Top reports from America’s “Dispatches” department include looks at conflict, migration and geopolitics through a Catholic filter.
Humanitarian Aid
Posted inFaith, Vatican Dispatch
Exclusive: an interview with the cardinal-elect archbishop of Tokyo
When Archbishop Tarcisius Isao Kikuchi receives the red hat and cardinal’s ring from Pope Francis in St. Peter’s Basilica on Dec. 7, he will be the seventh Japanese cardinal in the history of the Catholic Church.
Posted inFaith, Faith in Focus
What I saw at the border—and why it broke my heart
What I saw at the U.S.-Mexico border reminded me of the solidarity with migrants so often lacking in our country today.
Posted inLast Take, Politics & Society
Opening doors at Advent and all year long: How J.R.S. responds to the plight of refugees
When Pedro Arrupe, S.J., founded Jesuit Refugee Service in 1980, there were approximately 10 million forcibly displaced people in the world. Today, there are 120 million.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Reporting from Hurricane Helene’s ground zero: No ‘safe havens’
Helene’s devastation is offering a hard lesson: No community or U.S. region can consider itself safe from the extreme weather events that global warming is seeding and supercharging.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
‘Once the flood waters recede, Catholic Charities will still be there’: Rebuilding after Hurricane Helene
Chief Correspondent Kevin Clarke joined a team from Catholic Charities USA assessing needs in North Carolina after Hurricane Helene.
Posted inPolitics & Society, The Weekly Dispatch
Winter is coming in Gaza. How much worse will the misery get?
Most families have been forced to move many times and with each new displacement, families lose or abandon more belongings. Not many of them by now have clothing appropriate for worsening weather conditions.
Posted inPolitics & Society, The Weekly Dispatch
Sudan, Haiti and Myanmar suffering continues—but not on the front page
Focus on the fate of Israel, its hostages in Gaza and the people of Gaza and south Lebanon means that little attention is being paid to other continuing crises around the world—Sudan, Haiti, Myanmar among them.
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
A safe haven for displaced Christians as the war between Hezbollah and Israel intensifies
Shelters have opened in northern Lebanon to provide what everyone hopes will be a temporary lodging for the displaced Christian families from the new war zone along the border with Israel.
Posted inPolitics & Society, The Weekly Dispatch
Heat will drive the next wave of migrants. Pope Francis thinks it’s a grave sin to ignore their plight.
Migration has been a defining reality of the human experience; that is not going to change because of 19th-century innovations like national borders.