Jacob “Jake” Finkbonner of Ferndale, Wash., was 5 years old in 2006 when he split his lip playing basketball, developed a deadly flesh-eating strep infection and lay near death for months at Seattle Children’s Hospital.

Jake’s father, Don, is Native American and a member of the Lummi tribe. The family’s priest at the time, the Rev. Timothy Sauer, urged Jake’s parents to pray to a 17th-century Mohawk-Algonquin woman to seek God’s miracle.

Sauer said he suggested Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha because “I knew Kateri herself had been deeply disfigured by smallpox, so it seemed like she would be a good person to call on for this young boy whose face and head were infected.

“And I knew that Native American Christians have been looking forward to the church’s acknowledgment of their contributions in a more public way. Kateri Tekakwitha has always been a rallying point for their faith.”

On Monday (Dec. 19), the Vatican announced that Tekakwitha will be canonized as a Catholic saint, the first Native American from North America so proclaimed.

It takes proof of two miracles to certify that a Catholic is clearly in heaven asking God to help people who pray in their name. Now, Jake’s miraculous healing has been credited to the intercession of Tekakwitha, who died in 1680 at age 24.

Jake’s mother, Elsa Finkbonner, said her son turned the corner toward survival after a visit by a member of the Tekakwitha Conference, based in Great Falls, Mont., which evangelizes to a half-million Native American Catholics.

The woman, also named Kateri, brought a small coin with an image of Tekakwitha and a prayer card, Finkbonner said.

“I pinned that relic to his pillow and I read that prayer to him every single day,” his mother said.

Today, Jake is training to be an altar boy at church and still playing basketball.

“I pray to Kateri now myself,” Jake said Monday. “Other people have asked about my story and told me their stories, and I pray to her for other people to be healed.”

The Vatican scrupulously investigates miracle claims for proof that recovery was not a result of medical or surgical attention. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told NPR that about 10 to 15 percent of patients with Jake’s variation of strep die.

Sister Kateri Mitchell of the Tekakwitha Conference, a Mohawk herself, was among 400 Native Americans who attended the beatification ceremony in 1980, when Tekakwitha’s history of miracles was first recognized by the church.

“I think thousands of us will try to go to Rome for the canonization,” she said. “We have waited so long for this.”

Native American Catholics were once doubly ostracized for their culture and their faith, says church historian Matthew Bunson, co-author of a biography of Tekakwitha, “Mystic in the Wilderness.” The book will be reissued in 2012 under a new name, “Saint Tekakwitha: Glory of Many Nations.”

Known as the Lily of the Mohawks, Tekakwitha was born in what is now Upstate New York, the daughter of a Mohawk chief and Algonquin Christian mother.

She was just 4 or 5 when she was scarred in the smallpox epidemic that killed her parents and most of her family. Believers say her scars vanished at her death.

The dates for the canonization will likely be announced by February, Bunson said.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

church and its partners are responding to Thailand’s worst floods in decades in and around its capital, Bangkok, and asking for support for relief aid to the victims.

“Please remember the flood victims in Thailand and the work of the Church of Christ in Thailand (CCT) in your daily prayers,” said Prawate Khid-arn, acting manager of the Office of CCT Policy Management in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The CCT is a partner of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.).

Reuters news agency reported on Oct. 25 that at least 366 people have been killed since heavy monsoon rains started in July. Flooding has affected 2.5 million people and could swamp more of densely populated Bangkok, if water flowing from the north and heavy rain causes canals to burst their banks.

Khid-arn reported that CCT teams have distributed 1,200 relief bags that include rice, water, dry food and some medicines, to victims in central Thailand and there are plans to return to the affected areas this week.

For long-term rehabilitation, he said, ecumenical organizations such as Church World Service, Norwegian Church Aid, and the Christian Conference of Asia met with the CCT in Chiang Mai on Oct. 14. Khid-arn then reported that the CCT had approved an additional 200,000 Baht, or about $6,000, for humanitarian assistance.

