Five Things to Remember on July 28

1. Argentine Cardinal Leonardo Sandri said July 27 that “no religion can accept to kill God’s children in the Name of the same God” during a homily at the Chaldean Cathedral of St. Peter in San Diego, California. Cardinal Sandri, the Prefect for the Congregation for the Eastern Churches, is visiting Eastern-Rite Catholic communities in California this month. Most members of the Chaldean Church come from Iraq, where there is persecution of Christians, especially at the hands of the Islamist ISIS group which has driven the Catholic community from the city of Mosul.
http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2014/07/28/cardinal_sandri_no_religion_can_kill_in_the_name_of_god/1103554

2. July 26 marked the First Anniversary of World Youth Day 2013 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Video: What did it all mean in Rio last July? What is the lasting significance of World Youth Days for the Church? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CmeAV4CRRgw  Video: One year ago tonight tons of cardinals & bishops partied on Copacabana beach https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zo_1_WZ5DmA#t=24 Video: Warm-up for Concluding World Youth Day 2013 Mass - Brazil
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YAJj6iXacbs#t=94
Text: What did we learn from World Youth Day in Rio?
http://wydcentral.org/what-did-we-learn-from-world-youth-day/

3. First Vietnamese Refugee to become general in U.S. Army in August. Thirty-nine years ago, the Immigration & Refugee Division of Catholic Charities LA (then named the Catholic Welfare Bureau) ensured that Major Duong Xuan Luong, his wife, and their eight children, found a safe home in the United States. Major Luong’s only son, Viet Luong, was ten when his family was resettled by Catholic Charities Los Angeles. He attended the University of Southern California and joined the U.S. Army after graduation. After 20 years in the Army, he will be promoted from the rank of Colonel to the rank of general, making him the first Vietnamese refugee to become a General in the US Army. Credit: Loc Nguyen, Director of Immigration and Refugee Department, Catholic Charities Los Angeles. http://mrsserves.tumblr.com/post/92641704859/first-vietnamese-refugee-general-in-us-army-thanks-to

4. Bishop Richard Pates urged National Security Advisor Susan Rice to provide humanitarian assistance and work with other governments to stop violence in Iraq.  The United States should help Christian communities and other Iraqis plagued by violence through humanitarian assistance and international collaboration, said the chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace in a July 25 letter to National Security Advisor Rice. Bishop Richard E. Pates of Des Moines, Iowa, had written to her June 19 about the escalating violence in Iraq and wrote that the situation had only deteriorated. “The Islamic State has taken control of large swaths of territory in northern Iraq, leaving a trail of destruction, burning and looting ancient churches and mosques, homes and businesses,” Bishop Pates wrote. “Thousands have fled with little more than the clothes on their backs, often being robbed of their few personal possessions as they ran.” Full text of the letter is available online: www.usccb.org/issues-and-action/human-life-and-dignity/global-issues/middle-east/iraq/upload/letter-to-nsc-advisor-rice-from-bishop-pates-re-iraqi-christians-2014-07-25.pdf

5. God loves you.