Vatican Bidding to Get Anglicans to Join Its Fold

By RACHEL DONADIO and LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Published: October 20, 2009
The New York Times

VATICAN CITY — In an extraordinary bid to lure traditionalist Anglicans en masse, the Vatican said Tuesday that it would make it easier for Anglicans uncomfortable with their church’s acceptance of female priests and openly gay bishops to join the Roman Catholic Church while retaining many of their traditions.

Anglicans would be able “to enter full communion with the Catholic Church while preserving elements of the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony,” Cardinal William J. Levada, the prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said at a news conference here.

It was unclear why the Vatican made the announcement now. But it seemed a rare opportunity, audaciously executed, to capitalize on deep divisions within the Anglican Church to attract new members at a time when the Catholic Church has been trying to reinvigorate itself in Europe.

The issue has long been close to the heart of Pope Benedict XVI, who for years has worked to build ties to those Anglicans who, like conservative Catholics, spurn the idea of female and gay priests.

Catholic and Anglican leaders sought on Tuesday to present the move as a joint effort to aid those seeking conversion. But it appeared that the Vatican had engineered it on its own, presenting it as a fait accompli to the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, archbishop of Canterbury and the spiritual head of the Anglican Communion, only in recent weeks. Some Anglican and Catholic leaders expressed surprise, even shock, at the news.

The move could have the deepest impact in England, where large numbers of traditionalist Anglicans have protested the Church of England’s embrace of liberal theological reforms like consecrating female bishops. Experts say these Anglicans, and others in places like Australia, might be attracted to the Roman Catholic fold because they have had nowhere else to go.

If entire parishes or even dioceses leave the Church of England for the Catholic Church, experts and church officials speculated, it could set off battles over ownership of church buildings and land.

Pope Benedict has said that he will travel to Britain in 2010.

In the United States, traditionalist leaders said they would be less inclined than their British counterparts to join the Catholic Church, because they have already broken away from the Episcopal Church and formed their own conservative Anglican structures (though some do allow women to be priests).

The Vatican’s announcement signals a significant moment in relations between two churches that first parted in the Reformation of the 16th century over theological issues and the primacy of the pope.

In recent decades, the Anglican Communion and the Roman Catholic Church have sought to heal the centuries of division. Some feared that the Vatican’s move might jeopardize decades of dialogue between Catholics and Anglicans by implying that the aim was conversion.

The Very Rev. David Richardson, the archbishop of Canterbury’s representative to the Vatican, said he was taken aback.

“I don’t see it as an affront to the Anglican Church, but I’m puzzled by what it means and by the timing of it,” he said. “I think some Anglicans will feel affronted.”

The decision creates a formal universal structure to streamline conversions that had previously been evaluated case by case. The Vatican said that it would release details in the coming weeks, but that generally, former Anglican prelates chosen by the Catholic Church would oversee Anglicans, including entire parishes or even dioceses, seeking to convert.

Under the new arrangement, the Catholic practice that has allowed married Anglican priests to convert and become Catholic priests would continue. (There have been very few such priests). But only unmarried Anglican bishops or priests could become Catholic bishops.

Cardinal Levada acknowledged that accepting large numbers of married Anglican priests while forbidding Catholic priests to marry could pose problems for some Catholics. But he argued that the circumstances differed.

Under the new structure, former Anglicans who become Catholic could preserve some elements of Anglican worship, including hymns and other “intangible” elements, Archbishop J. Augustine Di Noia, the Vatican’s deputy chief liturgical officer, said at the news conference.

Cardinal Levada said that the Vatican had acted in response to many requests from Anglicans since the Church of England ordained women in the 1990s, and, more recently, when it faced what he called “a very difficult question” — the ordination of openly gay clergy and the celebration of homosexual unions.

He said that 20 to 30 bishops and hundreds of other people had petitioned the Vatican on the matter in recent years.

In the United States, disaffected conservatives in the Episcopal Church, the American branch of Anglicanism, announced in 2008 that they were reorganizing as the Anglican Church in North America.

Bishop Martyn Minns, a leader of that group, welcomed the pope’s decision. “It demonstrates his conviction that the divisions in the Anglican Communion are very serious and these are not things that are going to get papered over,” he said.

However, both Bishop Minns and Archbishop Robert Duncan, primate of the Anglican Church in North America, said that they did not expect many conservative Anglicans to accept the offer because the theological differences were too great.

“I don’t want to be a Roman Catholic,” said Bishop Minns. “There was a Reformation, you remember.”

In Britain, the Rev. Rod Thomas, the chairman of Reform, a traditionalist Anglican group, said, “I think it will be a trickle of people, not a flood.”

But he said that a flood could in fact develop if the Church of England did not allow traditionalists to opt out of a recent church decision that women could be consecrated as bishops.

Some said the move would probably not win over traditionalist Anglicans in Africa.

“Why should any conservative break away from a church where the moral conservatives represent the overwhelming mass of opinion, such as in Nigeria?” said Philip Jenkins, a professor at Pennsylvania State University and an expert in the Catholic Church’s history in Africa and Asia.

The plan was announced at simultaneous news conferences at the Vatican and in London.

The Vatican’s archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, and Archbishop Williams of the Anglican Church issued a joint statement in which they said that the new structure “brings to an end a period of uncertainty for such groups who have nurtured hopes of new ways of embracing unity with the Catholic Church.”

In London, Archbishop Williams minimized the impact of the announcement on relations between the two churches. “It would not occur to me to see this as an act of aggression or a statement of no confidence, precisely because the routine relationships that we enjoy as churches will continue,” he said.

NOTE:

Oddly enough, in the wake of Vatican II there is very little difference between the Conciliar Church and any of the Anglican groups under discussion in any case. Barring Divine Intervention those who convert en-masse may find that the Conciliar church adopts the practices for which they left the Anglican "church."

The problem is lack of Roman Catholic orthodoxy and the Novus Ordo Missae, not the lack of "union" among the various sects including the Conciliar Vatican. The Traditional Latin Mass of Pope Pius V should be reinstituted, the Novus Ordo completely cast aside and the traditional (orthodox) Roman Catholic Church teachings restored. It is the only way to cure what ails the world.

