of Apuron, and found these new revelations.

For those of us that are familiar with the depth of depravity of Apuron, it will not be surprising. To those who still think he was the "victim" of a cabal, perhaps it will be a wake-up call

THE PERSECUTIONS ACCELERATE. THIS TIME IN ISRAEL, THE BIRTHPLACE OF OUR LORD

 posted by frenchie

Shireen Abu Akleh, a Christian Palestinian American veteran reporter of the Middle East was shot through the head on Wednesday May 11th by Isreali Forces in the Occupied West Bank territory while she was covering Israeli army raids in the city of Jenin in the Northern West Bank.

On Friday  morning as the funeral cortege was attempting to leave the courtyard of the St Joseph hospital in Jerusalem, IDF charged the crowd under the pretense that they had received stones.

During the charge, people were bitten with truncheons, including the Pall bearers, who at one point dropped the coffin to the ground. A man carrying a large flower cross was beaten to the point he dropped the cross on several occasion.

You can see one of many reports Here

Finally a hearse was authorized to take the coffin to the Cathedral of the Announciation of the Virgin of Jerusalem Old City (under Israeli military presence) for a funeral Mass.

Sadly this assault of a Catholic Funeral march did not even raised a protest from the Vatican.

After the funeral Mass, the procession was allowed to proceed to the Mt Zion cemetery where she was buried next to her parents.

The White House reacted to the death of an American journalist, with the bare minimum. Jen Psaki stating :" we regret the intrusion into what should have been a peaceful procession. We urged respect for mourners and family"

The relentless persecution of Palestinian Christians over the last 75 years has resulted in the immigration of millions from Jerusalem and the West Bank, with only lip service given from the Vatican and the West who have abandoned the oldest Christian communities in the World as de facto victims of Ethnic cleansing. 

Lets pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters

UPCOMING PRO LIFE CONFERENCE

 Posted by frenchie

THE PERSECUTION IS INCREASING, WHILE THE SHEPPERDS REFUSE TO CARE FOR THEIR FLOCK.

 Posted by frenchie

Pope Francis

who is supposed to be the shepperd of the whole Catholic Church, betrayed the Chinese Catholics a couple of years ago, while the world was in the lock down generated by the campaign of fear provided by the Wuhan virus pandemic.

 

After sending his chief of the Vatican diplomatic corp, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, (the former best friend of Cardinal Filoni, before becoming his worst enemy) to the People's Republic of China, Francis reached a secret agreement with the Communist Government. Something that no other Pontiff  had done before. Even the least intelligent of them had a profound understanding of the intrinsic  evil represented by the Communist doctrine.

Perhaps it was George Bergoglio's past as an activist in the Peronist movement in his native Argentina that blurred his judgement.

Perhaps it was the embrace that his order gave to the doctrine of the Liberation theology, which had earned  one of its main proponent, Jesuit Jon Sobrino to be publicly rebuffed by then Cardinal Ratzinger

Only God and George Bergoglio know for sure. But the end result is a shameful accord with the totalitarian regime of Xi Xinping.

 

This accord was strongly denounced by Hong Kong Archbishop Emeritus  Cardinal Zen, the de facto leader of the Chinese Catholic Community. A man of great moral presence. Small of stature and at times looking frail, he is actually a giant among the dwarfs of the Vatican.

We learned that yesterday evening the Hong Kong Police detained the now 90 years old Cardinal under sedition charges and working for a foreign power.

The most disturbing about this whole episode, is that just last week, the Cardinal despite his advanced age had traveled to the Vatican to ask for an audience with Francis. But Francis was too busy planting trees and lecturing Catholics on Global Warming to be bothered  by such menial issues, and refused to meet with the Cardinal. Upon his return to Hong Kong the Cardinal was arrested by the Communist regime goons.

Is it me? Or is this strangely similar to the kiss of Judas in the Garden of olives? The parallel is disheartening.

You can see more information from the Remnant by clicking here

It looks like the warnings of Our Lady of Fatima have fell on deaf ears. At a time when the pagan hordes that advocate for Abortion for the murder of innocent unborn children, are fire bombing women pro life offices, tagging Catholic Churches and desecrating said churches, while threatening harm to the supreme court justices; with the full acquiescence, if not encouragement from Catholics in Name Only like President select Biden, or the old vampire Nancy Pelosi .

 

Here on Guam Lou Leon Guerrero the most ardent pro Abortion advocate on island is running for a second term, while her head of "women affairs" continues her relentless and disgusting advocacy for the murder of innocent  children, while continuing to received communion.

