From surveys to reports, the statistics on young people's mental health seem to depict a generation in distress—sad, anxious and discouraged.
Professor Ludovic Gicquel, head of the child and adolescent psychiatry department at Laborit Hospital in Poitiers, western France, sees this daily.
"We're dealing with serious adolescents who have lost their carefree spirit."

What's causing this?

Some psychiatrists blamed the harmful effects of screens and social media, while others pointed to the harshness of the times—wars, climate change, and distressing news stories.

All agree that the situation worsened starting in 2020, around the time of COVID-19, although the pandemic alone doesn't explain the scale of the problem.

"The mistake we made was blaming COVID too much. The health crisis is behind us, but the numbers haven't gone down," said Gicquel. He believes that the anxiety of this generation reflects that of society as a whole.

"We, as adults and health professionals, are also struggling. How could the youngest not be affected?"

A growing interest in psychology

"It's not that young people are more worried than before—everyone is," added Doctor Xavier Pommereau, a psychiatrist for adolescents and young adults in Talence, Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwest France.

"But young people are still developing. They're more sensitive and vulnerable."

Is it fair to talk about a psychiatric epidemic? Perhaps not.

"Some key indicators can't be ignored, especially the increase in suicide attempts," said David Gourion, a psychiatrist in Paris and author.

"But just as some parents tend to downplay severe psychological distress in their children, others dramatize what may just be a passing phase.

Ask a teen how they are, and they often say they're doing badly. Adolescence is inherently a time when one can feel tortured and may even express it."

Child psychiatrist Dr. Stéphane Clerget also noted an increase in consultations. "Personally, I don't see this as an aggravation of distress but as a growing interest in psychology and psychiatry.

Today's young people know there's someone to listen to them, and they seek that help more often," the doctor said.

The "obvious" challenges in psychiatry

Parents often feel helpless in aiding their children, whether it's minor or major distress. Many also feel responsible for their child's struggles.

"Responsible, yes, but not guilty," clarified Pommereau, emphasising the importance of the family environment.

"As an adult, the first reflex should be to consider any potential upheaval. Separations are one such event and can sometimes lead to acting out, with the adolescent hoping their parents will reconcile at their bedside.

"Proactively seeing a psychologist or psychiatrist, even for just one or two sessions, can have a protective effect."

The challenge is knowing where to turn when most child and adolescent mental health centers are overwhelmed.

"The difficulties in the sector are clear, but France has one of the highest densities of psychiatrists and child psychiatrists in Europe," said Gourion.

He believes the real issue lies in prevention, which should happen before Further reading: Pandemic takes toll on mental health in Bangladesh

"When we talk about young people's mental health, we often forget about prevention, yet you don't need to be a psychologist to do that. Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, teachers—these are the people who are in the best position to help," Gourion said.

Additionally, Doctor Clerget pointed out, "Nowadays, it's mostly parents whom children confide in, partly due to new parenting styles. They know every little worry their children have and get alarmed."

This trend can lead to overprotection.

"We must accept that zero risk doesn't exist, and it doesn't align with the level of risk adolescents need," said Gicquel.

"For this reason, I'm not sure it's advisable to buy a smartphone for a sixth-grader just to track their location." This practice is increasingly common and problematic, as it "invites the digital wolf into the fold," Gicquel continued.

"We shouldn't demonize screens, but just as there are endocrine disruptors, there are developmental disruptors that we should try to protect young people from, and smartphones are part of that."

As usual, it's all about balance.

"What's problematic is a teenager spending six hours on a couch with a tablet. This digital overload means we overstimulate the brain while under-stimulating the body, but both need to develop in tandem," said Gicquel.

"We need to dare to set limits," said Clerget. "In the 1960s, parents worried that their kids spent too much time outside; today, they don't go out enough. But they need to get out, be in nature, and talk with friends," he said, highlighting the harmful effects of a sedentary lifestyle.

Rehabilitating conversation and connection

In short, seeking professional help isn't always the first step, and neither are medications.

Clerget expressed concern about the significant increase in prescriptions for psychotropic drugs—antidepressants, anxiolytics, and others. "It's madness," said the doctor, who believes "this reflects an inability to address psychological problems through conversation, interaction, and changes in the patient's environment."

Rehabilitating conversation and connection is the primary recommendation from these psychiatrists, who remain "resolutely optimistic." Paradoxically, social media platforms like TikTok can sometimes be their greatest allies.

"There's a partial but real movement to destigmatize mental health issues on these platforms," observed Gicquel.

"Celebrities have shown young people that you can be a huge star and still have psychological vulnerabilities. They save more lives in three minutes than we do in a year."

• First published in La Croix

Most American churches navigated the patchwork of COVID-19 restrictions on public gatherings by periodically closing their doors and broadcasting services online instead.

