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“Dialogue is important not only to dispel fears and misunderstandings, to achieve peace and security, but also to cooperate in addressing the world’s pressing problems.”
From hip replacements to hysterectomies, Southeast Asian countries have seen a rapid growth in medical tourism, with about two million international patients a year seeking bargains there. But according to the World Health Organization (WHO), medical tourism is leading to some highly-skilled specialists, as well as other trained medical staff, leaving public health facilities for private ones. Further down the medical hierarchy, unemployed or undertrained staff end up filling chronic shortages in remote areas.
“The crisis involving all Arab countries has various motives, among which economics weighs heavily, considering even just the unemployment which, above all, affects the youth,” explained Father Giuseppe Scattolin, Comboni missionary and scholar of Islamic mysticism who lives in Cairo, capital of Egypt, where people’s protests forced President Hosni Mubarak to resign. “Added to this, is the tension that has lasted for years in the Middle East between extremists and non-extremists. There is also a cultural crisis that has lasted almost two centuries, stemming from the confrontation between Islamic tradition and the modern world. Finally, the local conflicts, which contribute to inflaming people’s souls. Without going into the details of individual events and those who have encouraged them, in my view, these are the main problems.”
Billions of dollars are being made by investors in a speculative “food bubble” that’s created record food prices, starved millions and destabilized countries, experts now conclude. Wall Street investment firms and banks, along with their kin in London and Europe, were responsible for the technology dot-com bubble, the stock market bubble, and the recent U.S. and UK housing bubbles. They extracted enormous profits and their bonuses before the inevitable collapse of each.
The landslide was greeted with dancing and flag-waving in the southern capital, Juba, where people braved blistering heat to celebrate the end of decades of marginalization. While the relatively peaceful conduct of the vote was welcomed, human rights groups expressed alarm at suggestions that Sudan’s president, Omar al-Bashir, should be “rewarded.” Reports suggested he could receive a year’s reprieve from war crimes charges relating to Darfur, where the fights persist.
The Southern African Bishops lament the fact that the Church’s voice is struggling to be heard in the general debate on issues such as the proper utilization of wealth. In his report at the Plenary Session of the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference (SACBC, which brings together the Bishops of South Africa, Botswana and Swaziland), Archbishop Buti Tlhagale of Johannesburg and President of the SACBC, said: “It is relatively easy to appreciate the public role of the Catholic Church in the area of social services, health care and development projects…. What is missing in the public spaces of our societies is the voice of the Catholic Church (or the religious sector) that genuinely seeks to engage the public on moral-ethical issues which impinge on the society at large.”
As the impact of climate change worsens around the globe, a disaster-resilient village is poised to be a solution for urban poor battling the constant floods and typhoons that hit the Philippines.
Excerpt from a paper delivered by the author at a gathering on the occasion of the Inter-Faith Council of Leaders’ (IFCL) 10th anniversary, promoted by Silsilah Dialogue Movemen
Asia is in pieces due to prolonged conflicts. Poverty is skyrocketing. Corrupt politicians suck the economic blood of the nations to better themselves. The poor man is lying on the road unattended, dying… unless a Good Samaritan comes along. The Crucified Jesus is all over the continent, still hanging on the cross. He is hungry, He is thirsty, He has become a stranger in His own continent, He is without clothes, He is sick, and He is in prison. Thus, today, above all, Buddhists, Christians, Hindus and Muslims ought to undergo a conversion. The real enemy is not true religions but evil structures which exploit and enslave women and men of our age.
Mary is the model of interreligious dialogue, because she carries with herself the fundamental and unrenounceable aspects of human communication. The Blessed Virgin Mary represents the meeting point in the interreligious dialogue both because of the place she occupies in Christianity, Judaism and Islam, and because of the analogies of her figure and the outstanding personalities of other religions.
