OSV News

The Christian community in Gaza has suffered devastating losses, including the deaths of 17 people after an explosion at the St. Porphyrios Greek Orthodox Church campus in Gaza City, following an Israeli airstrike, toppled the administration building in October 2023.

Hurricane Helene's broad impact across an entire swath of the U.S. South means resources will be stretched thin following the massive storm, according to Peter Routsis-Arroyo, the CEO of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami.

The Mexican bishops' conference's migrant ministry expressed solidarity with the victims and called for a "serious, impartial and investigation" of the shooting. The migrant ministry added in an Oct. 3 statement, "This tragedy did not arise as an isolated incident, but rather as a consequence of the militarization of immigration policy and the increased presence of armed forces on the country's southern border, which has been a constant."

"Sometimes I wonder how I can possibly weave Francis' difficult and often uncomfortable lessons into my exceedingly comfortable existence," writes Mary DeTurris Poust. "How do those of us with warm homes and busy jobs and nice clothes make St. Francis into something more than a decoration or a mascot?"

Laurence Gien, who was 11 when he was sexually abused by a priest in his native South Africa, told OSV News that when standing in front of bishops, cardinals and Francis himself, giving testimony about his lifetime trauma, he "was just trying to appeal" to church hierarchy, "to look deep inside and to change what needs to be changed and to realize the fundamental values of certain things that you cannot take for granted. And that was important for me."

The Mexican bishops' conference has called on the country's freshly sworn-in president to pursue social peace as she inherits the complicated legacy of her popular and polarizing predecessor, who promoted social programs for the poor, but leaves her a country rife with violence and perceived to be backsliding on democracy.

"In the rainy season roads here flood so easily with normal rain so having a hurricane pushing in that water I knew it was going to be devastating, but maybe not quite this devastating," said Maggie Rogers, executive director of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of St. Petersburg.
 

Since Hamas' attack on Israel Oct. 7, 2023, and the immediate start of the Israel-Hamas war, Pope Francis has provided daily spiritual solace to Gaza Strip's only Catholic parish.

Relief efforts are under way to help communities across western North Carolina reeling from the impacts of Tropical Storm Helene. Unprecedented flooding from the storm swamped municipal water systems, washed away roads and downed utility lines — leaving many mountain communities cut off Sept. 27 and in critical need of emergency aid.

The Sept. 26, 2014, attack on the students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Normal School, a rural teachers college for young men, shocked Mexico, which had become seemingly inured to grizzly stories of drug cartel violence. Ten years later, the case remains in the realm of impunity, despite widespread societal outrage, parental searches and Mexican and international investigations.

Catholic Mobilizing Network, a group that advocates for the abolition of capital punishment in line with Catholic teaching, urged its supporters to speak out against what it called a "regressive" trend of five executions in five states in the span of one week.

In a summer of firsts, mountain-climbing Benedictine monks of Mount Angel Abbey took to the heights — their locally brewed beer tucked in backpacks — ascending renowned peaks in the Pacific Northwest during the season's brief window of opportunity.

The Franciscan college in New York state will host a two-day gathering on integral ecology and sustainability with a focus on creating a "global vision with local meaning" to care for creation. The free symposium, set to take place both in person and online, will also include several panel discussions, exhibitor displays, prayer and a concluding performance of short plays about climate change, sustainability and climate justice, several of them written and performed by Siena students.

This five-year project called "Nuevo Momento: Leadership and Capacity Building for Ministerial Organizations Serving Hispanic Catholics", supported by a $15 million from the Lilly Endowment Inc., seeks to empower organizations through four building blocks: strong organizational capacity, a path toward economic or financial sustainability, leadership training and renewal, and a grant to strengthen its internal capacity.

Whatever the outcome of America's Nov. 5 presidential election, migrant and refugee advocates are predicting a challenging environment, said participants in a Sept. 24 video conference tackling the topic of how election results may impact Central America and those who are migrating through the region or coming from there to reach the U.S.-Mexico border.

The director of Caritas in Congo was shot and killed by an armed militant group while approaching a roadblock, Caritas Internationalis announced.

Ending poverty, ensuring nuclear disarmament and regulating artificial intelligence, or AI, were among the issues highlighted by the Holy See at the 2024 United Nations Summit of the Future, held Sept. 22-23 in New York at U.N. headquarters.

"And although I understand not everyone shares my views, I am fundamentally and morally opposed to state law enabling someone, even under tragic and painful circumstances, to take their own life," Carney, a Democrat, said in a statement.

The Sunday collection in Polish churches Sept. 22 has been entirely dedicated to Caritas Poland for the flood relief. While numbers from the collection are still unknown, Poles already donated millions to flood relief efforts through the Catholic Church's biggest charity.

The USCCB release highlighted the beginning of National Migration Week —  observed Sept. 23-29 this year —  and calls "attention to the challenges confronting migrants and refugees, from their country of origin to their destination, and how Church teaching calls on Catholics to respond with compassionate acts of love."