Free Republic

The prime suspect in the alleged German terror plot to blow up hundreds of people may have had contact with Mohammed Atta, the suicide pilot who smashed a hijacked plane into the Twin Towers. German police reports are vague about the encounter, but it has helped investigators to trace Fritz Gelowicz’s path from average Bavarian schoolboy to Islamic radical. His case has also highlighted the curious and sinister role of Neu-Ulm — a small township in the Roman Catholic heart of southern Germany — as a cradle of Islamic extremism. The connection between Gelowicz, 28, who was arrested this week,...

NEW ULM, Minnesota, JULY 14, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Benedict XVI named Father John LeVoir as the bishop of New Ulm, Minnesota. Bishop-designate LeVoir, 62, succeeds Archbishop John Nienstedt. Archbishop Nienstedt was named coadjutor for the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis in April 2007 and became the archbishop there last May. John LeVoir was born in 1946 in Minneapolis. In 1981, he was ordained a priest for the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis. The Diocese of New Ulm has some 66,000 Catholics served by 58 priests, 60 religious and three permanent deacons.

Return to Main Page   In the Gullet of a Wolf   I know that after my departure fierce wolves will get in among you, and will not spare the flock. Acts 20; 29   Two Catholics died in January of this year. One I’d been acquainted with for some time; the other I’d never met. Both had three things in common: 1) They kept the Faith and served the Church throughout their lives, 2) They gave to the Church, besides decades’ worth of tithing, a good number of children and 3) On their deathbeds, both were shown less...

NEW ULM, Minn. — Tons of butter melted by a factory fire spread through the streets of New Ulm late Wednesday and early Thursday until it was overtaken by the chill of Minnesota's icebox weather. On Thursday afternoon, amid the fatigue from hours of fighting the massive blaze, the slippery surfaces and the wreckage of the plant, even Fire Chief Curt Curry recognized some humor in the incongruous scene. "We were looking for 40,000 loaves of bread at 2 o'clock this morning," he said, trying to wind down with a smile after working the intense fire all night. Work crews...