Now this IS catastrophic!

Pictured, Our Lady of Africa

The genocide in Darfur.

This weekend is being called for as a weekend of prayer for Darfur.

"Religious leaders urge weekend of prayer for Darfur

Mark PattisonCatholic News Service WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Religious leaders in the Save Darfur Coalition urged prayer the weekend of Dec. 9-10 to call attention to the ongoing atrocities in the Darfur region of western Sudan.

"Nobody knows the exact number" of those killed in the conflict, said David Rubenstein, executive director of the coalition, although he estimated 400,000 have died in the violence.

"There are people dying every day, and at risk of death every day," Rubenstein said during a Dec. 5 conference call with reporters. "They are being burned from their homes and villages."

"Mostly, what they need is security," said Rubenstein, adding that "3.5 million people in toto have been affected by this conflict, and the systems of survival have shut down.

"In a related matter, 78 religious organizations, including five Catholic groups, signed a full-page ad in the Dec. 5 issue of USA Today issuing a "call to your conscience" on Darfur. Catholic signers were the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, the Conference of Major Superiors of Men, Pax Christi USA and the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns.

If churchgoers "knew all of the facts of what was happening in Darfur, they would rise up urgently to stop the genocide," Rev. Edgar said. "Often Darfur is not on the front page of the newspapers.

"While hesitant to describe Darfur as a civil war, Rubenstein, who visited Darfur earlier this year, said, "The only people who don't have weapons are the civilians who are being slaughtered by their own government's agents, the Janjaweed," who "use rape as a tool of war" and "burning and mutilation as a tool to move them."- CNS

Now this is something that seems to have a much more "catastrophic effect" than global warming. Let's pray and maybe try to fast for these our brothers and sisters.