EBOLA-MISSIONARIES RETURN
Missionaries return to US and Ebola quarantine
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) β More American missionaries who worked with patients infected with the Ebola virus in Liberia are back in the United States, spending the next several weeks on the campus of a North Carolina-based mission.
SIM USA said in a news release Monday that three adults who work with Ebola patients — and two other adults and six minors — are healthy and show no signs of infection. However, they are being held in quarantine at least three weeks dating from the time they were last exposed to people infected with the virus.
They will be spending those weeks in motor homes on a portion of the Charlotte-based group’s 90-acre campus not far from the South Carolina line.
Among the missionaries who returned is David Writebol, whose wife, Nancy, remains in isolation in an Atlanta hospital after she was returned to the United States for treatment of Ebola last week.
Sound:
260-a-07-(Bruce Johnson, president of SIM USA, at news conference)-“is not broken”-Bruce Johnson, president of SIM USA, says its missionaries are anxious to return to treating Ebola victims in Liberia. (11 Aug 2014)
< 259-a-07-(Bruce Johnson, president of SIM USA, at news conference)-“needed a break”-Bruce Johnson, president of SIM USA, says the quarantined missionaries include two doctors. (11 Aug 2014) < 258-w-33-(Steve Coleman, AP religion editor, with Dr. Stephen Keener, medical director of the Mecklenburg County Health Department, and Bruce Johnson, president of SIM USA)–More American missionaries who worked with patients infected with Ebola in Liberia are back in the United States, spending the next several weeks on the campus of a North Carolina-based mission. AP Religion Editor Steve Coleman reports. (11 Aug 2014) < 219-a-04-(Dr. Stephen Keener, medical director, Mecklenburg County Health Department, at news conference)-“having any symptoms”-Dr. Stephen Keener, medical director of the Mecklenburg County Health Department, says the 21-day quarantine is precautionary. (11 Aug 2014) < 218-w-31-(Steve Coleman, AP religion editor, with Bruce Johnson, president, SIM USA)–More American missionaries who worked with patients infected with the Ebola virus in Liberia have returned to the United States. AP Religion Editor Steve Coleman reports. (11 Aug 2014) < 223-a-09-(Bruce Johnson, president of SIM USA, at news conference)-“his wife Nancy”-Bruce Johnson, president of SIM USA, says David Writebol is one of the SIM missionaries who returned to the U.S. Sunday evening. (11 Aug 2014) < 222-a-05-(Bruce Johnson, president of SIM USA, at news conference)-“do is hug”-Bruce Johnson, president of SIM USA, says 5 adults and 6 minors are quarantined in an RV park on the SIM property. (11 Aug 2014) < 220-a-16-(Dr. Stephen Keener, medical director, Mecklenburg County Health Department, at news conference)-“are not infectious”-Dr. Stephen Keener, medical director of the Mecklenburg County Health Department, says 3 weeks is enough time to ensure that an exposed person has not contracted Ebola. ((note length of cut)) (11 Aug 2014) < 221-a-09-(Dr. Stephen Keener, medical director, Mecklenburg County Health Department, at news conference)-“from other people”-Dr. Stephen Keener, medical director of the Mecklenburg County Health Department, says the quarantined individuals cannot touch others and maintain a three-foot distance. (11 Aug 2014) < MINISTERS’ RELATIVES-EBOLA RI ministers’ African relatives die of Ebola PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) β The congregation of a Rhode Island church is praying for West Africa after relatives of two ministers died in the Ebola outbreak. Worshippers at the Generations for Christ Mission Church in Providence prayed and sang Sunday as they comforted the Revs. Ezekial Kparkar Solee and Sahr Kallon. Solee told The Providence Journal that his 25-year-old brother in Liberia died from Ebola Friday. Kallon’s 68-year-old cousin, who was a doctor, died from the virus last week in Sierra Leone. Kallon says his congregation includes people from several West Africa countries, and they’re all concerned about family and friends. The Rhode Island Council of Churches will hold a prayer service for West Africa on Tuesday at Tabernacle Baptist Church in Providence. UNITED NATIONS-PUNISHING TERRORISTS UN proposal would punish Iraq and Syria militants UNITED NATIONS (AP) β Britain has proposed a draft U.N. resolution aimed at punishing recruitment and financing of foreign fighters for the Islamic State militant group now controlling a swath of Syria and Iraq, and terrorist groups associated with al-Qaida. It calls on all countries to suppress the flow of foreign fighters to those groups and demands the immediate withdrawal of those already in Iraq and Syria. The draft deplores the terrorist acts and “violent extremist ideology” of the Islamic State group and stresses that “widespread or systematic attacks directed against any civilian populations because of their ethnic background, religion or beliefs may constitute a crime against humanity.” It cites atrocities by the group including mass executions, kidnapping, the targeting of individuals based on their religion or belief and destruction of places of worship. RABBI KILLED Police: Hate crime unlikely in rabbi’s death MIAMI (AP) β Hundreds of mourners have followed the casket of a New York rabbi who was gunned down while walking to a temple in Miami over the weekend. Miami-Dade Police stressed Monday that the slaying of Joseph Raksin appears to have been a robbery gone bad. But they said hadn’t entirely ruled out a hate crime. Raksin was