“They only want you to be the one thing,” Mick Jagger once told the novelist William Gibson. He was referring to his own acting career. It is odd to imagine a celebrity icon millionaire presumably so close to the heart of rock and roll speaking so wistfully of thwarted ambition, as if he once had Read more
When Syrian refugees leave their camps, they pack three items: food, water, and light. The first two generally come in the form of packages from the United Nation’s World Food Program or other nonprofit organizations. The latter, however, traditionally came in the form of kerosene lamps, which are less than ideal. In fact, they’re often Read more
For a long time polar bears were the poster child of climate change but that is no longer the case. Now it is an image of our fellow human beings, millions of them, battling on the frontlines for survival. While the west debate the merits of climate science, in large parts of Africa, Asia and Read more
About 100 companies have been responsible for about 71% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. That’s according to a new report from climate change non-profit CDP in conjunction with the Climate Accountability Institute. The report hopes to highlight the role such companies, and their investors, play in Climate Change. These companies, led by Saudi Aramco, Russian gas Read more
A remarkable journey will reach a new stage on 15 July when Br Robert Krishna OP will be ordained a priest by Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP at St Benedict’s, Broadway. Br Robert’s journey began in Bangalore, India. Originally a Hindu, he became an atheist at the age of 10, and in his late teens considered Read more
In April, Russia’s Supreme Court labeled Jehovah’s Witnesses an extremist religious group. “It effectively means that holding their beliefs and manifesting them is tantamount to a criminal act in Russia. They risk new levels of persecution by the Russian authorities,” said international legal counsel, Lorcan Price. In America, most of us think of Jehovah’s Witnesses Read more
The Catholic Church has a rich history of being environment conscious. Blessed Pope Paul VI wrote Octogesima Adveniens, a 1971 apostolic letter that warned against the consequences of unchecked human actions. “Due to an ill-considered exploitation of nature, humanity runs the risk of destroying it and becoming in turn a victim of this degradation,” he wrote. In Read more
The latest in a long line of studies, now numbering in the hundreds, if not thousands, shows that church attendance is good for your health. Published in May by researchers from Vanderbilt University, the study found that middle-aged adults who attended religious services at least once in the past year were half as likely to die prematurely Read more
ROME — What do the Sistine Chapel, a used car with 186,000 miles on the odometer and a statue of Our Lady of Lujan made out of metal from an abandoned factory have in common? Besides being found in the Vatican Museums’ collections, the 1984 Renault, the Renaissance frescoes, and the recycled scrap all help Read more
“I entrust sailors, fishermen, and all those in difficulty on the seas faraway from home, to the motherly protection of Mary, Star of the Sea, says Pope François in a “Tweet” posted on his account @Pontifex_en, this Sunday July 9, 2017, Sea Sunday. On this occasion, the Vatican published a Message of the Dicastery for Read more