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Former Marlins Manager, Jack McKeon, credits Daily Mass & St. Therese with helping baseball career

admin — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 17:40:00 +0000

October 3, 2012 / MariaNews.com

Former Marlins Manager, Jack McKeon, credits Daily Mass & St. Therese with helping baseball career

By Trent Beattie

Most 80-year-olds would never consider managing a professional baseball team. Then again, most 80-year-olds would never be asked to manage a professional baseball team.

Yet, in June 2011, Jack McKeon accepted the then-Florida (now Miami) Marlins’ offer to lead the team as interim manager.

McKeon’s previous stint with the Marlins included a World Series Championship in 2003. He was a relatively young 72 at the time, but was nonetheless the oldest manager ever to win a World Series. The South Amboy, N.J., native attributes his success not only to perseverance, but also to daily Mass attendance and the intercession of St. Thérèse of the Child Jesus, the doctor of the Church whose feast day the Church celebrates toiday.

McKeon, now 81, spoke with Register correspondent Trent Beattie about his long history in and appreciation for what he calls a kid’s game.

How did you get started in professional baseball?

When I was in high school — I think we had automobiles by then — I played well enough to attract the attention of several major-league clubs. Back then, there wasn’t the draft like we have today, so the scouts would actually come to my house to talk with my father and me.

However, my father was adamant that his boys would go to college, so instead of signing with a team, I ended up going to the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Mass. Every day, I would pass by a beautiful picture of the Blessed Virgin on the way to the dining hall. I thought it would be a good idea to ask for her intercession to convince my father to let me play baseball professionally.

When I went home for Christmas break my freshman year, I asked my father again about signing with a major-league club. He said, “You really want to play professionally, don’t you?” I told him, “Yes,” and he said, “Let’s make a deal. I’ll let you sign with a major-league club if you get a college degree.” I agreed, and, eight years later, I held up on my end of the bargain.
Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/oldest-manager-to-win-world-series-still-enjoys-kids-game/#ixzz28G4xsSkD

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1,000 important documents found in Pope’s former butler possession

admin — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 17:21:07 +0000

October 3, 2012 / MariaNews.com

1,000 important documents found in Pope’s former butler possession

By Catholic Online

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) – Gabriele, accused in the theft of official Vatican documents, the former butler declared himself innocent this week of a charge of aggravated theft in connection with leaked documents, He did express regret at abusing the pope’s trust.

Police say they found many newspaper clippings and printouts from Internet searches, according to a briefing from the small pool of journalists allowed to attend the trial in a Vatican courthouse. Much of the material had a religious or spiritual theme, touching on Buddhism, Christianity, Catholicism and yoga, while other articles concerned Freemasonry.

Four officers said it had taken them almost eight hours to search through the papers accumulated by Gabriele. They had found “important” documents mixed in with irrelevant material, they said as if it “had been hidden.”

A gold nugget belonging to the pope and a check made out to the pontiff were also discovered in a shoebox.

Investigators did not give “much weight” to the discovery of the gold nugget and signed check because they “knew that it was Gabriele’s job to handle the gifts the pope received during his trips.”

Computers, an iPad, a hard drive and USB drives were seized in the raid.

Eighty-two boxes of evidence were collected from Gabriele’s apartments in Vatican City and Castel Gondolfo, a small town near Rome.

Gabriele had previously admitted to taking hundreds of secret papers from the pope’s personal apartment and passing them along to an Italian journalist.

The trial is expected to wrap up on Saturday, when the prosecutor and defense lawyer are due to give their closing statements and rebuttals.

Gabriele has the right to speak again before the three lay judges retire to consider their verdict, which could come the same day.

“I feel guilty of having betrayed the trust that the Holy Father gave me,” Gabriele has previously said.

Gabriele insists that he made no personal gain from collecting the documents and that he had no accomplices. He said he wanted to expose the “disconcerting atmosphere” within the Vatican.

