TORNADOES SET DOWN IN BUTTE AND GLENN COUNTIES IN CALIFORNIA...........

2011'S stream of natural disasters from the earthquake in Japan, to the floodings in the midwestern United, and now the vicious series of tornadoes that have struck the United States in record number this year, wreaking havoc, and decimating total communities with upheval, injuries, and many deaths, has now come so much closer to home, over the past two days, with the tornadoes that have struck Joplin, Missouri, and now in Butte and Glenn counties of northern California, this week.  The death toll in Joplin, due to Sunday's tornado, stands at 143 persons according to CBS News, tonight.  125 persons remain unaccounted for there, and six-seven survivors have been pulled out from beneath the rubble.  I was riding back from San Jose yesterday evening when I learned by phone of the active tornadoes occurring in the area between Oroville and Chico, from the grandparents of a Chico State college student.  He happily is at home in Elk Grove, for the summer starting a job and internship, away from the afflicted area.  What a harrowing and sorrowful experience for so many persons, families, and communities, to be so adversely and tragically affected by any and all of these natural disasters striking various parts of the U.S.A. and the World.  Also, the unpredictability and volatility with which they are happening, causes us to pause, and ponder, and pray, how best we can be prepared to meet the reality when they come.  In earthquake, and flooding, prone California, we must also recognize we are also susceptible to the likelihood, that tornadoes, can and do, also affect us too.  At this time our primary concern has to be for the victims of these tragedies of these diasters, in Catholic-Christian compassion and charity.  All of us can help if not in person, and hands on; then by our contributions and support of Catholic Charities USA, and the Catholic Extension Society.  Domestically, they provide the social services and reconstruction support those stricken, as effectively, if not greater than any other charitable organization or non profit agency, including the American Red Cross.  Parishes throughout the country are organizing special financial collections or direct monetary donations, to assist with the suffering and devastation.  The addresses and telephone numbers of these two Catholic-Christian organizations are :  CATHOLIC CHARITIES USA -  P.O. Box 17066 Baltimore, Maryland 21297  1-800-919-9388 / CATHOLIC EXTENSION SOCIETY - 150 South Wacker Street 20th Floor Chicago, Illinios 60606  1-800-842-7804.  "Where Chaity And Love Prevail, There God Is Ever Found"...........Let Us Pray Continuously For The Suffering And Deceased,
Fr.  Troy