Bronx Nuns Seek Extermination of 8 Year Old Cat Colony

For immediate release
Contact: Neighborhood Cats, Inc.
212-662-5761
headcat@neighborhoodcats.org

What Happened to the "Cat" in Catholic?

(June 7, 2005) Newly elected Pope Benedict XVI's well-known love of stray
cats apparently is not shared by the Dominican Nuns of the Corpus Christi
Monastery in the Bronx, New York. The Mother Superior has ordered the
removal of seven feral cats who are almost all neutered, rabies vaccinated
and have lived on the monastery's five acres for the past 8 years. In a
decision backed by the Archdiocese of NY, the plan is to first try to force
the cats to leave by withholding all food and starving them. Then if they
don't go on their own, the resident Sisters will trap them and hand them
over to the city. Shelter workers would be forced to euthanize the cats
because they are feral and unadoptable and have nowhere else to be placed.

The Vicar of the Religious Office for the Archdiocese, Sister Helen C.,
stated, "my compassion does not extend to these animals" and "they will be
removed eventually, one way or another."

"The plan is not only cruel for depriving these cats of their long-time
home and causing their suffering and likely deaths, it is ineffective feral
cat population control," said Bryan Kortis, Executive Director of
Neighborhood Cats, a leading feral cat organization and a member of the
Mayor's Alliance for NYC's Animals. "Maintaining neutered feral colonies,
using a method known as Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR), is the only proven way to
reduce feral numbers in the long term. Otherwise, new unneutered cats will
simply replace the ones removed and the cycle of suffering and killing will
go on indefinitely."

Over the past eight years, at their own expense, volunteers have removed
nine cats from the grounds of the monastery and placed them in homes. The
cats too wild to be adopted were neutered and returned, stopping their
reproduction, and were then fed by the nuns. Now, however, the nuns and the
Archdiocese refuse to even meet with animal advocates to discuss the
situation.

To protest this heartless and ill-guided assault on the cats, please
contact the Corpus Christi Monastery and the Archdiocese of NY by phone,
email or fax (see below.) Let them know we expect more from our religious
leaders than pointless cruelty towards innocent animals:

Corpus Christi Monastery
phone: 718-328-6996
fax: 718-328-1974
email: nunsop.bronx2@verizon.net

Archdiocese of NY
phone: 212-371-1000 (ask for Public Relations or the Vicar of the Religious
Office)
fax: 212-826-6020
email: contactus@archny.org

Act now! The cats have not been fed for five days and counting!!

From www.nunsopbronx.homestead.com:
"The DOMINICAN NUNS of Corpus Christi Monastery, Bronx, New York, are a
monastic community dedicated to a life of prayer and penance for the
preaching mission of the Dominican Order and for the salvation of souls."

For more on Trap-Neuter-Return: www.neighborhoodcats.org

The Archdiocese appears to be turning away emails coming in about the cats.
Please go to this page for more ways to reach them:

http://www.ny-archdiocese.org/more_info.html

Also, for info on how to contact the Vatican:
http://www.insidethevatican.com/contact-us.htm

Thank you!
Bryan Kortis
Neighborhood Cats

Novena Prayer to St. Francis of Assisi

St. Francis of Assisi, help us.  By your example may we learn that life
does not consist in the pursuit of wealth nor in the abundance of our
possessions.

St. Francis of Assisi, come to our aid.  Because we live at a time when men
glorify ease and seek after luxuries, and when many wish only the
gratification of fleshly desires, we stand in special need of your
single-minded dedication to Christ in the narrow way that leads to life.

St. Francis of Assisi, assist us now.  May we appreciate as you did the
beauties of God's wonderful creation and the glory of the world He made for
us.  Help us to enjoy and appreciate God's bounty without spoiling or
defacing His gifts by our heedlessness and greed.

Teach us, seraphic Father Francis, to value all things as Christ did and to
be imitators of Him as you were.  May we thus enjoy the good things of
life, but always prefer the blessings of the endless life to come. Amen.

V. God forbid that I should glory...

R. Save in the cross of our Lord, Jesus Christ.

St. Francis, the Little Poor Man of Assisi, we invoke you as the admirable
mirror you were of our Divine Master.  You imitated Christ in your humility
and obedience.  You faithfully followed Him in poverty and weakness.  With
joy you accepted suffering, contempt, and trials, for the sake of His name.
In your goodness help us, then, to imitate your example.  By your power
with God, obtain for us the special favor we now seek throughout your
intercession.  (Here name your petitions).

Please pray for us, gentle and happy saint of the poor, that we may always
be loyal followers of our Savior, Jesus Christ, and filled always with
Divine riches. Amen.

(To make the Novena, recite this prayer for 9 consecutive days)

Prayer for Our Animal Friends

Heavenly Father, our human ties with our friends of other species is a
wonderful and special gift from You.  We now ask You to grant our special
animal companions your Fatherly care and healing power to take away any
suffering they have.  Give us, their human friends, new understanding of
our responsibilities to these creatures of Yours.  They have trust in us as
we have in You; our souls and theirs are on this earth together to give one
another friendship, affection, and caring.  Take our petition for these,
Your ill or suffering animals.  Take our heartfelt prayers and fill them
with healing Light and strength to overcome whatever weakness of body they
have.

(Here mention the names of the animals needing prayer).

Your goodness is turned upon every living thing; Your grace flows to all
Your creatures.  From our souls to theirs goodness flows out and touches
each of us with the reflection of Your love.  To our special animal
companions grant long and healthy lives.  Give them good relationships with
us, and if You see fit to take them from us, help us to understand that
they are not gone from us, but only drawing closer to You.  Grant our
prayer through the intercession of good St. Francis of Assisi, who honored
You through all Your creatures.  Give him the power to watch over our
animal friends until they are safely with You in eternity, where we someday
hope to join them in giving You honor forever. Amen.

Prayer for Our Pets

Good St. Francis, you loved all of God's creatures.

To you they were your brothers and sisters.

Help us to follow your example

of treating every living thing with kindness.

St. Francis, Patron Saint of animals,

watch over my pet

and keep my companion safe and healthy.

Amen.