INJUSTICE AGAINST WOMEN

Male Prisoners Force Female Teen to Have Sex for Food in Brazilian Jail
Saturday, November 24, 2007

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RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — A teenage girl was locked up on theft charges in an Amazon jail for weeks with 21 men who she said would only let her eat in return for sex, according to authorities, setting off a national scandal over the treatment of women by Brazil's justice system.

The 15-year-old said she was required to have sex with at least two inmates, police spokesman Walrimar Santos said by telephone Thursday from Belem, at the mouth of the Amazon River, where the victim was transferred after nearly a month living with male inmates.

By her account, officials did nothing — until the story erupted in the national media and outraged Brazilians demanded her transfer.

"Throwing a 15-year-old girl into a cell with 20 men was a heinous and intolerable act," Brazilian Bar Association president Cezar Britto said in an interview. "It is a serious case of criminal negligence against women, who in Brazil continue to be victims of prejudice."

Santos said the girl was not beaten or injured. But the newspaper O Estado de S. Paulo, which said it had access to private testimony after her transfer from the jail, reported she was tortured with lit cigarettes on her fingers and bare feet to force her to have sex. Her cellmates cut her hair to make her look more like a boy and difficult to recognize, Estado said.

She said her only reprieve from obligatory sex was on Thursdays — when intimate visits were allowed — and things "calmed down," Estado reported.

Police and human rights officials said the girl was out of touch in Belem and would not speak to reporters. The Associated Press generally does not identify people who may have been victims of sexual assault.

The girl was arrested Oct. 21 on accusations of breaking and entering a house and jailed with male inmates in Abaetetuba, a city of 78,000 outside the Para state capital of Belem.

She was transferred to a jail for women in Belem on Nov. 17, although police claim they requested her transfer earlier but were ignored.

Santos said separate jails for men and women do not exist in most towns in Para — a sprawling, largely lawless state twice the size of France.

Days after the case was divulged, the Brazilian Bar Association announced that a 23-year-old woman had been obliged to share a cell with 70 men in a police detention center in Parauapebas, in southern Para. It was not clear if she was forced to have sex.

Para Gov. Ana Julia Carepa said she was outraged by the alleged abuse at Abaetetuba. She suspended three top police officials pending an investigation and promised that the guilty parties would be "punished in exemplary fashion."

"There's no excuse for what happened," she said in a statement. "I'm also shocked and indignant, as a woman and as governor. ... A woman can never be jailed in the same cell as men."

The federal government on Friday sent a task force of human rights officials to Belem to accompany the investigation after the girl and her family reported receiving death threats.

"First we will guarantee the safety of the minor, who will be included in the program for the Protection of Children and Adolescents threatened with death," Marcia Ustra Soares, a director of the program, told reporters.

The victim's father insisted in a televised interview that she was 15, and that police threatened to arrest him unless he produced a certificate showing she was 20.

"I want justice. The situation can't stay like this," he said.

Amnesty International said Brazilian women "are the hidden victims of a crumbling detention system," and many cases of women abused under government custody go unreported or uninvestigated.

"We receive extensive reports of women in detention who suffer sexual abuse, torture, substandard health care and inhuman conditions," said Tim Cahill, Amnesty's researcher on Brazil.

Carepa said the government also was investigating reports that the girl was arrested purposely for the sexual gratification of the prisoners.

"This is an unfortunate practice that regrettably has been occurring for some time," she said. "But it would be good to make this public, so that all society will be mobilized and we can end these practices. ... We won't allow this to happen again."

The Brazilian Bar Association voiced skepticism that officials would take effective action.

"What has happened in the state of Para's prison system shows that for authorities the concept of human dignity is only useful as a rhetorical instrument, not something to be taken seriously," Britto said.

If police did not have the required separate cells, the government "must recognize its inefficiency and ... release those citizens it cannot hold," he said.

