Just when we thought that the Hawks (the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation) had finally got their claws out of South Africa’s Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, they’re back! Conveniently waiting until after the local elections, they have once again subpoenaed Gordhan regarding
Signs Of the Times
Georgetown Faces Up to Slave History
In order to come to terms with the sale of 272 slaves to two Louisiana businessmen in 1838, Georgetown University and the Jesuits of Maryland should offer a formal apology and enact a series of reforms. They include renaming buildings, offering financial aid to the descendants of those slaves and co
Stop the ‘Cancer’ Of ISIS
Louis Sako called for Muslims to “show the real face of Islam.”
Clean Up Begins After Historic Flooding in Baton Rouge Area
Water lapped at the heels of the Rev. Michael Galea, the still steady rain a constant reminder of Mother Nature’s unfinished business. Father Galea, pastor at Holy Rosary Church in St. Amant, La., estimated that as many as 90 percent of his parishioners had been affected in some way during the
Suffering and Heroism After Quake
As hope of finding any more survivors dimmed, the official death toll after a magnitude 6.0 earthquake rocked central Italy reached 290 on Aug. 29. The quake and over 300 aftershocks devastated the homes and lives of thousands of people in the early hours of the morning of Aug. 24.At least 400 peopl
Border Children Return
Thousands of children trying to escape gang violence and poverty in Central America have made their way to the United States this year—and there is no sign that the flow is letting up, the U.N. children’s agency said in a report released on Aug. 23. In the first six months of 2016, Unice
Condemning Terror
U.S. Catholic leaders and some of Iran’s top religious figures issued a joint declaration that calls for the end of weapons of mass destruction and of terrorism and of assigning blame for terrorist acts to an entire religion. “Christianity and Islam share a commitment to love and respect
Discernment Needed
In a meeting with Polish Jesuits, Pope Francis worried that too many seminaries teach a rigid list of rules that make it difficult or impossible for priests to respond to the real-life situations of those who come to them seeking guidance. “Some priestly formation programs run the risk of educ
News Briefs
Responding to inquiries from the A.C.L.U. and other groups, the nonprofit Catholic organization SSM Health agreed to provide birth control pills at the 26 clinics inside Walgreens stores in the St. Louis area that it began operating on Aug. 25. • On Aug. 26, France’s top administrative co
A Hate Crime in Queens?
The borough’s Bangladeshi community remained tense more than a week after two men were gunned down a few blocks from a humble storefront mosque in the Ozone Park neighborhood of Queens on Aug. 13. Jewel Chowdhury, the general secretary of the Jalalabad Association of America, says the Muslim c