--Dr. J. P. Hubert

Stephen Hand of Traditional Catholic Reflections and Reports on Apostasy

The Great Apostasy

St. Francis de Sales: "The revolt and separation must come…the Sacrifice shall cease and…the Son of Man shall hardly find faith on earth…All these passages are understood of the affliction which Antichrist shall cause in the Church…But the Church… shall not fail, and shall be fed and preserved amidst the deserts and solitudes to which She shall retire, as the Scripture says, (Apoc. Ch. 12),” ---The Catholic Controversy

St. Alphonsus Ligouri: “It is true [the Mass] will cease on earth at the time of Antichrist: the Sacrifice of the Mass is to be suspended…according to the prophecy of Daniel, (Dan. 12:11).” St. Alphonsus comforts Christ's scattered flock: “the Son of God, Eternal Priest, will always continue to offer Himself to God, the Father, in Heaven as an Eternal Sacrifice.” ---The Holy Eucharist

Cardinal Manning: “The Holy Fathers who have written upon the subject of Antichrist and the prophecies of Daniel — all of them unanimously — say that in the latter end of the world, during the reign of Antichrist, the Holy Sacrifice of the altar will cease.”--- The Present Crisis of the Holy See

St. Bernard: "We have seen 'the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place,’ (Matt. 34:15)…He has seated himself in the Chair of Peter. The holy place he covets, not for its holiness, but for its height. He has, I say, got possession of the holy place [but] not through the merit of his life. The election whereof he boasts is but a cloak for his malice. To call it an election at all is an impudent lie.” --Rev. Albert J. Luddy, The Life and Teachings of St. Bernard.

St. Jerome: "The abomination of desolation can be taken to mean as well every perverted doctrine. When we see such a thing stand in the holy place, that is in the Church and pretend it is God, we must flee…” --Breviary Lesson for the 24th and Last Sunday after Pentecost

Ven. Anne Catherine Emmerich: "I had another vision of the great tribulation. It seems to me that a concession was demanded from the clergy which could not be granted. I saw many older priests, especially one, who wept bitterly. A few younger ones were also weeping. But others, and the lukewarm among them, readily did what was demanded. It was as if people were splitting into two camps."

"I saw that many pastors allowed themselves to be taken up with ideas that were dangerous to the Church. They were building a great, strange, and extravagant Church. Everyone was to be admitted in it in order to be united and have equal rights: Protestants, Catholics, sects of every description. Such was to be the new Church ... But God had other designs."

"I saw again the strange big church that was being built there in Rome. There was nothing holy in it...I saw again the new and odd-looking church which they were trying to build. There was nothing holy about it ... People were kneading bread in the crypt below ... but it would not rise, nor did they receive the body of our Lord, but only bread. Those who were in error, through no fault of their own, and who piously and ardently longed for the Body of Jesus were spiritually consoled, but not by their communion."---The Life of Anne Catherine Emmerich, by Very Rev. Carl E. Schmoger, C.SS.R, Vol. ii, pages, pages 292-29

“The 'abomination of desolation' has been wrought in many Catholic churches by heretics and apostates who have broken altars, scattered relics of martyrs and desecrated the Blessed Sacrament. At the time of the French Revolution a lewd woman was seated upon the altar of the cathedral in Paris and worshiped as the goddess of reason. Such things but faintly foreshadow the abominations that will desecrate churches in those sorrowful days when Antichrist will seat himself at the altar to be adored as God,” (Rev. E.S. Berry, “The Apocalypse of St. John,” 1906)

To say the events HERE... are sad is to say the very least. One could think much more.

When the apostasy is universal, only the universal pastor can confront it and cleanse Christ's Church. If he does not, but allows heresies to flourish, well...and the Church in consequence shatters into remnants of believers holding to sacred tradition and scripture, changing nothing, as St. Vincent of Lerins admonished. Only the Church of Christ can know this pain and universal an apostasy, foretold long ago.

--Stephen Hand

Thoughts on the Universal Apostasy by Catholic Writers/Mystics

"The apostasy of the city of Rome from the vicar of Christ and its destruction by Antichrist may be thoughts so new to many Catholics, that I think it well to recite the text of theologians of greatest repute. First Malvenda, who writes expressly on the subject, states as the opinion of Ribera, Gaspar Melus, Biegas, Suarrez, Bellarmine and Bosius that Rome shall apostatise from the faith, drive away the Vicar of Christ and return to its ancient paganism. ...Then the Church shall be scattered, driven into the wilderness, and shall be for a time, as it was in the beginning, invisible hidden in catacombs, in dens, in mountains, in lurking places; for a time it shall be swept, as it were from the face of the earth. Such is the universal testimony of the Fathers of the early Church."---Henry Edward Cardinal Manning, The Pope and the Antichrist: The Present Crisis of the Holy See Tested by Prophecy, (Saint Croix du Mont, France: Tradibooks, 2007), p. 18--see recommended resource section of this site for further details.

Prophecy of Restorer Pope One Day?

A prophecy of Bl. Anna Maria Taigi:

"All the enemies of the Church, secret as well as known, will perish during the [three days of chastising] darkness, with the exception of some whom God shall soon after convert. The air shall be infected by demons, who will appear under all sorts of hideous forms.

Blessed candles will preserve from death, as well as prayers to the Blessed Virgin and the holy angels. After the darkness, St. Peter and St. Paul shall descend to preach throughout the earth.

A great light emanating from them shall rest upon him whom God has chosen for the future Pope (the Lumen in Coelo of St. Malachi's well-known prophecy).

St. Michael, appearing on earth, shall chain up Satan until the times of the preaching of Antichrist.

Religion will everywhere extend its empire. Russia will be converted, as will also England and China ; and all nations will rejoice in contemplating this splendid triumph of the Church. Then will he accomplished the prophecy of our Lord: ' There shall be one fold and one shepherd.'

P. Calixte observes that the Blessed Joseph Labre had made a similar prediction, and had also said that it would be transferred before the end of the world to France."

Student Stabs Resource Officer at School: Officer Kills Student

Student dead, officer stabbed at Carolina Forest High School
Tonya Root - troot@thesunnews.com
Friday, October 16, 2009

A 16-year-old male student was fatally shot this morning after an altercation with a resource officer at Carolina Forest High School, according to school officials.

The 11th-grade student, whose name was not released, died as a result of the incident, said Horry County Coroner Robert Edge.

The resource officer is being treated at Conway Hospital and is listed in good condition, said Julie Rajotte, spokeswoman for Conway Medical Center.

The student came to the school at 8:20 a.m. and asked to talk to the school's resource officer, Britton said.

The student was armed with a knife and got in a ''tussle'' with the resource officer, Britton said.

The student was shot and stabbed during the altercation and the officer was also injured, Britton said.

''Everything is under control at this point,'' Kegler said at 9:30 a.m. ''Nobody is in danger.''

The incident occurred at the F House area of the school.

On May 18, 2006, Natalia Holmes, an 18-year-old Carolina Forest student, was stabbed to death by her boyfriend as he was dropping her off at school. Edwin Cornelius was sentenced to life in prison after being pleading guilty of a murder charge last year.

