Despite the growing political volatility in Honduras, President Juan Orlando Hernandez has managed to remain in office by negotiating with the Organization of Americans States (OAS) to adopt a plan to facilitate national dialogue.
On October 25, former comedian and television celebrity Jimmy Morales won Guatemala’s presidential election after a rising anti-corruption citizens’ movement helped bring down President Otto Pérez Molina. The underlining challenges and the political views of Jimmy Morales signal major troubles ahead.
The Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers Society Center in Nairobi recently hosted a five-day interfaith conference to orient primary and secondary school teachers from diverse areas of Kenya to the potential for interfaith-based religious education, as a vehicle for peace-building in Kenya.
On October 8 the Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved the Electrify Africa Act (EAA), legislation that aims to bring 20,000 additional megawatts of power to sub-Saharan Africa by 2020. Tehre are major concerns that this plan will fail to reach the more than 600 million people in sub-Saharan Africa who have little to no access to electricity.
Recently, Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns staff member Sr. Claris Zwareva visited her homeland of Zimbabwe. Sr. Claris serves as Maryknoll’s representative at the United Nations where the Maryknoll Sisters and the Maryknoll Fathers & Brothers have consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
The death and displacement that occurs in the out-migration from Africa and the plight of internally displaced peoples across the continent were the subject of a recent hearing before the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations. What emerged in the testimony of several governmental and NGO experts was a picture of tragic human suffering.
An excerpt from the article “What does the environment encyclical mean for Malawi?” written by Alex Muyebe, SJ, director of the Jesuit Centre for Ecology and Development, Lilongwe, Malawi, and Peter Henriot, SJ, who works with Loyola Jesuit Secondary School, Kasungu, Malawi, and published in in the August 28 issue of the British Catholic magazine The Tablet.
With increasing pressure to lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, many countries are planning to increase their reliance on hydropower, meaning more dams. However, large-scale hydroelectric dams are a false solution to the climate crisis.
November 8 marks the second anniversary of Typhoon Haiyan, the strongest tropical cyclone ever recorded. It devastated portions of Southeast Asia. In the Philippines, more than 6,000 people died and 4.1 million people were displaced. Many of the approximately 16 million Filipinos living in extreme poverty were affected. This article, published by CIDSE as part of their video series “Stories for Climate Justice” tells the story of Dr. Efleda Bautista, a climate activist in the Philippines. Dr. Bautista describes what climate justice means to her.
As countries prepare for the climate negotiations in Paris in December, some experts have called attention to the need for including safeguards to protect nations’ actions to address climate change from legal challenges by trade partners. Without this legal protection, many of the initiatives to decrease climate emissions or to adapt to a changing environment could be overturned by lawsuits.
The UN Climate Summit in Paris will be an unprecedented opportunity for nearly 200 nations to take bold action on the care for the earth and for all people suffering the adverse effects of climate change.
Chloe Schwabe, Faith-Economy-Ecology project coordinator, reports from the 2015 Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group and the IMF in Peru.
In a recent letter to Congress, Gerry Lee of the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns (MOGC) and more than 400 religious leaders called on the United States to welcome Syrian refugees from all faith traditions.
Maryknoll missioners have served in Nepal for many years; currently, Fr. Joe Thaler lives and works in Kathmandu. For five months now, Fr. Joe has been helping the people of Nepal recover from devastating earthquakes and aftershocks.
On September 24, Pope Francis said in his address to a joint meeting of Congress, “I call for a courageous and responsible effort to ‘redirect our steps, and to avert the most serious effects of the environmental deterioration caused by human activity.’”
September 24, 2015 – Pope Francis made history today by becoming the first pontiff to address a joint meeting of Congress. He spoke of challenges that are complex, grave, and urgent. And he invoked four historical American figures who have shaped our fundamental values. Below are quotes from each topic the pope addressed. You can…
September 23, 2015 – Pope Francis attended four events in what proved to be a non-stop day. Two major themes emerged: climate change and immigration. First, the White House. In the morning, the pope delivered remarks at a welcoming ceremony at the White House. He indentified himself with immigrants, and described the urgent need to…
September 23, 2015 – Pope Francis gave his first public remarks in the U.S. this morning, during a ceremony at the White House. He focused almost entirely on the need to address climate change and care for the poor and most vulnerable. Here are five key quotes: “Mr. President, I find it encouraging that you are…
