FRUITLAND, FLA. -- Seventy mostly middle-aged and older social justice activist members of Pax Christi Florida gathered here on a recent weekend at a Methodist retreat center to ask and answer the weekend theme: “How shall I live?”
PORTLAND, ORE. -- Facing a poverty crisis “at levels we haven’t seen since the 1930s,” Catholic Charities USA president Fr. Larry Snyder welcomed 450 Catholic Charities leaders to their annual national meeting Sept. 24-26 in Portland.
WASHINGTON -- Long-term development and humanitarian assistance, protecting civilians and dealing with the root causes of terrorism should be among the guiding principles of how the United States deals with problems in Afghanistan and Pakistan, said the chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on International Justice and Peace.
tIn a letter dated Oct. 6 and released Oct. 9, Bishop Howard J. Hubbard of Albany, N.Y., offered the advice to retired Marine Gen. James L. Jones, the national security adviser, as the administration reviews U.S. strategy in the region.
ESSAY
The problems in Afghanistan cannot be solved by military means alone. Even General David Petraeus agrees with that. But what are the alternatives? The Obama administration has been re-evaluating U.S. policy in the region, but the discussion so far has been mostly about troop levels and military options. If the president is serious about developing more effective strategies, he needs to de-militarize the mission and prioritize political reconciliation efforts.
Rome
tAs it happens, Oct. 10 is the anniversary of the death of St. Daniel Comboni, a 19th century Italian missionary who spent much of his life in Sudan. Among other claims to fame, Comboni was probably the source of more epigrammatic one-liners about the church's mission in Africa than any other single Catholic figure, living or dead.
Memorable Comboni-isms include, "Either Africa or death," a classic expression of his missionary drive; "Save Africa through Africa," an early formula for the transition to self-reliance; and his famous sentiment upon approaching his death in 1881, "I wish I had a thousand lives to give for Africa."
WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court opened its 2009 term Oct. 5 with a new justice and cases dealing with at least one religious rights issue -- about a cross on a war memorial in a federal preserve -- and other cases about the circumstances leading to deportation, about an immigrant in detention being denied medical care and several dealing with the sentencing of convicted criminals.
Michael Moore's new film, "Capitalism: A Love Story," is representative of his mockumentary style, and for some audiences, it may seem less annoying than previous films ("Bowling for Columbine," "Fahrenheit 9/11," "Sicko"). Still others, whose views it challenges, may resist long, hard and loud. For some, it may be considered his best work yet. (The film opens nationwide Oct. 2.)
WASHINGTON -- As thousands of gays and lesbians prepare to march on the nation's capital to push for equal rights, leaders from a range of faiths say it's time to stop using religion as a weapon to oppose same-sex marriage.
What's more, advocates for gay rights say their faith and a sacred belief in justice are what actually form the foundation of their support for gay and lesbian unions.
BALTIMORE -- A look at ethical issues -- from research on human embryos to patents on stem cell lines -- was the focus of the first plenary session of the World Stem Cell Summit 2009.
The summit, held at the Baltimore Convention Center Sept. 21-23, drew hundreds of participants from across the United States and 26 other countries.
For those of us on the front lines of Catholic health care delivery, health care is everyone’s right as surely as the right to breathe and the right to eat. It is why we so strongly believe healthcare reform is necessary now.
And while not every American believes health care is a right, no righteous person would deny emergency medical care to anyone needing it. It is this contradiction that is resulting in one of the most politically controversial fights in our nation’s history.
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