The Pontiff Pharisee of the 21st Century!
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers —or even like this tax collector...... (Luke 18:9-14)
As Cardinal RATzinger,
Benedict led the cover-up of the John Paul II Pedophile Priests for more than 26 years papacy of John Paul II, yet not once did he "silence" or gave "Notification" to anyone of them. But he silenced Jesuits like
Jon Sobrino who gave their lives to the poor.
RAT FACE! of the
RAT z! who covered-up the JPIIPPA John Paul II Pedophile
Priests ArmyWhy Benedict XVI Wants To Steal East Timor "Left Wing, Right Wing' divides are illusory. In a country that has not had several hundred years of advanced capitalism, these classifications, are , to my mind, rather rhetorical. Besides, the real enemies can use these distinctions to their advantage. You will find that the real long term enemy of the people, the real, long term division maker, are the Western colonisers. I do not mean the multi-nationals that can be controlled (sometimes) by intelligent governments; I mean
the one INTERNATIONAL that no single government can control -- The Catholic Church and the Christian conquest it serves. I don't think anyone on the planet, if he reads even the latest statements of Benedict XVI, the latest great White Father and Infallible One of the West, can doubt the messianic intentions of the Christian west.
The Church may preach of another world, but their real interest is THIS WORLD! And, already, as Benedict, the present Managing Director and
ex-soldier (of God and Hitler) knows only too well,
the Vatican owns much more of the world than anybody else. It's capacity and willingness to spark off a war, whether in Korea, Vietnam, or East Timor is surely not to be doubted any more.By the time the Pope and Opus Dei are finished with East Timor and Sri Lanka, only ex-priests and ex-nuns will get a job there!
You have to live in a Catholic country to appreciate how the Leprechauns do God's work!
Seamus Breathnach
01.09.2007
www.irish-criminology.com
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Sri Lankan state crackdown in Left wing activists and Independent media News about the persecution and intimidation of Left wingers and Independent media who do not agree with the war against the LTTE.
The Sri Lankan state under President Mahindra Rajapakse is trying to destroy the Sri Lankan working class movement - the only movement that has the capability of bringing peace to Sri Lanka. As the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) has intensified, Rajapakse has reintroduced the notorious ‘Prevention and Prohibition of Terrorist Activities’ bill – a bill that allows for the indefinite detention of suspects without trial. President Rajapakse and the army chief Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka spoke to the media; the media were warned not to criticize the war as it will effect the morale of the of the army – there is a de facto censorship in the Sri Lankan media about the war. The new bill aims at silencing all those who think differently to Rajapakse, and scaring and browbeating the Left. These are the ‘suspects’ of the ‘Prevention and Prohibition of Terrorist Activities’ bill: journalists, Independent media activists, trade unionists, Left wing activists and anyone else who does not believe that Rajapakse’s way can bring peace to Sri Lanka.
This new law has allowed the Sri Lankan
state to harass and intimidate the Independent media; there have been killings, kidnappings, and death threats. These are aimed at identifying anyone who questions Rajapakse’s policies as accomplices of the LTTE ‘terrorists’. To anybody who follows the international news, this kind of ‘terrorism’ bill – intimidation, detention without trial etc – will sound familiar. There is a family resemblance between this bill and similar legislation that has been passed in the ‘freedom loving’ countries of the West.
There is little doubt that these attacks and abductions on journalists and Left wing activists is being carried out by the security and army intelligence services, and chauvinist paramilitary thugs working with the state. (Read the entire news article here
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/02/362066.html)
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01 May 2007
Pope invited to visit East Timor and “help establish peace” Dili (AsiaNews/UCAN) – Outgoing East Timor President Xanana Gusmao has invited Pope Benedict XVI to visit East Timor, just as Pope John Paul II did in 1989. The invitation was made April 12 at the presidential palace in Dili during a ceremony at which he officially commissioned Justino Maria Aparicio Guterres as East Timor's first ambassador to the Holy See.
President Gusmao told the Pope through the new ambassador that "[w]e would be honoured and are waiting for your visit to our country, to help establish peace in the hearts of Timorese people and thereby strengthen national reconciliation.”
During the ceremony, Mr Gusmao also said, appointing an ambassador was important to strengthen relations with the Vatican, which has been a pillar of support for East Timor during difficult times. He specifically recalled Pope John Paul's brief visit when East Timor was still under Indonesian occupation.
