It remains to be seen whether new efforts to address vulnerabilities faced by low-income, disabled and elderly people will result in meaningful changes.
Humanitarian Aid
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
Were Jesus, Mary and Joseph refugees? Yes.
A family is forced to flee their homeland for fear of persecution. This is the classic modern-day definition of a refugee.
Posted inPolitics & Society, Short Take
Jesuit ethicist: Puerto Rico can no longer be a U.S. colony
Hurricane Maria removed the delusions of prosperity and first-world status that blinded so many to the realities of Puerto Rico, including the fragility of its infrastructure, its high levels of social inequality and its status as a U.S. colony.
Posted inPolitics & Society, Video
Puerto Ricans face the psychological trauma of Hurricane Maria
In the Puerto Rican town of Orocovis, 1,000 people lost their homes in Hurricanes Maria and Irma. There, graduate students from the Pontifical Catholic University of Puerto Rico are providing social and psychological services to help residents who have lost everything start to rebuild their homes and their lives.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Franciscan Friars in historic California mission briefly evacuate after fire fears
No part of the 220-year-old mission, part of the Franciscan Province of St. Barbara, was damaged, said Brother John Kiesler.
Posted inEditorials, Politics & Society
The Editors: The decline of data under Trump is hurting Puerto Rico
Future historians may have no idea how many people perished in one of the worst storms in U.S. history.
Posted inPolitics & Society, Video
Local priest mobilizes rural parish after Hurricane Maria
Fr. Carlos Francis Méndez led his parish into action after bringing his sorrow about the hurricane devastation into prayer.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
After pope’s Myanmar visit, Catholic Relief Services continues its humanitarian aid to Rohingya
While diplomats and advocates weigh in on the crisis, Catholic Relief Services in Bangladesh, supporting the local Caritas office, is responding with humanitarian assistance, delivering food and critical survival supplies to thousands of Rohingya families.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
C.R.S. responds to Rohingya crisis
Caroline Brennan, the emergency communications director for C.R.S., describes conditions among impromptu refugee camps of Rohingya Muslim families in Bangladesh.
Posted inNews, Politics & Society
Los Angeles bishops ask for prayers for families and firefighters facing devastating blaze
News reports said that flames prompted evacuation orders for nearly 200,000 people, destroyed nearly 200 homes and remained mostly out control as of early Dec. 6. To date, officials had reported no fatalities.