But for almost half of U.S. Orthodox Christians, whose liturgy involves processions, incense, kissing icons and crosses and receiving Communion from a shared spoon and chalice, liturgical services continued for anyone wanting to attend in person, according to a new study of how the denomination weathered the pandemic.

The new study finds that Orthodox churches overall were reluctant to embrace virtual worship compared to all religious congregations.

By spring 2023, 75 percent of all U.S. congregations provided remote options compared to only 53 percent of Orthodox churches.

Fewer online options likely contributed to the significant drop in Orthodox church participation in the middle of the pandemic in 2021.

But compared to other U.S. congregations that are on average eight percent below pre-COVID-19 attendance, Orthodox churches had recovered in-person attendance on average by spring 2023.

At the same time, Orthodox churches overall have seen a drop in volunteer participation, from 40 percent in 2020 to 25 percent in 2023, compared to 40 percent and 35 percent in all U.S. congregations.

Orthodox Churches and the pandemic

The Orthodox tendency to "ignore" the pandemic has produced a "mixed bag," said research released Thursday (Aug. 22) by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research and Alexei Krindatch, national coordinator of the U.S. Census of Orthodox Christian Churches.

Orthodox churches in the U.S. are more likely than other religious congregations to have gained members during the COVID-19 pandemic, even while struggling with declines in participation and volunteering.

Using survey data from 2020 through 2023, the study found 44 percent of Orthodox churches remained open during the pandemic. compared to just 12 percent of all U.S. congregations.

Only 31 percent of Orthodox priests publicly encouraged parishioners to get vaccinated compared to 62 percent of all clergy.

"They were trying to avoid conflicts," said Krindatch, the study's lead researcher, who has published earlier reports on how the pandemic impacted Orthodox Christians.

Many Orthodox Churches

There is no single Orthodox Church in the U.S.

Instead, several jurisdictions — the largest are the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, the Orthodox Church in America and the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese — are administered independently of one another and exist side by side, sharing the same teachings and in full communion with one another.

Many Orthodox parishes combine several immigrant groups and their descendants, from Russians and Ukrainians to Arabs and Greeks, as well as converts from other faiths and denominations.

Bishops provided pandemic guidance to the priests serving them, such as whether to require masking or not, often across a swath of states that clashed on masking and lockdown mandates.

Priests then chose whether and how to follow or adapt that guidance to their specific circumstances, sometimes casting doubt on the bishop's authority.

"I figured people are going to make their own medical decisions (about the vaccine)," said one Orthodox priest who participated in the survey, the Rev. Lawrence Margitich of St. Seraphim of Sarov Cathedral in Santa Rosa, California, a parish of the Orthodox Church of America.

"I'm the priest. What do I know about that stuff?"

Margitich said his church has grown from about 80 people on a Sunday morning in the pre-pandemic months of 2020 to about 180 people today.

To reduce the spread of the coronavirus, in 2020, the church moved services to its outdoor courtyard with an amplified sound system. Then in August 2020, smoke from a major wildfire pushed them back inside.

During that double crisis, in which hundreds of local homes burned to the ground, people began showing up to St. Seraphim.

"They started thinking more about eternal realities, I guess, and their life in this world," said Margitich.

According to several Orthodox clergy who have spoken to RNS, the pandemic lockdowns provided more time at home to browse the Internet and self-reflect.

This led many spiritual seekers to come across Orthodoxy for the first time across a proliferation of English-language resources online and then visit a local church.

Growing numbers

This year, St. Seraphim of Sarov Cathedral has experienced more baptisms than ever before in Margitich's 27-year career, he said, with 20 people catechized in the spring and 20 more in the process of conversion.

An earlier report by Krindatch concluded that while most Orthodox churches in the U.S. shrank an average of 15 percent in regular attendees from 2020 to 2022, one in five parishes instead grew their membership and in-person attendance by 20 percent.

The growing parishes tend to be those that not only remained open for in-person worship during the pandemic, but also didn't offer online worship, have a higher percentage of converts and have greater unity of opinions, among other factors.

By spring 2023, 15 percent of the members of a median Orthodox parish were newcomers who had joined since the start of the pandemic in 2020, compared to only 10 percent among other U.S. religious congregations, the latest study showed.

"It is a statistically significant difference," Krindatch said. "But there are bigger differences between Orthodox jurisdictions. People were definitely looking for any place they could join."

The Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, commonly called ROCOR and considered the most conservative jurisdiction, picked up significantly more members than the Orthodox Church of America.

It in turn picked up more than the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese, according to Krindatch's data.

The Rev. Luke Veronis of Sts. Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church in Webster, Massachusetts, near the Connecticut border, called the pandemic a "positive" experience for his parish.

