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Tsunami spares Church; Catholics aid victimsANTO AKKARA Register Correspondent VAILANKANNI, India — Like many Southeast Asian coastal areas, the Diocese of Thanjavur was hit hard by tsunamis resulting from the magnitude-9 earthquake beneath the Indian Ocean Dec. 26. As of Jan. 3, the death toll was more than 155,000 in 12 countries. But diocesan officials say they saw a miracle at the Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health amid the tragedy that took more than 1,000 lives locally, including those of hundreds of pilgrims. "The killer waves surged and came up to the entrance of the main basilica where...

Millions of pilgrims on foot towards the Lourdes of the EastEach year, over 5 million faithful visit the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Vailankanni. Over 3 million of these undertake the journey between August 29th and September 8th to celebrate the Blessed Virgin, despite the searing heat and distance. Chennai (AsiaNews/Ucan) – As the end of August approached, groups of Marian devotees dressed in saffron dotted highways leaving Chennai. They walked a slow but steady pace in the sultry weather. While many walked barefoot, some carried flags and a few pulled small cars decorated with images of the Blessed Mother. Every...

Your experiences of Asian disaster Hundreds are reported dead in Sri Lanka and many other countries are affected, from India to Indonesia. Readers of the BBC News website have been sending in their own experiences of the disaster. The following is a selection of the reports received so far: Today morning at about ten o clock, we heard that our island has been hit by tsunamies. Here in Sri Lanka we have very little knowledge about tsunamies, so we all went down to the sea and watched to our amazement that the sea had receded and everything was calm, so...

ASIAN TSUNAMI WAS PRECEDED BY PROPHECY AND FOLLOWED BY REPORTS OF MIRACLESIn the gloom -- and it is gloom -- come the accounts of miracles. A missionary escaping the tsunami with thirty students calls out the Name of Jesus as a wave sweeps into a lagoon and the wave seems to halt. This in Navalady, Sri Lanka. There is also the young American couple at a beach in southern Thailand. Clinging to a jungle gym under a thatched roof in a play area, the man shouted prayers amid the flooding. The thatched roof lodged against the jungle gym, and they...

New Delhi, Dec. 27 (CWNews.com) - Following the devastating tidal wave that has claimed nearly 8,000 lives in India on Sunday, the Catholic Church is mourning the tragedy. Tidal waves rising as high as 40 feet hit the eastern coast of India as well as Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia. The tsunami followed a powerful earthquake, measuring 8.9 on the Richter scale, in the Indian Ocean with its epicenter under the sea near Sumatra island in Indonesia. Describing the aftermath of the tidal wave as "dreadful tragedy", the Catholic Bishops' Conference of India (CBCI) on Monday said that...

In their attempts to deny, they confirmShrine Rector Confirms New Ecumenical Orientation at Fatima by John Vennari  After two months of silence, Fatima Shrine officials finally spoke publicly about the alleged plan to turn Fatima into an Interfaith Shrine. Three news reports came from Fatima on the subject. The first was a January 1 Zenit report on a December 28 Communiqué from Fatima Shrine Rector, Msgr. Guerra; the second was the Shrine's own web posting of the December 28 Communiqué that was somewhat different from what Zenit reported (the reason for which will be explained); the third was a brief...

VAILANKANNI, India (CNS) -- Amid the stench of rotting bodies and decaying garbage, Thanjavur Bishop Devadass Ambrose Mariadoss spent several days at India's most popular Marian shrine to oversee post-tsunami relief efforts. Barefoot volunteers, with faces covered by surgical masks or even handkerchiefs, removed rotting bodies from mountains of debris: houses, shops, remains of thatched sheds, boats and animal carcasses strewn around the scenic beach in front of the Basilica of Our Lady of Good Health. The shrine, which draws 20 million pilgrims annually, remained untouched. More than 1,000 people, including hundreds of pilgrims, perished within a one-kilometer (.62 miles)...