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Disturbing the peace

29 Mar 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The psalmist appeals to the greatness of God’s compassion to “wipe out my offense.” The government of South Africa may want to approach the Dalai Lama, known for his compassion, with a similar plea after having barred him from entering the country for a peace conference this week that was later cancelled because of the public outcry over the Dalai Lama’s exclusion. The government had said Monday that the Tibetan leader would not be allowed to come to South Africa to attend the conference, meant to promote the 2010 World Cup, because his presence would have distracted attention from South Africa and drawn it instead to the contentious debate over the status of Tibet. Two of South Africa’s Nobel Prize winners, Desmond Tutu, the retired Anglican archbishop, and former President F. W. de Klerk, condemned the government for giving in to pressure from China and said they would refuse to participate in the conference if the Tibetan leader were not there. The executive director of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Geir Lundestad, also said he would stay away. “It is disappointing that South Africa, which has received so much solidarity from the world, doesn’t want to give that solidarity to others,” Lundestad said, referring to the decades-long fight against apartheid. South Africa is China's largest trading partner on a continent in which China is heavily and increasingly involved. China’s exports to Africa last year rose 36.3 percent from 2007 to $50.8 billion, while imports of African goods rose 54 percent to $56 billion, according to customs data reported by Xinhua, the Chinese state news agency. “South Africa is a newly emerging country and China is giving it considerable economic resources so it is understandable,” said Samdhong Rinpoche, the prime minister of the Tibetan government-in-exile Monday in Dharmsala, India. “Every country has to protect its economic and political interests.” After the cancellation Roman Catholic Cardinal Wilfrid Napier told the SAPA news agency: “I am concerned that this man of peace is not allowed into our country at this time when we need people of peace to inspire us. I’m very concerned that our rights to association, freedom of religion, and freedom of expression have been sold out to economic and political expedience once again.” Sources: Articles by Celia W. Dugger for the New York Times, Donna Bryson for the Associated Press, and Agence Presse France

Peace south africa world cup tibet f w de klerk desmond tutu nobel prize geir lundestad samdhong rinpoche wilfrid napier china dalai lama
A dream deferred no more

27 Dec 2009 - Preaching the News for Sunday

During the Sunday, December 27 Mass celebrating the Holy Family, the reading from the First Letter of John proclaims, "Beloved, we are God's children now; what we shall be has not yet been revealed." In his famous "I Have a Dream" speech in 1963, Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke of the day when "all of God's children . . . will be able to join hands . . . ." The groundbreaking inauguration of Barack Obama as the nation's first African American president last January brought the nation a giant step closer to fulfilling King's dream and was near the top of most lists of the year's major events. Though Obama would soon confront the sobering realities of governing as he struggled to get the economy back on track and win support for his ambitious legislative priorities, Inauguration Day was a moving moment for many in the U.S. and worldwide who watched with great interest as the nation's first black president took the oath of office. This issue compiled using source material from articles by, among others, David Crary, Alan Zibel, and Jeannine Aversa for the Associated Press; John Talty for Slate.com; Sam Hodges for the DallasNews.com Religion Blog;Chaz Muth for Catholic News Service; Alex Altman for TIME; and articles by the Religion Newswriters Associationand Agence France Presse

barack obama martin luther king jr african americans
Shrinking economy leads to growing hunger

07 Feb 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The gospel this Sunday describes the abundance of fish caught by the disciples, whose “nets were tearing” from the weight. Many a hungry American would gladly accept a meal made from that catch, according to a report released Tuesday. The numbers receiving emergency food from the largest hunger-relief charity and its partners rose 46 percent from 2005 to 2009. Feeding America, which conducted the survey, said 37 million people, including 14 million children, need emergency food aid--more than 10 percent of the U.S. population. That compares to 25.3 million people in 2005, when the group released its last quadrennial study. It based the new figure on 61,000 interviews and 37,000 surveys of local charitable agencies. “The findings of this study are nothing short of tragic,” said Feeding America chief executive Vicki Escarra. “We have to find a way to feed people in the land of plenty.” The United States is the world’s top corn and soybeans exporter as well as a major beef exporter. Feeding America reported last September that unemployment has played a major role in the rising demand for emergency food. “This is a real challenge for America,” said Dennis Smith, director of the Northern Illinois Food Bank. “Hunger has become almost epidemic in this country.” The study also found that black and Hispanic Americans have been disproportionately affected by hunger. Although each group makes up around 15 percent of the U.S. population, the report found that black Americans account for 34 percent of people seeking food and Hispanics 21 percent. President Barack Obama has set a target of ending child hunger by 2015. Last year he backed a $1 billion annual increase in school lunch and other child nutrition programs. Source: An article by Nick Carey for Reuters

