The Shrine was blessed last Sunday with beautiful flowers, good music, and the presence of the Missionary Sisters. Following the 11am Mass Missionary Sisters Renee Kittelson, Dianne McKenna, and John Giani showed the video Divine Mercy 101 and were on hand to answer questions. Also present were Sr. Aynalem Paulos, MSC Sr. Ayantu Abera, MSC and the novices Evarlyn Ndunge and Evon Somirla, who regularly help out at the Shrine on Sundays.
War in Ukraine Contributes to Global Hunger
~ by Chris Herlinger, Global Sisters Report
In an issue of import to religious sisters and the wider church, Baltimore based Catholic Relief Services has warned that the war in Ukraine is having serious effects on global hunger.
During recent congressional testimony about eh pending U.S. Farm Bill, Bill O’Keefe, Catholic Relief Services’ Executive Vice-President for Mission, Mobilization and Advocacy, said the war is compounding already-existing problems.
“After decades of progress, global hunger has steadily risen for seven consecutive years. The ‘three Cs’ – conflict, climate change and COVID-19 – are exacerbating chronic and severe food insecurity for people living in highly vulnerable and fragile contexts,” O’Keefe said. “We at CRS are not the hyperbolic type, but we are extremely concerned.”
O’Keefe told the panel that the Ukraine conflict “is having an undeniable impact on the state of global food security within Ukraine and around the world.”
Noting that Ukraine is a top exporter of wheat and sunflower oil, countries in north and east Africa and the Middle East “are already feeling the effects of food price spikes and global supply shortages,” said O’Keefe.
“Countries on the brink of famine, like South Sudan, Yemen and in the Horn of Africa, are particularly vulnerable to the worsening impacts of the ongoing war in Ukraine. While there is great uncertainty as to how significantly food prices and availability will be impacted over the next four to six months, it is clear that the worst is yet to come,” noted O’Keefe.
Pope Francis laments ‘Easter of war’ in Ukraine
~ by Christopher White, National Catholic Reporter
ROME – Pope Francis used his Easter message to again appeal for peace in Ukraine, saying the country has been “dragged” into a “cruel and senseless war” and warning that if the conflict escalates, it could lead to the destruction of humanity.
“May the leaders of nations hear people’s pleas for peace,” the Pope said on Easter Sunday,. “May they listen to that troubling questions posed by scientists almost 70 years ago.”
The Pope read from the 1955 Russell-Einstein Manifesto, “shall we put an end to the human race, or shall mankind renounce war?” which warned of the global destruction that could be caused by nuclear weapons.
“May there be an end to the flexing of muscles while people are suffering,” the Pope pleaded. “Please, let us not get used to war!”
“I hold in my heart all the many Ukrainian victims, the millions of refugees and internally displaced persons, the divided families, the elderly left to themselves, the lives broken and the cities razed to the ground,” the Pope said on Easter Sunday.
The pope noted that despite the pain and destruction caused by warm he was pleased to see countries throughout Europe opening their borders and homes to refugees fleeing the conflict.
Francis lamented that after two years of a global health crisis – where many people have come together “pooling our strengths and resources” the world is now facing an ‘Easter of war’. “We need the crucified and risen Lord so that we can believe in the victory of love, and hope for reconciliation.”
For Catholic Sisters, Eco-missionary Activity is Integral to their Work
~ Sr. Susan Smith for EarthBeat
NEW ZEALAND – When most 19th century apostolic congregations of Catholic sisters were founded, responding to and being directed by bishops was the name of the game. But after the Second Vatican Council that mindset began to change as other criteria such as “reading the signs of the times” became important in discerning new missionary imperatives. Today, Catholic sisters all over the world are prioritizing care for creation as integral to their work.
In the years immediately following Vatican II, conciliar documents, Pope Paul VI’s Populorum Progressio and the bishops’ 1971 synod on justice in the world generated an enthusiastic response from many sisters to step up and respond to the cry of the poor, and not long afterward to the cry of the earth, too.
