Firsthand Report: Afghan Doctor Recounts Family Escape and Tragedy

France24—French-Afghan doctor Mohammed Zahed Omar talks to FRANCE 24 about his dramatic escape from the Afghan capital and his fears for those unable to escape the Taliban. A doctor and pharmacist based in France, Omar was visiting family in Afghanistan when Taliban forces suddenly swept into Kabul on August 15, abruptly ending the country’s two-decade-long…

Private Citizen Raise More Than $20 Million in Three Days to Rescue Christians in Afghanistan

Private Citizen Raise More Than $20 Million in Three Days to Rescue Christians in Afghanistan

Private citizen and entrepreneurial news personality Glen Beck raised more than $20 MILLION IN LESS THAN THREE DAYS—all donated from other private citizens—to rescue Christians in Afghanistan immediately. Beck asked listeners to “give until it hurts,” whether it be $10 or $100 or more, and launched the plea with his personal donation of $100,000.  The…

Invitation & Resources: How Big Tech Censors Religious Voices, and How to Fight Back

Invitation & Resources: How Big Tech Censors Religious Voices, and How to Fight Back

Big Tech’s censorship of religious voices has continued. Napa Legal joins the Ethics and Public Policy Center to continue spotlighting this issue in an event discussing How Big Tech Censors Religious Voices, How to Fight Back.  In this special online event from the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) and Napa Legal, EPPC Policy Analyst Clare Morell interviews…

Cardinal Burke off COVID-19 ventilator and back in hospital room, family says

Cardinal Burke off COVID-19 ventilator and back in hospital room, family says

CNA—Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke has been removed from a ventilator and will move from the ICU to a hospital room as he continues to battle COVID-19. According to an Aug. 21 update on the cardinal’s health, Burke was able to speak by phone with his sister on Saturday morning and “expressed his deep gratitude for…

VA faith-based groups ask court to reconsider ruling that allows state to ruin them for their beliefs 

NOTE: This lawsuit — objecting to the horrific fines imposed for hiring people aligned with a nonprofit’s principles — directly affects Virginia-based Catholic schools and nonprofits . ALEXANDRIA, Va. – A new lawsuit challenges a Virginia law that forces nonprofit ministries to abandon their core convictions in hiring and other policies or face fines up…

Spirituality at the Intersection of a Career Transition and the Discernment of One’s Purpose

Spirituality at the Intersection of a Career Transition and the Discernment of One’s Purpose

A Review of Joe Murphy’s Spiritual Lifeboat. I was introduced to author Joe Murphy by Mary Jo Potter, the former Dignity Health Board Chair and a recent guest on my radio show, THE MENTORS RADIO. Mary Jo suggested we meet due to my work over 20 years helping more than 6,000 professionals navigate their career…

China and the Vatican

China and the Vatican

Father Paul Mariani, S.J., professor at Santa Clara University, gave a fascinating talk at the Napa Institute Summer Conference on the subject of China and the Vatican. Father Mariani’s presentation centered on a 2018 “provisional accord” between China and the Vatican that was apparently designed to work toward normalizing relations and resolving issues over the…

URGENT UPDATE: Cardinal Burke needs intensified prayers for COVID recovery

URGENT UPDATE: Cardinal Burke needs intensified prayers for COVID recovery

August 18,2021—3pm PST—We have just received word from Lifesite News that Cardinal Burke’s condition is rapidly deteriorating and that he is suffering severe side-effects of a COVID infection. He has developed severe pneumonia and is not responding to treatment. Please intensify prayers for this faithful shepherd! – CBJ Raymond Cardinal Burke, former bishop of La…

While No One is Looking: China holds assault drills near Taiwan after ‘provocations’

While No One is Looking: China holds assault drills near Taiwan after ‘provocations’

Reuters—Aug 16, 2021—China carried out assault drills near Taiwan on Tuesday with warships and fighter jets exercising off the southwest and southeast of the island, in what the country’s armed forces said was as a response to “external interference” and “provocations”. Taiwan, which Beijing claims as Chinese territory, has complained of repeated People’s Liberation Army…

China threatens Taiwan, saying Afghanistan withdrawal proves US ‘won’t help’ if war breaks out

China threatens Taiwan, saying Afghanistan withdrawal proves US ‘won’t help’ if war breaks out

While world attention is on Afghanistan crisis, China focuses on Taiwan… News.com.au (Australia)—Chinese state media has pounced on America’s botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, using the chaos to threaten one of its neighbours. China has pounced on the United States’ botched withdrawal from Afghanistan, using it to threaten the island of Taiwan. The Taliban has swept…

