Some of my wife's best friends are a group of cloistered Nuns that live not too far away from our home. These are the Passionist Nuns. Although I also count them among my friends, Linny has always had a special bond with them for over a decade. These Sisters have been there for Linny in good times and bad, in sickness and in health. They are a prayer covering for my wife and family. They are also are a prayer covering for the world. The cloisters ministry is to live apart from the world, but pray for the needs of the world.
The Nuns make their living by making Communion bread that they ship all over the world to both Catholic and Protestant churches. The cloister sits off of a major highway in Northern Kentucky in a facility that is close to the Greater Cincinnati Airport. The only time any of the Sisters leave the facility is to go to the doctor.
Part of their rule is to stay within the cloister.
Their cloister is large and open with a big back yard. It is also surrounded by a concrete wall that is about ten feet high.
These ladies never have hurt anyone.
In addition to the cloister there is also a public chapel and a public Mass is held there on Sunday mornings.
Recently this Sunday Mass was disrupted. The Sisters had noticed a man walking around the parking lot during the week. They thought nothing of it. On this Sunday morning same man rushed into the Mass and started screaming and acting crazy. The priest came down to see what the commotion was about and confronted the man. This man was a Moslem and he came to destroy the alter and reek general havoc on the infidel nuns and congregation.
The Sisters stay behind a grated iron gate that separates the public chapel from the Nuns chapel. The priest asked the Sisters to go to their quarters and lock the doors. He also asked the congregation to leave in orderly fashion.
The Moslem man started heading to the alter and the priest held the Moslem fellow back. One of the men in the congregation said, "Father, I'll take care of this SOB. You go call 911."
Within minutes the police arrived and took the Moslem man away. Detectives checked the building and found groves cut into the rear wall where it appeared that the man had attempted to scale the wall.
After this ordeal, the Sisters had to purchase an expensive security system. So now the entire complex is monitored by cameras and all of the doors and windows are hooked up to the alarm. The public chapel that was kept open all the time, is now locked except for Sunday Mass.
You think it couldn't happen here. We live in Kentucky. We have become upset with airport security. We are told that ethnic profiling is unconstitutional. We are also told continually that we can expect to be attacked by terrorists. We believe we are fairly safe. We don't want to appear to be racists. So we don't heed the signals.
This man was taken from the local police into FBI custody.
We must listen to the warnings and heed them.
