Nuns who feed needy facing homelessness
SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco nuns who serve the homeless are in danger of getting kicked out of their home after a rent increase of more than 50 percent.
The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the sisters of the Fraternite Notre Dame Mary of Nazareth Soup Kitchen can’t afford the rent increase from $3,465 to $5,500 a month as of Jan. 15. Their attorney says the owner has served notice on the nuns, asking them to pay the higher rate or leave.
An attorney for the landlord, Nick Patel, says his client is in India and has put everything on hold and will assess the situation when he returns, which he was scheduled to do Thursday.
The soup kitchen is in one of San Francisco’s poorest neighborhoods and feeds hundreds every week.
Christians in S.C. must pray, vote, Graham says
COLUMBIA, S.C. — The Rev. Franklin Graham is urging Christians in South Carolina to pray before they vote in the nation’s next presidential primary.
As voters cast ballots in New Hampshire on Tuesday, Graham held a prayer rally with an estimated 7,000 Christians outside South Carolina’s Capitol. He urged them to confess their personal sins, the sins of their slave-holding ancestors and the sins of the nation, which he said include same-sex marriage and abortion.
Turning to electoral politics, Graham noted that South Carolina is about to be “inundated and invaded” by presidential candidates seeking support in this month’s Republican (Feb. 20) and Democratic (Feb. 27) primaries.
Graham didn’t endorse anyone, but urged the crowd to “vote for candidates that stand for biblical truth and biblical principles, and are willing to live them.”
He also urged Christians to consider running for office.
— The Associated Press
New Mexico Catholics to see pope after all
LAS CRUCES, N.M. — The bishop of Las Cruces, N.M., says his diocese will be getting tickets to next week’s papal Mass in nearby Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, after all.
KVIA-TV in El Paso, Texas, reports that Las Cruces Bishop Oscar Cantu said the tickets will be distributed through southern New Mexico parishes and Catholic schools.
The diocese originally believed it would not be provided with tickets because of limited availability. But the Ciudad Juarez Catholic Diocese said last week it has designated 5,000 tickets for the Las Cruces Catholic Diocese and 10,000 for the El Paso Catholic Diocese.
Ciudad Juarez, on Mexico’s northern border across from El Paso, is the last stop in the pope’s scheduled five-day visit to Mexico.
Pope Francis is slated to finish his Ciudad Juarez trip with an open-air Mass on Wednesday.
— The Associated Press
2 athletes benched in menorah damage
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A 9-foottall menorah at a University of Illinois Jewish student center has been damaged for a third time in less than a year. The center’s rabbi believes school leaders haven’t done enough to stop the vandalism.
Rabbi Dovid Tiechtel believes a strong stand from university leaders would end the vandalism.
Campus police say one arm of the menorah was broken in the latest incident. Police have issued a notice to appear to a female student who plays on the softball team. She was not charged, but sports information director Kent Brown said a softball player and a men’s gymnast are indefinitely suspended from competition.
The menorah was damaged twice last year. No arrests were made in the first incident. A 20-year-old man was given probation in the second.
— The Associated Press