More Indonesian Earthquakes

Another Indonesian earthquake occurred this am which measured 6.1 on the Richter scale. The larger quake of roughly a week ago is thought to have resulted in over 1000 deaths and tens of thousands of damaged buildings. It has required a major humanitarian effort. It is not clear whether the earthquake from this morning has caused any significant death or destruction.

See THIS... for more.


Indonesia will face a far more devastating earthquake, seismologists warn
'We don't think this was the big one,' says a scientist in the region. In Padang, rescue workers give up the search for more survivors and concentrate on recovering bodies and clearing rubble.

Los Angeles Times World
By Charles McDermid
October 6, 2009

Reporting from Padang, Indonesia - Expect a far more powerful earthquake than last week's magnitude 7.6 temblor to hit Indonesia's devastated Padang area in the next few decades.

That's the word from a team of leading seismologists, who said the worst is yet to come, although they cautioned that predicting the timing of earthquakes is an inexact science at best.

After a three-day review of seismic evidence using global-positioning equipment, scientists with the Earth Observatory of Singapore, or EOS, found that the earthquake that hit the Indonesian city of Padang did little to relieve the stored tension at the juncture of two tectonic plates.

The EOS team believes that the eventual energy release could result in an earthquake close to the scale of the magnitude 9 monster that triggered the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, killing more than 200,000 in a dozen countries.

"We don't think this was the big one," said Paramesh Banerjee, technical director of EOS, a $700-million government-funded institute for the study of tsunamis, volcanoes, earthquakes and climate. "It can happen any time -- now, in 20 years or more."

On Monday, rescue workers ended their search for life beneath the rubble, shifting their focus instead to helping survivors in the area around Padang, a port city of 900,000 on Sumatra island. But their efforts were hampered by torrential rain.

The government's official death toll stood at 603, although the United Nations said 1,100 people died and other disaster specialists said the number will probably climb to several thousand after more corpses are unearthed.

Gagah Prakoso, a spokesman for the Indonesian Search and Rescue Agency, told reporters that chances of anyone surviving this long without food and water were slim, prompting the decision to concentrate on finding bodies and cleaning up the rubble.

Indonesia faces a huge rebuilding task. More than 88,000 houses and 285 schools were destroyed in 10 districts, according to the U.N. and Indonesia's Disaster Management Agency, with an additional 100,000 public buildings and 20 miles of road damaged.

Seismologists said the earthquake occurred in the collision zone where the Indo-Australian Plate dives beneath the Sunda Plate, which is below Padang and the Indonesian province of Aceh, which was battered by the 2004 earthquake and tsunami.

"When one plate goes beneath another it's called 'subduction,' " Banerjee said. "But it doesn't go smoothly. It gets stuck and then it slips. This slip is an earthquake."

According to Richard Briggs of the U.S. Geological Survey, these plates converge, colliding at a few inches a year, with the stress stored for decades or centuries before being released suddenly as large, damaging earthquakes. The magnitude of the earthquake depends on the size of the fault and how much the fault slips during a sudden rupture.

In the case of the Sunda megathrust fault, which parallels the west coast of Sumatra, the 850-mile northern portion slipped as much as 100 feet in 2004, triggering the tsunami. In 2005, a 210-mile portion directly to the south slipped more than 40 feet during the magnitude 8.7 earthquake that devastated the Nias, Banyak and Simeulue islands.

The portion of the fault next in line, offshore Padang, has yet to slip despite the most recent quake, according to the EOS.

The idea that a mammoth earthquake is coming to Padang is nothing new to paleoseismologist and EOS director Kerry Sieh, who has been studying the regions' tectonics for the last 18 years. Sieh's team has identified the sequence of Padang-area earthquakes using GPS data, historical records and the growth patterns of coral based on its uranium content.

Since the December 2004 tsunami, the scientists have produced papers and statements and spoken to local officials about the risk. With partial financing from the California Institute of Technology, where he had been a professor, Sieh printed posters in English and Indonesian and took them to outlying islands to discuss with village elders and fishermen what he believed was an inevitable earthquake and subsequent tsunami. "They were interested, but we weren't taken seriously," he said.

The city of Padang has tried to foster earthquake and tsunami preparedness by providing public service announcements, seminars and evacuation routes. Still, Wednesday's quake brought a high toll in lives and buildings -- a fact exacerbated by the area's relative poverty and questionable construction standards.

Vice Gov. H. Marlis Rahman acknowledged that the area needs to prepare for the next earthquake. But experts warn that apathy and human nature often take their course.

"The problem is we're too busy with laundry, taking kids to school, catching fish to feed your family to worry about low-probability, low-risk hazards," Sieh said. But, he added, the risk of not preparing for the inevitable is great.

"The people in charge of Padang have had lots of things going on," he said, "but they've got a lot more now."

Eschatological Vision of Anne Catherine Emmerich: Battle Within the Church

From friend of this site, Stephen Hand, HERE...
Why Catholics resist...



"I had another vision of the great tribulation. It seems to me that a concession was demanded from the clergy which could not be granted. I saw many older priests, especially one, who wept bitterly. A few younger ones were also weeping. But others, and the lukewarm among them, readily did what was demanded. It was as if people were splitting into two camps."

"I saw that many pastors allowed themselves to be taken up with ideas that were dangerous to the Church. They were building a great, strange, and extravagant Church. Everyone was to be admitted in it in order to be united and have equal rights: Protestants, Catholics, sects of every description. Such was to be the new Church ... But God had other designs."

"I saw again the strange big church that was being built there in Rome. There was nothing holy in it. I saw this just as I saw a movement led by Ecclesiastics to which contributed angels, saints, and other Christians. But there in the strange big church all the work was being done mechanically according to set rules and formulae. Everything was being done according to human reason ...I saw all sorts of people, things, doctrines, and opinions. There was something proud, presumptuous, and violent about it, and they seemed very successful. I did not see a single Angel nor a single saint helping in the work. But far away in the background, I saw the seat of the cruel people armed with spears, and I saw a laughing figure which said: 'Do build it as solid as you can; we will pull it to the ground.'"

The Bread Would Not Rise

"I saw again the new and odd-looking church which they were trying to build. There was nothing holy about it ... People were kneading bread in the crypt below ... but it would not rise, nor did they receive the body of our Lord, but only bread. Those who were in error, through no fault of their own, and who piously and ardently longed for the Body of Jesus were spiritually consoled, but not by their communion."

"Then my Guide (Jesus) said: 'This is Babel.'"

"I saw deplorable things: they were gambling, drinking, and talking in church; they were also courting women. All sorts of abominations were perpetrated there. Priests allowed everything and said Mass with much irreverence. I saw that few of them were still godly... All these things caused me much distress."

"I was in such distress that I cried out to Jesus with all my might, imploring His mercy... He said, among other things, that this translation of the church from one place to another meant that she would seem to be in complete decline. But she would rise again; even if there remained but one Catholic, the church would conquer again because she does not rest on human counsels and intelligence..."