“What makes us happy is that various people ― office workers, students, artists, singers, teachers, medical doctors, nurses and volunteers ― express sympathy and do the best in solidarity with the victims,” Khid-arn said.

Tearfund reported that CCT has been distributing water and more than 1,000 cooked lunches and dinners to 500 people each day. At one house, food was delivered to the second floor, where as many as 23 people had taken refuge.

Church World Service, a U.S.-based Christian relief organization which is responding as a member of the ACT Alliance, said, that CWS-supported members of CCT’s team are also distributing food in Bangkok.

The PC(USA) is a member of both CWS and the ACT Alliance.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

More Christians showed up recently outside a theatre in Oklahoma to pray, than did those who went inside to attend a controversial satanic public event.

Some 75 to 80 Christians from several churches came, some from as far as Texas, to pray outside the Civic Center Music Hall in Oklahoma City; while some 45 others were inside to attend the controversial Church of the IV Crown Princes event, NewsOK said.

The satanic group had announced the event one week before Halloween. Jamie Cox, a member, said they chose a public venue because, “We actually believe it’s about time that Satanism stops being underground,” News On 6 reported.

Another member, P.J. Creepers, told News On 6 that he thought the event was a good idea adding, “It’s about time. It’s awesome because Oklahoma needs this — exorcisms in the Bible belt. We need a change. We need another voice heard other than these ramblings.”

The event began with a heavy metal band. Afterwards a “blasphemy” ritual was held. James Hale, one of the group leaders, warned any Christians in the audience that there would be segments in the ritual where Satan is involved, NewsOk said.

Amid incense, the soundtrack of cymbals and heavy metal, some people in black robes held the ritual around a woman on a table, exorcising Christianity. After the ritual, when asked if the woman was a Satanist, Hale said she was not and said the ritual was just blasphemy, NewsOk said.

Included among the Christian group were Baptists, Roman Catholics and full gospel. Some were from the state, others from Kansas and Arkansas. They prayed for the people in the theatre, and for Oklahoma City, News Ok said.

Some among them held signs such as, “St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle,” and “Honk if you love Jesus!” At least two church groups had permits to conduct prayer activities outside the theatre, NewsOk said.

Hale said some 70 tickets were sold to the event at $15 each. He said it is possible some people didn’t come because of the crowd of Christian protestors, according to NewsOk.

However, News On 6 noted that attendees passed through the back of the building on the north side, while protestors stayed on the east side. There was no clash, and no one was arrested.

Velma Brandt, 58, of America Needs Fatima prayed the rosary with some of her group members. She told NewsOk, “This is a Christian nation founded on Christian principles. I think this (Satanist gathering) is sad.”

Francis Slobodnik of the same group told NewsOk, “I’m a Roman Catholic, and my religious faith is most important to me. Lucifer is the exact opposite of God. God is good. Lucifer is evil. We were horrified about this, and we thought we needed to do something, to take a stand for God and for His right.”

Some Christians said that while they disagreed with the event, the group has a right to hold it. Alan Maricle of Norman told News On 6, “I’m glad that they can because their right to assemble is my right to assemble.”

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Eleven employees including four teachers of a Christian evangelical school in Southern California were fired recently because of differences in their faith.

Most of the workers who were let go from Crossroads Christian Church School in Corona, Calif. were Roman Catholics.

The school lost its autonomy last year when it was integrated with the conservative Crossroads Christian Schools and aligned with its 8,000 member church, the AP said.

The fired employees were warned one year before that the school would be more closely affiliated with the church, which would mean that they themselves would have to be born again if they wanted to keep their jobs, the AP said.

Among those fired was Sue Fitzgerald, a kindergarten teacher and a Catholic. She had worked there for 14 years and said she used to love the sense of family that the school once had, the AP said.

Also fired was Marylou Goodman, an elementary teacher and parishioner of St. John’s Episcopal Church. Her pastor, Rev. John Saville said of her being fired, “To me, it feels like religious cleansing,” the AP said.

Mary Montoya, a Catholic who taught there for nine years was also let go. She said, “They were making a mockery of other people and religions. And this went for the Lutherans, the Episcopalians, the Catholics and they were very demeaning,” ABC 7 said.