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Headlines from Apollo: Images from Papal Visit to Lebanon and Spanish Facebook

admin — Thu, 20 Sep 2012 14:45:31 +0000

September 20, 2012 / MariaNews.com

Headlines from Apollo: - Striking images from the Pope’s visit to Lebanon

See More at Catholic World Report

2. U.S. Bishops launch Spanish Facebook page as Hispanic community grows:

- As new statistics show the accelerated growth of the Hispanic population in many areas of the country, the U.S. bishops’ conference has launched a Spanish-language Facebook page.

Bishop John C. Wester of Salt Lake City, who heads the U.S. bishops’ communications committee, explained that “Hispanics make up 16 percent of the total U.S. population, almost 40 percent of U.S. Catholics, and 50 percent of U.S. Catholics under age 25.”

“It is critically important to engage this demographic, especially through the expanding field of social media, and provide them with accurate, quality information that encourages them to grow in their faith,” he said.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has operated an English-language Facebook page for about three years, reaching more than 40,000 people.

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Model who converted in Medjugorje had vision of St. Padre Pio

admin — Thu, 13 Sep 2012 14:23:37 +0000

September 13, 2012 / MariaNews.com

Model who converted in Medjugorje had vision of St. Padre Pio

By Daniel Klimek

MedjugorjeToday.tv – Before she had a life-transforming conversion in Medjugorje, the Polish model Ania Golędzinowska lived a life of celebrity, substance abuse, and hostility toward the Catholic Church. One night a mysterious stranger arrived to admonish her. Years later she recognized him as Saint Padre Pio.

Eight years ago Polish model Ania Golędzinowska woke up in the middle of the night in her Italian home to find a mysterious man standing by the side of her bed, shaking his head at her in disappointment. It was only years later when she moved to Medjugorje in 2011 and was given a book about Saint Padre Pio that Golędzinowska recognized the man’s face.

When she experienced the mysterious encounter, Golędzinowska was leading a far from virtuous life.

Though a successful model, an actress in Italian sitcoms, and a TV presenter, she admits to struggling with substance abuse, lacking faith in God, and even developing a strong resentment toward the Catholic Church.

Saint Pio, she believes, came to warn her to change her ways. The former model recalls the day when she finally identified him:

“For years, I did not know who he was. Even in my book I reported this incident but did not include the man’s name” Ania Golędzinowska told Brother Marcin Radomski in an interview she gave earlier this year in Łomża, Poland. This is the first time this part of her story is being told in English.

“It was only five months ago in Medjugorje that somebody gave me a book about the life of Padre Pio, and for the first time, after eight years, I could give the name of the person who eight years ago came to admonish me, to warn me that if I would continue leading my life this way then I would not go far.”

Golędzinowska was very open about how far away she strayed from the Church in those years, to the point of developing a hatred for all things Catholic.

“I was far from the Church. If I would get a chance, I would shoot all priests and nuns. Whenever I saw a church, I would cross to the other side of the street. I abused drugs. I drank.”

Then one night a warning came. Even her dog, Golędzinowska recalls, sensed the presence of a stranger in the room, suggesting to her that this was no hallucination.

“A certain day, a certain night I woke up because my dog was barking. And by the side of my bed stood this man, older, with a beard, and he was looking at me, shaking his head. I thought that it was some kind of hallucination because of the alcohol or drugs – no, this is not possible, I thought. Then I turned on the light, and this man was still standing by my bedside, shaking his head and my dog was still barking at him.”

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LIFE wristband dropped in Walmart parking lot, saves baby from abortion

Staff — Sat, 08 Sep 2012 15:46:54 +0000

September 8, 2012 / MariaNews.com

LIFE wristband dropped in Walmart parking lot, saves baby from abortion

By Life Site News

MANKATO, MINNESOTA (lifesitenews.com) - Rachel remembers being excited as she purchased a red Bound4LIFE bracelet with the single word LIFE engraved on it. Wearing the bracelet wasn’t a fad or fashion statement for her, but a sign of her commitment to pray daily for the ending of abortion.

But one day, as Rachel was loading groceries into her car from Walmart, the LIFE Band inexplicably slipped off her wrist and landed on the parking lot, without her even knowing it had happened.