Apron, trowel

"I saw St. Peter's. A great crowd of men was trying to pull it down whilst others constantly built it up again. Lines connected these men one with another and with others throughout the whole world. I was amazed at their perfect understanding."

"The demolishers, mostly apostates and members of different sects, broke off whole pieces and worked according to rules and instructions. They wore white aprons bound with blue riband. In them were pockets and they had trowels stuck in their belts. The costumes of the others were various."

"There were among the demolishers distinguished men wearing uniforms and crosses. They did not work themselves but they marked out on the wall with a trowel where and how it should be torn down. To my horror, I saw among them Catholic Priests. Whenever the workmen did not know how to go on, they went to a certain one in their party. He had a large book which seemed to contain the whole plan of the building and the way to destroy it."

"They marked out exactly with a trowel the parts to be attacked, and they soon came down. They worked quietly and confidently, but slyly, furtively and warily. I saw the Pope praying, surrounded by false friends who often did the very opposite to what he had ordered..." (The awakened restoring pope to come)

---from The Life of Anne Catherine Emmerich by Rev. Carl E. Schmoeger, C.SS.R; maranatha. The venerable Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774 - 1824) was a German Augustinian nun, stigmatist (bore the wounds of Christ), and miracle-worker

The Victim Soul (Venerable Anne-Catherine Emmerich) Prophetically Spoke of a Pope in Exile

"I see the Holy Father in great distress. He lives in another palace and receives only a few in his presence. If the wicked party know their own great strength, they would even now have made an attack. I fear the Holy Father will suffer many tribulations before his death, for I see the black counterfeit church gaining ground, I see its fatal influence on the public. The distress of the Holy Father and of the Church is really so great that one ought to pray to God day and night. I have been told to pray much for the Church and the Pope...The people must pray earnestly for the extirpation (Rooting out, destruction) of the dark church." -Prophetic Vision of Anne Catherine Emmerich (1774-1824 A.D.) Augustinian Nun, Stigmatist from the book, The Life of Anne Catherine Emmerich, by Very Rev. Carl E. Schmoger, C.SS.R, Vol. ii, pages (Ibid, pages 292-293)

Kids arrested after teen is set on fire

By: Mike Aquilia

Deerfield Beach, Florida - As 15-year-old Michael Brewer lies sedated in a hospital bed with burns over 65 percent of his body, Broward Sheriff's deputies say they've arrested three juveniles who intentionally set him on fire.

Brewer's mother, Valerie says, "We just don't understand why anyone would do this."

The attack happened outside the Lime Tree Village Apartments, 429 SE 13 Ct., in Deerfield Beach around 3:15 p.m. on Monday afternoon. A witness said she saw a group of boys running in the complex so she went outside to investigate.

"Somebody threw something at (Michael)," Providencia Maldonado said. "I don't know if it was gas or alcohol or something and the next thing you know the kid is on fire."

After the attack, Michael ripped off his burning T-shirt and ran to a nearby pool. A neighbor also grabbed a fire extinguisher to put out the flames.

Neighbor Jennifer Nielsen, a former lifeguard, heard screaming and ran outside to help. She said she comforted Michael as he screamed in agony.

"I was like who did this to you? What happened?" she said. "He said someone threw something on me. He couldn't even say liquid. He said someone threw something on me, so it was a surprise attack."

Nielsen said Brewer's top layer of skin was peeling off, his eyebrows were gone as was the hair on the right side of his head.

"I'm still shaken up," she said. "But I'm happy I was there for that child. I just want that child to be OK."

Brewer was meeting some friends at the apartment complex when deputies say someone doused him with an accelerant and burned him.

His sister believes this dates back to an argument that began Sunday when a teenager tried to steal a bike belonging to Michael's father at the family's home.

"I told the 14 year old kid, 'Please leave the premises, you're not welcome here.' He then turned around and started threatening me and my children," Durkee said.

Durkee said Michael, who loves skateboarding and video games, is a good kid who needs his family more than ever.

"I believe he will be able to make it if everybody just prays for him," Durkee said.

The teen had been airlifted to Broward General Medical Center, but it was determined he should be taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital. The pain of the burns was so intense that he had to be placed on a medically induced coma.

Michael's mother said her son will need numerous skin grafts and will likely spend months in the hospital recovering.


Four Teens Accused Of Stabbing Kimberly Cates To Death

October 8, 2009
by Morbid

MONT VERNON, New Hampshire – Residents of the small, hilly town of Mont Vernon are in a state of shock after four teens entered a home to rob it, and attacked a 41-year-old mother and her 11-year-old daughter. Using a machete and a knife, Kimberly Cates was attacked while she lay in her bed and killed by multiple sharp injuries to the head, torso, left arm, and left leg. Her daughter survived the attack although she suffered severe stabbing injuries and spent hours in surgery. The attack was a completely random one, Cate’s home chosen simply because it was isolated. “They picked the house at random because it was in an isolated area,” prosecutor N. William Delker said today during the teens’ arraignments in Milford District Court. “Before they entered the home, all four defendants were aware that the intent was to kill the occupants.”

At around 4 a.m. Sunday, Steven Spader, 17; Christopher Gribble, 19; William Marks, 18; and Quinn Glover, 17 have all been arrested for their part in the crimes. Spader and Gribble were charged with first degree murder, attempted murder, and conspiracy to commit first degree murder. Marks and Glover were charged with burglary, conspiracy to commit burglary, and armed robbery – although prosecutors claim that Glover and Marks were both armed with a deadly weapon, and Glover was fully aware that the occupants of the home would be killed.

Cate’s husband was away on business but flew back to be with his daughter in the hospital. She is expected to survive, but she will obviously have some major issues because of this. What a pity that these idiots could not have broken into a tweaker couple’s house or something. By all reports, Kimberly was an awesome lady. John Quinlan, a Mont Vernon selectman, and friend of the Cates family for five years described 42-year-old mother and nurse Kimberly Cates as an unusually friendly, happy woman devoted to her daughter.

“She was very much the extrovert,” Quinlan said. “The mother and daughter were inseparable. They were almost best friends as well. That’s what I think makes this worse because you can’t imagine anyone having a bad thought about her or a gripe with her.”

Some information on the teens have come to light as friends all report the same thing. Four kids who all fell into a downward spiral over recent years. Spader was a longtime Boy Scout who in recent months grew increasingly distant and depressed. He has a lengthy criminal record including threatening teens with a tire iron after ramming their car, charges of possessing stolen stereo equipment, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, and marijuana possession charges. Most of these within recent months.

