Plastic bottles stuffed with plastic, called "ecobricks," are visible everywhere at the seminary campus of the Missionaries of Sacred Heart, in Manila, Philippines.
Science

In the Philippines, Catholic priests tackle plastic waste brick by brick

EarthBeat

The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart build bricks from discarded plastic bottles. It's one way people and communities across the world are addressing the gargantuan problem of plastic waste and plastic pollution.

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pile of empty plastic bottles

In Focus

A world of plastic: A Chicago pastor's Earth Day message

Undoubtedly the widespread use of plastic has made life easier and made many products less expensive and therefore within the reach of more people. The problem is that plastic is not good for our planet.

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Richard B. Hays, left, and Christopher B. Hays, right. (Photos courtesy Duke, left, and Fuller, right)
Guest Voices

#1
Conservative Christians just lost their scholarly trump card on same-sex relationships

Theologian Richard Hays' reversal comes at a bad time for those who oppose accepting LGBTQ Christians.

ByJonathan Merritt, Religion News Service
People carry a banner past the U.S. Supreme Court while participating in the 49th annual March for Life in Washington Jan. 21, 2022.
NCR Voices

#2
Trump is no champion for the pro-life cause

By aligning itself with Trump, the pro-life cause finds itself in a long line of people and causes damaged irreparably by hitching their bandwagon to the former president, writes NCR columnist Michael Sean Winters.

ByMichael Sean Winters
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#3
In a church that has yet to deal justly with women, I stay a keeper of the vision

I will forever ask, "Why?" Why couldn't I be ordained by my own church for service in hospice, hospital, a retreat center, the military, a women's prison, a battered women's shelter, a parish church?

ByCarolyn Ancell

#4
Streaming the Eucharist should be banned

#5
Vatican warns of potential religious freedom violation in court case

#6
'Beautiful situations': Religious sisters make for an unusual sight in rural Georgia

Opinion

The perils and necessities of saying 'I don't know'

Guest Voices

Biden's outreach in conservative areas is key to winning, and to uniting the US

NCR Voices
Cardinal Christophe Pierre, nuncio to the United States, vests Las Vegas Archbishop George Leo Thomas with the Pallium during a Mass for elevating the Diocese of Las Vegas to an archdiocese at the Shrine of the Most Holy Redeemer Oct. 16, 2023, in Las Vegas. (OSV News/ Archdiocese of Las Vegas/Robin Jerstad)

Growth and decline in the US Catholic Church

NCR Voices

Catholicism is still the largest denomination in the country, but the ethnic and geographic distribution of the Catholic population has changed.

Your letters: Women in the church, Bishop Gumbleton, and elections

Letters to the Editor

A call for justice at the Diocese of El Paso's 'March and Vigil for Human Dignity'

Guest Voices
Local firefighters work to contain a wildfire after it was whipped up by high winds in Pampa, Texas on March 2. (OSV News/Reuters/Leah Millis)

For Earth Day, Bruno Latour points to our role in environmental crisis

Guest Voices

With Earth Day right around the corner, Daniel P. Horan discusses the final book by the late Catholic French philosopher and social scientist Bruno Latour, If We Lose The Earth, We Lose Our Souls. 

Vatican

Cardinal Pierre, vested with mitre and crozier, approaches altar.
Vatican News

Pope's US ambassador calls American Catholic Church a 'paradox,' self-referential

The Catholic Church in the United States is grappling with a tendency to become more "auto-referential" and withdraw itself from the international stage and universal church, Pope Francis' representative to the United States said.

Pope Francis, in wheelchair, holds flower, and smiles at woman who blows kiss from behind barrier.
Vatican News

A better world can't be built 'lying on the couch,' pope tells children

Peace can spread and grow from "small seeds" like including someone who is left out of an activity, showing concern for someone who is struggling, picking up some litter and praying for God's help, Pope Francis told Italian schoolchildren.

ByCindy Wooden, Catholic News Service
Have you ever been indicted, charged and convicted?
Francis, the comic strip

Francis, the comic strip

Francis, the comic strip: Have you ever been indicted, charged and convicted?

ByPat Marrin
Assembly of people gathered around conference table
Vatican News

Pope, Council of Cardinals continue discussion of women in the church

Pope Francis and his international Council of Cardinals continued their discussions about the role of women in the church, listening to women experts, including a professor who spoke about how culture impacts women's roles and status.

 

ByCindy Wooden, Catholic News Service

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

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Pope offers prayers for prisoners of war and victims of torture

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Vatican News

Vatican's top diplomat visits Vietnam, fueling speculation of Pope Francis visit

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Faith

Ave Maria professor: Earth Day needs Catholics' full engagement and hopeful vision

Professor Samuel Shephard from Ave Maria University suggests that Catholics can contribute a unique perspective to Earth Day, celebrated each April 22, by viewing it as an opportunity to fulfill their role as stewards of creation. Shephard said Catholics can place the importance of practical actions like reducing plastic use and ethical clothing purchases within the context of God's "loving plan for salvation."