That is despite describing his congregation as "extremely divided" politically, with both progressives and Donald Trump loyalists, who he refers to as "a family."

The COVID-19 restrictions pushed the church to livestream services and meet on Zoom, alternatives they have continued to offer for liturgies and Bible studies alongside the in-person gatherings.

Veronis' church also experienced atypical growth, from 150 regular monthly attendees in 2019 to about 220 today, he said. Most joined during the pandemic and are young adults under the age of 35.

Many of the Greek Orthodox churches in New England are either declining or struggling to remain open, while only a handful are growing.

"The key to our success is we've created a very welcoming church," said Veronis, who also teaches a class about cultivating "missions-minded" parishes at Hellenic College and Holy Cross Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, Massachusetts.

"I always preach to my people, our church welcomes everybody … but then, of course, the challenge for everybody is once you come into the church, we all are on a journey of change and transformation. So don't come with your agendas."

He calls the surge in membership some churches are experiencing "both a blessing and a curse."

"One of the real challenges we in the Orthodox Church are going to have is we have a lot of people coming into our church now, especially young men," he said.

While expressing gratitude for the men who have found his parish, he added, "I would be afraid if some of these men went to some other Orthodox churches, where the priests themselves have given in to these ideological wars and these priests would just feed into what these men are already looking for, the right-wing, extreme craziness."

National study

The study is part of a national mixed-methods project titled Exploring the Pandemic Impact on Congregations and funded by the Lily Endowment that is investigating changes to congregational life resulting from COVID-19.

Faith Communities Today provided 2020 survey data of over 15,000 congregations on the pre-pandemic congregational landscape.

The next survey in November 2024 will follow up on many of the same themes to examine how the pandemic's impacts continue to change how congregations operate and collect perspectives from not just clergy but also lay persons.

• First published by RNS
• Meagan Saliashvili is an author at Religion News Service.

The retiring politician, a Catholic, made the claim during a valedictory speech on Tuesday, reflecting on the government's response to the pandemic.

He suggested that the enforcement of the vaccine mandates impinged on individual freedoms.

"If the impact of vaccines on transmission was limited at best, as is now mostly accepted, the law should have left more room for respect of freedom" Mr Perrottet said during an interview with ABC Radio.

Perrottet, who served as NSW Premier from October 2021 to March 2023, argued that mandatory vaccination policies were misguided.

"Vaccines saved lives, but ultimately, mandates were wrong. People's personal choices shouldn't have cost them their jobs."

Trust people to make their own decisions

He regretted enforcing these mandates and highlighted the importance of trusting people. "We need to trust people to make their own decisions" he stated.

Mr Perrottet became premier in late 2021, replacing Gladys Berejiklian upon her resignation amid a corruption probe.

After taking over the top job, Mr Perrottet oversaw the state's emergence from pandemic restrictions.

"When I became premier, we removed [vaccine mandates] or the ones we actually could, but this should have happened faster" he told the legislative assembly on Tuesday.

"If a pandemic comes again, we need to get a better balance encouraging people to take action whilst at the same time protecting people's fundamental liberty."

Cemetery of reform

Mr Perrottet also used his speech to call for changes to Australia's federation system, saying Canberra was becoming a "cemetery of reform".

"If we established Australia today, no-one in their right mind would set up the federation the way it is" he said.

"We currently have federal and state health systems that don't even work alongside each other. Rather, they actively work against each other.

"If we can't reform the federal health system after a one in 100-year pandemic, we never will."

Sources

ABC News

CathNews New Zealand

The World Health Organization refers to COVID-19 as a continuing pandemic.

As Scientific American put it recently, it "has been the elephant in every room — sometimes confronted and sometimes ignored but always present".

It wasn't meant to be like this.

The main wave of the 1918 influenza pandemic swept through New Zealand in eight weeks, killing 9,000 people - almost one percent of the population. Then it was largely gone, returning as a new seasonal flu virus.

In doing so, it defined how pandemics were expected to behave.

This model was written into pandemic plans and collective thinking across the globe.

But COVID is still circulating four years after New Zealand reported its first case, and more than two years after the Omicron variant arrived and infection became widespread.

Constantly present, it is also occurring in waves.

Unexpectedly, the current fifth wave was larger than the fourth, suggesting we can't rely on the comforting assumption that COVID will get less severe over time.

Unpredictable evolutionary shifts

These waves are driven by the interaction of the organism (SARS CoV-2 virus), the host (human characteristics such as immunity and behaviour), and environmental factors (such as indoor ventilation).

Continuing viral evolution is a major contributor to the changing dynamic.

The virus has demonstrated an ability for large, unpredictable evolutionary shifts that dramatically alter its genome and spike protein.

