www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Venting Anger ....

I need to vent some anger at what has been happening in New Orleans with regard to the number of rapes that have occurred in the main shelters. These are not private quarters. Poor women and/or children were being raped among the population there. Why aren't the men there taking these rapists and throwing them out of the facilities (hopefully into the filthy waters where they belong)? I'm at a loss to see why someone doesn't kick the **** out of these preditors!!!!

Rose - I think one should also be asking WHY has it taken so long for concrete help to get there ?

I realise that there are many many problems - but these are human beings who know feel that not only have they lost virtually everything , and in many cases they have , but they also feel that no-one cares.

Hopefully, I'm reading your response wrong. That is NOT an excuse for raping children and women.

(Still angry )

No, of course Anhelyna would not suggest that! What IS being implied is that there are so many things to manage at once that it is overwhelming...and therefore the slime to which you refer have not been properly dealt with.

Gaudior, shocked

Can't think where I stated this was an excuse , but the fact still remains it has taken too long for help to get there.

Many questions remain to be asked and answered about all this.

But yes - you are correct there is absolutely no excuse for rape , but care must be taken that it's the law that exacts the penalty - not the lynch mob.

Here I see what happened and what is happening on Sky TV, CNN, BBC and EuroNews.

It is so shocking. About rapes what could I say? I fear that there are some deep bad roots.

From this part of world I find very improper the way in which the American government reacted to this tragedy.

It is a tragedy for all mankind. It seems that some shodowed matters appeared.

It is almost unforgivable that some troops were withdrawn from Iraqi or Afghanistan for making order home.

It is bitter. Why the major of NO ordered so late the obligatory withdraw, although it was clear that that Katrina leads to LA too? It was there on map provided by sattelites. I hear here that anyway these people are rich, and all will be good for them. Ignorance... But I do know that LA state is not so. The reality is different.

Please, forgive me. It is about your country, but I love the USA, I have special friends here in this large country.

May God relieve how He knows and wills all these people. Many wounds are now, it is the time of prayers, and who can, help by deed.

Marian

I hear your anger about the rapes. I hear the anger about the help that has come too late. I pray for the lost and the dying and the dead and especially for the innocent children. My anger is also directed toward the failure to stabilze the levees before a catastrophe like Katrina happened. Coastal towns, learn from this catastrophe. We cannot let this happen ever again. I would say to the rest of the world watching America, yes, we are a wealthy nation but we still have our poor. We are strong and we will pull together to help our brothers and sisters rebuild their lives. That's what we do here in America. And we will Pray.

I'm not only angry about the rapes of women in the shelters, I'm angry about the way rescue workers are being shot at by snippers. the day after the storm, helicopters trying to evacuate hospitals were shot at, brining the evacuations to a halt. Also ambulances were shot at, hijacked and over turned. Some hospitals were looted, and the staff robbed at gunpoint. I've been a nurse for 26 yrs and have worked during numerous hurricanes and floods, but have never seen anything like that.
Today CNN reports that a crew sent to repair the levees were fired upon by snippers. Luckily they were accompanied by guardsmen who saved them.

I think was angered me most was that I can't understand why the other men at these shelters sat by while the raping was going on. It's inconceivable to me that any man would sit by while this was going on and not help the victims.

But then again, as in many places where these things happen - people are so callous that they don't want to get involved.

I just don't understand, I just don't understand. .

Or maybe the crminals are armed and the others aren't.

So much of the news out of New Orleans is infuriating and heartbreaking but here's an uplifting article I found.


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Strongly Pro-life New Orleans Archbishop Ministers to Hurricane Victims
�I am also a refugee,� Hughes said

BATON ROUGE, September 1, 2005 (LifeSiteNews.com) � The New Orleans diocese may be half under water today, but its Archbishop is personally ministering to his flock-in-exile nonetheless. Archbishop Alfred C. Hughes has set up an emergency field office in a parish in Baton Rouge and is spending his time blessing and comforting the afflicted. Hughes is visiting the many refugee shelters set up after Hurricane Katrina devastated his diocese of New Orleans, where 36% of the population is Catholic.

The Archbishop fled the storm, along with over a million others, with only two changes of clothes in his bag. Since then, Hughes has been hitching rides to the shelters with Louisiana state troopers and other aid workers to hear confessions, give comfort and spiritual aid to those who have lost family members and homes.

�I am also a refugee,� Hughes said to one group. �It�s not easy to be so drastically dislocated without any early hope of being able to return.� Hughes is ministering to evacuees gathered at the Baton Rouge Centroplex and three Baton Rouge Catholic churches.

Archbishop Hughes is known to LifeSiteNews.com readers as a strong voice in defence of the unborn, the sanctity of marriage and the rights of Christians to participate in the public square. In 2004, Archbishop Hughes gave a statement defending the right of Christians to participate in public life especially on issues like abortion and marriage. In 2002, Archbishop Hughes attempted to stop a representative of the militantly pro-abortion group, National Organization of Women, from speaking at Loyola University Law School in his diocese. This year, the Archbishop again clashed with Loyola Law when he declined to attend the commencement because the university was to grant an honorary degree to pro-abortion politicians.