 

The silence of the Bishops, including the one of Rome is absolutely deafening. Do not be fooled, the persecution of Catholics in particular, and Christians in general is coming at great speed towards us.

It is time to pick up the gaunlet and say no to this evil.

A GROWING SCANDAL IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH ON GUAM....THE CHANCERY IS DOING......?

 Posted by Frenchie.

ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!!!

 

-

THAT IS RIGHT: THE CHANCERY IS DOING ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

 

 

What is this scandal we are talking about?

Well it has been front and center in the local media for the last four weeks.

We are talking about the legislature's bill #  291-36  introduced by a bipartisan  group in order to give more protection to the unborn.

 

This has led to a vociferous and vicious campaign of white lies and gross mis-characterisation, from the radical feminists advocating for infanticide under any circumstances.

Governor Lou Leon Guerrero-Cook fearing that this time her candidacy  for re-election could run into trouble with some of her base, has chosen to unleash her pitbull: Jane Flores to lead the charge against this legislation. Her daughter Dr Cook-Nugyen even wrote a letter to the editor trying to give cover to the" fly by your pants medical arguments' against the bill. Only to be schooled in an adverse column by Dr Shieh.

This has not slowed down the campaign against proposition 291-36 .

Yesterday Sunday May 1st, Jane Flores decided to go to Church in my local parish with her family, which is not her regular parish. Apparently she has had some issues with some of the parishioners there, because of her advocacy which brings SCANDAL  and created tension in said parish.

Yesterday, Jane Flores had the audacity to present herself for communion, and taking advantage of the mask, she received it in her hands. Bringing more SCANDAL around another parish. When I asked the priest after the office, why he had granted communion to the person responsible for bringing chemical abortion on the island, he seemed absolutely shocked and dismayed, that he had been lured in doing so.

This pastor and several others contacted earlier today, agree that the Chancery and the Archbishop  not taking any action on this subject has created a situation of lose, lose for all the priests,as well as parishioners being distraught by such situation. 

Here we have an individual, who advocates vociferously against the teachings of our Church, but also against the most simple and basic moral issue of infanticide, who deliberately flaunts her arrogance, and brings scandal, shame  and discord to parishes around the island. All the while putting her own soul in danger of eternal damnation for receiving the Eucharist while not in a state of Grace.

Why does the Chancery not react accordingly?

Is it because we have no chancellor? Or is it because the multi hats wearer from Detroit Fr. Richards has left us? Is it because the new Vicar General is still not up to speed with his duties?

Or is it because the Archbishop is ready to resign due to health reason?

 The Umatuna Si Yu'os 

is encouraging people to join the "Rally for life" tomorrow May 3rd.

 

The question remains, why is the Chancery doing absolutely nothing about people like Jane Flores who insist on bringing SCANDAL into the Church? 

ESPERANSA PROJECT - UPDATE

 The Esperana Project website has updates on the Heartbeat Act. www.esperansa.org

ROBERT KLITZKIE: ABORTION BOTTOM LINE

 Abortion bottom line

by Robert Klitzkie, Guam Daily Post, Apr. 27, 2022

They’ll flood the media with sophistry, strawman, false dilemma, faulty equivalence, et tu quoque and appeal to authority but no matter what logical fallacy, cheap shot, legislative legerdemain, deflection or mischaracterization the pro-abortion gang employs, it doesn’t change the answer to the fundamental question:

When is it OK to take the life of a helpless, innocent human?

Never!

KANDIT NEWS UNCOVER ANOTHER DOCUMENT RELATED TO THE FAILED FR. WADESON

 By Frenchie

Fr Wadeson

officially "retired off island"

Fr Wadeson the Neo Presbyter who changes addresses as often as most people change shirts, is again

at the center of another scandalous affair.

Kandit News just revealed in a column yesterday a new document  about how the Apuron's administration continued to cover up for child abusers.

 

You can read the  article Here

Tim Rohr on this website did a long and difficult research about father Wadeson.

It was Junglewatch  findings about his residency in San Francisco that led to Archbishop Cordileone to removed him from authorization to work in that Archdiocese. He then escaped to location unknown, before being spotted in a New York parish tied to the Neos, he then was again on the move, escorting Boston (the Archdiocese of Cardinal O'Malley, the biggest backer of the Neos since the fall of Mc Carrick) Catholics to the Holy Land. 

You can consult the many articles on Wadeson in the junglewatch files by typing Wadeson

He showed up from time to time on Guam to celebrate Mass in Agat, another Neo's stronghold.

