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Catholic Nuns lead relief work for flooded Kerala, India
More than 6,700 Catholic women religious are among those helping more than 1 million people taking shelter in relief camps after unprecedented floods ravaged Kerala state in southwest India. “This is the biggest rescue and relief operation the Catholic Church in Kerala has undertaken in its history,” said Father George Vettikattil, who heads the church’s relief operations in the state.
The church deployed its personnel and opened its institutions across Kerala to help people after rains and massive floods devastated 13 of Kerala’s 14 districts from Aug. 15 through Aug. 20. The rain has stopped in many places and water has begun receding.
Read more Catholic Nuns lead relief work for flooded Kerala, India
Church Rehabilitation of Filipino Drug Addicts
Father Luciano Airel Felloni, an Argentinian missionary who has lived in the Philippines for twenty years, has started a serious effort to rehabilitate drug addicts and lead them to live a meaningful and dignified life in his parish in the diocese of Novaliches, near Manila.
This is the approach that the Church in the Philippines proposes in response to the "anti-drug" campaign launched by Filipino President Rodrigo Duterte who, since his election in June 2016, has mobilized law enforcement agencies to solve the problem of drugs in the country in a violent way.
An Option to the Government’s Errant Strategy
The government's strategy, based on fear and the action of law enforcement, is highly criticized: since the beginning of his presidency, on average 33 people have been killed by the police (over 4,500 suspected drug addicts in total), but there are another 23,500 extrajudicial killings, carried out by squadrons of "vigilantes". The vast majority of victims are poor, who cannot afford private rehabilitation programs.
Seeking International Peace
Editor of first issue of La Salette publication, Reconciliare (May, 1965): Pacem in Terris (April, 1963) provided the locus for an international discussion in which Protestants, Buddhists, agnostics, atheists, as well Catholics, participated at the New York Hilton Hotel, in February, 1964. At least one La Salette, Father Robert Vachon, participated. Here is the report... addressed to you, the Missionaries of Universal Reconciliation.
An International Convocation on Pope John XXIII’s encyclical, Pacem in Terris
Jean Vanier in the new documentary “Summer in the Forest”
“Summer in the Forest” is a full-length feature film about our founder, Jean Vanier, and the L’Arche communities in Trosly, France and Bethlehem. It tells how two L'Arche communities, though quite different from those in the United Kingdom, share our common values.
It is a thought-provoking film, which invites viewers to reflect upon their own experience, and understanding, of people with learning disabilities. You may wish to watch the film as part of a group.
Read more Jean Vanier in the new documentary “Summer in the Forest”
The Death Penalty Divide
With a revision of the Church’s Catechism, Pope Francis has declared capital punishment “inadmissible,” but the development will be a hard sell for some Catholics.
Life and death, hatred and forgiveness, are not strangers to Bill Pelke – three decades ago, a gang of teenage girls brutally murdered his 78-year old grandmother. All for $10 to play arcade games.
Penance and Purification Needed to Rebuild the Church
In a letter recently to Catholics in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, Archbishop José H. Gomez addressed the recent scandals in the Catholic Church in the United States. The text of his letter follows:
Archbishop José H. Gomez; photo: Victor Alemán
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,
It is a sad and confusing time for all of us, with the recent revelations about sin and abuse in the Church in this country. I am praying for you and your families and for our young people; and for our bishops, priests, deacons, seminarians and religious. I am praying most intensely for the victim-survivors of these crimes, and am trying to offer what small penance I can for everyone who has suffered abuse by pastors of the Church.
In one sense, the Church’s pastors are no different than any Christian. We are all called to holiness and to grow in our relationship with Jesus and to glorify God by our lives. But the priest above all is consecrated to serve “in the person of Christ.”
That is why the evil at the heart of these scandals is so terrible. A sacred trust has been broken by men whom Jesus entrusted to be his representatives on earth. These priests have betrayed Christ and done violence to his children. The cruelty they have done casts a shadow on the priesthood and the vast majority of priests who are good and faithful servants of the Gospel.
Read more Penance and Purification Needed to Rebuild the Church
Pope To Oil And Gas Executives: ‘There Is No Time To Lose’
Challenging world oil executives to recognize the urgent environmental need to quickly transition from fossil fuel extraction and burning, to clean energy production, Pope Francis called them to take to heart that “civilization requires energy, but energy must not destroy civilization.”
Vatican Conference on Energy
Gathering the heads of some of the world’s largest oil and gas corporations – including ExxonMobil, BP, and Royal Dutch Shell – to the recent “Energy Transition and Care for our Common Home” Vatican conference, the pope told the CEOs that meeting the energy needs of everyone, especially the more than 1 billion people without electricity, must urgently be undertaken, but in ways “that avoid creating environmental imbalances resulting in deterioration and pollution gravely harmful to our human family, both now and in the future.”Read more Pope To Oil And Gas Executives: ‘There Is No Time To Lose’
Friendswood Parish Ministry Committed to Care for Creation
It’s surprising how much trash a simple post-Mass coffee and doughnut gathering can generate. Each one collects many boxes of donuts, Styrofoam coffee cups and plastic stirrers, paper and plastic ware, almost all of which are not recyclable that will never biodegrade. Multiply this by the many parishes across the Archdiocese that host similar events, and quickly there’s enough trash to fill many garbage bins.
At Mary Queen Catholic Church in Friendswood, their Sustainability Ministry is working in tandem with the parish offices and ministries to slow the tide of endless trash, raise awareness of recycling efforts and move parishioners to action by using sustainable and recyclable wares in the parish through events and campaigns.
Read more Friendswood Parish Ministry Committed to Care for Creation
A Refuge in Kerala for Abandoned Women
By all appearances, Devi, a mother of three, lived happily in a good home surrounded by her loving husband, two sons and a daughter. But beneath the calm surface, all was not well. The first outward sign came when she stopped combing her hair, leaving it unkempt for days. Soon, her behavior reflected her disheveled hair; she became more mercurial and aggressive, prone to explosions of uncontrolled rage — even violence.
A woman participates in an outdoor prayer session; photo: Meenakshi SomanDistraught, her family felt frightened and powerless to help.Through a relative, her husband learned about a center in northern Kerala run by the Bethany Sisters that helps women experiencing psychological problems. He decided to place his faith in these women religious.
The Trippadam Psychosocial Rehabilitation Center for Women received Devi into a warm environment, offering compassion and a broad range of professional care. The sisters fed her, befriended her and helped her integrate into the life of the center, encouraging her to participate in activities and pitching in with chores. Her family visited her regularly.
Once her health improved, the psychiatrist gave her the all clear to return home. Her husband came to pick her up, and today she is doing well.
“This is what we aim to do here,” says Sister Tabitha, the administrator of the center that cares for women, noting that “some of them are abandoned by their families.” Others, such as Devi, are simply brought here to convalesce for a time, she says.
“We’re here to help those who have nowhere else to go,” says Sister Tabitha. “This is our service to Jesus.”
Speaking Out Against Immigration Injustice
At a Mass in honor of immigrants on June 24, 2018, Archbishop Jose Gomez of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles called on Catholics to pray for immigrant families, to speak out against injustice and to demand better solutions from their legislators.
“For years now, we have been asking our leaders to fix our broken immigration system. Year after year, they keep telling us, ‘Mañana, mañana.’ Next year. It makes no difference which political party is in power, there is always some excuse,” he said.