At the center of the tempest is Pastor Chuck Booher who took over and promised to make the school “100 percent Christian.” Montoya said, “He wanted to bring the church and the school together, which at first I thought was a great thing,” ABC 7 said.

Problems arose when Booher presented demands including baptism by immersion, and something he called “Level 4 Living.” Montoya said, “I told them I did not agree with everything on the Level 4 living.” They told her that next year she would not be with them, ABC 7 said.

School superintendent Beth Frobisher said the changes were geared to make the school and church teachings like minded.  She said, “How can the school be a ministry of the church if what is spoken and taught into the hearts of the children isn’t consistent with what is taught in the church?” the AP said.

Some parents, like Robin Rezner pulled their children out because of the changes. Rezner said, “That’s part of why we were comfortable there. We knew there were teachers with many different faiths so that was a comfort to us that they obviously didn’t have a doctrine that was so specific and condemning that there is now,” ABC 7 said. In sum, 11families took their children out. The school has 583 students, the AP said.

Federal and state laws allow religion to be infused in school curricula, but they prohibit religious-belief requirements of employees except in religious-education classes, the AP said.

However according to Thomas Cathey, director of legal-legislative issues of the Association of Christian Schools International (based in Colorado), schools within their association, including Crossroads Christian, have a religious institution exemption by federal law, and can therefore fire employees with different religious beliefs, the AP said.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

Two Christian leaders were arrested on false charges, and two Christian women were robbed through extortion by Muslim leaders in Bangladesh, with the husband of one beaten.

It all began with a baptism on the banks of the Brahmanputra River at Jamalpur. Out of 55 converts, seven were invited by Johura Begum, CDN said.

However during the baptism Muslims in the area became enraged and protested loudly, so that only six of the 55 were baptized when the police arrived and arrested some of the Christians including two leaders, CDN said.

For the next three days Muslims used bullhorns to shout death threats at the Christians in the village. They said, “We will peel off the skins of the Christians,” and swore they would drive all the Christians away, CDN reported.

One of those at the baptism, Hafijur Rahman, 45, said he was forced by police to sign a statement saying that four Christian leaders offered him money to attend the ritual, CDN said.

Rahman told CDN, “I was not aware of the content of the case copy – later I came to know that a case was filed against the four Christian neighbors by me. I am an illiterate man. Police took my fingerprint on a blank paper under duress, and later they wrote everything.”

Rahman told CDN that he attended the baptism upon the invitation of a neighbor and went out of curiosity. He denied being offered money by any Christian to be present. However local police chief Golam Sarwar insisted that Muslims were offered $70 each to become Christian.

Johura Begum, 42 of Pingna village, Jamalpur said a local council member and a government representative (whose son is a policeman) threatened to harm her twin daughters unless they were paid $283.

Begum was particularly alarmed because the policeman son of one extortionist was investigating fabricated charges that she paid Muslims to join the river baptism, CDN said.

Because her husband is just a laborer at a rice mill, Begum borrowed $283 from a Christian cooperative to pay the extortionists. She said, “It not possible to say aloud what abusive language they used against me for inviting people to God,” CDN said.

Begum said twenty years ago she was beaten by area Muslims and forced to leave the village. However she managed to go back three years later. “Local Muslims bombarded us with propaganda – that when I became a Christian, I would have to be naked in the baptism before the Christian cleric. Recently they are bad-mouthing Christianity with these kinds of disgraceful and scurrilous rumors, and my daughters cannot attend their classes,” CDN said.

In another development, another Christian woman, Komola Begum, 35, of Doulatpur Village was threatened by villagers backed by a member of the ruling Bangladesh Awami league, CDN said.

Begum invited 11 people, three of them women, to a baptism. The villagers upon hearing this demanded $3,535 from Begum. The wife of a wealthy seller of fertilizer, Begum was accused of being rich because she receives funds from Christians, CDN said.