Finally we discovered him, hiding in Alabama in a parish near the EWTN studios where the Gennarini's

heir is sitting on the board of directors.

 

Finally after being summoned back on island by Archbishop Byrnes, he was allowed to retired off island. This means that we still pay for his retirement stipends. The last we heard, he is still moving along the predator railroad, run by the NCW

He has been seen in several locations where the Neos  like to congregate.

Apparently the Law firm of Anderson in the Twin Cities is asking for information related to Wadeson, and they seem to be on the hunt for possible victims, from this failed priest, who seems to have a propensity to be always one step ahead of the searchers.

Sounds like the story is far from over.

LETTER BY PETER SGRO JR: ABORTION STOPS A BEATING HEART

 Read at Esperansa.org

REPUBLIC PARTY OF GUAM PRO-LIFE STATEMENT IS SOLID

 Read at Esperansa.org

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: There is no medical justification for abortion

 There is no medical justification for abortion

by: Marjorie DeBenedictis, M.D.

It disappoints me that some members of the Guam’s medical community taint the profession by supporting the deliberate killing of unborn children – in blunt language, that is what "termination of pregnancy" means. Whenever a pregnant woman presents herself to a doctor, the physician is responsible for treating two patients — and this does not include fulfilling the wish of the woman (or her male partner) to rid herself of an unwanted child.

CONTINUED

FATHER STU

 Posted by frenchie

If you wish to see a good movie with your family during this Paschal season, you should consider the latest movie from Mark Walhberg: FATHER STU.

 

It is an uplifting movie, based on the real life experience of a troubled man, who rediscover God, and decide to become a priest despite facing a life altering physical challenge.

It is being shown in movie theaters on Guam at this time. Unfortunately we never know how long good Catholic movies remain opened to the public, on our island, therefore do not hesitate to make it a family outing while it last.

A WELCOME STATEMENT FROM THE CHANCERY LAST FRIDAY

 Posted by frenchie     

Last Friday Archbishop Byrnes penned a short article in which he underlined the essential respect of all lives, including the unborn children.

In a well articulated way he reminded us all of our duties to protect the most fragile in our Society.

Tomorrow, the Archbishop is scheduled to make a Statement at 11.00am at the Cathedral, alongside the main pro life catholic organization, in favor of a new legislation being brought up at the Senate.

We shall report on the statement tomorrow.

KANDIT NEWS FOR THE SECOND TIME IN TWO WEEKS SHADE LIGHT ON THE NEOS.

 Posted by frenchie

Last week and in the second time in as many weeks Troy Torres, the founder of the Kandit News Group, shade more lights on the NCW and how they generated a fake news regarding him and other people he knew.

You can read the whole articleHere

Warning: the content of the article can be shocking at times, proceed with caution

 

After revealing many lurid details about our political scene, and certain actors at one of the largest bank on Guam. Troy ends his expose by also shading light on how the Neos attacked people they considered as a threat to their temporary hegemony.

In particular he talked about the attacks of the Neos on the founder of this website: Tim Rohr

by trying to destroy his family, in vicious and slanderous ways
 

LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Criticism of anti-abortion bill really misses the mark

 Criticism of anti-abortion bill really misses the mark

by Tim Rohr

In “Health, not politics, should drive medical decisions” (The Guam Daily Post, Letter to the Editor, Apr. 11, 2022), the authors, Anita Arriola and 12 other women, began their letter with: “It’s like clockwork: you can count on it. Virtually every election year one or more senators copy an anti-abortion bill, ... slap their names on it, and introduce it in the Guam Legislature.”

As the saying goes: you are welcome to your own opinion but not your own facts.

The last “anti-abortion bill” introduced by a Guam lawmaker was in 2016, an election year, but given it was introduced in January, nearly a year before the election, it hardly qualifies as a campaign move.

CONTINUED

NO!!! WE ARE NOT ALONE TO THINK THE NEOS HIERARCHY IS A DANGEROUS BUNCH

 Posted by frenchie

This past Saturday, Kandit News, the Guam version of mud raking journalism, ran an excellent report which we put as a link on this site.

Apparently Mr Torres has several contacts in the Diocese of Chalang Kanoa, which confirmed most of what we have been advancing for the past few years.

Kandit even came up with some novel news regarding a possible successor to Archbishop Byrnes.

Despite this, the drive by media on Guam is not covering much of the intricate and  incestuous   relationship between the NCW and several key actors both at the BOG and at Adelup.

