Recently in in the news Category

Here is a condensed version of an article at LATimes.com: Group gives thanks to the Lord -- for lower gasoline prices . I don't know if the "Pray at the Pump" guys really have anything to do with it, but I went from paying $4.60 a gallon to $4.15. If their prayers can get it lower, then keep on prayin', brothers!

WASHINGTON -- Forget Congress. Forget President Bush. About four months ago, frustrated by the apparently immutable laws of supply and demand, Rocky Twyman turned to a higher authority in his quest for cheaper gasoline. The recent dip in prices, he says, is proof of divine intervention.

"Prayer is the answer to every problem in life," said Twyman, founder of the Pray at the Pump movement, whose members huddle around gas pumps and ask the Almighty to lower gasoline prices. "If the whole country keeps on praying, we can bring down prices even more, to even less than $2," Twyman said.

At another Shell station a block away, Leroy Taylor, 56, who stopped to fill his tank, said he had never heard of Pray at the Pump, but supported the concept. He has faith, he said, that the Big Guy considers everyone's prayers. "Even oil executives'," Taylor said. "He's been answering theirs a lot lately."

French Team: "The Americans? We're going to smash them. That's what we came here for."

Garrett Weber-Gale's response to the trash talk: "I don't even want to hear it. We'll take care of business in the pool."

That's the way to do it, baby!! Woohoo!! Share in the moment here.

I received an email from a woman involved with The Fresh Air Fund, which has provided free summer vacations to New York City children from disadvantaged communities since 1877. They still have 200 children who need to be placed with host families for this August and they need help. To learn more, visit http://freshair.smnr.us.

Last week I received an email from a friend who was acquainted with the Girard Family. I thought I had posted the prayer request then but I just found it still in my drafts. Better late than never, so here it is.

Please pray for the Girard Family. They are a strong Catholic family in CT that has endured unimaginable crosses. To put it briefly, last year their house burned down and they suffered great financial problems. Then a couple weeks ago, tragedy struck again when husband Thom and three of his children were swimming at a local pond. Something happened to Thom and he began to drown. His 17-year-old son Marc (who was accepted as a postulant of the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate) swam out to try to rescue him. In the end, they both died. They are survived by wife/mom Carol and the remaining four children/siblings.

My friend forwarded the following links if you'd like to read more.

In Memoriam: Thom and Marc Girard

House of Art Journal: Passing of a Young Knight (Scroll down to the bottom of the post for info on how to donate money to the Girard Family Fund.)

Homily by the Franciscan Friars of the Immaculate

A recent interview with Thom before he died.

Here is a cool pro-Catholic Church commerical put out by CatholicsComeHome.org

The final message to his children -

"I am happy and you should be happy too. Do not weep. Let us pray together with joy."

ROME (CNS) -- The devil is real and can possess people, but it does not happen as often as many people think, said two Italian exorcists.

When a person who thinks he or she is possessed approaches a priest looking for help, they said, the priest must know enough about possession to know whether a simple prayer is called for or whether he needs to refer the person to a psychologist or to the diocesan exorcist.

To prepare priests and future priests to help people in those situations, Rome's Regina Apostolorum university -- run by the Legionaries of Christ -- inaugurated a course on Satanism and exorcism Feb. 17.
(Read the whole article here.)

LUCIA de Jesus dos Santos, the last survivor of three children to whom the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared at Fatima in central Portugal, has died, aged 97.

Her death at a convent in Coimbra, central Portugal, was reported by the Lusa news agency today. She has been described as one of the women to have most influenced Catholicism in the 20th century. The apparitions made Fatima one of Catholicism's most revered sites.