As Francis arrives in U.S., fans of all stripes welcome, watch and wait
By Adelle M. Banks, Religion News ServiceWASHINGTON - With cellphone cameras held high and cheers of delight, an enthusiastic and disparate crowd of hundreds gathered outside the Vatican Embassy Sept. 22 to welcome Pope Francis to the United States.
Horn of Africa facing worst drought in 60 years
By Michael Swan, The Catholic RegisterJIJIGA, ETHIOPIA - At the end of June the Famine Early Warning Systems Network of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization issued a warning about dry conditions in Ethiopia, Somalia and the rest of the Horn of Africa. On July 5 the UN called it “the worst drought in 60 years” in the Horn of Africa, with Ethiopia and Somalia worst hit.
D&P goes back to the basics
By Michael Swan, The Catholic RegisterClimate change has refocused the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace’s commitments in Africa and worldwide.
Nomadic African life dies of thirst
By Michael Swan, The Catholic RegisterJIJIGA, ETHIOPIA - Nasri Yaseen Gourate is a young Somali man, husband and father, a hard worker with a voice among the men of his clan. But the most remarkable thing about Nasreen is that he is a Somali man with no cattle, no camels, no goats, no sheep. He sold them all.
Refugees play the waiting game
By Michael Swan, The Catholic RegisterADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA - Yeshi Wubet carries a scrap of hope around in her purse, folded and unfolded to the point of fragility. It’s a letter from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees office in Addis Ababa dated July 7, 2014 and signed by Assistant Representative (Protection) Milagros Leynes.
Canadian Jesuit’s work embodies vision of Pedro Arrupe
By Michael Swan, The Catholic RegisterADDIS ABABA, ETHIOPIA - The Jesuit Refugee Service in Africa had its baptism of fire in Ethiopia trying to save the lives of hundreds of thousands of starving Ethiopians. Almost as soon as the JRS was founded in Ethiopia, the 1984 famine galvanized world attention, inspired the Band Aid mega-concerts and put the Jesuits to work. The Jesuit who led the JRS in Ethiopia, who tangled with communist government ministers, found 10-tonne trucks to deliver food, put medical care in place, is Canadian.
21st century being shaped by the plight of refugees
By Michael Swan, The Catholic RegisterDOLLO ADO, ETHIOPIA - Fifty-one year old Somali refugee Abdi Mahdi is one of about 25 students taking an English class offered by the Jesuit Refugee Service in the Kobe refugee camp, about three kilometres from the border between Ethiopia and Somalia.
Special Report from Africa
By Catholic Register Staff
Read our three-part special report from Africa here:
PART 1 - AFRICA'S FORGOTTEN REFUGEES
- 21st century being shaped by the plight of refugees
- Canadian Jesuit's work embodies vision of Pedro Arrupe
- Refugees play the waiting game
PART 2 - FEEDING THE HUNGRY
- Nomadic African life dies of thirst
- D&P goes back to the basics
- Horn of Africa facing worst drought in 60 years
PART 3 - THE CHURCH
- Africa takes its place in universal Church
- Ethiopians yearn for religious experience
Sex-ed opponents take protests to Liberal MPPs' offices
By Evan Boudreau, The Catholic RegisterUpdated 03/09/15
TORONTO - The constituency offices of Ontario Liberal MPPs came under siege Sept. 2 as protesters opposed to the province's new sex-ed curriculum united to voice their displeasure with the program set to be taught in schools this year.
Laudato Si’ a challenge for Catholic schools
By Evan Boudreau, The Catholic RegisterMISSISSAUGA, Ont. - John Kostoff sees Pope Francis’ encyclical Laudato Si’: on Care for Our Common Home as a calling for Catholic educators to foster a sense of environmental responsibility rooted in religion.
“This is really a challenge that Pope Francis is presenting,” said Kostoff, director of education for the Dufferin-Peel Catholic District School Board.