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Sainthood for one who suffered in solidarity

18 Oct 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

"Because of his affliction he shall see the light in fullness of days," it is said of the "Suffering Servant" in this Sunday's reading from the Book of Isaiah. Father Damien of Moloka'i, a Belgian-born priest of the Congregation of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, was elevated to sainthood Sunday for his ministry in Hawaii to those with Hansen's disease, otherwise known as leprosy. Saint Damien himself contracted and died from the disease in 1884 at the age of 49. After being sent to Hawaii as a missionary, Damien volunteered to minister to those who, under a government-sanctioned medical quarantine, had been banished to Kalaupapa, a settlement on the Hawaiian island of Moloka'i. He worked there for 16 years, sitting by the bedsides of the sickest, hearing their confessions, washing their bodies, and bandaging their wounds. People began calling for his elevation to sainthood shortly after his death. Damien, said Pope Benedict XVI during the ceremony, "not without fear and repugnance," chose to go to Molokai and risked his health to serve the patients "who were there, abandoned by all," and went on to feel "at home with them." For centuries leprosy was one of the most feared diseases, although doctors have since learned it is not easily transmitted and can be cured with antibiotics. Damien's image, vividly showing leprosy lesions on his face, was draped from the basilica's façade during Sunday's celebration. Included as well among those added to the church's roll of saints was French nun Jeanne Jugan, who helped the elderly, including some abandoned by their families. Jugan, also known as Marie de la Croix, was "an authentic Mother Teresa ahead of her time," Vatican Radio said. Her Little Sisters of the Poor order of nuns today runs homes for older people worldwide. She died in 1879. A Polish bishop and two Spaniards were also canonized. Source: Articles by Rose Ybarra for Catholic News Service, Frances D'Emilio for the Associated Press, United Press International, Wikipedia.org, and HonoluluAdvertiser.com

Saints hawaii kalaupapa joseph de veuster hansens disease sainthood molokai father damien leprosy canonization missionaries
Discovery of water on moon creates splash

22 Nov 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

"My kingdom does not belong to this world," Jesus says to Pilate in this Sunday's gospel. The prospects for lunar exploration and eventual colonization of the moon brightened considerably last weekend when NASA scientists announced they had found "significant" amounts of water on Earth's satellite. After the Apollo missions of the 1960s and '70s the moon was regarded as a dead, forbidding place with little to offer future explorers. "This is painting a surprising new picture of the moon," said Greg Delory, a space scientist at the University of California Berkeley. This is not your father's moon." "The moon is alive," declared Anthony Colaprete, chief scientist for the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite mission (LCROSS). "We've had hints that there is water. This was almost like tasting it," added Peter Schultz, professor of geological sciences at Brown University and a co-investigator on the LCROSS mission. Just over a month ago the mission used a rocket to punch a hole about 100 feet across in the moon's surface and then measured about 25 gallons of water in the form of vapor and ice. It could indicate sufficient water in permanently shaded craters at the poles for future astronauts to live off the land. This new picture of a dynamic moon came as the Obama administration is reconsidering the future of the human space flight program. The Vision for Space Exploration announced by the Bush administration in 2004 called for a return to the moon by 2020 and the eventual colonization of Mars. But the Augustine Commission, appointed by Obama to review those plans, reported only weeks ago that NASA will not get back to the moon anytime soon unless it gets a lot more money, at least $3 billion a year. These new discoveries could be game-changers, because they raise the possibility that a colony on the moon could be virtually self-sustaining. Water could be used for drinking, breathing, and even making rocket fuel. A resource-rich moon could also serve as the perfect low-gravity launch pad for missions that would carry astronauts and their families elsewhere in the solar system, said researchers, fulfilling the dreams of generations of science-fiction writers and visionaries. Source: Articles by John Johnson, Jr. for the Los Angeles Times and Alicia Chang and Seth Borenstein for the Associated Press

Water augustine commission vision for space exploration peter schultz lcross anthony colaprete greg delory nasa moon colonization
Climactic moment on climate change?