Gribble was a home-schooled Mormon who was planning to become a church missionary. Like a lot of kids raised in that environment (not all, people) he ended up rebelling X10 becoming a dark and brooding figure itching to lash out and become very fond of knives. It is reported that Marks is insecure and angst-ridden teen, and took a turn for the worse after meeting Spader. The same goes for Glover, a musician who performed in coffee shops, sang in the chorus, and starred in a school production of Cabaret (Cabaret reviews).

While New Hampshire does have a death penalty, these boys are not eligible for it. According to the New Hampshire attorney general’s office, the crime does not fit within the state’s definition of a capital murder. The death penalty is only on the table when a law enforcement or judicial officer is killed in the line of duty, in the case of murder-for-hire, if the accused is currently serving a life sentence or when the murder occurs in connection with a kidnapping, drug crime or sexual assault.

Whatever. I am sure that this case will continue to get more heinous as some of these teens turn on each other (my bet is on Marks) and the details on exactly what transpired in that home is revealed. To be able to attack a defenseless woman in her home while she slept in her bed is one thing, but to be able to do the same to an 11-year-old girl? Seriously, fuck ‘em. Fuck their childhoods.


"...and because wickedness is multiplied, most men's love will grow cold." (Matt. 24: 12)

Over 270 killed in India floods

October 5, 2009
CNN

By Harmeet Shah Singh

NEW DELHI, India (CNN) -- The number of dead in devastating floods triggered by torrential rains in India has risen to at least 271, and about a million people have fled their homes, officials said Monday.

At least 192 people have died in the southern state of Karnataka, its disaster-management secretary H.V. Parshwanath told CNN.

More than 450,000 people there have been housed in 1,330 relief camps as authorities completed rescue operations in most of the flooded zones in the state, he said.

"The focus is now mainly on relief," Parshwanath said, adding that rains have now eased in Karnataka.

In neighboring Andhra Pradesh, authorities put the death toll at 51. Some 531,000 people have been evacuated to safety, with more half of them now sheltering in relief camps, said Dinesh Kumar, the commissioner of the state's disaster-monitoring department.

India has deployed the military to help with relief and rescue in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

More than a dozen teams of naval divers have been sent to the two flood-hit states, the country's defense ministry said.

Air force planes and helicopters have also been dropping food packets in the submerged regions.

The military has been able to rescue 1,336 people so far, it added.

Flood waters were now receding in two of the five worst hit districts of Andhra Pradesh, disaster official Kumar said.

But floodwaters from a local river might submerge the remaining three, he warned.

Flooding also killed at least 25 people in Maharashtra state, officials said. Three others died because of lightning strikes, said S.C. Mohanty, director of Maharashtra's disaster-management department.

About 3,000 people have been displaced because of flooding, he told CNN. Thousands of people die each year in India during seasonal monsoon rains.

More than 1,100 had been killed in monsoon-triggered flooding in different parts of the country as of last month, according to the disaster-management division of the federal home ministry.


"And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth distress of nations in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world." (Luke 21: 25-26)

"War, Rumors of Wars"

Obama and the Nobel Prize: When War becomes Peace, When the Lie becomes the Truth
By Michel Chossudovsky
Global Research,
October 11, 2009

...The diabolical nature of this military project was outlined in the 2000 Project for a New American Century (PNAC)....War against the Truth

This is a war against the truth. When war becomes peace, the world is turned upside down. Conceptualization is no longer possible. An inquisitorial social system emerges.

An understanding of fundamental social and political events is replaced by a World of sheer fantasy, where "evil folks" are lurking. The objective of the "Global War on Terrorism" which has been fully endorsed by Obama administration has been to galvanize public support for a Worldwide campaign against heresy.

MORE...

NOTE:

The description given above by the author is chillingly similar to biblical warnings which predict that a time will come when right is called wrong and wrong is said to be right. In many ways, the time has arrived.

--Dr. J. P. Hubert

Sumatra earthquake rescue operation scaled back

Rescue workers have started scaling down their efforts in the Indonesian port city of Padang as hopes of finding any more survivors from last week's earthquake faded.


Padang Alai four days after the earthquake

Telegraph UK
By Peter Foster in Padang
Published: 1:42PM BST 04 Oct 2009

Indonesia's health minister estimated the death toll from the 7.6 magnitude quake would reach 3,000 when those listed as 'missing' were included among the dead. The confirmed total now stands at 1,300.

As relief efforts began to concentrate on delivering food, medicine and shelter to survivors, many of whom are living outside in remote villages in the Sumatran jungle, heavy machinery was moved in to clear fallen buildings in the city. MORE...

Five Die in Philippines Typhoon

Sunday, October 4, 2009, 08:20

Reuters

A powerful typhoon moved out to sea this morning after slamming into the remote northeastern Philippines and killing five people, but damage and flooding, while extensive, was less than feared.

Typhoon Parma, the strongest typhoon to hit the country since 2006, was north of the main Luzon island and moving northwest at 9 km per hour (6 mph), the weather bureau said.

It had weakened, with maximum sustained winds of 120 kph and gusts of up to 150 kph, but authorities in Taiwan have issued a warning to sailors as Parma was likely to enter its southern waters in the next day or two.

"The destruction in our infrastructure and agriculture is huge," said Alvaro Antonio, the governor of the northern Cagayan province that bore the brunt of the storm. "Wide areas are still under water, including ricelands about to be harvested."

The system brought rain across Luzon on Saturday but not as heavily as feared, especially along the densely populated west coast where floods in and around Manila from Typhoon Ketsana eight days ago killed nearly 300 people.

Officials had feared rain would spark fresh floods in Manila since reservoirs and dams around the capital are full and the sewage system is inundated with mud and rubbish brought by last week's deluge.

Fallen trees and floods cut off roads in Cagayan and neighbouring Isabela province. Soldiers, in rubber boats and armed with chain saws, started to clear roads and rescue marooned communities, officials said.

Mr Antonio said many areas remained inaccessible due to power outages and disruption in communications. "Winds are still strong, but no more rains. Our relief works are ongoing," he said.

About 5,000 people remained in temporary shelter areas. More than 130,000 people in the country's eastern seaboard had fled their homes ahead of typhoon Parma.

At least three people were killed in Isabela and two in the central Bicol region, where Parma had swept through earlier in the week.

Local government officials reported more than 100 million pesos ($2.1 million) in crop damage, particularly in rice and corn farms in Isabela and Cagayan.

Arroyo declared a nationwide calamity on Friday to allow local governments to access emergency funds and cap the prices of essential goods. She also ordered troops to evacuate more than 100,000 people from areas at risk from the typhoon.

