BWCA CANOE TRIP, MEA CULPA

Last week I gave the wrong month for our canoe trip. We still have 2 or 3 openings for our JULY 24-29 Youth Canoe Trip. We have a very special trip planned. Please call me if you are interested and need information.

THE GIFT OF LIFE

Last week our parish administrator, Rena Chrysler, asked if we could have the pulpit announcement for the Blood Drive for the next 3 weeks. Well, we had such as overwhelming response the first weekend that now we have NINE more people signed up than available time slots! Rena called the Memorial Blood Center and requested an extra hour. Thank you for your wonderful response.

By the way, you can also walk into local Memorial Blood Bank centers which are located in Bloomington and Eden Prairie. Call the central office at 612-871-3300 to get directions and to schedule an appointment. Most people can actually give every 56 days.

Pope Benedict blesses these efforts. On June 12 Benedict pointed to Christ as a model for blood donors. The Pope offered that view when greeting the tens of thousands of people gathered in St. Peter's Square. Many of those present were getting ready for the World Day of Blood Donors, June 14. The World Day's objective is to get people to become regular blood donors.

About four out of every five countries are in need of supplies of stable, safe blood donations, according to the World Health Organization.

The Pope stated: "May Christ, who has redeemed us with his blood, always be the model for your volunteers."

BWCA CANOE TRIP

We still have 2 or 3 openings for our June 24-29 Youth Canoe trip. We have a very special trip planned. Please call me if you need information.

Fr Mike

BLESSED ARE THE PERSECUTED

We do not get the following types of news stories here in the United States.

Relatives and friends have made an appeal for the release of eight Christians arrested May 28 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, because of their faith.

The appeal was sent to AsiaNews, an agency of the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions. Among those arrested by the muttawa, or religious police, is John Thomas, 37, a native of Kerala, India, and fellow countryman Vijay Kumar, 45, of Tamil Nadu.

Thomas is accused of "proselytizing," but his relatives explained that for the past eight years all he did was hold private prayer meetings in his apartment with fellow Indian Christians. They also said that this is the first time that he was targeted and that he has been "tortured in inhumane ways," AsiaNews reported.

Working with the regular police, the muttawa picked up Thomas from his place of work and drove him home. There, he was beaten in front of his 5-year-old son and a baby sitter, who was also struck, AsiaNews said.

After his Bibles and other religious objects were collected, he was taken to prison. When Thomas‘ five-month pregnant wife returned home, she found the place wrecked, the news agency said. Together with relatives, she launched an appeal for her husband‘s release and their family‘s right to return to India.

On the same day that Thomas was arrested, seven other Christians were detained and taken to prison. Sources told AsiaNews that one of them was able to call a friend using a cellphone, describing how they are being subjected to torture.

The anti-Christian crackdown in Riyadh comes after another arrest last March, that of Samkutty Varghese, an evangelical Christian also from India. The muttawa found a Hindi version of the Bible in his bag and a list of phone numbers, which they used to carry out other arrests.

According to International Christian Concern, a Washington, D.C.-based human rights organization, the May 28 crackdown is the biggest one against religious minorities in the country in the last decades.

In Saudi Arabia, only the Islamic faith may be publicly expressed.

Fr Mike

HOW TO RECOGNIZE A STROKE

This might be a lifesaver if you can remember the following advice, coming from a nurse, whose husband is a medical doctor. Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. A stroke victim may suffer permanent brain damage when people fail to recognize what‘s happening. Now doctors say any bystander can recognize a stroke simply by asking three questions:

FIRST, ask the individual to smile.
SECOND, ask him or her to raise both arms.
THIRD, ask the person to speak a simple sentence.

If he or she has trouble with any of these tasks call 911 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher. Researchers are urging the general public to learn to ask these three questions quickly to someone they suspect of having a stroke. Widespread use of this test could result in prompt diagnosis and treatment of a stroke, and prevent permanent brain damage.

You may want to pass this along.

RE-GIFTING

In this weekend‘s gospel passage from Matthew is one of my favorite scripture verses, "What you have received as a gift, give as a gift." This is said as Jesus calls the first disciples and so is connected to each of our lives as followers of Jesus. Of course, this is not to be confused with the phenomenon of "re-gifting" where we pass on an unwanted or unneeded gift to an unsuspecting recipient! God‘s gifts are everlasting, irrevocable, unconditional and in abundance. Jesus illustrated this most dramatically with the loaves and fishes. God‘s gifts are always sufficient.

This weekend we also hear from those who went on the recent mission trip to our sister parish in Jinotega, Nicaragua. The special focus was to prepare the solar ovens distribution. Last Christmas, you as parishioners generously donated over 300 solar ovens and they are now in use! This is also a beautiful expression of the spirit of sharing the gift that we have received.

"conGRADulations"

Our parish community has people graduating from professional and technical schools, colleges and universities, high school, grade school, kindergarten and preschool. Congratulations to all and to the families of the graduates.

GOOD DEEDS INDEED

The scouting program promotes doing a good deed daily. St Ed’s has recently benefited from this generous scouting ethic.

Sean McNeely completed his Eagle Scout Project which involved improving storage for our parish. We now have extremely useful shelving for our liturgical, pastoral care and faith formation ministries. This has been a long term need and Sean's project really fit the bill. Many thanks to him and his Scout troop and leaders for this wonderful enhancement to our facility.

Pat Kent is also working on an Eagle Project which he is beginning this weekend. In conjunction with the International Lion's Club program to provide glasses for those in need, he is conducting a special drive here.

Fr Mike