Yesterday, Archbishop Hughes joined Bishop Robert W. Muench of Baton Rouge and Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco calling for a day of prayer for the victims throughout the Gulf area. �God has brought us to our knees in the face of disaster,� Hughes said. �We are so overwhelmed, we do not really know how to respond. Powerlessness leads us to prayer. And we know when we turn to God, God offers us his grace.�

Hughes spoke to the Times Picayune, which has switched to an entirely online edition after Katrina destroyed its New Orleans offices. He said, �Our first concern is for the people - the people who have died, the people who are left behind, the people who rescued and who were rescued.�

LifeSiteNews.com attempted to reach anyone by phone from either the New Orleans or Baton Rouge Catholic dioceses without success. No calls can get through to any number in New Orleans and attempts to call Baton Rouge met with a recorded message saying all lines were busy.

I would guess that all have read "Lord of the Flies". This novel depicts what we are seeing I think. When a society gets accustomed to having somebody else take care of it they tend to cease to take care of the needs of others. Not only do brutes act like brutes but no one stops them. They figure if somebody else (city, state, or national government) isn't here I'm not going to risk getting involved.

There's also been a great deal of pressure by some feminists groups to make men feel worthless. In response the weakest of the men become either wooses or brutes. When one has an entire culture (sub-culture?) that says to its citizens "You don't have any responsibility and if anything bad happens to you it's someone elses fault" one has a ready prescription for what is happening now. Order will not be restored until enough water recedes so that a majority can be reached.

But what then? If the corrupt city government doesn't change the next time an emergency arises there will still be no plan of evacuation in order. Busses will still be flooded out in the parking lots. Police will still flee the scene because they are overwhelmed. People will still refuse to leave even when ordered to do so. And evil will still raise its ugly head as you see it now.

Underying all of that is the lack of influence the Church apparently has in the NO society. That last issue is for me the most chilling of all.

Dan L

Thank you Dan. I suppose this is all a common reaction in an entitlement society.

Rose2,

I believe so. My father always thought that being on welfare was about the worst thing a person could do, unless the person was seriously handicapped. Even then the people we admired when I was growing up are the people who made something of themselves despite their handicaps or maybe in part because of them.

My Dad could do almost anything he needed having done. Ocassionally he had to take his car in for service but that was very rare. I know, cars are more complicated than they used to but I can't do nearly what he could under the hood. My father remodeled our house with a little help from some friends. I can do some things but not nearly what he could.

Though we were poor growing up we never relied on welfare of any kind. When my Dad had to stop working around his late 50's because of heart and respitory problems he finally broke down and applied for SSI. He tried for several years. I'm not sure if he ever received any. He died almost a complete pauper. It was hard to watch this proud man deteriorate.

I'm not as critical of the people who have been trained and encouraged to use the system when they really had no need for it as I am of the system itself which tends to keep people from the privilege of self reliance.

I do believe the entitlement mentality is in part responsible for many many deaths in this tragedy.

Dan L

I agree with Rose2, I was really infuriated at the deeds at hand. It just shows the moral decay of society. Also, there is a lack of dignity with much hopelessness.

It is intersting that Mother Theresa even had the blind makes matts for the floor and those who were handicapped if at all possible had some task to do. This all has to do with human dignity.

I saw a stark difference in those who were accustomed to being taken care of by the state and those who are accustomeed to being taken care of by God. Those who had faith were very much at peace, otherwise it seemed to me that they were very histerical people - which is understandable.

I also saw a segment on someone they have taken to calling St. Mary. She has been feeding the whole neighborhood from her restaurant. She went around to every house to see who was still there and told them to come eat. It said when she had still time she was always praying, it showed a small statue of Blessed Mother, a prayer card, and her sitting quietly with a candle burning. Then they spoke of the church in town, they don't have a priest. However, they were cleaning out the church and gathering there for prayer before the altar as much as possible.

Why the messup in communication, I don't know, except to say to those out of this coutry that the way the laws are established, local governments have to give the federal governement permission to come in. In other words the govenor of the state has to give permission for the national guard to come into a state. Also, martial law was not declared so federal government had to wait until the govenor gave the ok. There are many laws set up in our land that protect one part of the govenment from acting without another part of the govenment saying it is ok. It is protection of the people. Though materials were already on the move, communication broke down and I don't think anyone in this country fully comprehended what was about to happen.

Rescue operations began right away. However, personally, I noticed a stark difference after Pres. Bush met with the govenor of Louisana. While the govenors of Missippi and Alabama were more experienced in the workings of the Federal Gov.

Another thought is - have you noticed it is once again cool to talk about faith and prayer on the news? Don't you just love it, seems to me it is only when crisis is at hand that the media thinks you should pray. Oh well, that God he is on his throne and in control.
Pani Rose