“Faith actors at COP28 were there to be the moral voice of the climate talks, reminding negotiators that their words, the texts that they fight about, have real consequences in people’s lives.”
Kevin Clarke
Kevin Clarke is America’s chief correspondent and the author of Oscar Romero: Love Must Win Out (Liturgical Press).
The Climate Refugees of Honduras
Small farmers here in the middle of Central America’s dry corridor are almost totally reliant on rainfall to water their crops. As those rains become less reliable because of climate change, crop failures and then migration are the results.
Managing scarcity and abundance
A Reflection for the Wednesday of the First Week of Advent, by Kevin Clarke
What a Catholic peace studies expert thinks is the way out of war in Gaza
How to restore peace in Israel and Gaza now after this historic outbreak of violence and mutual suffering? It will take outside pressure on both Israel and Hamas.
Christians in Gaza rush to baptize their babies as war escalates
The pastor at a Greek Orthodox church in Gaza organized a hurried baptism celebration for nine children after two unbaptized children were killed in an I.D.F. missile strike on the compound on Oct. 20.
Accept the invitation to the feast
A Reflection for Tuesday of the Thirty-first Week in Ordinary Time, by Kevin Clarke
New head of Catholic Charities continues its humanitarian mission at the border and around the United States
Kerry Alys Robinson began her tenure as chief executive of Catholic Charities USA with a visit to agencies along the southwest border. “I wanted to see firsthand what the realities were,” she explained.
Head of Catholic Relief Services on Gaza: ‘We need to act now to prevent a total humanitarian catastrophe’
Commenting on President Biden’s visit to Israel, C.R.S. President Sean Callahan said, “We appreciate the president’s call for respect for the human dignity of all and his announcement that humanitarian aid will be allowed into Gaza from Egypt. Civilians in Gaza cannot wait any longer and this plan must be implemented immediately.”
As global focus moves elsewhere, a humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan worsens
Sandesh Gonsalves, who leads the Jesuit Refugee Service team in Afghanistan, reports that Afghans are struggling in the wake of a “massive” earthquake that struck on Oct. 7. According to U.N. sources, the humanitarian aid system in Afghanistan is already desperately overstretched and underfunded, with over 29 million Afghans in need of assistance.
Tensions high in Jerusalem and West Bank as Gaza bombing continues
While outright war conditions pertain in Gaza and along its border in southern Israel, in the north, in Jerusalem and the West Bank, conditions are also fraught. Violence between Palestinians and Israeli settlers has broken out sporadically.