PRISONERS

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SAINT MARTIN DE PORRES ~ A DOMINICAN WHO HELPED THE POOR

Apostle of Charity

St. Martin de Porres (1579-1339) was born out of wedlock in Lima, Peru, as the child of a Spaniard Don Juan de Porres, a Spanish nobleman and adventurer, and Ana Velasquez, a freed African slave.

FOR HIS STORY... CLICK HERE AND CLICK HERE

DID YOU KNOW THERE WERE THREE AFRICAN POPES?

CLICK HERE TO READ ABOUT THEM...

ST CATHERINE OF SIENA

READ ABOUT ST CATHERINE'S LIFE CLICK HERE

DO WE LISTEN?

Why People Don't Listen...

By Carla Rieger

It's frustrating when your co-workers, audience members, teenager or even your dog (!) won't listen. While you can't control how they receive what you say, you can control how you send it. Here are a few tips on why people don't listen and what you can do to change it.

1. Short Attention Spans

When asked to guess the average adult attention span, most people say around thirty minutes. According to statistics, however, the average adult attention span is actually only seven seconds. That's right! Every seven seconds you go away somewhere. You think about something else. In fact, you could actually be taking a mental break right now! It is a normal part of how the brain integrates external stimuli like when your computer starts defragging for a moment while you type. It helps to pause from time to time when you speak. This allows people to integrate your information or ask a clarifying question. Also, include examples to anchor your concepts. For example (see--I'm doing it now!), a concept without an example is like tree without roots, a house without a foundation, or Sonny without Cher. It just doesn't have as much staying power.

2. Too Many Distractions

I was in a meeting the other day and five people coughed, four people side talked, three cell phones rang, two people went to the restroom, and a partridge did email on his PDA. Distractions are a big part of modern life. Your best bet is to acknowledge the distractions in a playful way such as a manager who recently led a meeting I attended. When a cell phone rang, he grabbed for it and said, “Oh, that's for me….my mother likes to check in on me from time to time”. That prompted everyone to turn off their phones.

3. Lack of Training

Few of us were formally taught how to listen. While you probably took Reading 8, Writing 11, did you ever take Listening 10? It's little wonder listening is challenging. Quite accidentally, I learned how to listen by practicing meditation. After a five-day retreat, I felt very light-hearted and so went to visit my aging father who was hard of hearing. My habit was to sit vacantly for hours while he complained about his arthritis, the error on his bank statement, and how hard it is to find good slippers. After this retreat, I surprised myself by totally paying attention to him with patience and compassion. After about ten minutes of complaining he suddenly changed tracks and started telling me fascinating and funny stories about his childhood. Then he cranked up his hearing aid and asked about me! Learn how to be present with people, give them your full, undivided attention and be ready for some pleasant surprises.

4. Language Barriers

It is no secret that the world of business is fast becoming a multicultural world. Although English is the default language of commerce, many people in your audience may speak English as a second language. Last month I was addressing a large insurance company where most attendees turned out to be new immigrants from China. I used the expression “getting jiggy with it”, and I saw people rifling through their dictionaries. This prompted me to say “I'm sorry, that went way over your head”, and a number of people looked up at the ceiling! If your listeners are ESL or have a more basic educational background, you need to simplify your language. Use much more literal descriptions rather than cultural expressions. Use facial and body language to express humor, and fewer words.

5. Unchecked Assumptions

Back in the 70s, Gilda Radner a comedienne who regularly performed on Saturday Night Live was well known for her popular character Emily Litella, a social activist with a hearing problem. Her causes included such important issues as violins on television, soviet jewelry and endangered feces. Believe it or not, those Emily Litella types can be found in your audiences. For example, I once told a story about my mother who was a secretary for the British Civil Service in WWII. She spent most of her time daydreaming that her boss would burst into the room and ask her to spy against the Germans. She could leave the nasty paperwork behind, don a disguise and become the next Mata Hari.

Needless to say, one day her boss did burst into the room but instead he fired her for daydreaming all the time. A woman approached me after this story and told me that she used to be a Hari Krishna, too. One way to clear up false assumptions is to state your point in many different ways.