Chairman of Joint Chiefs warns of growth of al Qaeda, threat to US amid Taliban takeover of Afghanistan

Chairman of Joint Chiefs warns of growth of al Qaeda, threat to US amid Taliban takeover of Afghanistan

FoxNews—Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley warned lawmakers during a briefing over the weekend that terror groups like al-Qaeda may be able to grow at a much faster pace and pose a threat to the United States in the wake of the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, a source confirmed to Fox News.…

Parishioners killed in quake-damaged historic Haiti church

Parishioners killed in quake-damaged historic Haiti church

AFP—Its bell tower and yellow walls a sharp contrast with Haiti’s blue tropical sky, the historic Immaculee Conception church was the pride of Les Anglais, until it was destroyed by an earthquake Saturday, burying several faithful inside. “It was a beautiful church with very beautiful architecture,” said Fr. Wilson Exantus Andre, the parish priest at…

The Only Catholic parish  in Afghanistan

The Only Catholic parish in Afghanistan

Aug 16, 2021—Ambasciata d’Italia Kabul—The possibility to host a Catholic Chaplain within the Italian “legation” was provided by “The Agreement between Italy and Afghanistan to exchange permanent diplomatic missions” in 1921. King “Amanullah”, [who was] grateful to Italy for being the first western country to recognize formally the independence of Afghanistan, [and who] showed himself…

Catholics in Afghanistan

Catholics in Afghanistan

My godson is a parish priest. He is also military chaplain. In May of this year, he was called out of reserves to serve as the only Catholic chaplain (and perhaps the only chaplain) in the Middle East. He is assigned to bring the Sacraments—Holy Mass, Confession/Reconciliation, as well as spiritual listening and counseling, whatever…

Taliban Death Squads Mark Doors of Prominent Afghan Women in Chilling Crackdown

Taliban Death Squads Mark Doors of Prominent Afghan Women in Chilling Crackdown

The Sun—TALIBAN death squads have reportedly marked the doors of prominent Afghan women with paint as several female anchors are axed from TV in a chilling crackdown. Female journalists in Afghanistan are fearing for their lives and many have been “taken off air” as the Taliban’s reign of terror begins after the jihadi army seized…

To Where will Afghans flee?

To Where will Afghans flee?

As the USAF C-17 managed to depart from Afghanistan with at least 640 Afghans on board and two who sadly met their death as they fell off the outside of the plane as it took off, one wonders where that plane will land.  To where will Afghans flee? With president Biden stating that “This did…

Panic at Kabul Airport Imperils Evacuation Flights; At Least Two Afghans Dead

“I am the President of the United States and the buck stops with me,” Biden said about withdrawing the troops after the departure mission is complete. Defense One—U.S. warns that any attacks on evacuation will meet “a forceful response,” but how long will the Taliban hold off? The U.S. military temporarily froze all flights out…

Inside Reach 871, A US C-17 Packed With 640 Afghans Trying to Escape the Taliban

Inside Reach 871, A US C-17 Packed With 640 Afghans Trying to Escape the Taliban

Defense One—The Air Force evacuation flight from Kabul to Qatar came near the record for most people ever flown in the Boeing airlifter. A U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III safely evacuated some 640 Afghans from Kabul late Sunday, according to U.S. defense officials and photos obtained by Defense One. That’s believed to be among the…

Taliban forges ahead with Afghanistan take over, Russia and China watch and plot in the wings

Taliban forges ahead with Afghanistan take over, Russia and China watch and plot in the wings

ObserverDesk—In the meantime, while the withdrawal is taking place, Taliban has already seized the country’s half of the 34 provincial capitals of the country, including Kandahar and Herat. And they were last reported to be in Logar, which is only a few miles away from Kabul. The former President, Donald Trump is furious over this…

I’m a woman journalist who has lived in Afghanistan for eight years. Now I’m helping evacuate citizens, and the horror show I’ve witnessed will stay with me for life.

I’m a woman journalist who has lived in Afghanistan for eight years. Now I’m helping evacuate citizens, and the horror show I’ve witnessed will stay with me for life.

…I am talking to Afghans from all over the country who are sharing terrifying stories of what the Taliban are doing in their cities. In Kandahar, they are executing people who they see as opposition on the streets. In Takhar and Samangan, they have cut off the limbs of those who they accused of being…

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