Why some conservative Catholics want to stop Pope John Paul II being made a saint

By Damian Thompson
UK Telegraph
August 18th, 2009

For a long time now, some conservative Catholics – most of them hard-line traditionalists – have been discreetly slagging off the late Pope John Paul II. One priest I know grimaces every time his name is mentioned. “Oh, you mean, ‘John Paul the Great’,” he says,” rolling his eyes. He does not want him to be made a saint – not because he thinks he was a bad man, but because he thinks that, despite his heroic witness against Communism, he damaged the Church.

The charge sheet against JPII goes something like this:

1. He allowed truly terrible appointments to be made in Rome and to diocesan sees around the world. England and Wales was bad enough, but some bishops in Germany and France are what you might call “Vatican II protestants”. These bishops are now intent on wrecking the pontificate of Benedict XVI.

2. As a result of bad appointments, especially in America, the scandal of clerical sex abuse gathered pace, and for one reason or another – perhaps because he was so busy traveling – John Paul II failed to act swiftly (or at all, in the early days). He allowed guilty priests to be moved to parishes where they carried on abusing minors.

3. He tried to improve the liturgy, but in practice allowed bishops and priests to do their own thing, turning the sanctuary into a sort of talent show for women “eucharistic ministers”. And the papal MC, Archbishop Piero Marini, set a terrible example by dressing the Pope in Star Trek outfits and adding a touch of Butlins to international jamborees.

4. John Paul’s attempts to reach out to other faiths effectively celebrated and validated non-Christian religions. Conservative Catholics still feel outrage at the memory of the Pope praying with the Dalai Lama et al at Assisi, and kissing the Koran on a visit to Syria (see photo above).

Until now, most anti-JPII sentiment has been expressed privately. But take a look at this post on the website RenewAmerica, from Eric Giunta, a conservative law student.

Once again, the Catholic world has been rocked by yet more allegations of sexual impropriety by Legionnaires of Christ founder, the late Fr. Marcial Maciel. It seems the now-disgraced founder-cum-pervert fathered more children than previously suspected; the latest claimants to his paternity purport to have evidence that the late Pope John Paul II knew of Maciel’s sexual dalliances, and turned a blind eye to them …

The allegations highlight what for all too many Catholics is the elephant-in-the-room when discussing the ills which beset the modern Church: the extent to which the late Pope John Paul II was an enabler of these perversions, from sexual and liturgical abuse to theological dissent and the scandal of Catholic politicians who support the most immoral of social policies with the tacit or express blessings of their Church.

One does not need to deny or disparage the personal sanctity, thoughtful conservatism, or religious orthodoxy of the late Pontiff in order to acknowledge that his Pontificate, by all accounts, was a glorious failure. Yes, he aided in the fall of Eastern European Communism, but the Pope of Rome is not primarily a mover and shaker of state politics, but a Christian pastor whose mission it is to save souls, convert the lost, and govern his church in such a way that it resembles, as best as possible, the city on a hill, the light of the world …

Giunta does not want to see the feast day of Pope St John Paul II added the calendar:

Though Catholics and others are loathe to admit it of an otherwise beloved Pope, John Paul II oversaw a church which deteriorated in both its inner and outer life. His callous indifference toward the victims of priestly sexual abuse in refusing to meet personally with a single one of them, and his stubborn refusal to compel the resignation from office of any of the bishops who aided, abetted, and covered-up the abuse, are testamentary to his utter failure: not as a Catholic or a theologian, but as a Pope.

And this is precisely why he should not be canonized. For in the Catholic (and popular) understanding, canonization is not simply a technical decree indicating one’s everlasting abode in Paradise; it is, in addition, the Church’s solemn endorsement of a Christian’s heroic virtue. The question the Catholic Church must ask herself is: Was John Paul II a model of “heroic” papal virtue?

Contrary to leftist media reportage, the late Pope was not an authoritarian despot, bent on enforcing Catholic orthodoxy on an unwilling church. Quite the contrary: theological liberals and dissenters flourished in all of the Church’s structures, from lay politics and Catholic universities, to the ranks of priests and bishops. Not a single pro-abortion Catholic politician has been excommunicated from the church; only a handful of openly heretical priests were asked to stop teaching theology, but were otherwise permitted to exercise their priestly ministry unhindered. The Church in Austria openly dissents from orthodox Catholicism with papal impunity. Fr. Richard McBrien, Sr. Joan Chittiser, Roger Cardinal Mahoney of Los Angeles, Hans Kung, Charles Curran, Notre Dame University, dissenters galore: the overwhelming majority of prominent far-leftist, theologically modernist Catholic organizations, speakers, and theologians are Catholics in good standing with their church, and are frequently given an official platform at church-sponsored institutions and events. To give just two more examples, several Catholic parishes and universities flaunt themselves as “gay-friendly” in a directory published by the Conference of Catholic Lesbians. These speakers and institutions are in just as good standing with the Church as so-called “orthodox” Catholic pundits and writers.

I don’t endorse these views: in fact, it seems perfectly obvious that the reign of John Paul II was one of slowly growing orthodoxy in the Church, nurtured by his Catechism and a series of magnificent encyclicals. And those Catholics who want to draw a sharp distinction between the agendas of John Paul and Benedict are overlooking the fact that the theological direction of the last pontificate owed an enormous amount to the current Holy Father, who would be horrified by Giunta’s article.

Yet this debate is clearly gathering pace. JPII loyalists are also on the warpath. (George Weigel is using the Maciel scandal as a stick with which to beat this administration, not the last one.) So I’d be interested in your views.

Editor's NOTE:

The current "Holy Father" and John Paul II are in large part responsible for the deplorable condition of the Roman Catholic Church. Contrary to the claims of Damian Thompson, there is no evidence whatsoever that "the reign of John Paul II was one of slowly growing orthodoxy in the Church." Quite the opposite is actually the case. In virtually every quantifiable category, the Church deteriorated markedly during the "reign" of John Paul II. He was singularly guilty of a most reprehensible degree of malfeasance. Without question, he neglected to "protect the sheep from ravenous wolves" failing Christ's threefold interrogatory to St. Peter: "DO YOU LOVE ME"?

A few encyclicals--which in certain admittedly orthodox areas e.g. his largely Thomistic teaching on moral philosophy in Veritatis splendor--are not enough to excuse his complete failure to protect the faith and shield the faithful from Heretics and Apostates. Millions of souls were no doubt lost due to his unwillingness or inability to uphold the orthodox Roman Catholic faith in its entirety--in the fashion of a Pope St. Pius V or Pope St. Pius X. The fact that we have had four heterodox (neo-Modernist) Popes since Pope Pius XII no doubt makes it difficult to appreciate just how great some of the Popes were throughout the latter part of the nineteenth and first part of the twentieth centuries.