Bishop Alberto Ricardo da Silva of Dili added his voice, calling upon the faithful to support the new ambassador with their prayers.
“We hope the pope will accept our invitation because it would have huge impact and help restore peace and unity in our country,” the bishop said.
In its brief history, the small nation—independent from Indonesia since 2001—has experienced bloody inter-ethnic violence and political repression.
read full article
http://www.asianews.it/index.php?l=en&art=9139&size=APosted by Michael S. Rose at 9:10 AM
http://popebenedict16.blogspot.com/2007/05/pope-invited-to-visit-east-timor-and.html
1 comments:
Seamus Breathnach said...
LETTTER TO EAST TIMOR, AND XANANA GUSMAO It's the same everywhere and all the time.
'The Pope is invited to visit East Timor to “help establish peace”
'The Outgoing East Timor President Xanana Gusmao invites Pope Benedict XVI to visit East Timor, just as Pope John Paul II did in 1989.'
The invitation is always made to appear so spontaneous, as if the Popes don't invite themselves whereever they please, especially when they receive such invitations from their puppet agents in subversion. And if it isn't the Pope , it' s George Bush or Tony Blair. In the case of East Timor -- it could be anywhere from Ireland to the Phillipines -- no mention at all is made of the Papacy's role in first invading and subverting the Island with Portuguese traders as the rump of the christian conquest.
Recently in Venuezuela Chavez managed to hit the nail on the head. Instead of a papal invitation ,he demanded an apology. In the following letter addressed to President Chavez, I wonder might I redirect it at the Outgoing East Timor President Xanana Gusmao. It seems to me the same letter is appropriate wherever the Pope goes. The Christian conquest, which has ravished Europe for two thousand years, is not being exported to the Christian colonies, and if the colonies fight back, they are terrorists.
Maybe the people of East Timor would like to know what happened to the first such island that the Pope illegally and unlawfully subverted to his own possession and use , and which he treacherously led to absolute destruction and a thousand years of bloodshed between the little islands of Ireland and Britain.
The following letter to President Chavez will explain what is in store for East Timor for listening and allowing Vatican fraudsters amongst them.
Venezuela’s President Chavez Tells Pope to Apologize to Indigenous Peoples LETTER TO PRESIDENT CHAVEZDear President Chavez, spirited by your attitude to the Vatican and its very dishonourble gallery of historic rogues, might I remind you of a letter written by Pope Adiran IV to Henry 11 in circa. 1165. This letter herein added for your perusal virtually sold the indigenous people of my country to the Norman and English Cahtolics of the Middle Ages.
The culture of the indigenous people of Ireland has since become as defunct as the Mammoth or the Dinosaur. All because of the Pope's whim for rentals of a shilling per household , to be collected by the English king, this treacherous Pope plunged a culture to its death and plunged the living people into a war that was to last for a thousand years.
Very few of my country-people know the details of the Pope's treachery. Why? Because the Pope owns all the schools from the lowest infants to the highest third level institution and with the aid of Opus Dei , he mans Parliament, the schools, the hospitals, the judiciary, the civil service, the police, the army, etc.,etc. He has recently -- not unlike as of old -- drafted in many Catholic Polish persons to help him to run the country in the future without as much as one word of debate in Parliament.
The point is, I think, that the Popes have managed to transplant the whole bassis of the indigenous people and to replace them with his Norman, English and Polish mercenaries. He does the same in Croatia, East Timor, the Lebanon, Vietnam, the Phillipines, and , no doubt , Venuzuela. But I am sure you are , Mr President, aware of all these things. And while it is much too late in the day for my country to recovery any dignity of its past institutions -- for there is not one pagan festival or emblem that was allowed to survive before the acid eradication of the Christian conquest. Even to the present day -- and after the RC Church got its freedom from Protestant England, there are not 1,000 families who can speak the Gaelic language. The conquering Church ,which likes to have things called after some Gaelic name or other, lest the people become aware of their role in history, cannot produce a journalist who can pronounce the Chairman of the Senate ('Cathaorleach an tSeanaid'). So corrupt is the Chruch0-and-the-State, that the people have been duped into paying their taxes as damages to the children whom the RC clerics have buggered. And one can't get more corrupt than that!
What is my point in writing, Mr. President?