visiting family when he was approached by two young men and killed Saturday. Some mourners said they feared Raksin’s faith was a factor in the death, noting that those in the community would have known Orthodox Jews don’t carry wallets on the Sabbath. But police said the perpetrators might not have been aware of the practice. Raksin’s death comes as the Miami Orthodox community is on edge after swastikas were painted on a synagogue last month. Sound: 185-q-15-(Rabbi Phineas Weberman, president, Rabbinical Council of South Florida, at news conference)-“first degree murder”-Rabbi Phineas Weberman is asked whether he believes the slaying of Joseph Raksin was a hate crime. (11 Aug 2014) < 183-a-14-(Miami-Dade Police Major Hector Llevat (yay-VAHT’), homicide bureau, at news conference)-“closing that door”-Miami-Dade Police Major Hector Llevat says there’s no evidence, at this point, of a hate crime. (11 Aug 2014) < 184-a-09-(Miami-Dade Police Major Hector Llevat (yay-VAHT’), homicide bureau, at news conference)-“pepetrator knew that”-Miami-Dade Police Major Hector Llevat says although it was the Sabbath and therefore the rabbi wasn’t carrying a wallet, robbery is still a potential motive. (11 Aug 2014) < FILM-CALVARY Movie depicts a good priest threatened by church scandals WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (AP) β In the new movie “Calvary,” Brendan Gleeson stars as a good priest in a small Irish town who is threatened with assassination by a survivor of clergy sex abuse whose abuser has died. The Irish actor says his character is given seven days to put his affairs in order after hearing the threat in the confessional, and responds by becoming “extraordinarily focused on being the best priest he can be.” Gleeson won’t say whether he himself is Catholic, but says that’s how he was brought up. While “Calvary” has comic elements, Gleeson says the story reminds him that while the church would like to “move on,” child abuse can be a life sentence for the victims. Sound: 3:06 a.m. US-NUN-KILLED-SIGN-FLAP Sign for nun removed; some found it depressing WATER MILL, N.Y. (AP) β A street sign memorializing a nun killed in a hit-and-run has been removed after residents called it depressing. Newsday reports that the sign designating Rose Hill Road in the Hamptons as “Sister Jackie’s Way” was removed last week, after a months-long standoff between the local road official who installed it and residents and town board members who wanted it gone. The sign honored Sister Jacqueline Walsh, who died as she walked along the road in July 2012. The 59-year-old nun was attending an event at a Sisters of Mercy retreat house in Water Mill, New York. Police sought a suspect but never were able to find him. They believe he left the country. Southampton Town Highway Superintendent Alex Gregor installed the $45 sign last year, but neighbors soon began complaining that it was upsetting. Gregor says he ultimately removed the sign because the nuns lamented the controversy. PIG WRESTLING CRITICISM Church pig wrestling event held, despite protests STEPHENSVILLE, Wis. (AP) β A Wisconsin church has held its annual pig wrestling fundraiser, despite protests of animal cruelty. St. Patrick Parish in Stephensville says the Pig Wrassle has been its tradition for 44 years and is a big draw for its fundraising picnic. Spectators in the stands cheered as participants chased a pig around a muddy pen at the picnic Sunday while dozens of demonstrators stood nearby in protest. Jordan Turner is president of Global Conservation, an animal rights group from Milwaukee. Turner says tradition is no excuse for animal cruelty. He says the group’s online petition generated 60,000 signatures in protest of the event. WLUK-TV says the event usually brings in about $3,000 for the parish, which has no plans to cancel the event next year. VATICAN-ASIA Pope to visit SKorea starting Wednesday VATICAN CITY (AP) β Pope Francis is preparing to visit South Korea this week. The Aug. 13-18 trip marks the first time a pope has been on the Korean peninsula in a quarter-century and the trip kicks off what is expected to be a very Asian-focused year for the 77-year-old pontiff: He will travel to Sri Lanka and the Philippines in January and there are rumors of a trip to Japan next year as well. This week, Francis will bring a message of peace and reconciliation to the divided Korean peninsula and a call for young Catholics to take up the missionary charge themselves, spreading the faith on a continent where the Catholic Church is small but growing. While the pope is expected to reach out to Pyonyang during the visit, no North Koreans are expected to attend. The archdiocese of Seoul invited a delegation of Northern Christians, but Pyongyang authorities informed organizers last week that they wouldn’t come. NEPAL-GAY PARADE Nepal gay community parades for same-sex marriage KATMANDU, Nepal (AP) β Hundreds of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transvestites have paraded through the capital of Nepal for a colorful celebration of Gaijatra, a Hindu festival to remember the dead that is overtaken each year by the country’s gay community. In the socially conservative Hindu-majority nation, the festival was traditionally the only day people felt free to cross-dress. But social norms are changing fast as the fledgling Himalayan democracy emerges from centuries of religious monarchy. A government committee is recommending same-sex marriage be guaranteed in Nepal’s new constitution. All of the country’s political parties have already backed the idea, and many within the small gay community hope the new constitution can be passed this year.