6. No Reason to Listen

Finally, the main reason people don't listen is because you haven't answered their favorite question: “What's in it for me?” Before you start a long-winded monologue, tell your listener why you need their attention and make sure they understand how it will be benefit them. For example, “I'd like to tell you about this free software that will block all the spam before it gets to your Inbox …interested?” That will give you much better results than “When I was a youngster and I sat down in front of my first computer, I asked myself how can I make this machine work for me…” In general, put yourself in your listener's shoes before you talk and their ears tend to perk up.And just remember the greatest of all wisdom--no one ever listened himself out of a new friendship.

BLESSED MARGARET OF CASTELLO ~ PATRON OF THE UNWANTED AND HANDICAPPED

Blessed Margaret of Castello’s life can be summed up in one sentence. She was unwanted.

Born into a family which idolized human respect and which made a god of physical beauty she was a constant reproach to her worldly parents who viewed the blind and terribly deformed cripple that Almighty God’s Providence had sent them with disgust. Here was no achiever.

Here was no child of whom they could boast of her physical beauty, academic achievements, social status, sporting abilities and friends. Here was not a child who would provide her parents with innumerable possibilities to boast and lord it over their fellow Catholics with her progress in the world.

In our modern world she would not have survived a few weeks. ‘Science’ and Satan would have conspired to rid the world of this precious gift and mankind would have ‘smiled and smiled and been a villain.’ Would that her parents had embraced the cross which the Almighty and Good God had sent them for their conversion. They would have reaped a hundred fold the little, very little sacrifice that He had called upon them to make. Instead fearful of being mocked, of human respect, her parents had her shut up in a tiny cell adjacent to the family chapel .

Here she grew to love the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass and to learn and live her Faith. Not content with excluding her from the world of men her parents excluded her from heir own lives. They took her to the town of Castello where these godless creatures thought that for their attendance at Mass and reception of the Sacraments the Almighty would, through the intercession of the town’s patron saint, heal their child. Notwithstanding this tremendous effort on their part, Margaret remained uncured.

In their worldly wisdom her parents abandoned her seeing that she would always be an obstacle to their social advancement. One can only imagine the fear and horror of the poor blind and deformed child when she finally realized that she was abandoned by her parents. But her faith in God was stronger than her fear. Abandoned by the great ones of this world, by those who had everything, Our Lord led her to the beggars of Castello to those who had nothing not even faith and thus began her apostolate. Margaret who was blind led those who could see to the light of Truth.

For many years her good example and kind words filled those around her with love of God and a desire to emulate her. But Satan was watching and waiting. Margaret was accepted into a religious order but soon found herself at odds with all its members.

The root cause of this contention lay in Margaret’s absolute observance of the Rule of the Order (as she was bound to do by her oaths) and her refusal to submit to the demands of the religious that she accept their own watered down version of the Rule. Once more she was cast onto the streets of Castello by those who could not bear to see their reflection in the mirror of Truth which Margaret so courageously held up to them and for a long time those who had formerly loved and praised now despised and slandered her.

But Our Lord too was watching and waiting and He must have been well pleased with the way in which His beloved servant was conducting himself. God shifted the weight of the cross that He had fashioned for her onto His own shoulders and in the midst of all her turbulent suffering Margaret found the graces of God poured down upon her head. She was taken in by a wealthy family so that her material cares were forever lifted from her.

The Mantellates, a religious order of lay people and sisters welcomed her with open arms into their society and now she had both a home and a family. The miracles of conversion, of cures of disease and suffering of all kinds, which are attributed to the saint are simply too many for this little article to contain. She the homeless and unwanted was finally called to her true home in Heaven where she reaps for all eternity her reward for carrying what Our Lord had carved for her.