From the 1970s onward, Catholic sisters were influenced not only by bishops’ environmental statements and scientific publications about environmental degradation, but also by the works of theologians such as Jesuit Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Columban Fr. Sean McDonagh and more recent eco-feminist publications such as St. Joseph Sr. Elizabeth Johnson’s Women, Earth and Creator Spirit and Ask the Beasts: Darwin and the God of Love and the publications of Franciscan Sr. Ilia Delio and more.
Such eco-feminist publications encourage movement beyond earlier hierarchical, dualistic theologies that position humans at the apex of creation with all other creatures deemed subordinate. A pyramidal understanding of creation has meant a real pecking order in the life of planet Earth – the higher up the pyramid one is positioned, the more they can dominate and exploit those relegated to lower positions.
Long aware of the damage patriarchal and hierarchical ideologies cause, Catholic sisters understand that theologies grounded in those ideologies should be replaced by theologies that encourage mutuality, inclusivity and interdependence. We know that we need Mother Earth more than she needs us.
Growing numbers of sisters, along with millions of others, are aware of what is happening in our world today. Sisters who are directly involved in ministries with the economically and politically disenfranchised poor can easily see how environmental degradation more severely impacts oppressed communities. Climate change means more droughts, more cyclones, more forest fires, more exploitation of natural resources leading to deforestation, more invasions of land of indigenous people. Not only are Catholic sisters focusing on people living in poverty: they also are focusing on an impoverished Earth.
Earth Day is April 22 – “Invest in Our Planet”
~ by Julia Gerwe, Global Sisters Report
This year’s Earth Day theme is “Invest in Our Planet.” EarthDay.org which sets the annual theme and serves as the “world’s largest recruiter to the environmental movement,” elaborates:
Earth day is the day to take action not just because you care about the
natural world, but because we all live on it.
Every one of us needs a healthy Earth to support our jobs, livelihoods,
health and survival, and happiness. A healthy planet is not an option –
it is a necessity.
I firmly believe that we all carry a responsibility to live more sustainably on this Earth.
“Sustainability” has its origins as an ecological concept referring to how biological systems endure, remaining divers. Now, however, sustainability is commonly used “to describe the viability of interdependent human and natural systems over time,” as the North American Association for Environmental Education writes in its “Guidelines for Excellence: Community Engagement
Further, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [9] asserts, “Sustainability is based on a simple principle: Everything that we need for our survival and well-being depends, either directly or indirectly, on our natural environment.” Sustainability is, in short, living responsibly and living well.
Unfortunately, the science has been telling us for decades that our pace of life and rate of growth are not sustainable. This is the world we inherit. Besides metaphorically hard to swallow, our contributions to the current climate crisis as a species (however unintentional they may be) can also be difficult to comprehend amid the haze of a hundred-billion-dollar fossil fuel industry and sympathetic structures and systems that bolster extractive ways of life.
However, the story of the day and the narrative promoted by this year’s Earth Day theme is simple: Individuals have power.
fact, a September 2020 report [10] from the Stockholm Environment Institute and Oxfam cited that the world’s wealthiest 10% were responsible for almost half of global emissions in 2015. Who are the world’s wealthiest 10%?
Anyone with an annual income of at least $38,000
What can the world’s wealthiest do with their power?
On a macro level, companies, governments, policies and practices need to change. We know that as individuals, we voted not lonely with our ballots, but with our wallets. This is what investing in our planet looks like.
Investing in our planet can also look like simplicity, connection and hope. By living more simply – namely, consuming and traveling less – we directly and indirectly emit less greenhouse gases.
But what about connection? What about hope?
Because I am connected to my local community, I prioritize buying locally grown and made products. Because I love my global community, I try to do conscious research before buying new clothing to ensure that those making the clothing are treated justly and the materials are sourced sustainably,
In this way connection lends itself to hope, which inspires action.
This Earth Day, I challenge everyone to follow this trajectory from connection to hope and to action. Just start by getting some dirt under your fingernails!