It is this. In the Middle Ages the Papacy, when it lost its army, started wars that it got others to finish. Whether it was colonial British and Normans in Ireland, Flemish in Lombard Italy, the French in England, or the English in France, whether it was the Portuguese in East Timor, Vietnam, the Lebanon, the Phillipines -- all these countries which, I am sure, Mr President ,you are painfully aware -- ; the most significant principles that surface are those which point to the Papacy as a war-mongering state, and to the fact that it will always use the strongest bodies over the weakest in any engagement.
I am sure, Mr. President that you are already aware of successive Popes' ambitious allignment with Anglo- America. When it pulverised Vietnam -- as with Ireland and Italy in the middle ages -- it was sending out the message, that it wanted privileges to built, convert and transplant the Christian conquest and impose them on all native cultures. If countries do not accede to these wishes,then the Popes will call upon their friends to make wars (or Crusades) in the name of their international messianic mission to conquer at will. The present arrangements with Opus Dei (coupled with the Jesuits and the Knights of Malta and Columbanus,however much they like it to be known that they are somehow apposite) are designed to undermine the secular authorities and to promote only Opus Dei vetted personnel. This is in perfect accord with American and Anglo-American and Hiberno-American foreign policy. What transpired between Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul 11 is in full continuity and expansion with Benedict XVI. In short, Mr. President , watch your back -- from within the Church and from without on the international scene. Even Castro had to look on when John Paul 11, through Banco Ambrosiana , and Ronald Reagan reduced the Russian continent to a whimpering and begging whore-house. I am sure they would love to 'apologise' for it,and then go on to do the same in Vietnam and now Afthanistan and , eventually, Venuzuela.
It must become apparent, that the best way to resist this weather-beaten tyrant is to oppose them fully, to make the people fully aware of what their role was in history ,and what they intend to do in the present and in the future. There are an infinite number of examples from old Ireland to modern East Timor, to demonstrate the treachery of these colonizers. What I suggest you need is some old world collonizers of your own to oppose them, people who know how they worked the Spanish Civil War, and how they supported Muzzolini and Hitler's Brown Shirts, Hitlerjugend and the ratlines that followed. Why should they have all the collonizers and propagandists -- all lined out under the Christian conquest!
History is what the RC Church most fears and hates. Even in East Timor it has made the case to get rid of the Portuguese -- as if they Portuguese got there without the Chruch's inspiration! They will, Mr. President, tell any lie -- no lie is small or big enough for them to tell -- to advance their universal take-over agenda. The RC Church , Mr. President, is the enemy!
They never appologised for the following betrayal of an innocent indigenous people -- a people who gave them endless land , a people who came to trust them, to care for them, and to allow them to build throughout the breadth and width of Ireland between the 5th and the 12th centuries. After Laudabiliter, it was too late. Laudabiliter rang the death knell on an ancient culture. Of course the Chruch denied what it had done -- not just once, but several times. It got its bishops (the traitors who were given 'palliums' and other baubles to keep them sweet!) to tell the people lies, to appoint dumb professors, calling them Christan historians and Christian professors, when all they were was traitors. Now everyone in Ireland speaks English, and there are less people speaking the native indigenous language, Gaelic, than there are those speaking English, Latin or Polish.
Mr. President the moral is simple.
Resist the enemies of the people and don't listen to the propaganda of some of the sickest people from the Vatican , whose billions proceed from a most unhealthy view of men, women and the world.
Regards,
Seamus Breathnach
www.irish-criminology.com
Laudabiliter
(1155/6)
Adrian the bishop, the servant of the servants of God, to his most dear son in Christ, the noble king of England, sendeth greeting, and apostolic benediction:Your magnificence hath been very careful and studious how you might enlarge the church of God here on earth, and increase the number of his saints and elect in heaven; in that, as a good catholic king, you have and do, by all means, labour and travail to enlarge and increase God’s church, by teaching the ignorant people the true and Christian religion, and in abolishing and rooting up the weeds of sin and wickedness.
And wherein you have, and do crave, for your better furtherance, the help of the apostolic see, wherein more speedily and discreetly you proceed, the better success, we hope, god will send, for all they which of a fervent zeal and love in religion do begin and enterprise any such thing, shall, no doubt, in the end, have a good and prosperous success.
