Category: Those in Need

Witnesses Tell UN of Genocide of Christians in Middle East
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Witnesses Tell UN of Genocide of Christians in Middle East

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Held by terrorist captors, an Iraqi woman named Khalia resisted their demands that she abandon her Christian faith.  Her story was told at the UN this week, along with other accounts of atrocities suffered by Christians and religious minorities in the Middle East at the hands of the Islamic State, or ISIS. According to experts, […]

Five Things my Mother (and Daughter) Taught Me about Caring for People with Dementia
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Five Things my Mother (and Daughter) Taught Me about Caring for People with Dementia

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My mother developed Alzheimer’s disease, the most common type of dementia, in her early 60s. Later on, she was diagnosed with an aggressive thyroid cancer that required a surgical opening in her throat called a tracheostomy so that she would not suffocate from the tumor. My father and siblings were naturally distraught and overwhelmed. I […]

For Christians in Aleppo, Syria, Life Remains a Struggle
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For Christians in Aleppo, Syria, Life Remains a Struggle

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By Oliver Maksan NEW YORK—The conflict in Syria entered its sixth year in March, but the ceasefire and ongoing talks in Geneva between the major warring parties have for the first time given rise to a glimmer of hope that an end to the conflict might be possible. However, real security and peace remain elusive, […]

Pope Reaches Out to Pakistan Bomb Blast Victims
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Pope Reaches Out to Pakistan Bomb Blast Victims

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By John Pontifex NEW YORK—Victims of the Easter Sunday Pakistan bomb blast have received a personal message of sympathy from the Pope.  Archbishop Sebastian Shaw of Lahore described how he was going from bed to bed visiting the wounded in a local hospital when he received a call on his mobile phone from Vatican officials […]

Abortion is Never the Answer for Pregnant Women with Zika
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Abortion is Never the Answer for Pregnant Women with Zika

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Abortion advocates have attempted to lobby and shame pro-life Latin American countries into legalizing abortion for women who may contract the Zika virus. Although it has not been proven that Zika causes microcephaly and other congenital disabilities, pro-abortion groups have nonetheless assumed that it does. Apparently abortion activists think they know more about ZIKV than […]

Yemen: 'They Passed Out Bread and Received Gunfire'
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Yemen: ‘They Passed Out Bread and Received Gunfire’

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The Catholic Church on the Arabian Peninsula has expressed its dismay at the indifference world opinion has shown in response to the nuns murdered in Yemen. In Aden on March 4, 2016, four nuns of the order founded by the Blessed Mother Teresa, whose work involved the care of the elderly and disabled—as well as […]

The Spiritual Ideal of a Selfless Self
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The Spiritual Ideal of a Selfless Self

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A hallmark of the modern age is an obsession with individual rights. It seems that every other day somebody is demanding his or her rights. Some people even demand rights that are not even written down anywhere or recognized by any legislature or court. Like I say, it is a hallmark of the age in […]

Villagers Attack Church Compound in Ethiopia
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Villagers Attack Church Compound in Ethiopia

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By John Newton NEW YORK–A Bishop in Ethiopia has expressed his horror after the Feb. 18, 2016 torching and looting of a Church compound by the very people being helped by priests and women religious. In a message sent to international Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need, Bishop Abraham Desta described how Gighessa […]

Pope in Mexico Tells Church Not to 'Rest on Its Laurels'
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Pope in Mexico Tells Church Not to ‘Rest on Its Laurels’

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By Julieta Appendini MEXICO CITY—During his visit to Mexico, Pope Francis has expressed his concern for people’s social problems, pain and suffering, and he has shared optimistic messages of hope and comfort. His smile graces all his language and his expressions of love permanently underscore his words. “The tears of those who suffer do not […]

God Wants You to Get Help
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God Wants You to Get Help

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In a recent conversation with a friend, she confided in me she had been suffering for an extended period of time from what she suspected was depression. Her family had requested she see a professional, but she was hesitant. Reprinted with permission from CatholicSistas.com. “At what point do I turn to a doctor and feel […]

Hello, Church? Anybody Home?
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Hello, Church? Anybody Home?

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In the midst of decades of proclamations for a New Evangelization, I have a very easy, free suggestion that will yield a huge return. Ready for it, Church? Answer your phones, return calls, and return emails. Yep, it’s that simple. Whatever nonsense am I writing about, you might inquire. I’ve worked for the Catholic Church […]

ISIS Erases 'Symbol of Christian Presence in Iraq'
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ISIS Erases ‘Symbol of Christian Presence in Iraq’

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By Oliver Maksan Confirmation that Iraq’s oldest Christian monastery has been completely destroyed by ISIS has caused widespread distress in Iraq. “St. Elijah’s monastery in Mosul was a symbol of the Christian presence in Iraq. The fact that it has been destroyed is terrible,” Father Dankha Issa told international Catholic charity Aid to the Church. […]

Rejecting Abortion, Affirming Life
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Rejecting Abortion, Affirming Life

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Thousands braved severe weather last week to attend the March for Life in Washington, D.C., giving a vital public witness to the sanctity of life. In this column, however, I will reflect on a very personal situation with my wife’s first pregnancy six years ago, when abortion was presented to us as an option. Our […]

Eliminating Poverty or Eliminating Children?
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Eliminating Poverty or Eliminating Children?