Her Message To The Modern World

The message which Blessed Margaret has for the modern world is this-Sacrifice. Her life was a continuous sacrifice, a sacrifice of sweetest incense which rose up to He Who had offered the Ultimate Sacrifice and interceded with Him for us.
Every moment of Margaret’s dear and pure life was a torment of pain and suffering. Yet she rose above her physical surroundings borne on the wings of love for her Creator. Her example echoes down the ages but will it find a respondent chord in today’s life? I doubt it. We are too full today of our own desires, our own fulfillment, our own wants.

How can we who know nothing of sacrifice relate to a child whose whole life was suffering. Would she suddenly appear now to us we would not welcome her. We would despise her ugliness, her deformity, her lack of social skills and yes, most of all, her complete adherence to the True Faith.

Today Blessed Margaret of Castello, Patron of the unwanted and of aborted (murdered) children still holds up to us as she did so long ago a mirror in which we can see ourselves. What will you do when you see your reflection in it?

VICTIMS OF TRAUMA

People who don't have any knowledge what trauma can do to our fragile self esteem or our brain, nor do they seem to even care to learn about it, can pull us down in a moments notice by their indifference.

Trauma can happen so quickly from natural disasters, from a car accident where we lose members of our family or we become severely harmed. There is the tragedy of war, kidnappings, killings, sexual and physical abuse, to children, women, the elderly... and to men. There is trauma from neglect and trauma through medical abuses.

Some people only experiences a one time trauma while others experience on going trauma since they were children. They had no out for their situation.. no one they could go to for help.

How does someone recover from trauma?

To find someone you can talk to and who gives you encouragement is very helpful.. but often times there is no one you could really go to. Over 200,000 women were used by the Japanese army as comfort women for the soldiers. They were held against their will and used by the army soldiers, sometimes 50 times a day. What these women experienced was kept hidden inside because they were deeply ashamed and could not talk about it.

Many, many women died and if they lived, their spirits would have been dead through the pain and suffering they had to quietly live.

What ever happens in people lives that traumatizes them, especially by the brutal rapes and dehumanizing experiences, no one deserves to be harmed. No one should ever been made to feel shame for something that other people did to them.

Even if we feel our lives are fragile because of these experiences, don't allow the evil deeds of others to pull you down into the ground for something that doesn't belong to you. Be strong. Take back your life and go out and do things to help others.

It is when we can do things for others, that we will find meaning to our own pain. So many others who have never experienced trauma as some people have, can rewound them by the way that they respond, or don't respond.
People can be cruel to those who have been traumatized through their indifference.

Have courage. God Be With You.

THE COMFORT WOMEN CLICK HERE

POST TRAUMATIC STRESS DISORER CLICK HERE

THE PEACE BOOK ~ By Louise Diamond.

No matter what season of the year, outer and inner peace is very important to each of us.

Louise Diamond reminds us that, “The search for inner peace is the search for our natural self” which is deep within each of us. It is a “place where we are wise, joyful, vibrantly alive—we are who we are meant to be, whole and holy, at peace, in peace, radiating peace.”

Throughout Louise’ book she suggests different ways of approaching peace making with ourselves and others. So I thought I would introduce you to a list of principles that might help this Lent be a season of peacemaking for you.

A Season of Peacemaking - 40 Days and 40 Ways

1 -- Today, I will reflect on what peace means to me.
2 -- Today, I will look at opportunities to be a peacemaker.

3 -- Today, I will practice nonviolence and respect for Mother Earth by making good use of her resources.

4 -- Today, I will take time to admire and appreciate nature.

5 -- Today, I will plant seeds--plants or constructive ideas.

6 -- Today, I will hold a vision of plenty for all the world's hungry and be open to guidance as to how I can help alleviate some of that hunger.

7 -- Today, I will acknowledge every human being's fundamental right to justice, equity, and equality.

8 -- Today, I will appreciate the earth's bounty and all of those who work to make my food available (i.e., grower, trucker, grocery clerk, cook, waitress, etc.)

9 -- Today, I will work to understand and respect another culture.