Hunger feeding america vicki escarra hispanic americans child hunger dennis smith northern illinois food bank african americans united states recession food aid
Time for South Africa to shine

13 Jun 2010 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The themes of forgiveness, atonement, and justification run through this Sunday’s readings. The social sin of apartheid was abolished in South Africa in 1990 following worldwide condemnation. This week the spotlight turns to that country as it stages the 2010 World Cup, the biggest sports event in the world and the first ever Cup held on African soil. The tournament promises to be a chance for the once-fractured nation to reshape images and dispel stereotypes. “Ke Nako!” is the tournament motto: “It’s Time!” South African organizers are determined to prove they can indeed pull off a global event, despite what skeptics think. They have promised to curtail crime, provide adequate transportation and lodging, and fill stadiums in nine cities. South Africa spent $3.7 billion on improvements to its infrastructure, from upgrading airports to lighting highways to building five new stadiums and improving five others. More than 40,000 police officers and unmanned surveillance planes have been mobilized to patrol one of the most crime-ridden countries in the world. After a sluggish start, ticket sales are booming. As of last week 95 percent of the 2.8 million available tickets had been sold--similar to what Germany sold four years earlier. More than 130,000 tickets were sold in the United States, second only to the host nation. South Africa hosted the 1995 Rugby World Cup, a politically significant event that inspired the recent movie Invictus. The nation’s rugby team had been embraced mostly by the white resistance, but newly the elected president Nelson Mandela got behind the team and presented the trophy wearing its jersey. That was a big moment. This World Cup can have far greater impact, as it will be viewed all over the globe. “This is a very important step in Nelson Mandela’s long walk to freedom,” said Dr. Richard Grant, a University of Miami geography professor who is in South Africa this summer studying the country’s urban reconstruction. “It is particularly significant for the black community, which has always embraced soccer. The fact that all the country, even the elite white, is so excited about the World Cup is a symbol of unification.” Source: An article by Michelle Kaufman for MiamiHerald.com

world cup south africa nelson mandela
Water, water not everywhere

27 Mar 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The need for water both liquid and spiritual figures in the first reading and the gospel this Sunday. With half of the world's population now living in cities and a full two thirds expected to do so by 2030, the provision of water in urban areas has become a critical issue. Such was the message to delegates gathered at a three-day event held in Cape Town to mark World Water Day (March 22). Over 1,000 representatives from more than 30 organizations were told the world needs to act immediately to tackle an urban crisis of growing city slums lacking in water and sanitation. According to the U.N., 27 percent of the world's city-dwellers in the developing world live without piped water at home, while proper sanitation presents an even greater challenge. The situation is especially acute in Africa, which has the world's highest rate of urbanization and where city populations are expected to double in the next 20 years. Water services, however, have been declining since 1990. Sixty percent of African city residents live in slums, and 55 million of those are without safe drinking water. About 175 million lacked reasonable sanitation in 2008. A U.N. Millennium Development Goals report says that the world could see more than 800 million people without clean drinking water and 1.8 billion people deprived of basic sanitation by 2015. Cost and health factors also play a role. Millions of people reportedly have died of water-borne diseases in the past decade, and in the slums of Jakarta, Manila, and Nairobi people who are poor pay 5 to 10 times more for water than those living in higher-income areas like in London or New York. Sources: Articles by United Press International and Vijeta Rattani and Trupti Sahu for atlantic-community.org

Poor Water water supply drinking water developing countries cities urbanization africa sanitation
Can “super drug” do double-duty?

