It is difficult to believe that it has been fifty years since I joined my religious community, the Sisters of Social Service, and began a lifetime of commitment to the quest for justice based in the Gospel. Over the decades my spirituality and prayer life have deepened to be a contemplative life of “walking willing.” Read more
Hours before he convened an unprecedented Vatican prayer service for peace in the Middle East, Pope Francis told a crowd gathered in St Peter’s Square that “a church that doesn’t have the capacity to surprise… is a dying church.” By that standard, Francis showed that Catholicism on his watch is alive and kicking by delivering Read more
There were many striking images during the extraordinary 72 hours that Pope Francis spent in the Middle East. The Pope at the River Jordan, visiting with Syrian refugees, celebrating mass in Bethlehem, praying at the separation wall, uniting with the Ecumenical Patriarch, visiting the Dome of the Rock, leaving a note at the Western Wall, Read more
During his pilgrimage to the Holy Land, Pope Francis invited Israeli and Palestinian leaders to join him at the Vatican and together pray for peace. Speaking in Bethlehem, the Pope offered President Shimon Peres and President Mahmoud Abbas “my home in the Vatican as a place for this encounter of prayer”. “Building peace is difficult, Read more
In a few weeks, at the end of this month, Pope Francis will follow in the footsteps of his immediate two papal predecessors, by making a religious/diplomatic pilgrimage to the Holy Land to visit Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Pope John Paul II did so in March 2000, and Pope Benedict visited in 2009. Read more
First impressions aren’t always accurate. But in my first days here I have been struck by the extent of trauma people have experienced – and real worries that the violence that has rocked South Sudan since mid-December may not be over. The capital of Juba is calm, but it is only “outwardly” so, one of Read more
Pope Francis has been announced as one of the 278 nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize. Here are a few reasons why he deserves to win over the other nominees, which include Vladimir Putin and Edward Snowden. Pope Francis for Nobel Peace Prize 1. He’s practically a rockstar What does Pope Francis have in common Read more
An 84 year old Catholic nun was sentenced to prison, February 18, for breaking into a Tennessee nuclear weapons facility and defacing its walls in July 2012. Sr Megan Rice a member of the Society of the Holy Child Jesus was sentenced to 35 months in prison on one count of depredation of property and Read more
Much attention has been given to the pope’s concern for the poor, which was reflected in his choice of Francis as his papal name. But as Pope Francis explained to journalists three days after his election, he also chose the name Francis because St. Francis of Assisi is “the man of peace. … He is the man Read more
Let’s play a game: I will describe a location, and you decide whether it’s The Roman Empire around the time Jesus lived or Panem, the dystopian nation where The Hunger Games trilogy takes place. Question 1: This location has a class of people whose wealth desensitizes it to the needs of the less fortunate. Panem, Read more