WelCom November 2021 Joe Grayland Tedium, grief, and hope are the three words that sum up my experience of lockdown. Tedium is the tiredness that inhabits every day and every decision. We are living in the tedium of a car journey that won’t end where everyone, not just the children, is asking, ‘are we there […]
WelCom November 2021 Cardinal Soane Patita Mafi, Tonga’s first ever Cardinal, has a simple message for politicians attending the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow – ‘Listen to the Pacific’. ‘We want those big nations to really see and to really hear. Not to pretend. Not to turn away. We want them not to be deafened […]
WelCom November 2021 Pope Francis has met with President Joe Biden at the Vatican, the first Catholic President since John F Kennedy. President Biden was in Rome for a meeting of the G20 Summit, in late October. According to a Vatican statement, the Parties focused on the joint commitment to the protection and care of […]
WelCom November 2021 The Bank of Chicago Marathon is known for the thousands of people who line the route and cheer on the runners as they pass through the city’s 29 neighbourhoods. This year’s race, on Sunday October 10, was no different, especially with the addition of dozens of Franciscan women and men religious and […]
WelCom November 2021 Catholic Religious Australia (CRA) has urged the Government to make a greater commitment to assist those Afghans whose lives are now at risk as a result of the recent Taliban take-over of the country. ‘Australia has responsibility for the safety and wellbeing of Afghans, not only because of our 20-year-long military presence […]
WelCom November 2021 Bishop Long, who visited Port Moresby in 2016 and Manus Island in 2019, was responding to the recent announcement that the Regional Resettlement Arrangement between the Australian and Papua New Guinea governments will end on January 1, 2022. ‘The Australian Catholic bishops have consistently argued that asylum-seekers, no matter how they arrive […]
WelCom November 2021 The family of British MP Sir David Amess have said their hearts are shattered as they called on people to ‘set aside hatred and work towards togetherness’. The Conservative MP was a Catholic and strong pro-life advocate. He was stabbed multiple times during a meeting with his constituents in Belfairs Methodist Church […]
WelCom November 2021 The French Catholic Church has expressed ‘shame’ and pleaded for forgiveness, after a devastating report found that at least 330,000 children were victims of sexual abuse by clergy and lay members of church institutions over the past 70 years. The publication of the landmark report, France’s first major reckoning with what the […]
WelCom November 2021 A 900-year-old sword believed to belong to a Crusader Knight has been found off the coast of Haifa, Israel. The sword measured four feet long and its hilt is encrusted with seashells and stones. The sword was found by a scuba diver who reported his find to the Israel Antiquities Authority, which […]
WelCom November 2021 The Norwegian Nobel Committee has awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2021 to Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, a precondition for democracy and lasting peace. The Nobel committee announced last month Ms Ressa and Mr Muratov are receiving the Peace Prize for their courageous […]