08 May 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

In the first reading this Sunday from the Acts of the Apostles, Saint Peter reminds the people that Jesus was commended to them by God “with mighty deeds, wonders, and signs.” In recent decades medical science has accomplished a few mighty deeds and wonders of its own. Now studies suggest a new “super drug” could end up fighting both HIV and malaria, which together kill nearly 3 million people annually. HIV “protease inhibitors” are drugs designed to prevent HIV from constructing its proteins correctly and have been used widely in HIV treatment the past decade. “They have completely changed the face of HIV treatment in recent years. People who take these drugs don't die of AIDS anymore," said Photini Sinnis, head of the Medical Parasitology Laboratory at the New York University Langone Medical Center. Over the past few years, however, research groups, including Sinnis', have noticed a surprising positive side effect of the HIV-specific protease inhibitors: "We're finding that the drugs have anti-malaria properties," Sinnis said. Researchers believe that HIV protease inhibitors shut down protease present in the malaria parasite just as they do to protease in HIV. No human trials have been conducted yet, but initial positive results in mice have HIV researchers advocating the exclusive use of protease inhibitors for HIV treatment in Africa. "In Africa, where HIV and malaria overlap a lot, the HIV drugs we use should be the protease inhibitors," Sinnis said. "Then they would have the added benefit of inhibiting malaria infection." At the moment, protease inhibitors are more toxic than many of the drugs used to combat malaria by itself and so wouldn't be given to a person only to treat malaria. But if protease inhibitors can be adjusted to be less toxic, they could be viable as stand-alone malaria medicine. And if that happens it will be a welcome weapon against the disease. Because malaria rapidly evolves immunity to anti-malaria drugs, new ones are desperately needed. Source: An article by Natalie Wolchover for LiveScience

hiv africa malaria protease inhibitors drugs photini sinnis
Starvation looms in drought-stricken Africa

31 Jul 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

“The hand of the Lord feeds us,” the psalmist proclaims this Sunday. The United Nations is urging “massive” action to feed millions in the drought-stricken Horn of Africa region. An estimated 3.7 million people in Somalia--about a third of the population--are on the brink of starvation. Millions more in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Uganda have been struck by the worst drought in the region in 60 years. The U.N.’s World Food Program (WFP) began an airlift of food aid on Tuesday into the Somali capital, Mogadishu, as well as into eastern Ethiopia and northern Kenya on the border with Somalia. Josette Sheeran, executive director of WFP, said that a deadly combination of natural disaster and regional conflict had created this emergency, resulting in soaring levels of malnutrition. This Sunday’s gospel relates how with limited food supplies Jesus miraculously fed the multitudes. It will take a worldwide effort of near miraculous proportions to avert a famine that would be “the scandal of this century,” warned French Agriculture Minister Bruno Le Maire Monday. Apart from massive food deliveries, he called for action to bring down high food prices on international markets. Counterterrorist concerns have also complicated and slowed the response. In recent years the United States has cut humanitarian aid to Somalia on the grounds that that al-Shabaab, the militant Islamist group that controls much of the south, will divert assistance to its own profit. Al-Shabaab denies that Somalia is suffering from a famine and continues to prohibit UNICEF and WFP from operating in the country. Despite earlier promises of access, it now declares that only the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies may remain. As a result, said Somali Foreign Minister Mohamed Ibrahim, "More than 3.5 million Somalis, the vast majority of them in the insurgent-held areas, may starve to death." Sources: Articles by Sabina Castelfranco for Voice of America Newsand Stewart M. Patrick for the Council on Foreign Relations

drought josette sheeran world food program food aid bruno le maire somalia horn of africa starvation
Life and death issues on the pope’s Africa agenda

