Viewpoint

Sean van Staden SJ, from the Jesuit Institute South Africa, writes: How many songs can you think of that contain lyrics about "being me"? James Bay asks, "Why don't you be you, and I'll be me?" Adele sings, "So I hope I learn to get over myself, stop trying to be somebody else." Psychologists will tell you that the surest way to better mental health is to learn to accept yourself for who you are.... Read More

The 'March for the Martyrs' was a spectacular event when thousands of marching Catholic students filled Taft Avenue in Manila carrying banners and placards, singing fervently the patriotic song Ang Bayan, and demanding justice for students killed by the anti-riot police of President Ferdinand Marcos Sr when they staged a demonstration against injustice and corruption in 1972. They were the great d... Read More

Publishing the truth, revealing war crimes, atrocities, murders, and crimes against women and children and rights advocates are part of the onerous and sometimes dangerous work and duty of media people such as writers, journalists, publishers, editors, photographers. Many journalists are courageous, fearless and pay the ultimate price for revealing the truth about corruption and serious wrong-doin... Read More

Sophie Cartwright, Senior Policy Officer at Jesuit Refugee Services UK writes: In this week's election debate, the Prime Minister and leader of the opposition accused each other of pursuing policies that would grant refugees sanctuary, as if this were a great fault. It laid bare just how low our politics has sunk. Faced with a question about border control, the Prime Minister touted the government... Read More

The nine nuclear-armed states - United States, Russia, United Kingdom, France, China, India, Pakistan, North Korea and Israel - "continued to modernize their nuclear arsenals 2023." This alarming statement from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute's recently released 'SIPRI Yearbook 2024,' should serve as a wake-up call that nuclear-armed powers have no intention to dismantle th... Read More

I hope these few words are not an attempt at clergy bashing! Having spent 52 years in parish ministry, I feel I might have one or two ideas to be reflected on. There are so many calls on our energies, and these can be overwhelming at times. I don't want to add to that burden. How can a priest in the parish be more engaged in matters of justice, peace, reconciliation and care of God's creation? I ... Read More

Fr David OMalley writes in Salesian Schools.com: Don Bosco spent most of his life developing his work for youth in a feverish political atmosphere. He was involved in conversations between the Prime Minister Cavour of Piedmont and with Pope Pius IX. There were many extreme political parties forming many of them involved in violent campaigns and repression of specific groups. In 1864 there was a ... Read More

I'm in Renk, South Sudan, in what is known as the transit centre, an enclosed space that receives those fleeing violence in Sudan, a conflict that still rages on since April 2023. An old man taps me on the shoulder and points to his ankle. Lodged there is a pellet or a piece of shrapnel. The wound is dry by now. He has clearly been like this for some time, hobbling in silence. It is as if he knows... Read More

This latest in the series 'Voices from Gaza', produced by Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP), comes from Amal Zaqout, Community Programme Officer, who is currently sheltering in Rafah. Amal is a single mother of two sons and has been working with MAP for seven years. In this blog, she recounts her experiences over the last six months and what she misses most about her life before Israel's military... Read More

Countries attending COP28 in the United Arab Emirates last December had wanted an agreement that would include an explicit commitment to phase out or even phase down fossil fuels. Instead, the 2023 United Nations Climate Change Conference reached a consensus that called on countries to contribute to global efforts to transition, "away from fossil fuels in energy systems in a just and equitable man... Read More

For months since October 2023 Netanyahu defied the USA. Around the world, large demonstrations protested Israel's conduct of the war in Gaza, faring no better. Now the UN's International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague, the nearest we have to a global judiciary, has intervened. On 29 December 2023 South Africa filed an "Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crim... Read More

As a Catholic chaplaincy dedicated to the pastoral care of LGBT+ Catholics, with multiple migrants and asylum seekers in our communities and worshipping congregation, we cannot help but express our concern at the current round of arrests, detention, and deportation of migrants and refugees. Pope Francis teaches that we "cannot be indifferent to suffering; we cannot allow anyone to go through life ... Read More

It was a shocking and painful "no" vote by the United States to veto a draft declaration at the United Nations (UN) Security Council recognizing Palestine as a full member of the United Nations. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas condemned the US veto and said it was "unfair, unethical, and unjustified." Twelve members of the Security Council approved the recommendation to the 193-member UN Gener... Read More

Fr Philip Dyer-Perry, Parish Priest at Our Lady of the Rosary Church in Staines, West London, writes: Last week we celebrated the Feast of St George, Patron Saint of England. Here at Our Lady of the Rosary we are an international and multi-cultural community, but we are also so very English. There is something uniquely English about how we are welcoming to all, about our 'live and let live' appr... Read More