In our contemporary world, noise pollution has reached dangerous levels. The World Health Organization has argued that “excessive noise” is a serious threat to human health. Studies have shown that excessive exposure to noise not only causes hearing loss but also leads to heart disease, poor sleep and hypertension. In some parts of the world, Read more
The term “LGBT” was used for the first time in a Vatican document. The working document for the 2018 Synod on the Youth noted, “Some LGBT youth…wish to benefit from greater closeness and experience greater care by the Church.” Sister Monica Astorga, an Argentinian Discalced Carmelite Nun, has been working with transgender women since 2005. Read more
The 5-year experiment that is Colorado’s pioneering legalization of recreational marijuana now has enough data for more than conjecture to debate its success. The state’s first dispensaries began legal recreational sales on January 1, 2014. In 2014, combined recreational and medical sales totaled $683.5 million, and are expected to top $1.5 billion in 2018. Over Read more
When the Netflix series ‘13 Reasons Why’, which features teen suicide, first aired in 2017, mental health professionals expressed concerns that the show could have a contagion effect, triggering an increase in suicides among teens inspired by the show. A new study suggests these fears were not unfounded. According to a study published in the Read more
Sixteen-year-old Suneeta and her 12-year-old sister were walking home in March when they were kidnapped. The men who took them forced the girls to convert to Islam. “We were walking back to our house after working on the farm when men in a car came out of nowhere and dragged us in with them,” said Read more
An ancient faith is disappearing from the lands in which it first took root; the Middle East. At stake is not just a religious community, but the fate of pluralism in the region. The call came in 2014, shortly after Easter. Four years earlier, Catrin Almako’s family had applied for special visas to the United Read more
Well, I guess we have had just about everything here in Christchurch since September 4, 2010. Two years of death-defying earthquakes then the grief-stricken, the demolition, the dying, the rebuilding aftermath. Followed by March 15, 2019, with 51 people dying while at prayer in the mosques, and while we are prayerfully and painfully recovering ourselves, Read more
When Colleen Fay of Mount Rainier, Maryland, came out as transgender 12 years ago to her parish music director, she was fired from her position on the choir. She later described feeling like she was in “doctrinal limbo” because there is no universal teaching on gender from the church. “I’m hurt by the Catholic Church Read more
Pope Francis is a pastor of the borders. On Feb. 17, 2016, during his visit to Mexico, Francis prayed and laid flowers at a memorial for the thousands of migrants who have died trying to reach the United States. Its towering cross, built on a concrete platform overlooking the militarized international bridge between Ciudad Juárez Read more
For committed Catholic Kate Englebrecht, most days at her home in Mudgee in the central west of New South Wales start with a simple routine — quiet reflection and prayer. It is in stark contrast to the recent turbulent times for the church, including a royal commission which exposed widespread sexual abuse, and the conviction Read more