“I looked everywhere for it — in my car, my bedroom, everywhere,” said Rachel in a testimony obtained by LifeSiteNews. “I finally decided that it must have slipped off while I was carrying those groceries to the car.”

While being perplexed about how the bracelet could have fallen off her wrist without her knowing it, Rachel nevertheless hoped that “somebody who needs it will find it.”

Not many months later, Rachel began a job as a server in a local Olive Garden restaurant. One day a mother and her newborn baby came in and were seated in her section.

Rachel greeted the woman at the table and remembers her being “very pretty” and “probably in her mid-20s.”

“She seemed a bit shy, but she smiled as I greeted her.”

Rachel served her a drink, took her order, and made some small talk about how the woman’s baby was beautiful and seemed so peaceful as she slept in her baby seat.

As Rachel talked to the woman, she caught a quick glimpse of a red bracelet wrapped around the woman’s wrist with the distinctive word LIFE engraved on it.

“You have a LIFE Band, huh?” Rachel ventured.

The woman was at first confused about what Rachel was referring to, but then clued in.

“Yeah, I found this in a parking lot,” the woman replied.

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Court grants bail to Christian girl in Pakistan

admin — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 14:17:51 +0000

September 7, 2012 / MariaNews.com

Court grants bail to Christian girl in Pakistan

UCANews.com -

A Christian girl detained for three weeks on controversial blasphemy charges has been released on bail.

Rawalpindi District Court today granted bail set at 500,000 rupees (US$5,282) bail to 14-year-old Rimsha Masih, who was accused of burning pages of the Qu’ran.

Her release follows the arrest of her accuser, the imam of a mosque near her home in Islamabad, who allegedly added Quranic pages to a bag containing the pages she allegedly burned, to strengthen the evidence against her.

The case against her has drawn widespread international condemnation.

“It’s a big achievement and will boost public trust in the judiciary of this country. This is the first time a false accuser has been arrested. We thank clerics, media and the nation for supporting the cause,” her lawyer Tahir Naveed Chaudhry said after the court hearing.

However the central executive committee member of the All Pakistan Minority Alliance, a Christian political party, said there were still fears for Rimsha’s safety.

“An accused usually leaves the city after being charged with such serious allegations [especially ones] which deal with religious sentiments,” he said.

“Even judges and lawyers face threats. Likewise we shall move the family to a safe location.”

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Obama Enjoys Massive Lead Among Those With No Religion

admin — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 14:03:18 +0000

September 7, 2012 / MariaNews.com

Obama Enjoys Massive Lead Among Those With No Religion

(CNSNews.com) – President Barack Obama enjoys a massive lead over Mitt Romney among registered voters who say they have no religion, according to the Gallup tracking pollof the presidential race.

In the three-week period that ended on Sept. 2, according to Gallup, Obama led Romney 69 percent to 23 percent among those who have no religion. That was exactly the same result Gallup got in the previous three-week period ending Aug. 26.

Since Gallup started publishing demographic breakouts of its tracking poll on May 6, Obama has always held a large lead among registered voters who say they have no religion. Even so, he has managed to grow that lead.

In the three week period ending May 6, Obama led Romney 63 percent to 27 percent among registered voters with no religion.

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Medjugorje spared as fires leave devastation behind

admin — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 14:32:36 +0000

September 6, 2012 / MariaNews.com

Medjugorje spared as fires leave devastation behind

By Jakob Marschner -

Throughout September 2, firefighters assisted by the army struggled without ceasing to gain control of the multitude of fires around Medjugorje.

The major operation had the positive effect that all human beings and houses were spared. Other buildings burned, though, along with large areas covered by forests and vineyards. The damage is very big, local news portal citluk.ba reports.

To help the firefighters and rescue local people, assistance was requested from the army and from neighboring districts less affected by the fires. A helicopter took part in extinguishing until dusk when poor visibility caused this part of the operation to cease.

