Fifty Years of NewsNotes
Michael Gable, editor of NewsNotes from 1980 to 1988, recalls the best and worst of times working for the Maryknoll offices for Peace and Justice to commemorate fifty years of NewsNotes editions.
Maryknoll OGC Joins Letter to Congress Cautioning Against Sanctions for the ICC
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns joined 75 human rights organizations, faith-based groups, legal associations, and academic institutions in an open letter to Congress and the incoming US Presidential administration decrying sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC). As the House of Representatives is scheduled to review this legislation among its first orders of business, we…
Maryknoll OGC Joins 50 Groups in Letter Opposing Reauthorization of the House Committee on China
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns joined a letter to the leadership of the House of Representatives, organized by Asian Americans Advancing Justice with the partnership of fifty faith and civil society groups, in opposition to the reauthorization of the House Select Committee on the Strategic Competition between the United States and the Chinese Communist Party,…
Resources
The following was published in the November-December 2024 issue of NewsNotes.
Maryknoll OGC Joins Letter to Biden Adminitration for Protections for Haiti and Haitians
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns joined 33 other faith and civil society organizations in a letter to President Biden and Vice President Harris requesting protections for Haiti and Haitians, namely ending the mass deportation of Haitians, stemming the flow of guns to Haiti, sanctions against the specific individuals responsible for human rights abuses, and encouraging…
Maryknoll OGC Joins Letter to Senator Rubio Regarding Sudan Crisis
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns joined thirty faith and civil society groups in a letter to Senator Marco Rubio, Trump nominee for Secretary of Sate, requesting he prioritize ending the Sudan crisis through diplomatic efforts, appointing a special envoy, support for local aid providers, and support for atrocity documentation. Read as a PDF. December 5,…
Maryknoll OGC Joins Letter to Congress Requesting a Reauthorization of PEPFAR
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns was among over thirty civil society and faith organizations calling on members of the Senate and House committees on foreign affairs to pass a “clean” five-year renewal of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Read letters to House and Senate committees as a PDF. Dec. 2, 2024 Dear Chairman/Ranking…
Maryknoll OGC Joins Letter Opposing Energy Permitting Reform Act
Thirty-eight faith groups, including Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, signed a letter to U.S. senators expressing concern about the Energy Permitting Reform Act (S. 4753). While the legislation contains some provisions to speed up deployment of renewable energy, it also includes too many measures extending the life of the fossil fuel era. Read as a…
Maryknoll OGC Joins Letter to Pres. Biden Calling for Funding of UNWRA
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns joined over a hundred civil society and faith based organizations in a letter to President Biden in support of restoration of United States funding of the United Nations Works Agency for Palestine Refugees. Read the letter as a PDF. September 23, 2024 Dear Mr. President: We, the undersigned 104 civil…
Maryknoll OGC Joins Faith Letter Inviting Congress to Event on Nuclear Disarmament
Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns joined 15 faith groups in a letter to Congressional staffers with an invitation to Congressman Jim McGovern’s Special Order focusing on the pressing issues surrounding nuclear weapons. Read as a PDF. November 5, 2024 Subject: Invitation to Participate in Special Order on Nuclear Weapons on November 13 Dear [name of…
Advent Reflection Guide: One Family of God
The following article was published in the November-December 2024 issue of NewsNotes. Download the 10-page guide produced by the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns. The guide offers reflections, small group questions, prayers, and actions based on each week’s Gospel reading and concerns raised by Maryknoll missioners and affiliates who attend to the needs of migrants…
Nonviolence Seminars for Synod Participants
The Catholic Nonviolence Initiative’s new institute held weekly seminars in Rome throughout the second assembly of the Synod on Synodality. The following article was published in the November-December 2024 issue of NewsNotes. Pax Christi International’s Catholic Nonviolence Initiative (CNI) launched a new project on September 29 in Rome: the Catholic Institute for Nonviolence. The institute’s…
Human Rights Award for Activists in Gaza and Guatemala
The 2024 Letelier-Moffit Human Rights Awards were given to Rabbis for Ceasefire and the Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU), and the Concejo de Autoridades de 48 Cantones de Totonicapán of Guatemala; and a slain former awardee was honored. The following article was published in the November-December 2024 issue of NewsNotes. The Institute for Policy…
Haiti Advocacy Days and Renewal of Sanctions
More than 40 organizations working for peace and justice in Haiti came to Washington, DC for Haiti Advocacy Days. The following article was published in the November-December 2024 issue of NewsNotes. More than 40 organizations working for peace and justice in Haiti came to Washington, DC for Haiti Advocacy Days on September 25-26 to meet…
Atomic Bomb Survivors Awarded Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Committee’s recognition of the Japanese hibakusha organization Nihon Hidankyo comes at a crucial moment for addressing the nuclear threat. The following article was published in the November-December 2024 issue of NewsNotes. The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced on October 11 that it has awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2024 to the Japanese organization…
Charges Dropped Against Christians for Ceasefire Members
Art Laffin offers the following reflection on the experience on March 21 of being arrested alongside twelve other members of Christians for Ceasefire while wearing pictures of the destruction in Gaza and singing hymns of peace in the rotunda of the Russell Senate Office building. The following article was published in the November-December 2024 issue…
Global Debt Crisis Needs Jubilee
Pope Francis and leaders from the Global South call for a new international financial architecture that breaks the cycle forcing many countries to spend more on debt repayments and interest than on caring for people and the planet. The following article was published in the November-December 2024 issue of NewsNotes. A quarter of a century…
Colombia Hosts the 16th UN Biodiversity Conference
Hosting a record-breaking 23,000 attendees, the conference was filled with representatives seeking solutions. While we await the outcome, we review what is at stake. The following article was published in the November-December 2024 issue of NewsNotes. Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity descended on Cali, Colombia, from October 21 to November 1 to…