These highly critical remarks regarding the notoriously poor governance of the Roman Catholic Church which John Paul II oversaw are not meant in any way to cast aspersions on him as a man or as a presumably dedicated Christian. Only God knows of course what was truly in his heart and soul. Nevertheless, it remains inexplicable to this writer how he could have failed so miserably as Pope if he was devoutly committed to Christianity as is alleged of him.

In any case, there is no role on earth which is equivalent to serving as the Vicar of Christ. Few men apparently possess the personal piety, intellectual and spiritual capacity including the will/moral courage to discharge the position wisely and effectively. John Paul II clearly lacked the willpower necessary to be a great Pope even if one grants that he possessed the personal piety, the intellect and the spirituality. That being the case, it would be a tragedy if he were to be canonized a Saint in the Catholic Church. The Church Militant suffered horrendously under his watch and continues to do so--"By their fruits you shall know them." That alone should be enough to disqualify him.


--Dr. J. P. Hubert

Somoans Tell of Indescribable Waves

Somoan's who survived the Tsunami there tell of wave which reached the top of power poles. Everything in the path of the wave has been destroyed.

"Hundreds are feared dead as at least 15 quakes hit two areas along the 'Pacific ring of fire' in three days." MORE...

More Natural Disasters as Second Powerful Earthquake Rocks Indonesia

...Thousands of people are trapped under the rubble in Padang, a city of 900,000, a senior Indonesian health ministry official said.

Rustam Pakaya, the head of the health ministry's disaster centre, said via a telephone text message that a hospital in Padang in the area near the epicentre of the quake had also collapsed.

'Jamil hospital collapsed and thousands of people are trapped in the rubble of buildings,' Pakaya said.

A resident called Adi told Indonesia's Metro Television there was devastation around him. 'For now I can't see dead bodies, just collapsed houses. Some half destroyed, others completely. People are standing around too scared to go back inside. They fear a tsunami.

'No help has arrived yet. I can see small children standing around carrying blankets. Some people are looking for relatives but all the lights have gone out completely.'

In Samoa, signs of devastation from the tsunami were everywhere, with a giant boat washed ashore lying on the edge of a highway and flood waters swallowing up cars and homes.

It struck about 120 miles (190 kilometres) from neighbouring American Samoa, a U.S. territory that is home to 65,000 people.The waves reached as far as Japan, although Hawaii and Australia were spared any severe damage.

In Washington, President Barack Obama declared a disaster for American Samoa. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said it was deploying teams to provide support and assess damage.

Samoan Prime Minister Sailele Malielegaoi looked shaken today on board a flight from Auckland, New Zealand, to the Samoan capital of Apia.

'So much has gone. So many people are gone,' he told reporters on board. 'I'm so shocked, so saddened by all the loss.'

Malielegaoi said his own village of Lepa was destroyed. President Thomas Lapua, who lives in the Western Samoan capital of Apia, said: 'These are places that exist because people depend on the sea to fish - now the sea is threatening their lives. It may be some time before we find out the full extent of this.'

The quake hit at 6:48 am local time (17:48 GMT) midway between the two island groups. At least one entire village in American Samoa was reported to have been flattened by the tsunami, later reports said, but confirmation of the destruction was difficult because communications were cut to many areas.

A Samoan resident, Mr Keni Lesa was preparing to take his family to higher ground as the tsunami warning went out. 'We've done a lot of training for this, but it still a shock when it actually happens and you hear the warnings going out on the radio.'

'There are a considerable number of people who've been swept out to sea and are unaccounted for,' New Zealand's acting Prime Minister Bill English said.


New earthquake rattles Sumatra, Indonesia again
BBC, CNN, Reuters
Posted by: Sean Ecker on 1 October 2009 at 9:27

A second earthquake in under 24 hours, measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale, shook southern Sumatra in Indonesia Thursday morning 1 October. Sumatrans were still recovering from the earlier, stronger earthquake in the port of Padang which has left at least 400 dead and many people trapped under collapsed buildings. The death toll could climb into the thousands, officials fear.

The earthquakes come days after a strong tremor shook the Pacific islands of Samoa, leaving many villages flattened and over 100 people dead. Experts say that the earthquakes are all on the edge of the Australian tectonic plate where it comes into contact with the Eurasian plate, in the case of the Sumatra earthquakes, and where it bumps up against the Pacific plate in the case of the Samoan earthquake.


Death Toll Mounts as Second Earthquake Strikes Indonesia


Quakes Wreak Destruction in Indonesia, the Samoas
Hundreds of people were killed in a 7.6-magnitude earthquake that originated in the sea off Indonesia's Sumatra island on Wednesday, Sept. 30. The day before, a tsunami hit islands in the South Pacific after a morning quake, leaving more than 150 people dead or missing.

By Andrew Higgins
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, October 1, 2009; 9:19 AM

JAKARTA, Indonesia, Oct. 1 -- A major earthquake that killed hundreds and possibly thousands of people on the Indonesian island of Sumatra follows an unusual period of seismic turmoil that scientists say likely heralds a catastrophic quake on a scale not seen in the area for more than 150 years.

A 7.6 magnitude quake Wednesday leveled hundreds of buildings, including hospitals, in Padang, a boisterous port city of 900,000 people on the west coast of Sumatra. It also shook buildings in Singapore and Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur. A second, less severe quake hit another part of Sumatra Thursday.

Officials put the death toll in Padang at more than 500 but noted that the figure will likely rise. They said many residents remain trapped in the rubble.

Kerry Sieh, an American seismologist at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University, said Sumatra's current seismic spasms began in 2000 and have since produced about 30 quakes. Far worse is yet to come, he said, though not immediately.

"If you have a time-lapse picture of the Challenger space shuttle disaster, the first thing you see is a little flame, a tear, and then the whole thing blows apart," said Sieh, an authority on the area's geology and director of the Earth Observatory of Singapore. "This is what is happening in Sumatra but in slow motion. The biggest explosion is yet to happen."

As rescue workers scrambled Thursday to dig survivors out of wrecked buildings in Padang, power cuts and heavy rain hampered their efforts. Severed phone lines made communication with Padang difficult. Indonesia's health minister said thousands may have been killed but cautioned that information is still scant.

The Sumatra quakes do not appear to be directly connected to an earthquake roughly 6,000 miles away that triggered a tsunami Wednesday on the Pacific islands of Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga, scientists said. But Sumatra and the Pacific islands all lie within the so-called "Ring of Fire," an arc of seismic turbulence noted for volcanic eruptions and earthquakes. Along a fault line that stretches from Burma to Australia, two tectonic plates meet and grind against each other. A rupture along this line caused the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, in which around 230,000 people perished, many of them in the northern Sumatra region of Aceh.

