Bomb threat disrupts Catholic Church during Newtown memorial service

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM)
12/17/2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

President Obama arrives after all clear is sounded

For some sick individuals, the people of Newtown, Connecticut hadn't suffered enough. Just before a memorial service was scheduled to begin to honor the dozens of adults and children slain in the attack on Sandy Hook Elementary School, some miscreant phoned in a bomb threat. After a brief panic, the threat was deemed phony and the service continued as scheduled.

Police shouted to the public to stand back and take cover while they secured the building. One woman suffered an anxiety attack and was taken out on a stretcher and placed into an ambulance.

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Connecticut was evacuated during a noon mass after the church received a bomb threat.

The small community, already stretched past the breaking point, had their tensions raised once again at the sight of nearly a dozen camouflage-clad SWAT team members carrying assault weapons who rushed into the church.

The Catholic Church in Newton has become a center of grieving following the deaths of 20 children and six adults at the nearby Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Police shouted to the public to stand back and take cover while they secured the building. One woman suffered an anxiety attack and was taken out on a stretcher and placed into an ambulance.

Police thereafter relaxed their posture and began allowing people to lay flowers and candles at a makeshift memorial by the church.

Seventeen-year-old Evelyn Leon of Waterbury, 20 miles east of Newtown recalled when word got out about the possible threat.

"Word filtered back through the pews that there had been a threat made and we had to get into our cars and evacuate," she said.

"Everybody was just rushing out. People just didn't know what do."

President Obama arrived in Newtown that afternoon to attend a memorial service for the 20 first graders and six adults killed in Friday's gun rampage at the elementary school by Adam Lanza, who also killed himself and his mother.

The president planned a private meeting with families of the victims and with emergency personnel who responded to the shootings.

"As a nation, we have endured far too many of these tragedies in the last few years,' he said in his weekly radio address Saturday.

"An elementary school in Newtown. A shopping mall in Oregon. A house of worship in Wisconsin. A movie theater in Colorado. Countless street corners in places like Chicago and Philadelphia...

"We have to come together and take meaningful action to prevent more tragedies like this. Regardless of the politics," the president said.

- - -

Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: Bomb threat, Newtown, Connecticut, President Obama, shooting