The result is an enhanced ability to evade prior immunity and infect more people.

This jump was seen with the highly mutated BA.2.86 subvariant in mid-2023.

Its offspring, JN.1, has acquired additional changes and is causing such a wave of new infections it could potentially be the next variant of concern, with its own Greek letter.

It is now driving epidemic increases across the globe, including in New Zealand.

This dominance by a single subvariant takes us back to the first year of Omicron in 2022.

Under-counting the pandemic impact

The pandemic continues to have a large, visible health impact.

It is a leading cause of serious illness and death, mainly in older populations and those with existing long-term health conditions.

In 2023, it caused more than 12,000 hospitalisations and 1,000 deaths in New Zealand.

But COVID-19 also has an important and largely unmeasured burden of disease as the cause of long COVID, which may become its biggest health impact.

A growing number of studies are describing an estimated incidence of long COVID of five percent to 15 percent of all infections.

For example, a recent large study of almost 200,000 Scottish adults reported that, after adjustment for factors that might confuse the results, long COVID prevalence following an infection was 6.6 percent at six months, 6.5 percent at 12 months, and 10.4 percent at 18 months.

These findings illustrate an important feature of long COVID: recovery can take two years or more, with symptoms that fluctuate over time.

An integrated respiratory disease strategy

New Zealand now needs a strong, integrated response to COVID-19 and other respiratory infections.

The major pandemic interventions have not changed: vaccination, public health and social measures to prevent infection, and antivirals for more vulnerable groups.

The evidence has firmed up that long COVID risk is reduced by vaccination, but research is less certain for antivirals.

But growing pandemic complacency from political leaders and the public has changed things.

Some of this apparent indifference can be put down to understandable fatigue with response measures. But it remains dangerous in the face of a continuing pandemic.

One way to keep a focus on prevention and control would be to include these measures in an integrated respiratory infectious disease strategy.

This would combine COVID-19 control measures with those used to protect against influenza, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), and other respiratory infections.

Measles could be added to the list, given the rising threat to New Zealand from a global resurgence of the disease.

This integrated strategy would include vaccination, promoting testing and self-isolation when sick, and measures to reduce transmission in critical indoor environments such as healthcare, public transport and education settings.

Such a programme would need to be supported with community engagement, education, surveillance and research.

Structural inequalities mean Maori, Pacific peoples, and those living in relative deprivation, are less vaccinated, less protected from infection, less tested and less likely to have antivirals.

Consequently, they are more likely to be hospitalised and die from COVID-19. These inequities are currently not being systematically tracked and acted on.

Ignoring it won't make it go away

As we enter the fifth pandemic year, we need a change in thinking about COVID-19.

This infection has pathological features in common with the other severe coronaviruses (SARS and MERS).

It is wishful thinking to imagine it will suddenly transform into a common cold coronavirus. As a recent review article concluded:

"Transition from a pandemic to future endemic existence of SARS-CoV-2 is likely to be long and erratic […] endemic SARS-CoV-2 is by far not a synonym for safe infections, mild COVID-19 or a low population mortality and morbidity burden."

In the face of this continuing pandemic threat, we need a response that is evidence-informed rather than evidence-ignored.

• First published in The Conversation
• Michael Baker is a Professor of Public Health, University of Otago;
• Amanda Kvalsvig is an Associate Professor, Department of Public Health, University of Otago;
• Matire Harwood is an Associate Professor, Department of General Practice and Primary Care, University of Auckland, Waipapa Taumata Rau

After a slowdown of global carbon emissions during the pandemic, fossil fuel levels are bouncing back to higher levels than ever before.

They're forecast to rise 1 percent worldwide - reaching a new record that's likely to soar even further when China lifts its lockdowns. See more

The award-winning author's new book is about the Church in a post-COVID world.

In "The Pandemic and the People of God", internationally renowned theologian and anthropologist and New Zealand-born priest, Gerald Arbuckle SM, weaves together insights from life, anthropology and theology in his analysis of the Church's role in responding to the pandemic.

Arbuckle told CathNews that while writing the book, at times he felt overwhelmed by the devastating human costs of the pandemic, especially among society's most vulnerable peoples.

"I became intensely aware of the traumatising consequences on individuals and families resulting from the massive escalation of local and global poverty and inequalities.

"Vaccines alone will never solve these human problems," he said.

Arbuckle says no single crisis since the Second World War has left so many people in so many nations traumatised, overwhelmed by grief and stunned by the chaotic cultural and economic consequences of the Covid-19.

Globally an untold number of people have died, many without funerals or memorials to honour them.

Arbuckle says that while there is a yearning for the ‘normality' of the pre-covid-19 era. It cannot be.