Earthquakes in and around Sumatra are "becoming more frequent and of higher intensity," said Haryadi Permana, a geologist at the Indonesia Science and Technology Agency. A massive quake will likely occur in coming decades, he said, but "it is impossible to predict when." He said scientists have long warned that Padang and other towns were under threat, but "the government never cared about that."

Some buildings in the city were reinforced before this week's disaster, but many still crumpled. Fearing more tremors, residents left their homes and prepared to sleep outside. Some hospitals have moved patients onto streets. Outside Padang's partially collapsed Jamil Hospital, at least 40 corpses were lying on the ground, Reuters news agency reported.

Before flying to Padang Thursday from Jakarta, Indonesia's health minister, Siti Fadilah Supari, said that thousands had probably died, but she added, "We don't really know yet."

Sumatra is the center of Indonesia's oil and gas industry and home to endangered animals such as the Sumatran tiger and wild orangutan. Their habitat has been steadily reduced by illegal logging and the growth of Indonesia's powerful pulp and paper combines. Building regulations are often ignored, and Indonesia's relatively vibrant economy has left Padang and other towns on Sumatra scattered with flimsy, hastily built structures.

Sieh, the American expert in Singapore, said Wednesday's Padang quake occurred along the Mentawai patch, a 435-mile section of what is known as the Sunda megathrust, a 3,400-mile fault line that cuts across Southeast Asia. The megathrust runs south from Bangladesh, curves around the western and southern flanks of Sumatra, Java, Bali and eastern Indonesia and stretches to northwestern Australia.

Over the centuries, he said, this section has had long periods of calm followed by several decades of intense and dangerous activity. By using coral to measure changes in sealevel and other factors, he and fellow scientists have identified three distinct periods of activity, each roughly 200 years apart, since the early 14th century.

Sumatra's current seismic turmoil, he said, marks the fourth such episode and, like previous ones, will likely end with a massive quake. The last one was in 1833.

"There is no place in the world that has more wake-up calls than Padang," Sieh said. But getting governments to focus on catastrophes out of immediate view is difficult. "When it comes to things that only happen every few hundreds years . . . we are not geared to think about it."

Washington, Sieh said, has far more experts who worry about political conflict in Kashmir than "about a fault line [in Kashmir] that could kill all of them."

"There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven." (Luke 21: 11)

Another Massive Natural Disaster:

Massive Earthquake Triggers Tsunami Near Samoa
AFP



Sept. 29, 2009 -- A powerful earthquake with a magnitude of up to 8.3 struck off the South Pacific island nation of Samoa on Tuesday, triggering a tsunami as coastal residents fled to higher ground.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said waves 1.57 meters (five feet) tall hit American Samoa, while 0.7 meter waves were recorded in Samoa.

The center had earlier issued a tsunami warning for a large swathe of the South Pacific including Fiji, New Zealand and Tonga after the U.S. Geological Survey reported a 7.9 magnitude quake.

The center later said an 8.3 magnitude quake had been recorded at a depth of 33 kilometers (21 miles). It was not immediately clear if this was the same quake and the USGS's website did not provide exact details of its location.

"Sea level readings indicate a tsunami was generated," said a statement from the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

"It may have been destructive along coasts neat the earthquake epicenter and could alo be a threat to more distant coasts. Authorities should take appropriate action in response to this possibility."

Samoa resident Keni Lesa told AFP in the capital Apia that people were moving inland.

"I'm taking my family to a safe place. Everyone's getting out of coastal areas," he said.

But Lesa said there was no panic as "we have done a lot of training for this," living on a low lying island in an earthquake prone area.

There were no immediate reports of damage from the earthquake, apart from a few landslips.

In its preliminary earthquake report, the USGS put the epicenter 204 kilometers (126.8 miles) south-southwest of Samoa's capital Apia and at a depth of 85 kilometers (52.8 miles).

The tsunami warning was also in effect for American Samoa, Samoa, Niue Island, the Wallis and Futuna Islands, the Tokelau atolls, the Cook Islands, Tuvalu, Kiribati, the Kermadec Islands, the Baker and Howland Islands, Jarvis Island, French Polynesia and the Palmyra Islands.

A tsunami watch was issued for Vanuatu, Nauru, the Marshall Islands, the Solomon Islands, New Caledonia, Kosrae Island, Papua New Guinea, Hawaii, Pohnpei in Micronesia, the Wake Islands, Pitcairn and the Midway Islands.

The USGS said the region was struck by a 5.6 magnitude quake around 20 minutes after the first.


Tsunami Wipes Out Villages in South Pacific
Disaster Highlights Challenge of Establishing Effective Warning Systems

Wallstreet Journal
SEPTEMBER 30, 2009, 9:52 A.M. ET
By PATRICK BARTA

Victims of the tsunami that swept across the South Pacific had only minutes to escape the deadly waves and in some cases didn't receive alerts of danger, despite years of work to upgrade early-warning systems across the region.

At least 99 people were killed and dozens left missing by the tsunami, which inundated tourist resorts and local villages after a massive 8.0-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of Samoa early Tuesday morning local time. Disaster authorities warned the death toll could rise significantly over the next few days as the full scale of the disaster – much of which occurred in remote areas – is assessed.

A boat from Malaloa Marina is seen on the edge of the main highway in the village of Fagatogo in American Samoa.

Reporting from Wellington, New Zealand, Dow Jones Newswires' Simon Louisson tells The News Hub at least one village in Samoa was wiped out by a tsunami wave. The wave followed a massive earthquake that struck close to the Pacific Island group.

Fears of further waves generally abated late in the day as relief workers set about treating victims and recovering bodies that were washing up along the shores. Although small waves were measured as far away as Japan, that country withdrew its tsunami warnings by afternoon and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii, which monitors possible tsunami threats in the region and issued its own temporary warnings earlier, didn't raise fresh alerts.

The warnings appeared to help prevent injury in some areas. Residents in the Samoan capital of Apia said emergency officials fanned out across the city to warn of the Tsunami Warning Center's first alerts, while staff at Aggie Grey's, a historic hotel along the waterfront, said they quickly moved guests to upper levels to escape danger.

"There were sirens and emergency workers all over the place, pestering people to walk up the hill," said Cherelle Jackson, a resident. But much of the worst danger "was on the other side of the island," she said, and informing residents in those areas, which are less densely populated, was much harder. In some places, she and others said, the messages didn't get through.MORE...

NOTE:

The Tsunami wave was measured at up to 20 feet high. The latest death toll has risen to over 100. After-shocks continue to be a problem. This event comes very closely on the heals of the catastrophic flooding in the Philippines.

--Dr. J. P. Hubert

"There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences; and there will be terrors and great signs from heaven." (Luke 21: 11)

"And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and upon the earth distress of nations in perplexity at the roaring of the sea and the waves, men fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world." (Luke 21: 25-26)