10 -- Today, I will oppose injustice, not people.

11 -- Today, I will look beyond stereotypes and prejudices. I will enlarge my capacity to embrace differences and appreciate the value of every human being.

12 -- Today, I will choose to be aware of what I talk about and I will refuse to gossip.

13 -- Today, I will live in the present moment and release the past.

14 -- Today, I will silently acknowledge all the leaders throughout the world.

15 -- Today, I will speak with kindness, respect, and patience to every person with whom I talk on the telephone.

16 -- Today, I will affirm my value and worth with positive "self talk" and refuse to put myself down.

17 -- Today, I will tell the truth and speak honestly from the heart.

18 -- Today, I will cause a ripple effect of good by an act of kindness toward another.

19 -- Today, I will choose to use my talents to serve others by volunteering a portion of my time.

20 -- Today, I will say a blessing for greater understanding whenever I see evidence of crime, vandalism, or graffiti.

21 -- Today, I will turn off anything that portrays or supports violence whether on television, in the movies, or on the Internet.

22 -- Today, I will greet this day--everyone and everything--with openness and acceptance as if I were encountering them for the first time.

23 -- Today, I will drive with tolerance and patience.

24 -- Today, I will constructively channel my anger, frustration, or jealousy into healthy physical activities (i.e., doing sit-ups, picking up trash, taking a walk, etc).

25 -- Today, I will take time to appreciate the people who provide me with challenges in my life, especially those who make me angry or frustrated.

26 -- Today, I will talk less and listen more.

27 -- Today, I will notice the peacefulness in the world around me.

28 -- Today, I will recognize that my actions directly affect others.

29 -- Today, I will take time to tell a family member or friend how much they mean to me.

30 -- Today, I will acknowledge and thank someone for acting kindly.

31 -- Today, I will send a kind, anonymous message to someone.

32 -- Today, I will identify something special in everyone I meet.

33 -- Today, I will discuss ideas about nonviolence with a friend to gain new perspectives.

34 -- Today, I will practice praise rather than criticism.

35 -- Today, I will strive to learn from my mistakes.

36 -- Today, I will hold children tenderly in thought and/or action.

37 -- Today, I will listen without defending and speak without judgment.

38 -- Today, I will help someone in trouble.

39 -- Today, I will treat the elderly I encounter with respect and dignity.

40 -- Today, I will see my so-workers in a new light--with understanding andcompassion.

Some alternatives you also might find appropriate to consider.

41 -- Today, I will think of at least three alternate ways I can handle a situation when confronted with conflict.

42 -- Today, I will work to help others resolve differences.

43 -- Today, I will express my feeling honestly and nonviolently with respect for myself and others.

44 -- Today, I will sit down with my family for one meal.

45 -- Today, I will use no violent language.

46 -- Today, I will hold no one hostage to the past, seeing each-as I see myself-as a work in process.

47 -- Today, I will make a conscious effort to smile at someone whom I have held a grudge against in the past.

48 -- Today, I will practice compassion and forgiveness by apologizing to someone whom I have hurt in the past.

49 -- Today, I will reflect on whom I need to forgive and take at least one step in that direction.

50 -- Today, I will forgive myself

TAKE RISKS...

DON'T BE AFRAID TO TAKE RISKS.

It is much better to see what is inside a person's heart rather than to be afraid of them because of hear say. Look beyond reputation to see for yourself what is truth. You might never know who the person really is if you base your decision on the thoughts of others. Look what happened to Jesus.

LOOKING FOR HOPE?

IT IS OUT THERE.

IT CAN BE FOUND DOWN MANY ROADS... THROUGH PRAYER, CHURCH, HELPING OTHERS, THROUGH PEOPLE WHO SHOW KINDNESS AND LOVE. IT CAN BE FOUND IN THE SPIRIT OF THE POOR WHO ARE THANKFUL YOU TOOK TIME TO CARE ABOUT THEM. HOPE CAN COME INTO YOUR HEART THROUGH THE EXAMPLES OF PEOPLE OF COURAGE... WHO DO GOOD IN THIS WORLD BECAUSE THEY CARE.

