Priest pleads for international assistance as Syrian refugees overwhelm Lebanon : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

The following excerpts are from Catholic Culture's Catholic World News:

• The number of refugees who have fled Syria for Lebanon has surged to 1.2 million and threatens to overwhelm Lebanese institutions, according to the president of Caritas Lebanon.
• “Please listen to the suffering of the Syrian people inside Syria and around in the neighboring countries, especially in Lebanon. Lebanon has four million inhabitants; we are hosting 1.2 million Syrian people....

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Priest pleads for international assistance as Syrian refugees overwhelm Lebanon : News Headlines - Catholic Culture

N.C. Governor Proposes Closing State Trooper Dispatch Office In Asheville

The area of the map shaded in light yellow, shows the area from Asheville to Hickory, which is a distance of just over 77 miles.

Attention all who live or travel in Western North Carolina. North Carolina Governor Pat McRory has proposed closing dispatch offices of the North Carolina State Troopers (Highway Patrol), including the dispatch office on Tunnel Road in Asheville. The dispatching of state troopers for Western North Carolina would then come from Hickory, North Carolina. This can result in dangerous and potentially life threatening situations for travellers due to the inevitable delays in dispatching state troopers throughout the western part of the state.

Please contact your representatives in the state house and senate, by either email or telephone, and tell them you oppose the closing of the Asheville dispatch office of the North Carolina State Troopers. You may find your representatives contact information by clicking this link, and after finding his or her name in the list, click on their name for the contact info.

You can do the same for your state senator by clicking this link.

You can also contact the Office of the Governor by clicking this link and clicking "Email Pat"or by calling (919) 733-5811. You can also Fax the Office of the Governor at (919) 733-2120/

From The Dignitatis Humanae Institute: West responds with indifference as rioters murder Egyptian Christians in their own Cathedral

Note: The following is a press release from The Dignitatis Humanae Institute

Rome, 12 April 2013

Following the deadliest sectarian violence seen in months, the Coptic Pope, Tawadros II, has publically decried the record of President Morsi and his Egyptian government for failing to safeguard Christian communities from repeated hate attacks.

Tawadros II comments came after two incidents in Cairo saw at least five Christians murdered and up to a hundred injured. Funeral mourners at St Mark's Coptic Cathedral were set upon as they tried to leave the Church grounds, attacked with weapons ranging from stones to molotov cocktails and automatic firearms. It took security forces five hours to arrive on the scene, and only after the bloodshed had occurred.

The public rebuke from Tawadros II, the first directly attacking President Morsi, demonstrates the despair with the lack of political will, domestic and international, to recognise the gravity of these repeated persecutions and to take the necessary steps to safeguard Christian communities. Instead, the ruling Muslim Brotherhood has demonstrated a casual indifference towards the plight of the 8 million citizens that make up the Christian community of Egypt.

Christians have long been a persecuted minority in Egypt, yet what little protections that existed under the previous regime have now been swept aside by mob rule and unchecked spates of violence. Such a drift has been seen across the Mena region, with the initial optimism of the Arab Spring now giving way to a Christian Winter. Instead of emerging democracies, the domestic upheaval has led to a resurgence of Salafist fundamentalism. Increasingly, Christian people in predominantly Muslim nations are being harassed and terrorised to the point of seeking emigration.

In support of Tawadros II remarks, Lord Alton, Honorary President of the British Coptic Association and Chairman of the Cross-Party Working Group on Human Dignity, stated:

"When Mohamed Morsi was first elected, after 29 years of Mubarak's dictatorial rule, he was entrusted with a unique and brief opportunity to overturn a history of religious discrimination in Egypt; and indeed he pledged to do so.

As Pope Tawadros II has stated today, the negligence of the Egyptian government demands actions not more words. Any further financial aid to Egypt should be contingent on a notable increase in the state protection afforded to the Christian minority. The international community cannot continue bankrolling President Morsi whilst remaining indifferent to the failings of his government in its primary purpose, to protect its people from harm."    

The Dignitatis Humanae Institute aims to uphold human dignity based on the anthropological truth that man is born in the image and likeness of God and therefore has an innate human dignity of infinite worth to be upheld. The Institute promotes this understanding by supporting Christians in public life, assisting them to present effective and coherent responses to increasing efforts to silence the Christian voice in the public square.