And as for Ireland, and all other islands, where Christ is known, and the Christian religion received, it is out of all doubt, and your Excellency well knoweth, they do all appertain and belong to the right of St. Peter, and of the church of Rome, and we are so much the more ready, desirous and willing to sow the acceptable seed of god’s word, because we know the same in the latter day will be most severely required at our hands (p.35) You have (our well-beloved son in Christ) advertised and signified unto us, that You will enter into the land and realm of Ireland; to the end to bring them to obedience unto law, and under your subjection, and to root out from among them their foul sins and wickedness; as also to yield and pay yearly out of every house, a yearly pension of one penny to St .Peter, and besides, also will defend and keep the rites of these churches whole and inviolate.
We therefore, well allowing and favouring this your godly disposition, and commendable affection, do accept, ratify and assent unto this your petition; and do grant, that you (for the dilating of God’s church, the punishment of sin, there forming of manners, planting of virtue, and the increasing of Christian religion)do enter to possess that land, and there to execute according to your wisdom,whatsoever shall be for the honour of god, and the safety of the realm.
And further, also, we do strictly charge and require, that all the people of that land do with all humbleness, dutifulness and honour, receive and accept you as their liege lord and sovereign, reserving and excepting the right of holy church to be inviolably preserved; as also the yearly pension of Peter-pence, out of every house; which we require to be truly answered to St. Peter and the Church of Rome.
If therefore you do mind to bring your godly purpose to effect, endeavour to travail to reform the people to some better order and trade of life, and that also by yourself, and by such others as you shall think meet, true and honest in their life,manners and conversation, to the end the church of god may be beautified, the true Christian religion sowed and planted, and all other things done, that by any means shall or may be to God’s honour, and salvation of men’s souls, whereby you may in the end receive of God’s hands the reward of everlasting life; and also, in the mean time, and in this life, carry a glorious fame, and an honourable report among all nations.
Extracted from
The History and Antiquities of the County of Carlow
By
John Ryan, Esq., M.R.S.L.
(Dublin 1833); Pages 35 and 36
Seamus Breathnach
www.irish-criminology.com
12:48 PM
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WHAT THE JESUITS ARE DOING IN EAST TIMOR
Timor Leste: Being poor with the poorA Vietnamese Jesuit priest who works in Timor Leste says evangelisation is not a matter of teaching theology but living the joys and sufferings of a people plagued by poverty, sickness and illiteracy. Father Pierre Truong Van Phuc SJ, 38, spoke to UCA News, a Catholic Asian news agency, about his mission in Timor Leste (East Timor) when he returned for a July-August home visit to Ho Chi Minh City in South Vietnam.
Father Phuc said that after reaching Dili in May 2006, he spent a month caring for people made homeless by widespread riots and clashes between armed street gangs. He then became head of a mission in Audian village in Covalima district, bordering Indonesia, 180 kilometres by road southwest of Dili. He, together with another Vietnamese Jesuit and two mission confreres from East Timor and Paraguay share the corn, rice and vegetables they grow on their farm with poor local people.
Jesuits provide pastoral care for nine of 37 churches in the district, where there is no telephone service, let alone Internet, and electricity is available only six hours a day. The Jesuits went to East Timor in 1999, when it was still part of Indonesia, to help "local refugees," Father Phuc said. But massive violence erupted after the people voted overwhelmingly for independence that year.
Read the full interview with Fr Phuc and see related pictures here:
http://tinyurl.com/24agub (Source: Union of Catholic Asian News (UCAN) www.ucanews.com)
Full Interview: It is worth posting this to show how different the Jesuits are from the Opus Dei who live in their multimillion dollar "houses" and do not and cannot by their nature "share with the poor".
AS03463.1465 October 3, 2007
ASIA UCAN Interview -
Evangelization Means Friendship, Sharing With The Poor HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam (UCAN) -- A Vietnamese Jesuit priest who works in Timor Leste says evangelization is not teaching theology but living the joys and sufferings of a people plagued by poverty, sickness and illiteracy.
Father Pierre Truong Van Phuc,
38, spoke with UCA News about his mission in Timor Leste (Portuguese for East Timor) when he returned for a July-August home visit to Ho Chi Minh City, southern Vietnam.
Father Phuc said that after reaching Dili in May 2006, he spent a month caring for people made homeless by widespread riots and clashes between armed street gangs. He then became head of a mission in Audian village in Covalima district, bordering Indonesia, 180 kilometers by road southwest of Dili.
He, another Vietnamese Jesuit and two mission confreres from East Timor and Paraguay share the corn, rice and vegetables they grow on their farm with poor local people.
