Life and death along the U.S.-Mexico border
Stories from migrants on the Mexico-side of the border and volunteers offering water on the U.S.-side.
Just War Theory: Moving toward peace
Pope Francis, San Diego Bishop Robert W. McElroy, and Jesuit Father Drew Christiansen have each offered new understandings of the role nonviolence plays in the pursuit of peace.
Hope in Pakistan: An interview with Fr. Bonnie Mendes
Father Boniface “Bonnie” Mendes lives and works in the Diocese of Faisalabad in the eastern province of Punjab, Pakistan. Born and bred in Karachi, the 80-year-old priest is former executive secretary of the Pakistani bishops’ National Commission for Justice and Peace and former head of CARITAS Asia. The following is an interview with Fr. Mendes, conducted via email by Gerry Lee, Director of the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, just days after the Dec. 17 suicide bombing attack on a church in Quetta in which nine people were killed and 57 injured.
Maria Stephan: The power of active nonviolence
Dr. Maria Stephan delivered a speech in October in which she named key factors proven to make nonviolent resistance twice as successful as armed insurgencies and the important role the Church and civil society plays.
Integral Disarmament
In November the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development hosted a special symposium on nuclear disarmament at the Vatican.
Brazil: Protests against pension reform
The Brazilian small-scale farmers movement led a hunger strike in the first week of December as part of the massive protests against what some have called the most socially regressive austerity package in the world.
Zimbabwe’s “electric moment”
Maryknoll Sister Elizabeth “Claris” Zwareva writes about her homeland of Zimbabwe. Sr. Claris serves as Maryknoll’s representative at the United Nations where the Maryknoll Sisters and the Maryknoll Fathers & Brothers have consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
U.S. action to protect Palestinian children
For the first time, Congress is considering a bill that bars the United States from financially supporting human rights abuses of Palestinian children by the Israeli military.
Israel/Palestine: The question of Jerusalem
The Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns released a statement on December 7 opposing the Trump administration’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.
Slave-free seafood label campaign
Catholic organizations press for positive change in the lives of those who work in the international fishing industry.
Peru to pay Bear Creek Mining Company
A Maryknoll-supported legal collective in Peru brought an amicus brief as part of trade tribunal case which was decided on November 30.
Nonviolence: A commitment to a way of life
The Catholic Nonviolence Initiative (CNI) is focused on promoting a renewed commitment to Gospel nonviolence at the heart of the Church, including the possibility of a new official teaching on nonviolence. The following article is an update from one of the CNI’s five “roundtables” made up of practitioners of nonviolence from around the world.