By Joe Bukuras -- catholicnewsagency.com -- A woman was praying alone in the perpetual adoration chapel early Tuesday morning when the wave of anti-Catholic vandalism and violence sweeping the U.S. struck St. Louise Catholic Church in Bellevue, Washington. Hearing a commotion outside, the woman ventured into the hallway. There, she confronted a masked intruder standing outside the parish center, smashing the glass front door. The person screamed profanities at the woman, who ran back into the chapel. Terrified, she locked the door behind her and called the pastor, Father Gary Zender, while hiding behind a piano. “She called me on my office number just pleading for help to come and get her and rescue her,” Zender told CNA. “She was scared to death.” A surveillance camera captured the frightening incident on video.

The footage shows a masked person with long hair striding up to the door carrying a large rock and pink backpack. The person hurls the rock at the front door, three times, then kicks the door four times, shattering the glass. The person then removes a can of black spray paint from the backpack and begins to write graffiti on the building’s exterior. Next, the assailant makes obscene gestures toward the door, smashes the glass again with the can of spray paint and pushes the door. Then the person appears to scream at someone inside the building before continuing to spray-paint the building’s exterior and sidewalk. Graffiti legible in photos provided by the police reads “woman haters,” “groomers rapists,” and “the church is child abuse,” among other words. You can watch the surveillance footage in the video below. The attacker, who entered the church property around 9:30 a.m., also smashed a different glass door at the parish hall and defaced a statue of Our Lady, Undoer of Knots, Zender said. He estimated the damage at $10,000.

by naharnet.com — The line-up submitted by PM-designate Najib Mikati to President Michel Aoun on Wednesday contained changes to five to six …

by axios.com -- Barak Ravid -- U.S. energy envoy Amos Hochstein told Israeli negotiators last week that he wanted to try to get a deal between Israel and Lebanon on the maritime border dispute in two months, two Israeli officials told Axios.

Why it matters: Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasralla has threatened to use force to prevent the Karish rig, which is located south of the disputed area and seen by Israel as a "strategic asset," from producing natural gas, which is expected to start in 10 weeks. Hochstein is concerned about a potential escalation and thinks the time left can be used as a window of opportunity when both sides will have an incentive to get a deal and avoid a flare-up, according to Israeli officials. Driving the news: Last Friday, Hochstein had a virtual meeting with the Israeli negotiations team and briefed them on the position he received from the Lebanese government during his trip to Beirut the week before.

Israeli officials told Axios Hochstein sounded upbeat about his trip to Beirut. According to the officials, he said there was progress and all main political players in Lebanon managed to get a consensus regarding the way forward. The Israeli negotiators stressed the most important thing for them is ensuring Israel’s security interests are guaranteed, Israeli officials told me. An agreement could allow Lebanon to begin natural gas exploration, which may boost its imperiled economy. What they're saying: The Israeli officials said they think two months is a possible timetable for getting a deal in principle. “We all understand the time window, and we all hope we can make progress," a senior Israeli official told me.

by today.lorientlejour.com -- BEIRUT — A heated argument took place between Lebanese ambassador Rami Adwan and Lebanese activists in France, after the latter put up rainbow-colored posters, the symbol of the LGBTQ community, on the walls of the Lebanese Embassy in France on Monday night, prompting the ambassador to face the activists, according to a video of the incident that is circulating on social media. When the activists accused Adwan of representing the Lebanese political class, as heard in the video, the ambassador said in response that this claim is “false” and that the embassy represents the Lebanese, including the activists. "You are wrong when you think that the embassy represents the ruling class and not you young man,” said the ambassador addressing an activist. And when an activist then asked him to denounce the various attacks that have taken place in Lebanon, in recent days, against the LGBTQ+ community, Adwan replied that the Lebanese Embassy does not have to express itself on whether it is for or against them. Then the situation escalated when the ambassador accused an activist of "spoiling" the embassy by sticking up flyers on its walls. Adwan then said, “You are a rotten man, you don't know how to talk to people.”

Adwan explained to L’Orient-Le Jour on Tuesday that “it is the refusal to dialogue that offended” him, adding that “the embassy makes a lot of effort to represent its community and be as open as possible. Adwan also said that what the activists did “is a bit offensive.” The tiff between the ambassador and the Lebanese came days after Lebanon's caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi sent a letter to the General Directorate of General Security and the General Directorate of the Internal Security Forces calling on security forces to prevent gatherings that “promote sexual perversion,” referring to homosexuality. At 42 Villa Copernic, in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, the walls were plastered with colorful posters Monday night. “Those responsible for the explosion in the Port of Beirut are not sanctioned, but homosexuality is sanctioned,” the flyers read, in addition to “A pedophile priest is protected in Lebanon, but homosexuality is sanctioned.”