President Fernando Lugo has a second lymphoma nodule in his chest, doctors said on Saturday

Paraguayan President Fernando Lugo has a second lymphoma nodule in his chest, doctors said on Saturday, a day after revealing he had cancer.Lugo, a former Roman Catholic bishop, took office as president of the poor, soy-exporting nation two years ago.His doctors said on Friday a biopsy carried out in a gland in his groin had revealed the early stages of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a type of cancer, but that an early diagnosis meant there was a good chance the cancer could be treated successfully.

“He also has a nodule in the mediastinum, which is an area with glands in the chest. It is a lymphoma but it’s not that important because this kind of disease starts this way, in several areas,” said Alfredo Boccia, a member of the president’s medical team.Boccia told reporters Lugo’s diagnosis had not worsened despite having been found to have more than one malignant nodule and that chemotherapy can be used to treat the cancer.

Health Minister Esperanza Martinez said on Friday Lugo, 59, would be able to conduct official business as usual although he will travel to a clinic in Sao Paulo, Brazil next week for further tests.Lugo quit the church to run for president three years ago. He has been under pressure in recent months due to violence blamed on a small armed group operating in remote northern areas bordering Bolivia and Brazil.

Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is a cancer that originates in the lymphoid tissue that makes up the lymph nodes, spleen and other organs of the immune system, with tumors developing from white blood cells. It is more common in men than women.Lugo, whose term runs out in 2013, underwent surgery earlier this year to treat a swollen prostate.(Reuters)

Pakistan No Christmas decorations brighten the tent camp sheltering Christians left homeless by the worst violence

Pakistani Christian children

GOJRA, Pakistan  No Christmas decorations brighten the tent camp sheltering Christians left homeless by the worst violence against minorities in Pakistan this year. Instead, there is a pervasive sense of fear.The Christians have received cell phone text messages warning them to expect a “special Christmas present,” they say, and are terrified of their tents being torched or their church services being bombed.”Last year I celebrated Christmas full of joy,” said Irfan Masih, cradling his young son among the canvas shelters and open ditches of the camp. But now “the fear that we may again be attacked is in our hearts.”They are threatening us, (saying) ‘We will again attack you and will not let you out of homes, we will burn you inside this time,'” he said.

It was the fires that most traumatized Gojra’s Christian Colony, a neighborhood in the heart of this Punjabi city about 220 miles (354 kilometers) southwest of Islamabad. In early August, hundreds of Muslims rampaged through the dirt streets, looting and torching homes as panicked residents tried to flee and thick black smoke rose into the air.Eight Christians died – seven of them from one family trapped in a burning home.”We are going to celebrate Christmas in sorrow because the whole family is hurt by this,” said Almas Hameed, whose father was shot dead during the riots. His wife, two of his children and members of his brother’s family all burned to death.

The attack, which officials said was incited by a banned radical Islamist group Sipah-e-Sahaba Pakistan, followed rumors that Christians had torn pages of a Quran, an act considered sacrilegious by Muslims. The ensuing carnage drew condemnation from the Pope and Pakistan’s prime minister, and highlighted how religious extremism has left the country’s minority groups increasingly vulnerable.Christians – Protestants and Catholics among them – make up less than 5 percent of Muslim-majority Pakistan’s 175 million people.Christians say more than 100 homes were burned and looted in Gojra and the nearby village of Korian. While many homes have been rebuilt using state money, dozens of families are still living in tents, waiting for construction on their houses to finish.

Both those who have moved back into their homes and the ones still in the camp say they are still regularly threatened – phone calls telling them to stop pressing for those responsible to be convicted, or else; armed men turning up at their homes; text messages on their cell phones promising a “special Christmas present;” rocks thrown at the tents in the night.”When we sleep at night the fear never leaves our heart,” said Safia Riaz, a 30-year-old whose father died of a heart attack during the riots. The violence “has stuck in our minds. Tension remains – God forbid that it will happen again.”

