NCReg: Did James Foley Die a Muslim Convert or a Catholic Martyr?

When James Foley was publicly beheaded by militants from the Islamic State, the grisly video of the American reporter's execution led some Catholics to praise him as a martyr for the faith.

But, later, other released hostages, who knew Foley, testified that the American had converted to Islam, and that his conversion appeared to be genuine.

Was Foley a Catholic martyr or a Muslim convert? asks The New York Times. And if he did formally embrace the religion of his captors, was that the free expression of his conscience, the result of violent coercion, or simply a tactic to secure a reprieve from the daily beatings he endured at the hands of ISIS?

Foley's mother, a practicing Catholic who regularly prays the Rosary, told The Times she had received conflicting reports from hostages who knew her son.

“What the hostages had told me was that by saying that he had converted to Islam, he would be left alone five times a day, without being beaten, so that he could pray,” Diane Foley told The Times, adding that she believed her son died as a Christian and that he had helped many of his fellow hostages endure the harrowing conditions of their captivity.

Read more: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/joan-desmond/james-foley-catholic-martyr-or-muslim-convert#ixzz3SlyFy8wd

Pres Obama Sent No Representative to Memorial Mass for Executed Journalist James Foley

President Barack Obama sent no White House representative to the memorial Mass held yesterday in Rochester, New Hampshire, for James Foley, the American journalist beheaded by the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) terrorists.

President Obama, however, did send three White House aides to Monday’s funeral for Michael Brown, an 18-year-old African American fatally shot in an encounter with a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo.

The memorial mass for James Foley took place Sunday at Our Lady of the Holy Rosary in Foley’s hometown. Connie Hammond, an administrative assistant at Holy Rosary, told CNSNews.com that no White House officials were in attendance.

“There was nobody that represented the White House,” Hammond said, adding that all of the dignitaries in attendance called ahead except for one and that all of them sat together.

Tom Bebbington, director of communications for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Manchester, told CNSNews.com that the officials in attendance at the Mass included New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan (D.), Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R.-N.H.) and Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D.-N.H), and Rep. Ann Kuster (D.-N.H.).

Bebbington confirmed that no White House officials were present.

Pope Francis sent his condolences to the Foley family in a letter that was read during the Mass.

continue at cns 

A letter from James Foley - journalist executed by ISIS - Arts ’96, to Marquette: "I began to pray the rosary"

Marquette University has always been a friend to me. The kind who challenges you to do more and be better and ultimately shapes who you become.

With Marquette, I went on some volunteer trips to South Dakota and Mississippi and learned I was a sheltered kid and the world had real problems. I came to know young people who wanted to give their hearts for others. Later I volunteered in a Milwaukee junior high school up the street from the university and was inspired to become an inner-city teacher. But Marquette was perhaps never a bigger friend to me than when I was imprisoned as a journalist.

Myself and two colleagues had been captured and were being held in a military detention center in Tripoli. Each day brought increasing worry that our moms would begin to panic. My colleague, Clare, was supposed to call her mom on her birthday, which was the day after we were captured. I had still not fully admitted to myself that my mom knew what had happened. But I kept telling Clare my mom had a strong faith.

I prayed she’d know I was OK. I prayed I could communicate through some cosmic reach of the universe to her.

I began to pray the rosary. It was what my mother and grandmother would have prayed. 
I said 10 Hail Marys between each Our Father. It took a long time, almost an hour to count 100 Hail Marys off on my knuckles. And it helped to keep my mind focused.

continue at Marquette Magazine

It appears this article originally appeared in November 2011.

Following his first capture in 2011, after he safely returned from Libya, James expressed in a letter to the Marquette community the power and strength he drew not only from his own prayer, but the prayers of his family and friends.

Fox6: James Foley, journalist and Marquette University alum, beheaded by ISIS

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