 

The thirst for power embodied by Lou Leon Guerrero, the best known advocate for the murder of unborn children on our island, is only matched by the thirst of power of the Neos in the Catholic Church.

There is definitely a convergence of goals, between these power seekers, that should alarm everyone, or anyone with even the tiniest of consideration for truth and morality, two concepts that are at the antipode of what these two machines stand for .

Please pray for discernment and enlightment.

KANDIT NEWS SPOTLIGHT

 IS CATHOLICISM SAFE FROM ITS PREDATORS IN THE MARIANAS

A Kandit News Story by Troy Torres

https://kanditnews.com/spotlight-is-catholicism-safe-from-its-predators-in-the-marianas/

NEVER LET A GOOD CRISIS GO TO WASTE

 Posted by frenchie.

Rham Emmanuel, 55th Mayor of Chicago, former Chief of Staff of Obama's White House, famous DNC operative, brother of Hollywood legend and son of famed Jewish terrorist from the Irgun (turned pediatrician in the USA) famously penned this new motto of the left:

"Never let a good crisis go to waste"

 

 

Genarrini, the NCW leader in the USA, did not forget this lesson. Perhaps it is their common leftist background that allow for that communion of ideas.

Cardinal O'Malley the Capuchin Cardinal of Boston and one of the most notable backer of the Neos in the USA, (now that Mc Carrick has fallen) regularly runs positive stories about some of the NCW initiatives or actors. This week is not an exception.  In the widely distributed journal of the Archdiocese of Boston, the Pilot: O'Malley  used the tragedy of the armed conflict in Ukraine to lionize the actions of one of the presbyter of the NCW in Ukraine.

For those who doubt of the strong affiliation between O'Malley, Kiko, and Genarrini, ask why O'Malley is the Chair of the NCW's Domus Galilae in Israel, the multi million venture of the Neos on the shores of the dead sea in Israel?

Read Below the article runned in the Pilot, earlier this week, and compare how this fit with the letter from Archbishop Vigano, that we published yesterday

Father Pedro Zafra is a 31-year-old priest from CÓrdoba, Spain, who arrived in Kyiv in 2011 for priestly formation. He was ordained last June and is a member of the Neocatechumenal Way. The priest serves the parish of the Assumption of the Virgin in the Ukrainian capital.

Despite the outbreak of war, the priest decided to stay with his parishioners and not leave the country. "It was an inner battle," he said, adding that he found the answer in prayer with a passage from the Gospel which "spoke of the mission and the support of God's grace to carry it forward," and that's why he decided to stay.

Until Feb. 24, when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, life in the parish was like that in any other. But since the start of the war, the parish has become a reception center, where more than 20 parishioners are sheltered in the basement because their houses weren't safe enough.

"We have several elderly people in wheelchairs, families with their small and adolescent children, and some young missionaries," Fr. Zafra told the Spanish daily ABC, and stressed that living through this situation in community "helps us a lot to cope with it."

"I'm not a hero. I couldn't handle this situation by myself. It's God who gives me strength through prayer and the sacraments," he said.

---

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"There are times when I become a little anxious in the meaninglessness of not understanding the human reason for what is happening, but now I have found much more meaning in prayer and the sacraments, which give me the grace not to flee and persevere with those who are suffering," the priest explained.

Fr. Zafra said this improvised community gets up at 7:30 am, prays together, has breakfast, and then spends the morning doing different tasks. In his case he usually visits the sick and elderly who can't leave their homes, to bring them Communion and anything they may need.

In addition, according to ABC, the Assumption of the Virgin parish functions as a distribution center for humanitarian aid because many people, including non-believers, come there every day to ask for material and financial help.

The vast majority of basic services such as gas stations, supermarkets, and pharmacies remain open and Fr. Zafra says that they go about normally, although on occasion they have heard explosions in the distance.

The parish also continues its activities with relative normality, although they have rescheduled Mass earlier so the faithful can return to their homes before curfew, and at times with the risk of bombing they moved the celebration to the basement. In recent weeks they have celebrated two First Communions and three weddings.

The priest also noted that this last month the number of people who attend Mass has increased. "People come looking for an answer to suffering. Before they had their job, their life project and now all that has disappeared, they no longer have any security and they are looking for an answer from God," the priest told ABC.

Fr. Zafra stressed the great suffering of the Ukrainian people: "There is a lot of tension, concern for security, for life itself. The uncertainty created by not knowing what's going to happen, living from day to day. We don't know if we're going to be alive tomorrow or not."

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It is surprising the Diana has not published this in her rag yet....

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