He begins his new book with a concise summary of the COVID pandemic's diverse social, political and economic impact on people and communities.

He moves on to craft an anthropological model of the global crisis and its consequences for the Church and for ministry and then clarifies the Gospel's pastoral responses that must guide the way forward for societies and the Church.

It is Arbuckle's view that when big spectacular cultural, political and economic events happen, such as the pandemic, the political, social and economic reverberations take years, even generations, to play out, and they rotate in unpredictable directions.

As his book highlights, an experience of such traumatic severity leaves cultural, physical and mental marks which are indelible.

Even in crisis, Arbuckle is of the view that the world, its people, individually and collectively still need to make choices.

He identifies these choices as choosing whether to let the world further drift into global divisions and conflict - or deciding to find ways to co-operate in reestablishing our institutions on moral values of justice and compassion, no matter how difficult it looks.

Arbuckle is steeped in a lifetime experience of lived faith and reflects on the role of the People of God, whom he says can lead by building social relations based on moral values.

"We need, in church and society, to be steered by a narrative, not of individualism, of solidarity, respect for human dignity and participation - all the values inherent in the Good Samaritan parable.

"Together, in solidarity, we can creatively manage the enduring chaos, if we wish," he says.

With theological reflections and prompts at the end of each chapter, the book offers students, clergy and pastoral ministers a way to understand and to implement pastoral responses to help heal the pandemic's effects.

Walter Brueggemann, author, A Gospel of Hope says: "The best book I have read on the pandemic.

"After an unflinching diagnosis, the book is a summons to radical, active, transformative hope among those who have the wits and the courage to ‘refound' viable community.

"It is framed according to Catholic Social Teaching, but has a deep appeal for those of us outside that particular frame of reference.

"In Arbuckle's knowing hands the pandemic becomes a venue for radical restorative hope."

Source

• The Pandemic and the People of God is available from Orbis Books
• Image: Marist Fathers New Zealand

The poll focused on 14 countries with what Pew calls "advanced economies". It was released in late January.

Of the Americans surveyed, 28 percent said the pandemic had strengthened their own religious faith and the same number said it had strengthened the faith of people in their country.

At the same time, however, 68 percent said their own faith had not changed much, while 47 percent said the faith of other Americans had stayed about the same.

The other countries Pew surveyed were: Australia, Canada, Japan and South Korea, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.

The countries closest to the United States in reporting increases in faith were Spain and Italy.

In Spain, 16 percent of respondents said the pandemic had strengthened their faith and 17 percent said it had strengthened the faith of other Spaniards. In Italy, 15 percent said it had strengthened their own faith and 19 percent said it had strengthened the faith of other Italians.

Across all 14 countries surveyed, the median was 10 percent saying the pandemic had strengthened their own faith, while 15 percent said it had strengthened the faith of people in their country.

The only country of those surveyed that registered single digit increases to each question was Japan. Just five percent said it had strengthened their own faith and five percent said it had strengthened the faith of people in their country.

In South Korea, however, 9 percent said the pandemic had weakened people's faith. Compared to the 10 percent who said the pandemic had strengthened their faith, the pandemic resulted in a net positive increase in faith of just one percent.

The only country with as small a net gain as South Korea was Sweden. There, three percent said the virus had strengthened their faith and two percent said it had weakened it.

Family bonds have strengthened during the pandemic, Pew found.

In Spain, 42 percent reported stronger family bonds, while America, Britain Kingdom and Italy registered 41 percent. Yet even in those countries, a higher percentage of respondents said that had not changed much, either.

Regardless of nation, people with lower incomes reported stronger faith than those with higher incomes.

In the United States, 34 percent of respondents with lower incomes said their faith had been strengthened because of COVID as against 22 percent with higher incomes.

Asked whether Americans' responses represented a pause in the nation's continuing slide toward secularization, a Pew spokesperson said: "I wouldn't go that far. One thing is pretty clear, that in the last few years in the United States, there is a secularization trend — more people saying they have no religion, and a fall in the faith of the people who say they are observant."

Source

• Angelus
• Image: UCA News

Instead, Francis will mark the feast day with "an act of private devotion, entrusting the city of Rome, its inhabitants and the many sick people in every part of the world to Our Lady," Holy See press office director Matteo Bruni said.

It will be the first time since 1953 that the pope has not offered the traditional veneration of the statue of the Immaculate Conception on the Dec. 8 feast. Bruni said that Francis would not go to the square in order to avoid people gathering and transmitting the virus.

Read More

Francis applauded governments that have been "acting decisively to protect health and to save lives" by "imposing strict measures to contain the outbreak."

And some right-wingers have responded by slamming the Pope as a "socialist" or a "communist."

The Pope explains, "Most governments acted responsibly, imposing strict measures to contain the outbreak.

