The only way to counter the excessive impact that influencers have on the life of the church is to promote more critical thinking among the Catholic faithful, who must be able to recognize attempts to manipulate the faith for political and economic ends.
International
Posted inDispatches, Politics & Society
Mexico’s Catholic Church hopes for a better relationship with President Claudia Sheinbaum
Mexico’s bishops wished Ms. Sheinbaum well. They urged her to govern for all Mexicans, even though she has a congressional majority large enough to permit constitutional changes without seeking support from her political opposition.
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 inNews, Politics & Society
Catholic leaders in U.S. and Holy Land reflect on an anniversary of violence
The violence has claimed the lives of thousands of innocent victims, but it also “struck a profound blow to the common feeling of belonging to the Holy Land, to the consciousness of being part of a plan of Providence.”
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, Faith
South African women feel left off the agenda at the synod—and they’re frustrated with Pope Francis.
One South African theologian described “a deep sense of disillusionment that the church, on the one hand, is saying we need to be a synodal listening church, and has yet again taken the diaconate for women off the table.”
Posted inPolitics & Society, The Weekly Dispatch
Lebanon’s Christians are resilient in the wake of Israeli attacks. But how long can they hold on?
Father Dan Corrou says all Jesuit Refugee Service operations have been suspended. Many of the agency’s employees, like thousands of other residents of southern Lebanon, are fleeing toward Beirut or making plans to.
Posted inDispatches, Faith
South African bishop on ordination: No to women, yes to married men.
“If women are doing practically everything that a deacon is doing … [why] do we want to draw women into clericalism when we are having so many problems with it?”
Posted inPolitics & Society, The Weekly Dispatch
The killing of an eco-defender in Honduras highlights a global problem of impunity
Juan López was gunned down as he was leaving Mass by a still unidentified assassin, becoming the latest casualty among defenders of creation and Indigenous and human rights in Honduras.
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.