 |
|
In the more than 30 annual Washington, D.C., Marches for Life I have participated in, I always think the current march is the largest ever. But since accurate figures are hard to come by, it usually comes down to taking a good guess.
But a 60-second time-lapse video produced by Students for Life of America clearly reveals, regardless of the exact number, that this year’s March flowed on and on.
It’s heartening to see that lots of people care. But do we really care enough?
|
|
It’s that special time of the year again when kids start heading back to school. And for those who have discovered the fun of learning, school is an adventure!
But for millions of working children worldwide, the adventures of a new school year remain but a dream. Sadly, these children will never learn to read or write. They will not acquire computer skills. They will not experience singing in chorus, going on field trips, or playing at recess.
Their classrooms will be sweatshops, farm fields, and battlefields. Their days will be filled with long, dirty, dangerous work. And the lesson they will learn is that life is cruel and unfair. |
|
“A very solid scientific consensus indicates that we are presently witnessing a disturbing warming of the climatic system,” warns Pope Francis in his landmark environmental encyclical Laudato Si’ (“On Care for Our Common Home”).
Indeed, the scientific consensus is very solid. According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), “97 percent or more of actively publishing climate scientists agree: Climate-warming trends over the past century are very likely due to human activities.” (see: http://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consen us/).
 |
|
The question of “who owns the Church” has had a stormy history in Catholic America, although the terms of reference have changed considerably over time.
In the 19th century, “lay trusteeism” — lay boards that owned parish property and sometimes claimed authority over the appointment and dismissal of pastors — was a major headache for the U.S. bishops.
Today, the question is more likely to arise from the wetlands of psychobabble; thus one Midwestern diocesan chancellor recently spoke about a diocesan “needs assessment” that “can give ownership to the people,” presumably of their lives as Catholics.
|
|
People are beginning to starve to death in South Sudan. The United Nations has formally declared that a state of famine exists in this east African nation, with 100,000 people immediately facing starvation, and one million additional South Sudanese teetering on the brink of famine.
“Many families have exhausted every means they have to survive,” said Food and Agriculture Organization representative in South Sudan, Serge Tissot.
|
|
People are beginning to starve to death in South Sudan. The United Nations has formally declared that a state of famine exists in this east African nation, with 100,000 people immediately facing starvation, and one million additional South Sudanese teetering on the brink of famine.
“Many families have exhausted every means they have to survive,” said Food and Agriculture Organization representative in South Sudan, Serge Tissot.
|
|
During this wonderful time of the year, when Christians throughout the world focus minds and hearts on the coming of God himself upon the earth as one of us, our attention naturally turns to the place where the incarnation occurred.
While all the earth is a holy creation of the Almighty, Bethlehem and the surrounding lands that Jesus walked upon, taught upon, miraculously acted upon, suffered and died upon, and gloriously resurrected upon is uniquely holy, and thus deserving of the title Holy Land.
In the Holy Land, the Prince of Peace taught humanity the way to true peace.
|
|
Allow me to share with you one of the high points of my life — a short, yet deeply enriching encounter with a saint.
Nearly 30 years ago, I worked at Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington’s emergency food warehouse. Missionaries of Charity Sisters caring for HIV/AIDS patients at their Gift of Peace House in Washington, D.C., used to regularly stop by for food assistance.
Since I helped with food distribution, I got to know the Sisters. One day while picking up food, one of the Sisters said to me, “Mother is coming.”
|
|
Over 37 years-ago when Annunciation House — a sanctuary and home of hospitality that has served over 100,000 refugees, homeless poor, and undocumented workers — was started in El Paso, Texas, founding director Ruben Garcia and a few friends wanted to place themselves among the poor, to see where the poor would lead them. He said, “They took us to the undocumented — the most vulnerable.”
Garcia explained to me that since the undocumented have no legal status in the United States, they are forced to take undesirable, poorly paid jobs, which offer no benefits. Unlike poor U.S. citizens, undocumented workers and their families cannot receive food stamps, Medicaid, or housing assistance. They are at the lowest rung of American life.
|
|
You are the light of the world. Don’t take my word for it, that’s Gospel truth from Jesus himself (Mt 5:14). And it’s a tall order, indeed.
Now on the other hand in John’s Gospel, Jesus says, “I am the light of the world.” Now that at first glance makes far more sense. After all, Jesus — God in the flesh — is obviously “the light of the world.”
