The Californian began his professional baseball career with the Short-Season Vancouver Canadians of the Northwest League in 2007. In 2009, Desme had what many called a break-out season. He hit a combined .288 with 31 doubles, six triples, 31 home runs, 89 RBIs and 40 stolen bases in 131 games with the Class-A Kane County Cougars and the Class-A Advanced Stockton Ports.
On Jan. 22 Desme announced that he plans to enter a Roman Catholic seminary this summer. “I was doing well at baseball. But I really had to get down to the bottom of things -- I love the game, but I aspire to higher things. I wasn't at peace where I was at. I have no regrets.
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The Anglican bishop of the Diocese of Benin in Nigeria was abducted at gunpoint from his home Jan. 24 after returning from a Eucharist at St. Matthew's Cathedral in the nation's southern state of Edo. He was released three days later but no one is revealing whether or not a ransom was paid. The gunmen reportedly asked for a ransom of 15 million naira [about US$100,000] for the safe return of the Rt. Rev. Peter Imasuen, chairman of the Christian Association of Nigeria for Edo state. –ENS]]>;)
Jos, Nigeria (circled)Two pastors and 46 other Christians have been confirmed killed in the outbreak of violence in Jos, Plateau State in Nigeria, according to the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN).
In the religious clash, triggered on Jan. 17 when Muslim youths attacked a Catholic church, 10 church buildings were burned and 27 Christians are still missing, CAN officials said at a press conference in Jos on Jan. 27.
]]>Religious minorities and in particular Christian converts in Turkey have faced discrimination because of the mandatory religion declaration on their identification cards, which was enforced until 2006. Since then, citizens have been allowed to leave the “Religion” section of their IDs blank.
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Jean Chamberlain Froese, an obstetrician and director of the international women’s health program at McMaster. PHOTO: FHS.McMasterA Canadian obstetrician/gynecologist working on the front lines of unsafe motherhood for 14 years says that the story of half a million mothers and four million babies dying every year has been grossly underreported and neglected.]]>;)
The Archbishop of Canterbury with the Most Rev. Dr Mouneer Anis, Bishop of Egypt with North Africa & the Horn of Africa at Sabratha, Libya (29/01/09) Photo: Office of the Archbishop of CanterburyThe Archbishop of the Episcopal/Anglican Church of Egypt, the Most Rev. Dr. Mouneer Anis has resigned from the Standing Committee of the Anglican Communion (SCAC) citing the ongoing revisions of The Episcopal Church and SCAC's failure to discipline TEC based on recommendations of the Windsor Report and the Primates’ Meetings in Dromantine and Dar es Salaam.
"I have come to realize that my presence in the current SCAC has no value whatsoever and my voice is like a useless cry in the wilderness," he wrote in a letter to the Primates and Moderators of the Anglican Communion.
]]>The sentences are among the harshest in recent years for members of house churches -- congregations that refuse to register and accept the authority of the government's Religious Affairs Bureau.
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FOR MORE THAN half a century, the United Nations and numerous international organizations have affirmed the principle of religious freedom]]>8 days later
7.0 magnitude earthquake strikes Haiti on 12th Jan. 2010
Epicenter 25 km WSW from the capital Port-au-Prince
200,000 people feared dead
1.5 million people left homeless
3 million Haitians (1in 3) need emergency aid. Red Cross
$10 billion projected cost to rebuild
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