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A friend of mine who is a nun and fellow journalist, asked me to write a column on civility. But my immediate response was that civility didn’t really apply to the social justice and peace theme of my column.
But then the obvious hit me.
Category: Making a Difference
West Africa desperately needs your help
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Imagine being very hungry nearly all the time. Imagine telling your children to wait until the end of the day to eat a very small meal. Imagine eating every other day. Imagine not eating at all.
Very sadly, over 18 million people in West Africa’s Sahel region — an area between the Sahara Desert and the African tropics — do not have to imagine severe hunger; they are either experiencing it, or getting very close to it.
Crises have grown
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, “Food and nutrition crises in the region have grown in frequency and severity in recent years, mostly driven by sporadic rainfall, insufficient local harvests, high food prices, and insecurity.
Protecting our daily bread
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Every person who has enough nutritious food to eat and cares about the one billion people who do not, should be paying attention to the 2012 Farm Bill.
At stake are deep, heartless congressional monetary cuts to national and international food assistance programs, environmentally protective farm and ranch conservation projects, and safety net programs designed to help struggling small and mid-sized family farmers and rural communities.
Proposed cuts to Farm Bill
Bob Gronski, policy coordinator, for the National Catholic Rural Life Conference (www.ncrlc.com) explained to me that Congress is poised to cut between $23 billion and $34 billion from current funding levels of the Farm Bill.
The challenge of Lent continues beyond Easter
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As the Lend ends, let us never forget its commanding start: “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel!”
We could spend most of our lives reflecting and acting on this single powerful sentence. And indeed we should.
For in turning away from all that hurts our relationship with God — sin — and being faithful to the essential foundation which nurtures that relationship — the Gospel — we discover ever more fully the beauty, peace, joy, and meaning of this life, and prepare well for the incomprehensible wonders of eternal life!
Turning away from sin
This is the ideal time for the nation as a whole to turn away from sin.