20 Nov 2011 - Preaching the News for Sunday

“The last enemy to be destroyed is death,” says Saint Paul in this Sunday’s reading from 2 Corinthians. Pope Benedict XVI heads to Africa this week, the continent hardest hit by HIV and AIDS. In light of the rising death toll, the pope can expect to face questions over the Catholic Church’s opposition to condoms. His arrival in the West African nation of Benin Friday marks the pontiff's second visit to Africa. In his 2009 trip to Cameroon and Angola, his suggestion that condom distribution might be aggravating the AIDS problem created an outcry. The pope seemed to nuance that stance last year, saying in a book that condom use could be acceptable "in certain cases," notably to reduce the risk of HIV infection. During his three-day visit to Benin the pope is likely to address another life and death issue: the continued prevalence of violent conflict across the continent. During Mass at a stadium in the city of Cotonou on Sunday, Benedict will present Catholic bishops from across Africa with an authoritative papal document about the church's efforts to promote "reconciliation, justice, and peace." The document is based on a three-week synod of African bishops held at the Vatican in October, 2009. That meeting ended with a strong statement that blamed Africa’s violent conflicts on "greed for power and wealth at the expense of the people and nation" and called on political leaders to "clean the continent of corruption." Sources: Articles by Francis X. Rocca for Religion News Service and Susan Njanji for Agence France Presse

benedict xvi africa
South Africa struggles with alcohol’s aftereffects

26 Feb 2012 - Preaching the News for Sunday

“Teach me your paths, guide me in your truth,” the psalmist prays to the Lord this Sunday. Long-standing cultural traditions and a lack of education on the dangers of heavy drinking have led to a crisis of alcohol-related problems in South Africa, including high levels of violent crime, road deaths, and fetal alcohol syndrome. Ironically, the country is full of teetotalers. According to the World Health Organization, nearly two thirds of South Africans have never taken a sip, and only 27 percent say they have had a drink in the past year. But many of those who do drink, drink a lot. Researchers said the problem is especially severe in the rural Northern Cape provinces, in part due to historical reasons. When French Huguenots arrived in South Africa and started vineyards, the laborers received part of their wages in alcohol--a scheme known as the "dop system." Dop payments were banned in the 1920s but in practice the system carried on in many rural zones until apartheid ended in 1994. In some areas the custom has "now spread to social drinking on a very large scale," said Denis Viljoen, who studies rural communities. Authorities are now pondering a range of laws to tone down heavy alcohol consumption. The legal drinking age may soon be raised from 18 to 21, pregnant women may be refused liquor sales, and alcohol ads banned. Source: An article by Claire Price for Agence France Presse

south africa alcohol drinking dop
Kindling love for reading among African schoolchildren

24 Jun 2012 - Preaching the News for Sunday

The Lord’s servant will be made “a light of the nations,” this Sunday’s first reading from the Book of Isaiah promises. World development organizations know that good reading habits light the way to a better future for a nation’s schoolchildren. To that end, the San Francisco-based nonprofit organization Worldreader has launched a “one Kindle per child” experiment in Uganda and two other African countries. The Kindle project in developing countries faces considerable challenges, including the cost of e-readers and making sure that kids actually learn better on the devices than with old-fashioned books. Africa is littered with well-intentioned technology programs that fail, say observers, because devices don’t get used, fall into the wrong hands, or just can’t find enough power to run. Early results at Worldreader are promising, said David Risher, cofounder of Worldreader and a former Amazon executive. E-readers have some advantages over laptops in far-flung places. Kindles are lightweight and rugged and can last weeks on a single charge. With built-in internet connections, they are basically big mobile phones—a technology that has proved successful throughout Africa. Compared with traditional books, e-readers make it easy to distribute works from African authors that can be hard to get in print. School libraries in many developing countries contain mostly books donated from the U.S. or other developed nations. “The first books we got were mainly about the U.S., with kids playing in ice—which our pupils would not understand,” said Ester Nabwire, head teacher at one Ugandan school testing Kindles. “With the Kindles, there are African authors, African names which are exciting the kids.” Still, Kindles are relatively expensive—some schools lock them up at night—and getting an e-book into the hands of one of Worldreader’s kids costs about $5 per title. By comparison, Room to Read, a 12-year-old nonprofit organization that builds libraries for elementary schools, says it can print and deliver one of its own books to a school for about $1 per book in Africa. In Asia, where Room to Read has the most programs, only 30 percent of the cost of establishing a library involves printing and distributing books, while the rest goes toward furniture, training teachers, and monitoring to make sure the books are getting used. Source: An article by Geoffrey A. Fowler and Nicholas Bariyo for the Wall Street Journal

kindle uganda schoolchildren africa reading room to read worldreader e-readers

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