13 Dec 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

"What then should we do?" was the question on the minds of John the Baptist's listeners we learn in this Sunday's gospel. It is also the question at the forefront of the debate over global warming. Political leaders and scientists gathered in Copenhagen this week for an international climate summit some dub the world's "last chance" to control warming. At the same time the conference was getting underway the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced Monday that greenhouse gases are endangering people's health and must be regulated. The move puts pressure on Congress to act on stalled climate legislation. The ruling paves the way for regulation of carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles, power plants, factories, refineries, and other major sources. Industry groups quickly criticized the decision, saying that the regulation of carbon dioxide would be legally and technically complex and would impose huge costs across the economy. EPA administrator Lisa Jackson said that the finding was driven by the weight of scientific evidence that the planet was warming and that human activity was largely responsible. Jackson waded into the current dispute over leaked e-mail messages from a British climate research group that have stirred doubts among some people about the integrity of climate science. "We know that skeptics have and will continue to try to sow doubts about the science," she said. "It's no wonder that many people are confused. But raising doubts--even in the face of overwhelming evidence--is a tactic that has been used by defenders of the status quo for years." Worldwide the vast majority of increased greenhouse-gas emissions is expected to come from developing countries such as China and India. But those countries have made it clear that their willingness to reduce growth in emissions will depend on what wealthier countries do first. That puts a spotlight on the U.S. in Copenhagen, observers said, and the EPA announcement was timed to boost the Obama administration's case that the U.S. is indeed taking action to combat global warming even though Congress has yet to act. In conjunction with the Copenhagen summit churches around the world this Sunday will ring their bells as part of what is being called "Hopenhagen," a call to action and prayer in response to climate change. Source: Articles by John M. Broder for the New York Times, Dina Cappiello and H. Josef Herbert for the Associated Press, Jeffrey Ball and Charles Forelle for the Wall Street Journal, and Ecumenical News International

china carbob dioxide emissions climate science lisa jackson summit copenhagen greenhouse gases climate change india global warming environmental protection agency hopenhagen
We’re all in hot water if climate talks fail

20 Dec 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The psalmist this Sunday prays that the Lord "take care of this vine, and protect what your right hand has planted." The goal of the United Nations climate summit in Copenhagen is to get humanity to take better care of the environment. More than our own survival is at stake, according to a report released Monday at the summit. Climate change threatens the survival of dozens of animal species from the emperor penguin to Australian koalas. Rising sea levels, ocean acidification, and shrinking polar ice are taking a heavy toll on species already struggling to cope with pollution and shrinking habitats, said a study from the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), an intergovernmental group. "Humans are not the only ones whose fate is at stake here in Copenhagen--some of our favorite species are also taking the fall for our CO2 emissions," said Wendy Foden, an IUCN researcher and co-author of the study. The report detailed how climate change undermines the viability of 10 species, including leatherback turtles, beluga whales, clownfish, emperor penguins, and salmon. Australia's iconic bear-like koala faces malnutrition and potential starvation as the nutritional quality of eucalyptus leaves declines with the increase in CO2 levels, the report said. Polar species are especially hard hit. The ringed seal is being forced further north as sea ice it relies on for rearing its vulnerable pups retreats every decade. The emperor penguin, remarkably adapted to thrive in harsh Antarctic conditions, faces similar problems. Reduced ice cover makes it harder for these animals to mate and raise chicks and has caused a sharp decline in the availability of krill, a major food source. At midweek prospects for a wide-ranging accord in Copenhagen were dimming. "Countries and blocks of countries have come here with very hard positions," Guyana's President Bharrat Jagdeo said Tuesday. "You need some seismic shifts to really close a deal." A week ago the summit was being lauded as "Hopenhagen." As progress stalls some have starting calling it "Constipagen." Source: Articles by Marlowe Hood for Agence France Presse and Alex Morales and Jeremy van Loon for Bloomberg.com

climate change ringed seal bharrat jagdeo koala carbon dioxide emissions wendy foden iucn species animals climate summit copenhagen emperor penguin
Brazilian rancher convicted of nun’s murder

