Irish priest is the latest Catholic ecological voice

National Catholic Reporter By Arthur Jones NAVAN, IRELAND — There was a priest in America that Columban Fr. Seán McDonagh needed to see. McDonagh, recalled to the monastery in Navan, County Meath, Ireland, after several years in the Philippines, had himself routed through New York. It was 1980. Sent as a missionary to Mindanao in [...]

Rich London, poor London – a tale of two cities

What would Charles Dickens, born 200 years ago this month, make of Britain’s inequality in the 21st century? wonders David Hewitt. As Britain celebrates the bicentenary of Charles Dickens, born 7 February 1812, his works have arguably never been more popular. Book sales are soaring, big-budget TV adaptations are drawing in millions of viewers, and [...]

Africa’s hidden hunger

New Internationalist  Chronic malnutrition fails to capture headlines, but is no less devastating for that, says Stefan Simanowitz. ‘When you arrive in a village, everything may seem normal at first but then you start to notice things,’ explains Assumpta Ndumi. ‘It is lunchtime but there is no food on the fire. There are children in [...]

Zimbabwe’s Mugabe jokes: I have beaten Jesus Christ

BBC Zimbabwe’s President Robert Mugabe has denied reports he has cancer, joking that he has died and been resurrected more times than Jesus Christ.  On his 88th birthday, he told state radio: “I am fit as a fiddle”.  Making light of numerous media reports of his sickness, the Roman Catholic Mr Mugabe said: “I have [...]

DRC switches off broadcasters linked to opposition leader

Daily Nation Kenya By JUAKALI KAMBALE NATION Correspondent KINSHASA, Thursday The DRC Government has pulled three broadcasting stations off air. The media houses, two close to opposition leader Jean-Pierre Bemba and one belonging to the Roman Catholic Church, saw their signals stopped on Monday by the Ministry of Information.  “Last Friday, we just received a [...]

£2m paid out over child asylum seekers illegally detained as adults

The Guardian Legal case involved 40 youngsters who were locked up in adult units under Home Office policy deemed to be unlawful The Home Office has paid compensation of more than £1m, plus £1m costs, in a case involving 40 child asylum seekers who were wrongly detained as adults, the Guardian can reveal.  It is [...]

Faith’s Big Picture

Huffington Post The First Amendment is so important, separating church and state, so that church can have complete liberty to profess its moral teachings unambiguously while the state enacts law and policy according to the will of the citizens. Exact alignment of those interests is almost always impossible, but people of good will can work [...]

Japan: Bishops offer Mass ahead of earthquake anniversary

Independent Catholic News Source: UCAN/Japan Bishops Conference A special Mass was held at Sekiguchi Cathedral in Tokyo yesterday ahead of next month’s first anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake Disaster. The Mass, celebrated by 17 bishops and attended by around 400 people, was dedicated to the memory of the disaster victims and prayers for [...]

Freedom of and From Religion

Common Dreams by Bill Moyers Bill Moyers Essay: Freedom of and From Religion from BillMoyers.com on Vimeo. The president did something agile and wise the other day. And something quite important to the health of our politics. He reached up and snuffed out what some folks wanted to make into a cosmic battle between good [...]

NGOs Urge Open Selection Process for Next World Bank Chief

By Jim Lobe* WASHINGTON, Feb 15, 2012 (IPS) – A global coalition of development activists and non- governmental organisations (NGOs) is calling on the World Bank’s governors to ensure that Bank President Robert Zoellick’s successor is chosen in an “open and merit-based process” that will give borrowing countries a major say in the selection.