Jesuits provide pastoral care for nine of 37 churches in the district, where there is no telephone service, let alone Internet, and electricity is available only six hours a day.
The Jesuits went to East Timor in 1999, when it was still part of Indonesia, to help "local refugees," Father Phuc said. But massive violence erupted after the people voted overwhelmingly for independence that year. Indonesian and pro-Indonesian forces also committed violence during the occupation of Timor Leste, a former Portuguese colony.
Timor Leste officially entered the community of nations in May 2002, after more than two years under a transitional United Nations administration.
Members of the three Jesuit communities now in the country are involved in education, pastoral care and social communications. Some serve as spiritual directors for seminarians.
The interview with Father Phuc follows:
UCA NEWS: What motivates your service in East Timor?
FATHER PIERRE TRUONG VAN PHUC: I was sent to East Timor to continue pastoral work other Jesuits started and to help people return to a normal life after the war. We Jesuits help people with difficulties and challenges.
I want to be a friend of the poor and marginalized there, so that I can bring Christian joy, hope and love, because they are Jesus' friends.
My experience is that if I want to serve others, I must treat them as my relatives. Once during this visit in Ho Chi Minh City, I carried an elderly woman injured in a traffic accident on my back to a hospital. My clothes were full of her blood and bits of flesh. Then I remembered people in East Timor.
We cannot take care of everyone in Covalima district, but we want to help them be self-confident enough to continue to survive. After a long time living in refugee camps, the East Timor people have lost almost everything and have to begin life all over again. I look back at my priestly vow, to be happy with happy people and cry with crying people, and it is very true and close to me.
What problems have you faced?
When I first went to remote Audian village to help people improve their life and farming, they were suspicious. They told each other: "This priest is light skinned. Why does he work as a farmer?" Local government authorities also caused me some difficulty. They said they never saw a priest treating local people in a friendly way and living a poor life like them.
Some people asked if communists [in Vietnam] taught me those skills. I told them that living in a communist environment taught me how to do such things to survive. [Smiling] I am happy to share and work with poverty-stricken people in the district because I also suffered from famine, poverty and challenges in Vietnam during the first few years after 1975 [when North and South Vietnam was reunified under communist rule].
Thank God for my ability to learn a language quickly. I didn't struggle to learn Tetum, the mother tongue of the local people. I taught myself from an English-Tetum guidebook. I read it in a week, and then visited and practiced talking with them. I could celebrate Mass in their language three weeks later.
How are your working and living conditions?
We live in severe weather conditions. In the six-month dry season, people can grow nothing because temperatures are in the 40s [Celsius] during the day, and 36-37 degrees at night. Trees do not grow and the land cracks. It is so hot that many people must stay under trees to escape the heat.
Local people live in grass shacks roofed with tin or palm leaves. Most are farmers who grow rice, corn and cassava, but productivity is low due to their primitive farming methods. If they have good crops, they lack food for only three months. Otherwise, they lack food for six months. They also raise chickens, dogs [for security, hunting and meat] and goats.
They are illiterate and do not get proper medical care. They have no jobs and always live in fear of war. They are emaciated and look older than they are because they work hard and suffer famine. Their life expectancy is only about 40 years. Their living standard on average is US$0.50 per person a day.
Covalima district's only hospital is short on medical equipment. Most people live in remote villages and cannot go to it, but when they must go to the hospital, they carry the patient in a hammock tens of kilometers.
I have taken dying patients there in my small truck, and several died on the way because of their poor health and bad roads. Their common diseases include malaria, cancer, malnutrition, diarrhea and postnatal complications.
What about cultural factors?
Their customary marriage and funeral rites lead to a life of poverty. Dead people are buried only after all relatives give chickens, pigs, rice and other food for neighbors to feast on. Some corpses rot before burial because the bereaved fear those who are not offered food will curse them.
Under their matriarchal system, the bride's family usually demands a wedding gift of 10 cows (worth US$300 each) from the groom's family, to have a party for all villagers. Poor men have to borrow cows for marriage. If they cannot pay their debt, their children must pay.
Women get married around the age of 15-16 years, and men between 15 and 18.
Many poor couples leave the village and do not return until they have children, to avoid giving a marriage party for villagers.
I recently celebrated a marriage for a 41-year-old and his wife in church. They have seven children. I offered them two wedding rings and a 10-kilogram pig so they could entertain their guests.
How do you live closely to them?
Evangelization does not mean explaining theology to people. That just keeps them away from us. I share their joys and sorrows in their daily life.
