February was first officially designated as Black History Month by President Ford in 1976. The origin of the celebration began in 1926 as Negro History Week. It was expanded to a month in the 1940’s in West Virginia. By the mid 1960’s in Chicago, several events were...
Father John Dear wrote in the Center for Action and Contemplation’s Journal Radical Grace about the non-violent impact that interfaith cooperation can make. “ At the heart of each major religion is the vision of peace, the ideal of compassion and love and justice, the fundamental truth of nonviolence.” “Mahatma Ghandi (1869-1948) was the first ...
arbara Brown Taylor, an author, preacher and a member of the Center for Action and Contemplation, writes about what she calls “holy envy,” “ befriending followers of different traditions, and allowing such friendships to enrich our own faith. She summarizes an insight by ...
Father Richard Rohr, a Franciscan priest at the Center for Action and Contemplation, explores the fruitfulness of interfaith friendship. “In no other period of history have humans had such easy and immediate access to people of other cultures and religions, often as ...
On November 22, 2022 the World Jewish Congress reported that Pope Francis welcomed the World Jewish Congress’ launch of a historic initiative known as “Kishreinu (Hebrew for “Our Bond") intended to strengthen Jewish-Catholic ties around the globe, explaining that...
The Catholic Church defines ecumenisms as the promotion of cooperation and unity among Christians. In October of 2013, during an interview with Eugenio Scalfari an Italian journalist, Pope Francis said: “I believe , not in a Catholic God, there is no Catholic God.” In another interview with LaStampa (a morning newspaper in Turin), Pope Francis emphasized his commitment to ecumenism, stating: “For me, ...
A Christmas Poem When the song of the angels is stilled, When the star in the sky is gone, When the kings and princes are home, When the shepherds are back with their flock. The work of Christmas begins: To find the lost,...
Gifting for Peace and Justice “Jesus knows well the pain of not being welcomed and how hard it is not to have a place to lay one’s head. May our hearts not be closed as they were in the homes of Bethlehem. Pope Francis, Urbi et Orbi, 2017 Reflection: This Christmas, how can we
Gifting for Peace and Justice The Christmas season is all about gifts. After all, God gifted us with Emmanuel - God with us- with skin on, and we show our amazement and gratitude by giving gifts to others. But how do we ...
Black Catholic History Month – Did you know? Servant of God Mother Mary Lange is on her way to canonization. Born Elizabeth Clarisse Lange probably in Haiti about 1790, she was raised in Cuba. At some point when she was young, she moved to the United States and settled in Baltimore, Maryland among the French speaking population coming from Haiti. Around 1818, Elizabeth and her friend, ...