In the more than 30 annual Washington, D.C., Marches for Life I have participated in, I always think the current march is the largest ever. But since accurate figures are hard to come by, it usually comes down to taking a good guess.
Tag: making a difference
This year can be better, if we stay connected
Last year was a rough one in many ways. President Donald Trump’s and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s exchange of insults and violent threatening language put the world on edge that nuclear war was, and still is, quite possible.
At Christmas, we celebrate the birth of new hope
When their baby is born, the hearts of many parents beat with the joyful hope that he or she will help to make their home, school, neighborhood, and the world a better place. Like St. John Paul II, they believe that the young are the hope of the future.
My brief experience as a homeless person
For quite some time I have had an interest in the plight of the homeless. I have read about it, prayed over it, and have done small things to help.
But feeling that I could, and should, do more to make a difference, I concluded that living as a homeless man — at least for a very brief period — was the best way to understand what it’s like to have no place to call home.
Giving first to those in need
As the Christmas song goes: “It’s the most wonderful time of the year.”
While Easter is the most important time of the year, Christmas ranks very close. And when we consider in the broader sense that Christmas and Easter are theologically linked, it is true to say that in many ways Christmas is indeed the most wonderful time of the year.
But first comes Advent — that time presently upon us of preparation for Christmas.
Earth is dangerously warming — and we’re causing it
I usually write a column on global warming during the height of summer heat — it’s harder for people to deny global warming when they’re sweating.
But the highly authoritative United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s (IPCC) recent report, “Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis” (http://www.ipcc.ch), has important warnings for us to seriously consider now.
Negotiating peace before the trains collide
“The Israelis and Palestinians are like two trains on the same track heading towards each other,” said Maryknoll Father Jack Sullivan.
Focusing on the issue of peace in Israel/Palestine for the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, Father Sullivan added that the Palestinians are extremely frustrated living under Israeli occupation, and that their growing sense of hopelessness is “a disaster waiting to happen.”
‘I was a stranger and you welcomed me’ — Why we need immigration reform
Thirty-five-years ago when Annunciation House — a sanctuary and home of hospitality that has served over 100,000 refugees, homeless poor, and undocumented workers — was started in El Paso, Texas, founding director Ruben Garcia and a few friends wanted to place themselves among the poor, to see where the poor would lead them.
He said, “They took us to the undocumented — the most vulnerable.”