Strict security was being put into place during Christmas, said police officer Mohammed Tahir of the Faisalabad regional police headquarters, who rejected claims that authorities were unable to protect the minority.Security has been ramped up across the country anyway, as this year Christmas falls during the Islamic month of Muharram, which is often marred by bombings and fighting between Pakistan’s Sunni Muslims and its Shiite minority.

But Gojra’s Christians have little faith in the police, who were accused of standing by during the worst of August’s violence.
“The police already didn’t save us before,” said Ashar Faras, a 33-year-old who works as a chef in an Islamabad guesthouse.Pastor Safraz Sagar, a local clergyman who also lost his home in the riots, believes there is little authorities can do. “They are trying to protect us, but I think that when the terrorists want to harm us, they will.”

Many complain they see no justice, noting that there have been no convictions of anyone involved in the rioting. They say those who led the mob are well-known in the town, but are left untouched.

Extremists have increasingly targeted minority religious groups in Pakistan. Minority Rights Group International, a watchdog organization, lists Pakistan as seventh on the list of 10 most dangerous countries for minorities, after Somalia, Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Myanmar and Congo.The government stresses it is committed to minority rights.”Today, more than ever, we need to rediscover the path of peaceful coexistence,” Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said in a Christmas message, adding that the government is “committed to working for the progress and prosperity of the minorities.”

But in Gojra, few feel festive.Bishop John Samuel, the region’s senior clergyman, said Christmas services would still be held.However, “people are afraid because of this incident also because of this tussle, this tension,” he said.
“And also people are afraid from terrorism.”

2nd Irish bishop quitting over Dublin report abuse

Bishop Donal Murray

DUBLIN  A second Roman Catholic bishop in Ireland announced Wednesday he will resign in the wake of a damning investigation into decades of church cover-up of child abuse in the Dublin archdiocese.Bishop Jim Moriarty revealed his decision to priests and other church officials in his diocese of Kildare and Leithlin, southwest of Dublin. Church officials said Moriarty planned to travel soon to Rome to tender his resignation directly to Pope Benedict XVI, who has sole power to hire and fire bishops.Moriarty said he accepted the investigators’ finding that he failed to react properly when told about abuse cases, particularly of one priest convicted of molesting girls in 1997. But he insisted that his own inaction reflected his colleagues’ poor communication and secrecy.”It does not serve the truth to overstate my responsibility and authority within the archdiocese. Nor does it serve the truth to overlook the fact that the system of management and communications was seriously flawed,” Moriarty said in a prepared statement.

“However, with the benefit of hindsight, I accept that, from the time I became an auxiliary bishop, I should have challenged the prevailing culture.”Last week Bishop Donal Murray of Limerick resigned, becoming the first high-profile casualty of a government-ordered probe into the church’s failure to tell authorities about more than 170 suspected child abusers in the Dublin priesthood.

That 720-page report, published Nov. 26, examined the cases of 46 pedophile priests in detail. It found that church leaders in Dublin chronically shielded these priests from the law for decades until 1995, when growing public anger over the practice forced the church to begin handing its files on some cases to police.

Abuse victims welcomed Wednesday’s resignation announcement – but emphasized that they believe three other serving bishops named in the report must quit too.”It is immensely distressing and insulting to survivors of sexual abuse to be forced to listen as one bishop after another justifies his position and attempts to hold on to power until he is shamed into resigning,” said Maeve Lewis, director of an abuse-victims support group called One in Four.

“The bishops do not seem to understand the depravity of the culture that prevailed, and the horror inflicted on countless children,” she said. “Ultimately, the resignations of all the auxiliary bishops named in the report are inevitable.”Moriarty, who served as a Dublin auxiliary bishop from 1991 to 2002, initially insisted he’d done nothing wrong. “I do not consider that there are any grounds there upon which I should resign from office,” he said Dec. 10.

