The continuing recession in the United States has been especially hard on Baby Boomers, those in their 50s and 60s raised with high hopes of a happy and fulfilling retirement filled with travel and the pleasures of a life of leisure. Instead the Labor Department's latest report on jobs identifies this age cohort as the greatest victims of the economic down swing.
Posted by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat on February 11, 2013
Posted by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat on January 21, 2013
The disgusting gang rape on a bus in India of a woman student, who later died of her injuries, has set off a firestorm of protest against gender violence. Nicholas Kristof cites other shocking incidents and notes that women worldwide ages 15 through 44 are more likely to die or be maimed because of male violence than because of cancer, malaria, war, and traffic accidents combined. The World Health Organization has found that domestic and sexual violence affects 30 to 60 percent of women in most countries.
We protest this violence, and we also counter it with prayerful respect and affirmations of the fundamental worth and potential of all women everywhere.
Posted by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat on January 14, 2013
Global warming, notes this article by Jon Queally on CommonDreams.org, is making the world hot and dry and also cold and wet. It snowed last week in Jerusalem. China is enduring its coldest winter in nearly 30 years. Brazil is in the grip of a heat spell. There have been bush fires in Australia and floods in Pakistan and the United Kingdom. "Such events are increasing in intensity as well as frequency," said Omar Baddour of the World Meteorological Organization in Geneva.
Posted by Mary Ann Brussat on December 14, 2012
December 14, 2012. A heavily armed young man opened fire at a Connecticut elementary school, killing 26 people, including 20 children in the second deadliest mass shooting at a U.S. school in history. Immediately, police, parents, and others rushed to the scene joining the teachers and school officials comforting the remaining children. We are reminded of the good people who respond in times of tragedy, even risking their own lives. They, along with the victims, are in our prayers. This poem by Rumi says it for us.
Posted by Frederic Brussat on December 10, 2012
A new study in the journal Science reports that some of the largest and oldest trees of the world are dying. There are many causes and among them are the selfish and short-sighted habits of human beings.
Posted by Frederic Brussat on November 26, 2012
The December holidays mean that millions of people all over the world will head out to malls, department stores, and shops to purchase gifts. In the United States, the shopping frenzy started on "Black Friday," the day after Thanksgiving, followed by "Small Business Saturday" for those choosing to buy only from independent businesses, and "Cyber Monday" for shopping online.
Posted by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat on November 20, 2012
Today's news is troubling. Bombs are falling in Gaza and Israel. People are still suffering from the onslaught of Hurricane Sandy. Yet once again in the United States, we are asked to open our hearts and give thanks on the national holiday of Thanksgiving.
And so we pray this news. . .
Posted by Frederic Brussat on October 22, 2012
The World Bank and several United Nations agencies have reported that world hunger is gaining ground once again. Experts point to many causes for this, including droughts, high food costs, climate change, and the precarious state of global agriculture.
Posted by Mary Ann Brussat on October 11, 2012
On Tuesday, October 9, 2012, Malala Yousafzai, a 14-year-old schoolgirl in Pakistan, was shot in the head by Taliban militants in the Swat Valley, who claimed she had become a "symbol of Western culture in the area." She is, in truth, an activist for girls' education in Pakistan. At age 11 she began writing a blog about life under Taliban rule, chronicling the suffering when they closed girls' schools.
There have been widespread protests throughout Pakistan against the shooting, which took place on a school bus. Two others girls were also injured. Malala remains in critical condition; she has been moved to the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology critical care unit in Rawalpindi
Posted by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat on September 5, 2012
In an article in The New York Times, Jeffrey Gettleman reported on the recent shooting of 22 elephants including several very young ones in the Garamba National Park in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The killers shot them from the air, then landed so they could cut off the ivory tusks worth one million dollars. The park guards suspect that the perpetrators were members of the Ugandan military shooting from a helicopter and using ivory poaching to fund military activities. Other notorious armed groups – the Lord's Resistance Army, the Shabab, and Darfur's Janjaweed – are hunting elephants and using the tusks to buy weapons.
Gettleman writes: "Africa is in the midst of an epic elephant slaughter. Conservation groups say that poachers are wiping out tens of thousands of elephants a year, more than any time in the previous two decades, with the underground ivory trade becoming increasingly militarized."
In Peace to All Beings, Judy Carman notes how many of us are deeply shocked and moved after reading about incidents of human cruelty to animals. We are often moved to take action and to send our prayers to them.
RSS
About This Blog
The daily news summons us to prayer. The people, situations, and events of our times call out for our compassion and God's healing presence. In this blog we will pray in a variety of forms as we lift up the needs of the world. We hope that by praying the news in this way we will also expand both our spirituality and our practice. More