To read the entire article, please click here
For Catholic Sisters, Eco-missionary Activity is Integral to their Work
~ Sr. Susan Smith for EarthBeat
NEW ZEALAND – When most 19th century apostolic congregations of Catholic sisters were founded, responding to and being directed by bishops was the name of the game. But after the Second Vatican Council that mindset began to change as other criteria such as “reading the signs of the times” became important in discerning new missionary imperatives.Today, Catholic sisters all over the world are prioritizing care for creation as integral to their work.
In the years immediately following Vatican II, conciliar documents, Pope Paul VI’s Populorum Progressio and the bishops’ 1971 synod on justice in the world generated an enthusiastic response from many sisters to step up and respond to the cry of the poor, and not long afterward to the cry of the earth, too.
From the 1970s onward, Catholic sisters were influenced not only by bishops’ environmental statements and scientific publications about environmental degradation, but also by the works of theologians such as Jesuit Fr. Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, Columban Fr. Sean McDonagh and more recent eco-feminist publications such as St. Joseph Sr. Elizabeth Johnson’s Women, Earth and Creator Spirit and Ask the Beasts: Darwin and the God of Love and the publications of Franciscan Sr. Ilia Delio and more.
Such eco-feminist publications encourage movement beyond earlier hierarchical, dualistic theologies that position hu-man at the apex of creation with all other creatures deemed subordinate. A pyramidal understanding of creation has meant a real pecking order in the life of planet Earth – the higher up the pyramid one is positioned, the more they can dominate and exploit those relegated to lower positions.
Long aware of the damage patriarchal and hierarchical ideologies cause, Catholic sisters understand that theologies grounded in those ideologies should be replaced by theologies that encourage mutuality, inclusivity and interdependence. We know that we need Mother Earth more than she needs us.
Growing numbers of sisters, along with millions of others, are aware of what is happening in our world today. Sisters who are directly involved in ministries with the economically and politically disenfranchised poor can easily see how environmental degradation more severely impacts oppressed communities. Climate change means more droughts, more cyclones, more forest fires, more exploitation of natural resources leading to deforestation, more invasions of land of indigenous people. Not only are Catholic sisters focusing on people living in poverty: they also are focusing on an impoverished Earth.
To read the entire account, please click here
Pope Francis opens Holy Week with call for Easter Truce
~ Associated Press
VATICAN CITY – Pope Francis opened Holy week on April 10 with a call for an Easter truce in Ukraine to make room for a negotiated peace, highlighting the need for leaders to “make some sacrifices for the good of the people.”
Celebrating Palm Sunday Mass before crowds in St. Peter’s Square for the first time since the pandemic, Francis called for “weapons to be laid down to begin an Easter truce, not to reload weapons and resume fighting, no! A truce to reach peace through real negotiations.”
Francis did not refer directly to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but the reference was clear, and he has repeatedly denounced the war and the suffering brought to innocent civilians.
During his Palm Sunday homily, the pontiff denounced “the folly of war” that leads people to commit “senseless acts of cruelty. When we resort to violence…we lose sight of why we are in the world. We see in this folly of war, where Christ is crucified yet another time.”
Cabrini Immigrant Services NYC is on the move!
After months of deliberation, we have decided to relocate our office to another part of the city to continue the mission of bringing God’s love to vulnerable communities. On May 2nd, our office will officially open at the St. Frances Cabrini Shrine in Washington Heights (701 Fort Washington Ave, New York, NY 10040). Our Food Pantry will also be located nearby at the Church of the Good Shepherd (608 Isham Street, New York, NY 10034). We will be forever grateful to the Lower East Side/Chinatown community for welcoming us and allowing us to be of service. We will not forget the gestures, both big and small, that made us feel welcomed and at home in this neighborhood.
We are looking forward to continuing our work, strengthening existing relationships, and building new relationships in our new neighborhood. All of our programs will continue to operate and serve clients from all over New York City, as they have for many years. This new, larger space will provide more opportunities for growth for our organization, and the possibility of exciting new projects as we continue to expand.
