SACRAMENTO AUXILIARY BISHOP ALPHONSE GALLEGOS; EGYPTIAN PRESIDENT ANWAR SADAT; AND OCTOBER 6TH...........

The deceased Sacramento Auxiliary Bishop Alphonse Gallegos, O.A.R., and the late Eyptian President Anwar Sadat, tragically share the date October 6th, in common, ten years apart.  On October 6, 1981, at age 51, eleven years President of Egypt, and instrumental in furthering the peace process in the Middle East, between Egypt, Israel, and prospectively with the entire Arab world; President Anwar Sadat was assassinated during the course of a military parade review in Cairo.  Ten years later, on October 6, 1991, Bishop Alophonse Gallegos, one month short of ten years, as Auxiliary Bishop of the Sacramento Diocese, 60 years of age, was killed on a darkened highway coming from administering the Sacrament of Confirmation, at St. Isidore's Parish, Yuba City; when the car he was riding in stalled, and was parked to the side of the road, by the deacon who was driving him.  Bishop Gallegos got out the car to help push the car, when another vehicle struck and killed him.  Both very sad occurrences.  Today as we remember and commemorate President Sadat and Bishop Gallegos, thirty and twenty years, after their deaths, we pray for them in eternity for the promise and hope they instilled in the people they served and ministered to, the cause of peace in the Middle East, and the commitment to being pro-life, were bettered by the efforts of these two men.  Anwar Sadat's demise, led to the ascendancy of President Hosni Mubarek in Egypt, cause of the Arab Spring earlier this year.  + Alphonse Gallegos' passing resulted seven years later in the appointment of Reverend Father Richard J. Garcia, as Auxiliary Bishop of Sacramento, and now Bishop of Monterey, California.  Four years ago, next Tuesday, it also was followed by the appointment of Bishop Jaime Soto, as Coadjuator Bishop, and now the Ordinary of Sacramento.  May our remembrance of President Sadat and Bishop, reinstill in all of us, the affect and impact committed human beings can make to the betterment of the World and Church...........May They Share The Blessings Of Everlasting Life,   Fr. Troy