18 Apr 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The psalmist expresses gratitude this Sunday that the Lord "did not let my enemies rejoice over me." A court in Brazil has sentenced a rancher to 30 years in prison for ordering the murder in 2005 of U.S.-born nun Dorothy Stang over a land dispute. Stang had lived for decades in the Amazon region advocating for the rural poor and opposing deforestation. The much-delayed process of convicting her killers became a test of Brazil's ability to tackle widespread impunity from such crimes in the region. Vitalmiro Moura, 39, was given the maximum sentence Monday after a jury in the Amazon port city of Belem found him guilty of hiring a gunman to kill 73-year-old Stang. A member of the Sisters of Notre de Namur, Stang was born in Dayton, Ohio but was naturalized as a Brazilian citizen and devoted nearly 40 years of her life to helping landless peasants threatened by loggers and ranchers. Locals affectionately called her "the angel of the Amazon." Moura had received the same sentence previously but it was overturned in 2008, a decision Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had called a "stain" on Brazil's image abroad. A retrial was ordered after it was determined that jurors had ignored evidence pointing to Moura's guilt in reaching their verdict. Stang's murder became a symbol of the often-violent conflicts over natural resources in the vast Amazon region. The Land Pastoral Commission, which monitors conflicts over land in Brazil, says 365 people were murdered in such disputes between 1999 and 2008. Commission spokeswoman Cristiane Passos welcomed the judgment but said the government and justice system need to pay more attention to violent conflicts over land as the problem still claims many lives. "It's still far from the end of the violence," Passos said. Source: An article by Peter Murphy for Reuters and dorothystang.org

murder dorothy stang brazil land amazon vitalmiro moura sisters of notre de namur land pastoral commission cristiane passos
Be all you can be but don’t eat all you can eat

25 Apr 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The Lord "made us," says the psalmist this Sunday. So what made the U.S. a nation with a serious obesity problem? A group of retired military officers blame high-calorie school lunches, which they say are making young people too overweight to serve in the military. A study by the group "Mission: Readiness" finds that school lunches are making American kids so overweight that fewer of them can meet the military's physical fitness standards. That, in turn, is putting recruitment in jeopardy. A report from the group released Tuesday says that 27 percent of Americans ages 17 to 24 are too overweight to join the military. One of the officers, retired Navy Rear Admiral James Barnett Jr., said many young Americans are simply too fat to fight. The officers are pushing for passage of a wide-ranging nutrition bill that aims to make the nation's school lunches healthier. Source: An article by Mary Clare Jalonick for the Associated Press

Children young people obesity united states mission readiness school lunches james barnett jr
Cuban prisoners see ray of light

30 May 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

Justified by faith, "we even boast of our afflictions," says the reading from the Letter to the Romans this Sunday. Cuba's political prisoners have reason for hope following talks between Catholic Church leaders and President Raul Castro, who agreed to move prisoners held in far-off jails to facilities closer to their hometowns and transfer sick prisoners to hospitals. Cardinal Jaime Ortega and Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba Dionisio Garcia, who heads the Cuban Bishops' Conference, held a four-and-a-half-hour meeting with Castro in Havana last week which they both described as positive. Further talks are expected. The meetings are the first time in memory the communist government has negotiated with a national and independent organization like the Cuban church. They also represent Raul Castro's most important political shift since he succeeded his ailing brother Fidel two years ago. While the local church has long decried the country's problems, "what is new is the government's readiness to publicly recognize the Cuban Catholic Church as a middleman for resolving key issues," Havana dissident Oscar Espinosa Chepe wrote in a column Monday. Retired CIA Cuba expert Brian Latell noted that the church-state talks come at a time when Castro faces a crushing economic crisis as well as a wave of international condemnations of his human rights record. They include the February 22 death of jailed dissident Orlando Zapata after a lengthy hunger strike and a crackdown on the Ladies in White protesters earlier this year. "This represents a reflection of how much pressure they [the government] are feeling for the human rights, and pressures from a whole array of domestic problems," Latell said. "They're hoping the cardinal can help to alleviate some of those pressures." The Washington-based Center for Democracy in the Americas, which favors easing U.S. sanctions on Cuba, issued a statement saying that the Castro-Ortega talks were "a real lesson for U.S. policy-makers. Talking to the Cubans, not using sanctions . . . is the most effective way to achieve progress." Oscar Peua, director of the Miami-based Cuban Commission for Human Rights, complained in a blog post that Raul Castro had "jumped over the heads of the dissidents" in order to negotiate with Ortega. "But since the key issue is the release of all political prisoners, we do not hold back in being grateful," Peua added, even though it does not "resolve the sad reality of misery and lack of freedom that Cubans suffer for more than half a century." Source: Articles by Juan O. Tamayo for the Miami Herald and Esteban Israel for Reuters

cuba ladies in white human rights political prisoners raul castro cuban commission for human rights
Traffic rules approved for information superhighway

