News Items

The Forum regularly posts news articles of interest here from a variety of sources and news outlets. You can check back here or view the most recent ones from the homepage. We also archive these articles here, for those doing research, with news going back to 2006. Use the menu on the right to explore the archived articles.

News

"One thing is clear, faith communities can be a tremendous driver of change"

August 31, 2017
By Albin Hillert*
World Council of Churches

Gathering at World Water Week in Stockholm, Sweden on 30 August, representatives from a range of faith communities and organizations engaged in water issues held a session exploring how faith communities can help achieve the sixth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG), ensuring availability and sustainable...

The Struggle to Protect a Tree at the Heart of Hopi Culture

August 31, 2017
By Kate Ruder
Sapiens

A rumbling, low boom unfurled over the land like a current of thunder. But it was a clear, cloudless day in northern Arizona. We realized the reverberation was the echo of an explosion—dynamite loosening the earth—and that the strip mine was finding its way toward a colossal seam of coal.

Pope asks world leaders to listen to 'cry of the Earth'

August 30, 2017
By Associated Press
Washington Post

VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis is urging world leaders to “listen to the cry of the Earth and the cry of the poor” and take measures to protect the environment.

Francis made the appeal Wednesday in announcing that he and the spiritual leader of the world’s Orthodox Christians, Patriarch Bartholomew I, would be releasing...

Pope Francis and Patriarch Bartholomew to issue joint environmental statement

August 30, 2017
Crux

September 1 is observed in both the Catholic and Orthodox Churches as the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation. This year, the leaders of both Churches will issue a joint statement inviting everyone “to take an attitude of respect and responsibility towards creation.”

 

During his general audience on Wednesday, Francis...

Muslim worshippers seek green inspiration at annual Haj pilgrimage

August 30, 2017
By Adela Suliman
Reuters

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Some 2 million people are expected to travel across the globe to eat, sleep and pray in unison from Wednesday, as the annual Islamic pilgrimage of Haj gets underway in Mecca.

For billions of Muslims who are physically and financially able, Haj is a mandatory act of worship. But the religious...

Catholic groups are mobilizing to help in Hurricane Harvey's aftermath

August 28, 2017
By Rhina Guidos
Catholic News Service

WASHINGTON (CNS) – Catholic dioceses and charities are quickly organizing to help in the aftermath of a Category 4 hurricane that made landfall with heavy rains and winds of 130 miles per hour late Aug. 25 into the Rockport, Texas area, northeast of Corpus Christi. The National Weather Service said in a tweet Aug. 27 that...

Judge rules Adorers must give access to land for pipeline

August 24, 2017
By Dawn Araujo-Hawkins
Global Sisters Report

A federal judge ruled Aug. 23 that the Adorers of the Blood of Christ in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, must give a pipeline company immediate access to their land.

Iowa's Catholic churches go solar to heed pope's call on climate change

August 21, 2017
By Kevin Hardy
Des Moines Register

NORWALK, Ia. — As the sun beat down on a recent Saturday afternoon, the mammoth air conditioning system at St. John the Apostle Catholic Church offered welcome relief to parishioners trickling in for evening Mass. 

While churchgoers filled the pews and hymns filled the sanctuary, 206 solar panels overhead converted the...

Eclipse thrills, inspires viewers to admire the precision of creation

August 21, 2017
By Dennis Sadowski
Catholic News Service

HOPKINSVILLE, KY – Science teacher Jane Irwin isn’t often left without words, but the total solar eclipse left her in a quiet reflective mood.

“Awesome. God’s amazing” was the best she could muster after the sun reappeared from behind the moon after totality Aug. 21.

How art and spirituality are defining the 'water protectors'

Much of the Indigenous activism that we see in Canada is being led by Indigenous women

By Lenard Monkman
CBC News
August 19, 2017

Women have been on the frontline of much of the land and water-related Indigenous activism that we see in Canada today. In the fight for clean water, this style of activism has seen art and spirituality go hand in hand....

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