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“I am awed that so many of the selfless people serving the world’s neediest are lowly nuns and priests – notable not for the grandeur of their vestments but for the grandness of their compassion.”
The Bishops of South Africa have declared Sunday, June 13, “World Cup Sunday.” This date has been chosen as it coincides with the beginning of the World Cup and the conclusion of the Year for Priests. “The World Cup is about South Africa welcoming the world to our home,” affirms the website “Church on the Ball,” promoted by the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC). “We are also welcoming the world to our church communities. This welcome helps us realize that, despite our nationalities and our teams, we’re all one people of God.”
The countries that found bailout money to save financial institutions in the economic crisis should also have resources for helping the poor, stated Archbishop Migliore, the Holy See’s permanent observer at the U.N. offices in New York. The prelate noted that the “devastating impact of the recent financial crisis on the world’s most vulnerable populations” is “a concern shared by governments and citizens all over the world.” And added: “The dark shadow of this crisis is likely to frustrate efforts made so far to help reduce poverty and only add to the skyrocketing numbers living in extreme poverty.”
Every 20 seconds, a child dies from a water-related disease – 1.8 million children younger than five years, each year. This alarming figure is from a new report by the UN Environment Program (UNEP), which says millions of tons of solid waste are being flushed into water systems every day, spreading disease.
That creatures like ants and bees are willing to sacrifice their lives for the sake of the colony seems to defy Darwin’s theory of the survival of the fittest, UK researchers noted in a recent paper on the genetics of altruism. “Altruism reduces the reproductive process of the altruist – so why is it not weeded out by natural selection?”
A judge in the U.S. had invalidated seven patents related to the BRAC1 and BRAC2 genes which are associated with breast cancer in women. Patenting life is wrong. As in the case of slavery, there no good form of patenting. Other mechanisms must be devised to compensate people for the time, energy and money they have invested in researching a particular product.
The president of the South Korea Bishops Conference, Peter Kang, held a press conference to express the deep concern of all the Catholic bishops of the country about the Four Rivers Project.
Last week, I had a meeting with a remarkable man, Tony Meloto, the founder of the Catholic social action movement Gawad Kalinga (Caring for Others) that is utilizing all of its resources to mobilize the church, politicians, community leaders and every willing Filipino to do good to help their neighbor and bring an end to the crippling and disastrous poverty in the Philippines. His goal is to achieve this by 2024.
In the Philippines, water demands and shortages are expanding. In a study done by the Japan International Cooperation Agency, nine major cities are listed as “water-critical areas.” One of them is Metro Manila. In some parts of the metropolis, the water supply situation reaches such a vulnerable state that the little amount of water some residents get is not enough even for vital purposes like cooking and drinking.
Water shortage represents a tremendous responsibility for the women of Sri Lanka, where many have to walk for kilometers several times a day to answer the needs of their households. On the other hand, the pollution and contamination of the still available water sources put their health and their families’ at risk.