Yet some groups protested, refusing to keep their distance, marching against travel restrictions — as if measures that governments must impose for the good of their people constitute some kind of political assault on autonomy or personal freedom!

Looking to the common good is much more than the sum of what is good for individuals. It means having a regard for all citizens and seeking to respond effectively to the needs of the least fortunate."

Read More

Bosses at a council-run crematorium said if more than one person joined in, it counted as "chanting" and was not allowed.

Minister Alison Davies, 53, was left in tears at the ban at the funeral of a 94-year-old woman.

She said: "When I started reciting it, mourners stood up and joined in.

"The family were only mumbling it quietly and were all socially distanced and wearing masks.

"But the chapel superintendent wagged her finger at me and said ‘you can't do that'."

She added: "Banning the Lord's Prayer is ridiculous at a time when people are saying goodbye to a loved-one."

Read More

Focusing his talk on the fourth of his "Healing the World" series, Francis is urging everyone to check statistics to see how many children are dying of hunger because of a poor distribution of wealth and a sick economic system.

We should also check many children do not have the right to school, for the same reason, he said.

"May it be this image, of children in need of hunger and lack of education, which helps us to understand that after this crisis we must come out better" and understand the need for change, he said.

Francis explained the pandemic and its social consequences are causing many people to be in danger of losing hope.

"The pandemic has highlighted and exacerbated social problems, especially inequality. Some may work from home, while for many others this is impossible."

"Some children, despite the difficulties, can continue to receive a school education, while for many others it has stopped abruptly."

"Some powerful nations can issue money to deal with the emergency, while for others this would mean mortgaging the future."

He said these symptoms of inequality are a social disease caused by "a virus that comes from a sick economy" and "the fruit of inequitable economic growth" that has taken place independent of fundamental human values.

"In today's world, a few of the very rich have more than the rest of humanity. [...] It is an injustice that cries out to heaven."

Francis said this economic model will result in irreversible consequences such loss of biodiversity, climate change, rising sea levels and the destruction of tropical forests.

"Social inequality and environmental degradation go hand in hand and have the same root, that of the sin of wanting to possess, of wanting to dominate brothers and sisters, of wanting to possess and dominate nature and God himself. But this is not the design of creation."

The transformation of money and property into ends in themselves, rather than as tools, had led to the emergence of individualistic and calculating people Francis calls "homo œconomicus."

"We forget that, being created in the image and likeness of God, we are social, creative and supportive beings, with an immense capacity to love. We often forget about this," he said.

"When the obsession with owning and dominating excludes millions of people from primary goods; when economic and technological inequality is such as to tear the social fabric; and when addiction to unlimited material progress threatens the common home, then we cannot stand by. No, this is bleak. We cannot stand and watch."

"After the crisis, will we continue with this economic system of social injustice and contempt for the care of the environment, of creation, of the common home?"

He hopes to inspire a healthier and more equitable world.

Source

• The Tablet
• Image: United Way Worldwide

The PCID and WCC on Thursday released a joint document "Serving a Wounded World in Interreligious Solidarity: A Christian Call to Reflection and Action During COVID-19".

The document provides a Christian rationale for interreligious solidarity.

"Because interreligious relationships can be a powerful means of expressing and building solidarity, and of opening ourselves to resources coming to us from beyond our limitations, we invite reflection on how we as Christians can become partners in solidarity with all people of faith and goodwill. In this journey towards solidarity, different communities are inspired and sustained by the hope we find in our respective traditions." Read more

Catholics are for the most part unable to attend Mass in person and receive the Communion host and consecrated wine. And in cases where Mass can be attended by a small congregation that must adhere to health and safety protocols, like social distancing, mask wearing and hand sanitizing, Catholics still might not want to receive Communion.

"Nothing has kept this winery from fulfilling its mission the last century and a half, until now," said Will Ouweleen, who is the vintner at the O-Neh-Da and Eagle Crest vineyards in Conesus, New York, in the state's Finger Lakes region. Hemlock Lake is home to the vineyards, which also produce table wines. Read more

In the letter scheduled to be presented to the executive committee of the bishops' conference, over 150 bishops accuse the federal government of "inaction and omission" in combating the coronavirus pandemic.

They also accuse the federal government of "inability and incapacity" to face the crisis.

"Closing its eyes to the appeals of national and international entities, the federal government demonstrates omission, apathy and rejection by the poorest and most vulnerable of society, namely: indigenous, quilombolas (communities of former Afro Brazilian slaves), riverside communities, the populations of the urban peripheries, and the people who live on the streets, by the thousands, all over Brazil," part of the letter says.

In their "Letter to People of God," the Brazilian bishops compare Brazil's current difficulties to a "perfect storm."