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Mystery surrounds massacre at Venezuelan village

admin — Thu, 06 Sep 2012 14:24:02 +0000

September 6, 2012 / MariaNews.com

Mystery surrounds massacre at Venezuelan village

By Catholic Online

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) – “Although there are questions about the number of victims, the activity of the garimpeiros (illegal gold miners who cross the border from Brazil) in that area and their sometimes difficult relations with the Yanomami communities have been known about for years,” José Ángel Divassón, a Catholic bishop in Amazonas state told IPS.

Located at the bottom tip of Venezuela, the area of 108 square miles is home to 15 different indigenous groups. A large part of the state is covered with virgin jungle fed by the waters of the tributaries of the Orinoco and Amazon rivers.

As way of explanation of the massacre, an environmental protection law banned mining in the entire mineral-rich state in 1989.

But “the garimpeiros, pressured by the authorities in northern Brazil, cross into Venezuela and establish relations with the Yanomami, to get their support in exchange for some goods. But sometimes that cooperation breaks down,” Divassón says. His order carries out missionary work throughout the state of Amazonas.

The Horonami Yanomami Organization filed a request in the public prosecutor’s office in Puerto Ayacucho last month for an investigation of the massacre reported by three survivors from Irotatheri, the village where the killings apparently took place in early July.

The Horonami Organization’s request was backed by four other communities in the area of the headwaters of the Ocamo river and the Parima Sierra along the border with Brazil.

The survivors “had gone out to hunt and heard the noise of a helicopter in which the garimpeiros arrived, and the sound of explosions and gunshot in the ‘shabono’ (round, straw-roofed communal hut), which they found burnt down. Eighty people lived there,” Horonami leader Luis Shatiwë told prosecutors.

Members of the Hokomawe community also saw the burnt remains of the shabono. Charred human bodies and bones were also in plain view. The group informed Shatiwë, who reported it to members of army Brigade 52, which operates in the area, on July 27, according to the Horonami Organization.

Marcos de Oliveira at Brazil’s Socio-environmental Institute told newspaper journalists that an injured survivor from Irotatheri reached a shabono on the Brazilian side of the border, where he was given medical assistance and was taken in by relatives in another community.

“Due to the community’s remote location, it took the Indians who discovered the bodies days to walk to the nearest settlement to report the tragedy,” according to Survival International, a global organization that helps tribal peoples.

Thirteen native organizations from the region, representing different indigenous communities, expressed solidarity with the Horonami Organization’s denunciation. They said in a statement that the Yanomami communities in the area of the headwaters of the Ocamo river “have been invaded and attacked by illegal miners from Brazil for more than four years.

“Since 2009, we have been informing state bodies in Venezuela of the presence of garimpeiros in the Alto Ocamo, attacks on the Momoi and Hokomawe communities, physical violence, threats, the exploitation of women, and the contamination of water with mercury, which has left a number of Yanomami dead,” the document says.

A version of this story was first published by Inter Press Service news agency.

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Carmelite Sisters to open assisted-living cottage for the elderly in Duarte, California

admin — Wed, 05 Sep 2012 15:58:05 +0000

September 5, 2012 / MariaNews.com

Headlines from Apollo - Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart to open assisted-living cottage for the elderly

NCRRegister.com -

The Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart will celebrate the grand opening of The Rose Gardens at Santa Teresita: A Neighborhood of Care, their first assisted-living cottage for the elderly, on Sept. 8 in Duarte, Calif.

The home is the result of years of planning and reflection on the part of the sisters and represents their best effort to create a wholesome Catholic environment in which the elderly can live out their final years in preparation for entry into eternity.

“Children prepare for entry into school and couples prepare for marriage. Our seniors will soon cross the threshold of death and have the opportunity to enjoy the Beatific Vision. We need to prepare them for that,” said Sister Regina Marie Gorman, vicar general of the Carmelites. “We shouldn’t view our senior years as a time of decay or be in denial about our upcoming death, but instead see this period as a time of ripening and preparing to meet God.”
Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/religious-sisters-offer-more-compassionate-care-to-the-elderly/#ixzz25bxWdVnl

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