HOPE CAN BE FELT WHEN SOMEONE ACKNOWLEDGES YOU OR GIVES YOU TIME TO SHARE YOUR FEELINGS. PEOPLE ARE SEEKING HOPE IN ALL WALKS OF LIFE AND IF WE CAN DO SOMETHING TO BUILD SOME ONE'S HOPE, THEN WE ARE DOING SOMETHING TO MAKE THIS A BETTER WORLD.

St. Margaret of Cortona ~ Nothing is impossible with God

Margaret of Cortona 1247-1297

More Information

http://www.sspxasia.com/Documents/Saints/St-Margaret.htm

St. Margaret of CortonaFeastday: February 22
Margaret of Cortona, penitent, was born in Loviana in Tuscany in 1247. Her father was a small farmer. Margaret's mother died when she was seven years old. Her stepmother had little care for her high-spirited daughter.

Rejected at home, Margaret eloped with a youth from Montepulciano and bore him a son out of wedlock. After nine years, her lover was murdered without warning. Margaret left Montpulciano and returned as a penitent to her father's house.

When her father refused to accept her and her son, she went to the Friars Minor at Cortona where she received asylum. Yet Maragaret had difficulty overcoming temptations of the flesh. One Sunday she returned to Loviana with a cord around her neck. At Mass, she asked pardon for her past scandal. She attempted to mutilate her face, but was restrained by Friar Giunta. Margaret earned a living by nursing sick ladies.

Later she gave this up to serve the sick poor without recompense, subsisting only on alms. Evenually, she joined the Third Order of St. Francis, and her son also joined the Franciscans a few years later. Margaret advanced rapidly in prayer and was said to be in direct contact with Jesus, as exemplified by frequent ecstacies. Friar Giunta recorded some of the messages she received from God. Not all related to herself, and she courageously presented messages to others.

In 1286, Margaret was granted a charter allowing her to work for the sick poor on a permanent basis. Others joined with personal help, and some with financial assistance.

Margaret formed her group into tertiaries, and later they were given special status as a congregation which was called The Poverelle ("Poor Ones"). She also founded a hospital at Cortona and the Confraternity of Our Lady of Mercy.

Some in Cortona turned on Margaret, even accusing her of illicit relations with Friar Giunta. All the while, Margaret continued to preach against vice and many, through her, returned to the sacraments. She also showed extraordinary love for the mysteries of the Eucharist and the Passion of Jesus Christ.

Divinely warned of the day and hour of her death, she died on February 22, 1297, having spent twenty-nine years performing acts of penance. She was canonized in 1728. Her feast day is February 22nd.

WINTER BLUES ~ FINDING SUNSHINE WHEN THERE ISN'T ANY SUN.

Many people hate when winter comes. They move south for the winter just to enjoy the warm weather. Many people can't afford to travel south and have to endure the cold winter months, especially in the northern states and in Canada. For some, living in the dark cold months of the year set off depression. Finding ways to avoid the on slot of depression before it happens.
Here are a few ways..

Go Away Winter Blues !

by Margareth Montenegro

CLICK HERE

FIGHT AGAINST TORTURE

Cardinal: Christians Called to Fight Torture
VATICAN CITY, OCT. 31, 2007

(Zenit.org).- Christians are called to defend human rights, and particularly work for the abolition of the death penalty, says the president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

Cardinal Renato Martino affirmed this during a Friday meeting with the president of the International Federation of Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture, Sylvie Bukhari-de Pontual, a communiqué from the Vatican dicastery reported.The cardinal said: "Christians are called to cooperate for the defense of human rights and for the abolition of the death penalty, torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment against the human person in time of peace and in case of war.""These practices are grave crimes against the human person, created in the image of God, and a scandal for the human family in the 21st century."