26 Dec 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

In the gospel for Christmas Mass during the day, we hear that John came “to testify to the light” that would enlighten everyone. After more than five years of testimony and debate, the Federal Communications Commission Tuesday approved controversial new regulations for Internet access. The new regulations are designed to safeguard the free flow of information on the Internet. The so-called net neutrality rules are designed to prevent Internet service providers from giving priority to their own offerings by restricting the ability to watch TV shows or movies online, for example, or slowing the delivery of programs or services from competitors. Supporters of net neutrality said the proposed regulations don't go far enough, while opponents say they amount to unwarranted interference that will stifle free-market innovation. Source: Articles by Jim Puzzanghera for the Los Angeles Times, Hiawatha Bray for the Boston Globe, and Dan Lyons for The Daily Beast

internet federal communications commission net neutrality
Japanese whalers hunted for way to scuttle protesters

09 Jan 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The psalmist speaks approvingly of the majestic voice of the Lord which was “over vast waters.” Japanese whaling officials, whose boats scour the vast oceans every winter hunting whales, expressed a decidedly more negative opinion of an anti-whaling organization in confidential discussions with U.S. diplomats over what “actions” could be taken against the organization, according to the documents released by Wikileaks on Monday. The U.S. representative to the International Whaling Commission, Monica Medina, discussed revoking the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's tax-exempt status during a meeting with senior officials from the Fisheries Agency of Japan in November 2009. The society's yearly protest campaign, during which its boats chase Japan's whaling fleet, trying to disrupt the hunt, has drawn high-profile donors and volunteers and spawned the popular Animal Planet series "Whale Wars." Action against Sea Shepherd would be a "major element" in achieving success at international negotiations on the number of whales killed each year, the cables cite the director general of Japan's fisheries agency, Katsuhiro Machida, as saying. Paul Watson, founder of Sea Shepherd, said Japan has previously pressured foreign governments to take action against the group, such as revoking the registration of its ships. He said the organization had last been audited about two years ago, before the exchanges detailed in the cables. "We have had our tax status since 1981, and we have done nothing different since then to cause the IRS to change that," he said. Japan kills hundreds of whales a year under a loophole in the 1986 moratorium on commercial whaling that allows "lethal research." Source: Articles by Jay Alabaster for the Associated Press and Agence France Presse

japan whale hunting whaling international whaling commission monica medina sea shepherd conservation society katsuhiro machida fisheries agency paul watson
Goldman Sachs likes Facebook

09 Jan 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

As we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord this Sunday, the readings make clear Jesus’ favored status in the eyes of God: Peter preaches that God anointed Jesus with the Holy Spirit and power, while Isaiah speaks of him as the chosen one, and, echoing Isaiah, the gospel describes a voice from heaven that proclaims Jesus “the beloved son, with whom I am well pleased.” Facebook president and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has gotten somewhat similar treatment in recent weeks. A short while after being chosen as TIME magazine's “Man of the Year” for 2010, Zuckerberg received the endorsement of Wall Street in the form of a $500 million investment by Goldman Sachs and a partner company. Goldman plans to raise at least $1.5 billion more for Facebook from private investors in a deal that is raising eyebrows at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). In fewer than seven years Zuckerberg has developed a website visited by a twelfth of the world and has helped change the way people communicate online, which is why TIME singled him out. And this week he struck a deal with Goldman to create an investment vehicle that allows hundreds of wealthy investors to buy equity in Facebook, potentially blurring the line between public and private companies. Current SEC regulations require companies with 500 or more shareholders to publicly disclose certain financial information to give investors an idea of the risks they face when they buy stock. In light of the special investment vehicle created for the Facebook deal, the SEC is taking a hard look at whether disclosure rules need to change now that hundreds of investors are buying into privately held Internet companies without those companies being obligated to make public disclosures. Source: Articles by Jessica Guyenn for the Los Angeles Times and Jean Eaglesham and Aaron Lucchetti for the Wall Street Journal

facebook goldman sachs baptism of the lord mark zuckerberg securities and exchange commission sec

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