But Moriarty changed that line after senior church figures met Benedict in Rome that same day, and Murray announced his resignation.The report found Moriarty guilty of inaction in the face of abuse complaints, particularly involving the Rev. Paul McGennis.The investigators’ search of Dublin church records discovered that the church began keeping internal records of McGennis’ pedophilia as early as 1960, when he was caught taking pictures of naked girls.

The report found that Moriarty received renewed abuse reports against McGennis in 1993 but did nothing. McGennis was convicted in 1997 of abusing two girls and served half of an 18-month prison sentence.The investigators determined that church leaders, including Moriarty, made no attempt to check its own past files on McGennis. “Bishop Moriarty pointed out to the commission that he did not have access to the archives, but he could have asked the archbishop to conduct a search,” the report said.Moriarty is 73, two years short of the church’s mandatory retirement age. Five other past Dublin bishops identified in the report have already retired, while several others are dead.

priest wins $100,000 for church in poker game

poker tournament

COLUMBIA, S.C.  A South Carolina priest missed the $1 million top prize in a poker tournament to be televised this weekend but he won $100,000 for his church and he hopes his participation gives viewers a “fun twist” on their perceptions of the priesthood.The Rev. Andrew Trapp said he entered the PokerStars.net Million Dollar Challenge in hopes of putting St. Michael Catholic Church “super close” to its $5.5 million fundraising goal to build a new facility. He also wanted to strike a public relations blow for priests.”At the very least, even if I didn’t win any prize money, I was hoping it would help people to see that priests can have fun and be normal people and hopefully get a little bit of a fun twist on the image of the priesthood,” the assistant pastor said Tuesday.

The top prize went to retired New York Police detective Mike Kosowski. But Trapp won $100,000, untaxed, in a semifinal round in October for the coastal church’s building fund, which has amassed $4 million after four years of fundraising.

For the final episode, a camera crew filmed a Sunday Mass at the church, about 10 miles southwest of Myrtle Beach, and taped Trapp talking about the need for a new building.

“It’s really old. It’s too small for our needs, and it’s really vulnerable if a hurricane comes,” he says in a segment on PokerStars.net.He adds, “God gave me a gift of playing cards – that interest, that hobby – and I could put it to use to help build our church. That just was really exciting for me.”Congregants will gather Sunday afternoon at the church to watch the final televised round.

The 28-year-old Aiken native said he started playing poker in middle school at family gatherings. But it was in seminary in Columbus, Ohio, that he learned Texas Hold ‘Em.

“We just played for fun,” he said. “It was just a way to hang out with each other and to enjoy each other’s company.”Ordained in July 2007, Trapp is the youngest Catholic priest in the statewide diocese.”A lot of young people out there, young Catholics, have never seen a young priest,” he said, adding that maybe the show will lead others to consider the profession.

Before playing, Trapp got permission from his pastor, who told him to “go for it.” The Charleston bishop later gave him permission to be on TV, he said.Joseph Ohens, executive assistant to the bishop, confirmed Trapp had the bishop’s permission. “He wanted to show the world that priests are human beings like every one of us. … He wanted to demystify priesthood.”

To earn a spot on the poker finals, Trapp had to place among the top 10 in a free Internet tournament involving 10,000 contestants, then submit a two-minute audition video.Trapp said he knew he would be chosen if he could just earn the right to audition: A poker-playing priest would attract attention and viewers. He played in his priestly attire. Since that’s what he’s used to wearing, it would’ve felt weird not to, he said.

PokerStars.net notes Trapp’s profession in promoting the show, calling it “a story of biblical proportions.” Officials from PokerStars.net did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

Trapp calls it a game show where, instead of answering trivia questions, he plays cards. “This isn’t even gambling, so to speak,” he said, since everything, including the trips to Los Angeles, was cost-free to him and the church.

Trapp said the Catholic church doesn’t see a moral problem with playing cards or games of chance, within reason.”It’s a question of moderation – just like anything else,” he said. “We believe it’s fine to enjoy a beer or glass of wine, but not to abuse it to get drunk.”