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We are not alone in being suspicious of the United Nations when it comes to the life issues. Beginning with the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo in 1994, abortion advocates have been attempting to use the language of U.N. documents, as well as the statements of certain U.N. committees themselves–think the Convention […]

In Syria, Food is 'The Most Deadly Weapon of War'
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In Syria, Food is ‘The Most Deadly Weapon of War’

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By John Pontifex NEW YORK—Food has become “the most deadly weapon of war” in Syria, according to a leading Catholic charity’s Middle East expert, who charged that both government and rebel forces are blocking humanitarian aid to force entire communities—already on the brink of starvation—to submit to their rule. He added that rebels have confiscated […]

Christmas in a Stricken Community: Where was God?
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Christmas in a Stricken Community: Where was God?

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Living in a community stricken by scores of deaths each year from pills and cheap heroin of unprecedented potency, the question of where God was is raised in thousands of hearts in unfathomable grief. Our young people are getting addicted and dying in epidemic proportions. These are good kids, from good homes, good schools, good […]

In Bethlehem Then and Now, 'Jesus is the Door to Peace'
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In Bethlehem Then and Now, ‘Jesus is the Door to Peace’

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By Oliver Maksan JOSEPH AND MARY quietly rocked the child. Shepherds gathered around them. Children in costumes were enacting the Nativity of Jesus the subterranean chapels tucked away into nooks and crannies under the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. A silver star marks the birthplace in a grotto right nearby. The young actors that […]

Christmas Letters From the Middle East
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Christmas Letters From the Middle East

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Chaldean Patriarch Louis Sako I—celebrating Christmas in ‘silence and amidst tears’ The feast of the birth of Christ is one of the greatest feasts celebrated by millions of Christians around the world and particularly in Iraq. But this year Iraqi Christians will celebrate Christmas in deplorable circumstances, one the one hand because of the deteriorating […]

It Is Good to Be Seen
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It Is Good to Be Seen

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It is that time of year again, the time when we gather together to remember our blessings and bestow gifts upon one another in celebration of our Savior’s birth. It’s easy to get caught up in the secular world of stress, worrying, and over-buying, but as Christians it is important that we remember the reason […]

In Year of Mercy, Catholics in Middle East 'will pray for Daesh'
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In Year of Mercy, Catholics in Middle East ‘will pray for Daesh’

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By Oliver Maksan The Holy Year of Mercy, solemnly inaugurated by Pope Francis in Rome Dec. 8, 2015—on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception—is being hailed by Catholics throughout the Arab world International Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) gathered some impressions. Father Dankha Issa is a Chaldean monk in Alqosh. Last […]

An Unholy Alliance: When Mob Forgiveness Meets Selective Grace
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An Unholy Alliance: When Mob Forgiveness Meets Selective Grace

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A small town in Missouri recently came under fire for rallying around an accused child sex offender and shunning the abuse victim—even after the offender pleaded guilty in court. “If it takes a village to raise a child,” said a local prosecuting attorney, “what is a child to do when the village turns its back […]

"Camp Virgin Mary." Displaced Iraqis get Chapel in Baghdad
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“Camp Virgin Mary.” Displaced Iraqis get Chapel in Baghdad

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By Oliver Maksan BAGHDAD—Father Luis Montes is glad and he has reason to be: “We have just consecrated a new chapel. It was high time that our refugees got their own small church. This gives them back a piece of the home they have lost. And the people can now go to Mass without risking […]

God's Grace Shines a Light in Syria's Darkness
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God’s Grace Shines a Light in Syria’s Darkness

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By Eliane També ALEPPO, Syria—War rages on in Syria. Aleppo, the country’s major business center—what’s left of it—is a city at war, subject to regular bombardments by various factions fighting for dominance. Last year, a mother of two sons, 48-year-old Joumana Jarjour, a Melkite Catholic, was gravely wounded by scrapnel from a rocket that landed […]

The Grief of Being Unloved
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The Grief of Being Unloved

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English writer and broadcaster Claire Rayner (1931-2010) said: “Only the unloved and unloving escape grief.” That is not entirely true. I will reserve comment about the unloving other than to say if they do not know grief in this world they will certainly know it in the next. The unloved live in grief of the […]