The Muslim villagers beat her husband so badly he required three days of hospital treatment. His life was spared because she paid the Muslims the money they demanded, CDN said.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

It’s not the YMCA any more, it’s just the Y.

And from Texas to Tennessee, people have something to say about it.

New YMCA logo/ YMCA of the USA

Bryan Fischer of the American Family Association said to the Star-Telegram, “The YMCA was founded because the founder, George Williams, realized boys need Christ to become grown men. By removing Christ or Christianity from their title, they’re just taking another step away from their original mission.”

Others expressed a similar concern that the name change would imply a lessening of the Christian aspect of the organization.

James Reed, a 24-year member from Tennessee said, “Is this a way of becoming more politically correct?” Volunteer TV reported.

Molly Clark, a member of five years said, “Why would they do that? Because this organization was founded on Christianity. Its goal is to minister. The fact that they may take that name out makes me think maybe it’s becoming more secular,” Volunteer TV reported.

Since many people know the YMCA as the Y, a volunteer coach at a Texas Y is indifferent about the new name. More important to him is the foundation, the mission statement, and how the Y carries out its task to communicate with the public, Star-Telegram said.

Despite the differences of opinion about the name change, the YMCA said its name change was one way of revitalizing its image and promoting understanding of the operation’s main mission: improving the mind, spirits and bodies of young people.

To reflect the name change, the organization’s logo has morphed as well. The new logo is svelter, more modern and colorful, and it also, according to the YMCA Group, is more vibrant and expresses the diversity of the people to whom the organization caters.

New logo notwithstanding, the organization will still be legally called the YMCA and will form a part of The Heritage YMCA Group title, the Naperville Sun said.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

The Texas State Board of Education approved recently a new social studies curriculum that has angered leftists and liberals.

The new standards came into consideration after the board appointed a panel of experts last year to make recommendations.  The 15-member board voted 9-5 in favor of the new standards for textbooks and teaching history, economics and other civics classes that will take effect in August 2011.

The new curriculum will teach free market principles, explain how government taxation and regulation can restrict private enterprise, emphasize the achievements of Republican leaders such as President Ronald Reagan, and lend more focus on the biblical and Christian traditions of the country’s founding fathers, among others.

Other changes:  The U.S. government will be called a “Constitutional Republic” rather than a “Democratic society.”  There will also be a “Celebrate Freedom Week” where Texas students learn the importance of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.

Critics charge that the standards are a blatant attempt to insert an ideological and political agenda into Texas classrooms.  Among the readers’ comments to the article posted on ABC News, one person compared the board members to the Taliban “by imposing their distorted beliefs on the majority.”

However in Nightline’s Daily line, another reader’s comment said, “At last a state that has the guts to teach their children the true history of this country.  Way to go, Texas!”

The curriculum has earned controversy because Texas has 4.7 million public school students.  As a result, textbook publishers often tailor their curriculum according that of the Lone Star state.

Board member Don McLeroy said, “It’s imperative that our children be taught the original direction of our country.  All we’re doing is …completing the story. We’re restoring the balance,” he said.

Be Sociable, Share!

• 

The Canadian Parliament turned down recently a bill to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide.

In a landslide vote, the House of Commons rejected Bill C-384 by a vote of 228 to 59.

Immediately after the vote, two members said they mistakenly voted for the bill, instead of against it.

Conservative Member and Parliamentary Secretary for Health Stephen Fletcher abstained, stressing that he believed “the individual is ultimately responsible” for his fate.

Fletcher, a quadriplegic MP, is confined to a motorized wheel chair.

The bill, which was proposed by parliament member Francine Lalonde (La Pointe-de-l’Île, BQ) also irked Congress of Families Managing Director Larry Jacobs who said it might be used to hasten the deaths of the mentally ill, chronically depressed, elderly (who could be put to death for financial gain), bedridden and handicapped.

Alex Schadenberg, executive director of the Euthanasia Prevention Coalition, told LifeSiteNews that the defeat of Lalonde’s bill means that Canada should now move on to finding better ways of offering true health care to Canada’s vulnerable patients.

Be Sociable, Share!

•