Thank you for supporting us through many transitions, moments of growth, and challenges over the past two decades. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown us more than ever the importance of community, and we are grateful to have you as part of ours.
Should you have any questions about our move or need additional support, please feel free to reach out to us! Thank you again for your support through this transition.
Catholic Groups Call for Rapid Climate Action re: U.N. Report
~ by Brian Roewe, EarthBeat for National Catholic Reporter
Many of the technologies and tactics to avert the worst impacts of climate change exist today. While still a major challenge, what’s missing mostly is the political and financial will to wield them at full force. So says the latest major report from the world’s foremost scientific body on climate change. The report, focusing on mitigation efforts to limit rising temperatures, and with it the fallout from increasing heat was issued on Monday, April 4, by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
The report reiterated that immediate, rapid and massive societal shifts this decade are required to meet the world’s goal under the Paris Agreement to limit average global temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius – a threshold that climate scientists say will expose millions of people to increasing droughts, heatwaves and extreme storms, and with it, result in greater rates of poverty, migration and health issues, all consequences expected to harm vulnerable communities the most.
The nearly 3,000-page IPCC report [5], compiled by 278 authors from 65 countries, is the third issued by the international scientific group in the past nine months as part of the sixth assessment.
“Its message is crystal clear: we need climate action now in the form of deep and urgent emissions reductions and well before 2030, to stay below 1.5 C, said CIDSE, a network of Catholic international justice organizations, in a statement. “As Catholic Development agencies we are inspired by Pope Francis to call for urgent action on the climate emergency.”
In a joint statement, U.N. climate chief Patricia Espinosa, Alok Sharma and Sameh Shoukry, the heads of the COP 26 and upcoming COP 27 UN climate conferences respectively, said the latest IPCC report “makes it clearer than ever that the window of opportunity to achieve the [1.5 C goal] is rapidly closing.”
“Despite the urgency of our task, there is hope. The window for action has not yet closed…. There is also clear evidence that – with timely and at scale cuts to emissions – countries can pursue a mitigation pathway consistent with limiting global warming” to 1.5 C they said.
To read the full account please click here
Government to Lift Health Measure That Blocks Entrance of Asylum Seekers
~ by Rhina Guidos – Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON – The Biden administration has confirmed that it will lift a public health measure in May that was put in place at the start of the coronavirus pandemic that has kept asylum seekers out.
Catholic groups that support immigrants have long been calling for an end to Title 42 of the Public Health Safety Act, which the Trump administration began using in March 2020 as infections of the coronavirus began to surge in the U.S.
April 1, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on its website, “After considering current public health conditions and an increased availability of tools to fight COVID-19 – such as highly effective vaccines and therapeutics – the CDC director has determined that an order suspending the right to introduce migrants in the United States is no longer necessary.”
Under the provision, Border Patrol agents were instructed to expel anyone caught trying to illegally enter the U.S. instead of processing them under existing immigration law for those seeking asylum.
The Biden administration has taken heat from Catholic groups, among others, for keeping Title 42 in place. Administration officials said it was not immigration policy but a health measure and that the government would take cues from the CDC on when to end it.
Many are expecting an increase in migrants looking for asylum at the southern border when the measure is lifted.
Women religious and their supporters protested outside the White House in December urging Title 42’s demise.
On March 30, 14 Jesuit law and immigrant advocacy institutions – including Jesuit law school deans, the Jesuit Refugee Service and the Border Justice Initiative at Gonzaga Law School – called for Title 42’s end, saying it was “unlawful, dangerous, and inflicts profound suffering on extremely vulnerable people.”
There’s “no present public health justification for its continuation,” they added in a joint letter to President Joe Biden and key members of his administration.”
The U.S. “must rescind Title 42 immediately so that no one is denied the right to seek protection,” Giulia McPherson, Jesuit Refugee Service Director of Advocacy and Operations, said in the letter.
“We know there will be much political theater surrounding this decision, but we urge the administration to remain focused on upholding our nation’s legal and humanitarian obligations to those seeking safety at America’s golden doors,” she said.
To read the entire article, please click
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