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1 - 2 of 2 Comments

DLL
5 months ago
Evil is a demonic force. Time marks the choice that one makes either to be evil or good. Today is right for the choices to be evil,just as it was in the days when Charlie Manson and his cult were arrested for the murder of Sharon Tate. The force directs the madness and the madness is proud of their heinous choices. The devil is real as the devil is the directive force for all of this evil. This is primitive thinking for many. So let me address the meaning that is the source of what I am relating here. Evil is when one is turned in on oneself. What I mean here is some individual thinks they are right and everyone else is wrong. The mass murderer is justified for whatever reason in their own minds. They will not tolerate any one else or credit them with the right they have to be and to live their own lives. A Churchgoing Catholic is in danger for being a person of faith. There is an ignorance,I should say a politically correct preferred ignorance,that seeks to discredit all that a Catholic believes,says or does as mythic nonsense. It also seems that to some those living in a simple American township that love and care for their families in a traditional sense are also now targets. Why? Insanity of the age we live in? I do not propose to know. Traditional values and faith based values are under attack definitely. Instead of accusing any one group of people for any of this it,is for a simple matter of reference correct to say that this is the work of the devil. The devil is a part of each of us and it gets opportunity to work out evil as it like aborting a fetus,is a matter of what we choose to or not to do. In conclusion to be faith based is to trust in the goodness of God and that all people are created by God to be good. In society we create and sustain a sense of goodness when we choose to eliminate the toxic forces that have proven in themselves to be a source of evil. There is more wrong with not praying to God than in praying to God for instance. Prayer is a focus for that source of what is good to act within us,over the forces that could influence any of us,by turning us as individuals,into a demonic and destructive and co operatively evil force. Original sin is the evil,(devil),within each and everyone of us. Prayer and faith is the anecdote. Catholics believe that in Christ,through prayer,we can overcome the forces of original sin,that is the disease of humanity and the contagious disease among all individuals.
Paul-Emile Leray
5 months ago
It's the cult-ure. If men are to change, they must first change their hearts. Sadly the justice system, in America as with all countries, affects culture. Morality and legality often do not equate. Political systems are systems. Systems can't control hearts and minds, souls. Proper faith properly rooted in truth, along with reason properly understood as it splits into 2 broad categories; all harmoniously integrated, working together, can help. Political ideologies, partisan politics, laws, the judiciary, will never solve most problems. They can greatly assist towards the greater good, maintaining the status quo, or towards the greater evils. Technology, while often desensitizing people, if properly used can assist towards the greater good. The supreme courts and judiciary systems in most countries are part of the problem! They often unwittingly assist towards a cult-ure of moral relativism, utilitarianism, cultural relativism, and the sophistry present in many levels of governments, bureaucracies and administrations, contribute to these tragedies. Define terrorism and terrorists. Are they all 'out there', outside of the borders of the nation state? Many are right inside the borders of the nation state. And your laws promote it! Any fool who has any degree of enlightenment and awareness can see this clearly. It is self evident. It is observable. And you won't find truth in the majority opinion, since it is the nature of truth that it usually separates itself from the crowd. A famous Jesuit wrote this years ago. Christianity transcends nationalism. Some fish exist in lakes, others in rivers, others in oceans. One will NEVER find solutions to problems where they don't exist. One will never find salt water fish such as Marlins inside fresh water lakes. The solutions? Align your judiciary systems and laws with truth, rooted in truth. Politics is a tool: to assist as a component of the greater whole to either contribute towards a better culture, maintain it, or worsen the culture. It is one of the many means towards the ends, but politics is not and can not and will never be an end in and of itself. It is impossible to find solutions where they do not exist. Part of the problem is your judiciary system and laws. Therefore, on this premise, who are the criminals? Who are the terrorists? If the tree produces bad fruit, is it the fault of the fruit or of the root system not seen above ground? Are we ever one stupid species, the collective whole of humanity. I exist. Therefore, I am part of this reality of being human. Therefore, simply some thoughts put forth in the spirit of assisting towards the greater good. Once a person exists, he must go through life. It then becomes a question of who and what to be and become, discerned in truth, towards ends and with means hopefully also discerned in and with truth. We are here to continue the work of Jesus. That IS the meaning of life. That's the answer. The meaning of life is to continue the work of Jesus, therefore it is no longer necessary to search for meaning in life. I had this conversation with a Jesuit one Sunday afternoon, following the Mass, inside the sacristy. The meaning of life is to continue the work of Jesus. Think deeply on this. See how the water flowing from the artesian well of truth ought to affect the judiciary systems, politics, laws, political economy, partisan politics, systems, business models, schools, cult-ure at large and therefore society. Go to the ROOT to solve problems, instead of hacking away at the branches and twigs and leaves. And remember that truth is often met with violent opposition and therefore the judges who are often most hated are quite possibly those (not always, but possibly) making the most sense. The 2nd reason Jesus was crucified was political. This alone ought to tell us how much wisdom political systems and politicians have! Cult-ure and the system crucified God Incarnate! And some will state that culture and systems do not matter? Culture and systems do matter, both in what they can do and can not deliver. What a MESS this planet is in. However, it has never been easier to change it towards the greater good since we have more tools to do so now. So, it is not hopeless. Difficult, often discouraging, but not hopeless. We live in a culture whereby whatever gets said or written by someone famous is often passed off as having a higher degree of truth to it. False. Being famous is just that, being famous. Who is famous? A human. What is a human? A human. Nothing more, nothing less. Human. Food and liquids go in the hole located below the nose and above the chin, to then get excreted as the clock keeps ticking. Where is the critical thinking in our cultures? It is practically non existent. Why? Because the biggest cult of all is just that, cult-ure. It's nuts! Have a look around and tell me otherwise. You can't. Why? Because what I am writing is what? True. Humans yell after dogs chasing car tires, to then jump to their feet and give standing ovations to football players possessing dead pigskin. And dogs are insane for chasing their tails in circles? What do formula 1 race car drivers do? Or track and field athletes? Or the 400 meter dash? Humans are INSANE which explains why the cult-ure is what it is. Nuts! And when the cult-ure is insane, who gets viewed as being insane? The sane one. Look at The Cross. Sanity was crucified. True? True. One won't find the truth in democracies either, since Hitler was democratically elected and it is the nature of truth that it often separates itself from majority opinion. Do not look for solutions where they do not exist, for you don't go fishing for Marlins in ponds. (unless one is delusional and knows nothing about Marlin fishing) And when leaders of countries go to the Vatican, they ought to actually listen to what the Pope says instead of using it as a photo session to then promote laws inside their own borders that go against the teachings of the Catholic Church! Politicians do not have a monopoly or the final blueprint on truth. Nobody has a monopoly on truth. It might be possible to jail brains and bodies, but it is not possible to jail hearts, spirits, souls, and minds. Good! You see, God is in control and humans ought to have HUMILITY because they control VERY LITTLE. I would like to see a human will power himself into living to 1500 years in age, since some think will power solves everything. Really? No. Will power is NOTHING compared to submission, properly understood, to God's will properly defined and discerned in prayer. Easy to write, difficult to do.
Paul-Emile Leray

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