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August 15, 2011
Louisiana Dominican priest found murdered in Mississippi A Louisiana Dominican priest was found shot to death July 11 in his Dominican order’s retreat house in Waveland, Miss. Funeral services were held July 16 for Father Edward E. Everitt, OP, at Holy Ghost Church in Hammond, La., where he served as pastor. He was also pastor at Our Lady of Pompeii Church in Tickfaw, La. On July 12, police arrested Jeremy Wayne Manieri, 31, of Waveland, and charged him with the murder of Father Everitt.
Manieri worked as a maintenance man at the house where Father Everitt’s body was found. The priest suffered a gunshot wound to the head. Police believe robbery may have been the motive. Father Everitt’s wallet was missing. Authorities say Manieri was driving Father Everitt’s SUV, which was equipped with the auto tracking system OnStar. They used the GPS feature on the device to locate the vehicle in Polk County, Fla, with his ex-
Father Edward Everitt, OP wife and two children. Kathy Scott, secretary at St. Clare Church in Waveland, found Father Everitt’s body. Holy
Ghost parishioners contacted St. Clare Church after they had been unable to reach the priest on his cellphone. Scott went to the house to check on the priest and found him about 4:30 p.m. Bishop Robert Muench of Baton Rouge said Father Everitt’s murder was tragic. “I express my utter shock and profound mourning over the news of the murder of Father Edward Everitt,” said Bishop Muench. “This tragic loss of Father Ed’s life leaves a deeply
felt void in all our lives. Together we pray to the author of all life to provide Father Ed with the peace of eternal life. May our grief be seen in that perspective as we thank God for his valued life and priestly ministry.” Father Everitt was a native of Houston and ordained in 1968. He attended the University of Houston; Loras College of Dubuque, Iowa; Aquinas Institute of Theology in Dubuque; and the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Ind.
Archbishop Pietro Sambi, former nuncio, dies at age 73 By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- At the end of the funeral for Italian Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the former nuncio to the United States, a Vatican official confirmed that Pope Benedict XVI had been planning to bring the archbishop back to Rome to take up an important post at the Vatican. Archbishop Giovanni Becciu, who holds the No. 3 position at the Vatican Secretariat of State, said Aug. 2, “The Holy Father wanted to recognize the valid work carried out by his Excellency Msgr. Sambi, especially in the last few years, by calling him to an important position in the Roman curia. But the Lord, in his inscrutable plan, wanted to call this good and faithful servant home.” Earlier in the summer, Italian media reported Pope Benedict would be giving Archbishop
FUNERAL MASS OF ARCHBISHOP PIETRO SAMBI IN ITALY. Men carry flowers during the funeral procession of Archbishop Pietro Sambi through the street in Sogliano al Rubicone, his hometown south of Bologna, Italy, Aug. 2. Archbishop Sambi, who served as nuncio to Israel and the U.S., died July 27 at age 73. (C NS photo/Paul Haring) Sambi a Vatican position that would guarantee he would become a cardinal at the next consistory.
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The funeral Mass for Archbishop Sambi, 73, who died July 27 at Johns Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore,
was celebrated in a sunny public square in his hometown, Sogliano al Rubicone. Bishop Francesco Lambiasi of Rimini presided over the Mass and over the archbishop’s burial near his parents in the town cemetery. The funeral Mass began with the reading of a telegram of condolence from Pope Benedict XVI, who said the archbishop had given “generous service to the Holy See in different countries” during his long service as a Vatican diplomat. The pope praised the archbishop’s “diligent diplomatic and pastoral activity,” especially “in the Holy Land and, most recently, in the United States where he worked wisely, revealing the giftedness of his intellect and his heart.” During the homily, Bishop Lambiasi said Archbishop Sambi was a man who lived the values of mercy, faith and mission. The bishop read from a
spiritual testament Archbishop Sambi had written in May and told mourners, “the password to enter into his spiritual testament is ‘mercy,’” because the archbishop’s life was “the story of mercy received and given.” Speaking at the end of the Mass, Archbishop Becciu expressed his condolences to Archbishop Sambi’s family and to the people of Sogliano al Rubicone, “where he took the first steps of his human and Christian journey,” and to the Diocese of Rimini “where he was formed spiritually and culturally and from where he departed to go to different nations as ambassador of the pope and messenger of the justice and peace of the Gospel.” He said the archbishop dedicated his entire life to serving God and the church, “working in many difficult places to share the mysteries of redemption with different peoples, always with an authentic priestly spirit and joyful heart.”