"The cause of this storm is the combination of an unprecedented health crisis, with an overwhelming collapse of the economy and the tension that befell the foundations of the republic, caused in large measure by the president of the republic and other sectors of society, resulting in a profound political and governance crisis," the letter says.

"The political choices that have brought us here and the narrative (that) it proposes complacency in the face of the federal government's excesses do not justify inaction and omission in combating the ills that have befallen the Brazilian people."

"Analysing the political scenario, objectively, we clearly perceive the federal government's inability to face these crises."

The letter's signatories also say the contempt shown by President Jair Bolsonaro's government for education, culture, health and diplomacy is "appalling."

They say the draft will be presented to the executive committee of the bishops' conference tomorrow.

Last Thursday over 1,500 priests released a letter supporting the bishops' letter.

They said government officials have a duty to act in favor of the entire population, especially of the most vulnerable.

"This has not been the project of the current government," the priests say.

They consider the bishops' letter "a prophetic document of a significant portion of the bishops of the Catholic Church in Brazil."

"We sympathize with all the families that lost someone to this disease ... [With almost] 100,000 deaths in this pandemic, it is unacceptable that there is no minister of health in this government, who can lead the policies to combat the new coronavirus," the priests say.

The Brazilian bishops' conference says the bishops' letter does not reflect the position of the conference, which has more than 450 bishops.

The 150 signatories include Cardinal Claudio Hummes, retired archbishop of Sao Paulo and former head of the Congregation for Clergy; retired Bishop Erwin Krautler of Xingu; Archbishop Leonardo Steiner of Manaus; and Bishop Mario da Silva of Roraima, current conference vice president.

Source

• The Tablet
• Image: BBC.com

The pope, speaking after the traditional Sunday blessing, said that "without work, families and society cannot go forward. Let us pray for this, because this will be a problem in the post-pandemic period, the poverty and the lack of jobs."

"It requires lots of solidarity and lots of creativity to resolve this problem." Read more

New Zealand is held up as an excellent example of virtuous pandemic policymaking even considering its advantages in having wealth, low density and no land borders say Mary Elizabeth Collins and Sarah B Garlington.

They propose three core virtues to guide policymakers in easing out of coronavirus crisis mode in ways that achieve a better new normal: compassion, solidarity and justice.

And it isn't enough to apply just one virtue in a crisis of this magnitude. All three should be deployed in combination.

The writers say New Zealand's virtuous pandemic policymaking included not only aggressive public health measures but also a well-articulated message of being united in the COVID-19 fight and recurring government payments, so workers did not have to risk their health for their job."

They note that to achieve acts of solidarity, the leaders are most praised in their countries and abroad- from U.S. National Institutes of Health director Dr Anthony Fauci to New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern - have relied primarily on moral persuasion, not threats of punishment.

"By delivering clear information, giving simple and repeated behavioural guidance, and setting a good example, they've helped convince millions to take personal responsibility for protecting their community."

Collins and Garlington's ethics research examines the potential for using virtues as a guide for a more moral coronavirus response.

"Virtues are applied morals - actions that promote individual and collective well-being," they say.

"While often embedded in religion, virtues are ultimately a secular concept.

Because of their broad, longstanding relevance to human societies, these values tend to be held across cultures."

Using virtues to guide social policies is an old idea. It dates back at least to the Greek thinker Aristotle.

Source

• theconversation.com
• Image: pmcsa.ac.nz

"We didn't even know where to begin," said Sister Stan Therese Mario Mumuni, founder and superior general of the Marian Sisters of Eucharistic Love, explaining her experience in northern Ghana.

Mumuni was among the panellists at an online symposium sponsored by the U.S. and U.K. embassies to the Holy See that highlighted the work of female religious during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The nun's life work has been to protect and care for children born with special needs in Ghana, where they are often murdered because of their disabilities. "Their cry has reached my ears," Mumuni said. "I cannot stand it again."

The pandemic caught Mumuni and her community completely unprepared, she said. They began hearing on the news that authorities were encouraging people not to leave their homes. Soon after, she received calls from the special-needs school to go and pick up the children.

She was left trying to protect and educate all the children at home but found it difficult to enforce the necessary safety measures to contain the virus. The price of the food at the market skyrocketed to three times the usual price, she said, and they couldn't afford liquid soap.

"With the pandemic, we had to struggle with the little we had to be able to reach out to others to support them," she said.

Local priests asked the sisters to go and rescue children who were orphaned or abandoned during the pandemic. "We had to risk our life to go save such innocent victims," she said.

The global lockdown also had a powerful impact on unemployment and poverty rates, especially in developing countries. Mumuni and her community were faced with families tempted by human trafficking in Ghana, where children can be sold for as little as $5.

