A priest and seminarians were killed in Mexico.
Please beg God’s mercy for them and for anyone who dares to raise a hand against the Lord’s annointed.
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The 1917 Code of Canon Law legislated a latae sententiae excommunication against anyone who would even strike a cleric because of the sacrilege involved.
This is tagic! Requiescant in pace!
Praying…
Done.
Requiescant in pace.
How tragic indeed! Will remember them in mass tonight.
Horrible.
Rest in Peace.
Semper Fi.
Terrible stuff. There’s more about it here:
http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=337304&CategoryId=14091
The victims were Fr. Habacuc Hernandez, 39, and seminary students Eduardo Oregon, 19, and Silvestre Gonzalez, 21. May perpetual light shine upon them.
Let us pray for them and ask them to pray for us. The same may be coming our way soon.
Good Lord…
May they rest in peace…
Yeah, I agree with you, Fr. Finelli-if we don’t wake up…and soon…the same WILL happen to us here!
Amplification:
The victims were Fr. Habacuc Hernandez Benitez, 39, and seminary students Eduardo Oregon Benitez, 19, and Silvestre Gonzalez Cambron, 21. May perpetual light shine upon them.
Stratfor has this to say about the implications:
http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/20090615_mexico_security_memo_june_15_2009
“While we do not yet know whether the attack was a targeted strike or a case of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, attacks on religious figures in Mexico are highly unusual. The Catholic clergy in some cases has spoken out against the violence related to the drug trade, but very few times has that ever resulted in anything more than a threat or message from the drug cartels. The most recent example of a high-level church official speaking out against the cartels occurred when Durango’s archbishop told the press that he believed that Sinaloa kingpin Joaquin ‘El Chapo’ Guzman Loera was living in the small Durango town of Guanacevi. Later, the bodies of two Mexican military intelligence officers were found with a note attached to their bodies saying, “Neither the government nor the priests can handle El Chapo.” If the June 13 Guerrero incident is linked back to one of the many drug cartels operating in the poor southern Mexican state, and if the clergy in fact were intentionally targeted, the Catholic Church’s approach to the violence in Mexico would experience a profound shock.”
According to this newsblog:
http://notaroja-koneocho.blogspot.com/2009/06/guerrero-asesinan-sacerdote-y.html
The priest and seminarians were from the Ciudad Altamirano diocese. They were shot up in another state while traveling to a retreat. The bodies were flown back to the seminary on Sunday. “Sunday night, dozens of followers, members of the flock and politicians staged a march through the streets of Ciudad Altamirano.” Then their bodies were transported to their hometowns on Monday.
Fr. Habacuc Hernandez was ordained in 2002.
The Archbishop Primate of Mexico strongly condemned the murders:
http://www.noticiasmvs.com/ver_noticia.cfm?id=4950
will pray the office of the defunct for them
Descansen en paz
http://www.aciprensa.com/noticia.php?n=25755
There’s a good comment at the bottom of the page from someone who knew the
men. I’ll translate it:
Manuel from Juchipila, Zac:
“I am deeply shocked by the death of Fr. Habacuc; I knew him before and he was very friendly. In fact, he constantly invited me to enter the Diocesan Seminary of Ciudad
Altamirano; he was the Vocational Promoter.
“One of the seminarians was my friend, whom I talked to all the time. Lalito, I will always miss you; and I hope that you intercede from heaven for the multiplication of
vocations and that there be peace in our homeland.”
“Armed groups linked to Mexico’s drug cartels murdered around 1,500 people in 2006 and 2,700 people in 2007, with the 2008 death toll soaring to more than 6,000.
So far this year, according to a tally by the Mexico City daily El Universal, nearly 2,900 people have died.”
I can’t stand it when people say doing drugs is a victimless crime. I wish the Peace & Justice folks would try to guilt people about this kind of thing rather than having too large of a “carbon footprint.”
Very sad. I will bring their eternal peace, the souls of their murderers, and all who will now be deprived of their pastoral solicitude to the friars’ intentions today.
Descansen en paz.
Requiescant in Pace.
This is horrible. They are in my prayers.
Maureen, thanks for all the links!
I was ordained a priest in 1989 by the late Cardinal of Guadalajara, Archbishop Juan Jesus Posadas. In May of 1993 he drove to the Guadalajara airport to meet the Apostolic Delegate arriving from Mexico City. While he was parking the car a pre-planned group of assassins murdered him. The autopsy showed he was shot at point blank range with 14 bullets. During the shooting, the Apostolic Delegate was not allowed to deplane, until three hours after the shooting. The Church in Mexico maintained the killing was clearly a political assassination, ordered from the highest levels of the Mexican government and for religious motives.
This was a case of the highest ranking prelate, a cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, being murdered for his clear position against drugs. He had spoken about the evil to the president of Mexico three weeks earlier. One of Carlos Salinas’ cabinet officials, an enemy of the Church, considered the statement by Cardinal Posadas a personal reprimand, and an act of disrespect made to the President of the Republic, Carlos Salinas. The cabinet official told the Cardinal that he would regret his lack of respect for the president. Within 3 weeks the Cardinal Posadas was dead.
Unfortunately, the crime was committed with impunity, and few outside of Mexico, even bishops, saw killing as directed against the Catholic Church, which it was.
Later the government of Mexico used intimidation when the Church proposed the canonization of the 27 Mexican martyrs in 2000. The government’s position was that the Church was involving itself in politics.
It is clear the Church still has enemies, and these will continue to intimidate bishops, priests, and now, even seminarians.
Today’s Mass in the “ordinary form” as suggested by the Ordo, is #45, “For Our Oppressors.” What a fitting prayer formula in light of the tragic murders of the priest and two seminarians in Mexico. May the souls of these Catholic victims rest in peace. May the assassins through God’s grace, one day recognize the evil they have done, and with God’s grace, repent completely.
Growing up in Texas 50 to 60 years ago, many of us knew the story of Padre Pro and the Mexican martyrs. That was a time when the government wanted to control the church. The Masons may also have had a hand in the persecutions. My mother lived in the Rio Grande valley near McAllen in the 1930s, and heard the stories first hand. It could happen here, but I pray it does not.
Praying.
Just out of curiosity…
What is the real church teaching regarding the death penalty when either a group or individuals pose a clear, criminal threat to an entire society? These drug gangs seem to be a threat not only to each other, but to Mexico as a nation. Since a state is obligated under church teaching to to defend its citizens, can this defense include using the death penalty against criminal who are threatning the entire nation?