the seven martyrs of the melanesian brotherhood

Today (April 24) is the feast of the Seven Martyrs of the Melanesian Brotherhood, who were tortured and murdered for their proclamation of the Gospel on the island of Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands in 2003. (Today is the feast on the liturgical Kalendar of the Church in the Province of Melanesia; its not on the Kalendar of ECUSA.)

There is a new book by my friend Father Richard Carter, sometime chaplain of the Melanesian Brotherhood. Buy it from Amazon UK.

Also: read more about the martyrs and the context within which they bore witness to our Lord here.

Read a sermon about the martyrs preached at Westminster Abbey by the Archbishop of Melanesia here.

Take a moment to pray:

Lord, we adore you for your unsurpassable greatness, and for calling us to bear witness to your peace. We thank you for proclaiming yourself in the lives of your servants in the Melanesian Brotherhood; we especially thank you for the gift of your holy servants, Brothers Nathaniel Sado, Robin Lindsay, Francis Tofi, Tony Sirihi, Alfred Hill, Patteson Gatu and Ini Paratabatu. We thank you for the witness they bore in laying down their lives for the sake of your Son, to proclaim the Kingdom of your Peace. We ask that through their example and intercession, we too may be empowered to proclaim to those who yet live in darkness and fear, the Good News of your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ; that the whole world may come to know his salvation. Through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

(The image above is from the cover of Father Carter's book. Buy it. Read it.)

monk news

Here's an interesting little article in the NYT Sunday Magazine on the Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, a Franciscan reform order in based in New York. They play rock music and picket abortion clinics.

Postulant Andy, a 26-year-old from Chicago, is typical of today’s postulants. “I was looking at religious orders across the Midwest,” he said. “But I didn’t really fit any of them. You could see a big problem in religious life; it was very evident. A lot of orders didn’t have a prayer life; they didn’t go to Mass daily; they were very loose, not taking their poverty seriously.”