News Briefs

A spiritual absence within Western secularism underlies the global economic crisis, Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk, head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church, told Canada’s bishops on Sept. 25. • On Sept. 25 Lebanese Christian and Muslim leaders called for the formation of a legal committee to protect all religions and condemned both the film “Innocence of Muslims” and “violent reactions that led to innocent casualties and harm to Christians and places of worship.” • The U.S. bishops send their “unconditional support to the church in Nigeria” following a suicide attack at St. John’s Cathedral in the northern capital of Bauchi on Sept. 23 that killed a woman and child and wounded 48 others. • Among the winners of the 2012 Right Livelihood Awards, announced on Sept. 27, were U.S. peace strategist Gene Sharp and the international Campaign Against the Arms Trade. • Gregory III Laham, the Greek-Catholic patriarch of Damascus, reported that all 240 Greek Melkite faithful kidnapped on Sept. 25 near the Syrian village of Rableh have been released. • Drew Christiansen, S.J., finished a seven-year run as editor in chief of America on Sept. 28, fortified with the many best wishes of a grateful staff.