Rhina Guidos

Sr. Maria Cimperman described Pope Francis' reimagined process for the Oct. 4-29  Synod of Bishops as a "walking together," even if prelates still hold the majority of votes.  

Las hermanas de América Latina están redoblando sus esfuerzos para combatir la trata de personas, una atroz violación de los derechos humanos y una forma de esclavitud moderna. En un reciente seminario realizado en Ciudad de Guatemala y organizado por la Confederación de Religiosas de América Latina y el Caribe (CLAR), hermanas de toda la región se unieron para compartir historias de víctimas y supervivientes, discutir las conexiones entre la migración irregular y la trata, y denunciar la insensibilidad de los traficantes. A pesar de la disminución de casos durante la pandemia, las religiosas advirtieron que la trata de personas se ha refugiado en la clandestinidad, y exigieron mejoras en las condiciones que empujan a las personas a migrar y convertirse en presas fáciles. Igualmente señalaron la responsabilidad de los países receptores que perpetúan los abusos en lugar de brindar ayuda. 

At an event organized by the Confederation of Latin American and Caribbean Religious, sisters shared experiences of helping victims and other work against human trafficking, a "profound violence to the body of humanity."

Guatemalans tired of institutional political parties on Aug. 20 elected Bernardo Arévalo, a former diplomat who had little chance of winning two months ago, as their next president.

Jesuit communities worldwide are condemning the actions of the Nicaraguan government after police ordered a community of priests from the Company of Jesus to leave their private residence Aug. 19 in the capital of Managua.

The archbishop of El Salvador's capital city announced Aug. 6 that a canonization process has begun for a group of martyrs killed during the country's bloody civil war, including Jesuit Fr. Ignacio Ellacuría, the rector of the Catholic university who was murdered in 1989.

Franciscan Fr. Brendan Forde, an Irish missionary who lived through some of the most turbulent conflicts of 20th century Latin America, including a military dictatorship in Chile and the war in El Salvador, died July 8 in his native Ireland.

 El padre franciscano Brendan Forde, un misionero irlandés que vivió algunos de los conflictos más turbulentos de América Latina del siglo XX, incluso la dictadura militar en Chile y la guerra en El Salvador, murió el 8 de julio en Irlanda.

Catholics at the U.S.-Mexico border, including many sisters, are working to better assess how to help migrants and to talk about what they have learned and how to go forward post-Title 42. 

Aunque las cifras de migrantes que cruzan la frontera desde el lado mexicano hacia EE.UU. han disminuido oficialmente, las hermanas católicas afincadas en Piedras Negras, México, han visto un aumento en la cantidad de ellos que continúan llegando y que necesitan ayuda humanitaria. En un reportaje de GSR, las religiosas destacan cómo están evaluando nuevas formas de ayudar a los migrantes que cruzan la frontera sur después de la implementación del Título 42, orden del Gobierno estadounidense que permite a las autoridades de inmigración expulsarlos de manera inmediata y sin un proceso de deportación completo. Las Hnas. brindan apoyo emocional y asistencia legal a los migrantes y además comparten su propio aprendizaje sobre la resiliencia y la compasión.

In a meeting of women and men religious from Latin America and the Caribbean, U.S. St. Joseph Sr. Carol Zinn proposed a "new beginning" that would include groups of consecrated life from all corners of the Americas.

St. Oscar Romero was killed in a hospital chapel in San Salvador. Sisters keep his memory alive on the hospital grounds in what they consider his "shrine": a small residence they built for him at the property's entrance.

San Óscar Romero fue asesinado en la capilla de un hospital en San Salvador hace 43 años, pero las hermanas Carmelitas Misioneras de Santa Teresa mantienen viva su memoria en los terrenos del hospital en lo que consideran su "santuario": una pequeña residencia que construyeron para él en la entrada de la propiedad. Conoce en este reportaje las presiones y humillaciones por parte de la fuerza pública que sufrieron las religiosas por acompañar al arzobispo que había hecho una opción preferencial por los pobres. 

The ending of Title 42 restrictions on immigrants' asylum claims were expected to lead to a surge of crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border. That surge did not materialize, yet Catholic organizations feel a sense of uncertainty.

Tensions were already high at the U.S.-Mexico border and they escalated May 7 after a car ran into a crowd outside a Brownsville, Texas, building that provides shelter to migrants, leaving eight dead and at least 10 injured.

Days before El Salvador marked the anniversary of a law suspending due process rights as part of a supposed gang crackdown, priests and a cardinal lambasted bishops for not speaking out more forcefully for those being held indefinitely.

In a candid account of his five decades in the Salvadoran church, the country's first cardinal tells of calumnies against El Salvador's St. Oscar Romero, but also of slights against him by other prelates.

The Diocese of Oakland, California, issued a statement of support for those suffering after a Nov. 19 attack on an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado. The diocese also clarified that comments made by one of its deacons on Twitter following the shooting are "not representative of the church's teachings."

A Ukrainian Catholic archbishop asked his fellow U.S. bishops Nov. 16 to pray for Ukraine, and, if possible, to go to Ukraine and pray there for its people, inviting them on a trip he is embarking on in February.

From an altar set on a platform just above the waters that straddle the U.S. and Mexico, Bishop Mark J. Seitz of El Paso, Texas, celebrated a Mass Nov. 5 to remember migrants who've died trying to cross the waters below or along the border in 2022.