Journeying with poor people means working with them and living a poor life as they do. When I share their poverty, I feel very close to them.
I always remind myself to live in poverty as they do. They eat corn, cassava leaves with salt and anything they get from forest, and I do the same.
In the dry season, people lack enough water for their daily activities. I also try to make do with as little washing as they do.
We set up a group of youngsters who quietly bring food to hungry people in the evening. Many do not want others to know about their plight. I often inform people of crops on our farm, so they can come and take some for their family. Some do come to ask us for food or to have meals at our home.
I drive a small truck carrying goods and food for local people, and I work with them to build leaf houses for themselves.
When I go to monthly meetings with other Jesuits in Dili, I carry milk from local traders to the capital, and they return the favor by giving me some milk. I give the milk to children suffering from malnutrition, women who have babies and elderly people.
What else have you done for the people?
Most villagers in Sukebi Mesak, six kilometers from our mission house, are illiterate because they are poor and schools are distant. Instead of sending their children to school, I bring the school to them. I built a leaf hut in the village and invited teachers to teach children how to write and read.
They learn what teachers teach them, without books. My aim is to reduce their illiteracy because it takes them a long time to go to school.
In other villages far from schools, children do not go to school because they cannot wade across rivers where many crocodiles live. Crocodiles eat many people and cattle, but villagers see them as gods.
Many children leave school because they live far from schools, so we will give them accommodations near their schools.
We also established a vocational center to teach sewing, carpentry and farming skills to young people, and we give them sewing machines and tools after their studies. We also offer them fishing nets and dig wells for them.
We will build a new village for people living near marshes, where they suffer from malaria and diarrhea epidemics. The new village is near our mission, so we can care for them.
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EAST TIMOR ET02302.1442 April 26, 2007 41 EM-lines (481 words)
Vietnamese Missioners Live Rough To Bring Education To Villagers SUAI LORO, East Timor (UCAN) -- When the first two Vietnamese Jesuits came to the remote village, they could cover their heads only by roofing their tiny shack with tall grass they hacked down with machetes.
It was May 2003, the rainy season, when Father Joseph Nguyen Thanh Phuong, and Brother Thaddeus Dung Tha first set foot in Audian village, in the southwestern part of Timor Leste (East Timor).
"I built a small hut made with coarse grass," Father Phuong, 48, told UCA News on April 4. "There was no place else to stay, and no church or chapel." Local people live in grass shacks roofed with tin or palm leaves, he added, and most are farmers who grow rice and corn and raise chickens and goats.
In 2006, Father Peter Truong Van Phuc traversed the dirt roads to join the two pioneers of the Vietnamese Jesuit mission in Covalima district, 120 kilometers southwest of Dili. Like them, Father Phuc struggled to learn Tetum, the mother tongue of the local people.
According to the national census in 2004, Covalima had 53,063 residents, of whom about 32,000 were identified as Catholics and the rest mostly animists.
The village indirectly gained the attention of Church people in Vietnam, through people fleeing to Indonesia during the violence following the 1999 referendum that produced a strong vote for independence from Indonesia.
Once Timor Leste emerged as an independent nation in May 2002, they returned. That same year, Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) came to the area to help the returnees, and schooling was identified as a priority need. Vietnamese Jesuits took over from JRS in 2003 and their priority has been non-formal education.
The Ministry of Education says 60 percent of East Timor's 1 million people are illiterate. Many schools that existed in 1999 were damaged in the violence, and the materials to rebuild them and teachers to staff them are lacking.
Father Phuc told UCA News that Laen Tolu villagers do not send their children to school because the youngsters would have to walk more than 10 kilometers each way. "So we are building a 'non-formal' school for that community, to learn how to read and write," he said. Villagers are helping to build the school, and the missioners are seeking volunteers to staff it.
Vitor Casa, 35, animator of Catholic groups in Laen Tolu, told UCA News, "We are grateful for the Vietnamese missioners' efforts to build the school for us and our children. We have never studied in a school before."
Frenky de Jesus, a 42-year-old villager voiced that same sentiment by describing the upcoming school as the answer to their long time prayers.
Besides the non-formal education project, the three missioners grow corn on a 2.5-hectare plot and share their harvest with poor families and orphans. "To help the poor," Father Phuc explained, "I must work as a farmer as they do."
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God bless the Jesuits and protect them from the Octopus Dei!