The same reality was described by Sister Imelda Poole, president of RENATE, a nongovernmental organization dedicated to combating human trafficking and exploitation in 31 nations in Europe.

"We noticed a massive explosion of poverty," said Poole, who represented Tirana, Albania, on the panel. She detailed a sharp increase in hunger, with many families starved as a result of losing their jobs and primary sources of income.

"These are the vulnerable people that traffickers go to immediately during a crisis," she said.

During the months of lockdown, RENATA moved 80% of its work online, by providing online counselling to human trafficking victims and helping them overcome trauma. The internet was also crucial for advocacy and raising awareness, she said.

But the safety measures also meant more time at home, where children had increased access to the internet. "Children are becoming more vulnerable to sexual exploitation online, so all of us need to wake up to what is happening," Poole said.

"Together we need to break the chain of the traffickers," she added.

The work of the religious sisters also came at a high personal cost. Sister Alicia Vacas, the provincial superior of Comboni Sisters, spoke from Jerusalem on the trials she and her congregation suffered during the pandemic.

Forty-five Comboni Sisters worldwide contracted the virus, including the mother superior, the administrator and nurses and even the staff, generating a sense of chaos, she said. Many of the older sisters died and the young ones, many of whom are nurses, couldn't visit them for comfort.

At the height of the pandemic, Vacas lived in Bergamo, in northern Italy, which experienced some of the highest death and contagion rates in Italy. Ten members of her community died due to COVID-19, she said.

"It has been a very powerful and very intense experience living this coronavirus crisis and sharing the tragedy that many of our sisters are living right now," Vacas said.

The Comboni Sisters are present in four continents and often work as nurses in hospitals, missions, refugee camps and other health facilities. Vacas said that in many hospitals in developing nations, sisters don't have access to basic treatment and equipment to help patients contracting the virus.

"The situation is getting very worrying for some of the sisters," she said, adding that one of the nuns in Chad was left as the only doctor in a hospital with more than 100 beds.

"When I look at my sisters, I don't see superwomen. I see women of great faith, of great compassion, generosity and determination, but also very vulnerable women," Vacas said. "Sometimes exhausted. Most of them left feeling powerless because they have burnout due to the brokenness of their people."

"What I love most about them is they are resilient mothers," she added. "They really believe that life is stronger than death."

Speaking at the online symposium, the U.S. ambassador to the Holy See, Callista Gingrich, took a moment "to recognize and honour the tremendous sacrifices made by women religious during this pandemic."

"Here in Italy, and around the world, many faithful sisters have made the ultimate sacrifice while caring for others," she said.

• Claire Giangravé - Vatican Correspondent RNS. First published in RNS. Republished with permission.

"Either you want to kill Grandma or you want to destroy the economy and leave millions of people unemployed, and people fight and they polarize, but we don't ask, ‘What is the wealth for?'" said Mary Hirschfeld, associate professor of economics and theology at Villanova University.

"And on the health side, it's just a very thin idea about health" that doesn't consider the importance of social interaction, work, productivity and human relationships, she said.

Consensus is absent in liberal, present-day society about what goods to pursue and tends to emphasize "instrumental goods," such as health and wealth, she said.

However, a "thicker conception" of the common good is needed and is precisely what Catholic social teaching can contribute to the public conversation.

The online event was organized by the Lumen Christi Institute at the University of Chicago as a follow-up to an event it held last month that addressed the COVID-19 response mostly from an economic perspective.

Much of the June 2 discussion, moderated by Joseph Capizzi, moral theology professor at The Catholic University of America in Washington, hinged on the principles of Catholic social teaching.

Dr. Daniel Sulmasy, a physician and professor of biomedical ethics at Georgetown University, underlined competing conceptions of the common good that emerged during the public debate, including the utilitarian, neo-liberal and totalitarian perspectives.

He contrasted these views with the Catholic understanding of the common good, which he described as "integral," where the good and flourishing of the individual is in part constituted by the good and flourishing of the whole and vice versa.

This "integral" approach seeks both to protect the vulnerable from COVID-19 and to act in solidarity with the poor, he said.

Kirk Doran, associate professor of economics at the University of Notre Dame, also emphasized that "there is no dichotomy between health and wealth." Rather, health and wealth are "intimately related."

"What we're trying to do is to understand a very subtle set of responses that are rippling through our economy, rippling through people's emotional lives, rippling through everything, and they're all affecting each other at the same time, and that's what makes this super complicated," said Doran.

"If it was simple tradeoffs between health and wealth, it would be easier."

Doran's observation of the social movement that emerged online — what he called "a viral desire" — to protect others by not engaging in usual economic activity, opened the discussion on the principle of solidarity in Catholic social teaching. Continue reading