Srs. Anna Nguyen Thi Hong (left) and Anna Nguyen Thi Bich Nguyet travel by boat to give food to flood victims in areas of Vietnam in November.

In Vietnam province, sisters teach how to adapt to climate change

In disaster-prone provinces of central Vietnam, sisters help locals and farmers adjust to climate change through sustainable techniques and financial support, allowing them to adapt and stay on their land. 

ByJoachim Pham
Plastic bottles stuffed with plastic, called "ecobricks," are visible everywhere at the seminary campus of the Missionaries of Sacred Heart, in Manila, Philippines.
Science

In the Philippines, Catholic priests tackle plastic waste brick by brick

The Missionaries of the Sacred Heart build bricks from discarded plastic bottles. It's one way people and communities across the world are addressing the gargantuan problem of plastic waste and plastic pollution.

ByBrian Roewe
Man scratches cat's chin.
Faith

Animal cruelty officer-turned-animal chaplain Matty Giuliano loves ferrets and St. Francis

'I know there are plenty of people out there who believe animals have no souls,’ said Giuliano. ‘And I cannot accept one of God’s creation is, spiritually, the equivalent of a cup of ice cream.'

ByKathryn Post, Religion News Service

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

Viewpoints

A world of plastic: A Chicago pastor's Earth Day message

Science

Sinsinawa Dominicans spread mission through collaborative farm programs

Justice

Panel at St. Mary's College in Indiana considers how to fight food waste

Culture

Pope Francis prays during the Good Friday Liturgy of the Lord's Passion in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican March 29. (CNS/Vatican Media)
Book Reviews

New book takes readers 'On Retreat With Pope Francis'

Book review: In First Belong to God: On Retreat With Pope Francis, Austen Ivereigh offers a retreat based on the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius and delivering a compelling summary of Pope Francis' theology.

Regina King stars as Shirley Chisholm in a screenshot from the trailer for "Shirley" (NCR screenshot/YouTube/Netflix)

Regina King stands out in uneven biopic about political trailblazer Shirley Chisholm

"Shirley" could have been better, muses critic Chris Byrd, but it is doubtful that Regina King could be.

ByChris Byrd
President Ronald Reagan gives a press conference in the Old Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C., June 16, 1981. (Wikimedia Commons/U.S. National Archives and Records Administration)
Book Reviews

'Righting the American Dream' spotlights lingering damage of Reagan presidency

Righting the American Dream: How the Media Mainstreamed Reagan's Evangelical Vision by Diane Winston is a measured and meticulously detailed account of the Reagan era and its significance for today.

ByTom Roberts
Pope Francis touches the death wall at the Auschwitz Nazi death camp in Oswiecim, Poland, in this July 29, 2016, file photo.
Book Reviews

Rabbi finds hope, comfort in new book by his friend, Pope Francis

Rabbi Abraham Skorka and Pope Francis have studied and grieved the Holocaust together many times, but the pope's new memoir offered Skorka fresh insight into why they share a special concern about this painful issue. 

ByAbraham Skorka

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India's hit film 'Manjummel Boys' tells a resurrection story

'Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire' contains surprising Easter wisdom

Book Reviews

'Struggle for Racial Justice' urges Catholic conversions of hearts and minds

Chris Herlinger, international correspondent for Global Sisters Report, accepts an award from the Religion News Association on behalf of GSR staff for the series "Hope Amid Turmoil" at an April 20 ceremony at the Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. (GSR photo/Olivia Bardo)

GSR, NCR reporting honored by Religion News Association

Global Sisters Report and National Catholic Reporter have been honored by the Religion News Association for reporting in 2023, including for the GSR series "Hope Amid Turmoil: Sisters in Conflict Areas."

Silhouette of a group of people on a mountain (Unsplash/Natalie Pedigo)

Women religious are being called to evolve to the interindividual stage

This new stage is "inter" in the sense of honoring and integrating all members of the human community. And it is "individual" in that it requires women religious to remain themselves and let others do the same.

By
On second from left, Presentation Sr. Joyce Meyer, international liaison for Global Sisters Report, meets with, from left, Sr. Francisca Ngozi Uti, Handmaids of the Holy Child Jesus in Nigeria; Sr. Hedwig Muse, Little Sisters of Mary Immaculate in Kenya; and Sr. Rosemary Nyirumbe, Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in Uganda, during the Women Deliver conference held July 17-20 in Rwanda. (GSR photo)

'Marvelous mission of GSR' spreads good news of sisters' work

GSR Today - Global Sisters Report's columns highlight voices from sisters around the world, and their work becomes visible in new ways.

ByJoyce Meyer
Srs. Anna Nguyen Thi Hong (left) and Anna Nguyen Thi Bich Nguyet travel by boat to give food to flood victims in areas of Vietnam in November.

In Vietnam province, sisters teach how to adapt to climate change

In disaster-prone provinces of central Vietnam, sisters help locals and farmers adjust to climate change through sustainable techniques and financial support, allowing them to adapt and stay on their land. 

ByJoachim Pham

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