Excerpted from Cardinal Bertone’s first address as new Vatican Secretary of State to the Vatican Diplomatic Corps, all the ambassadors accredited to the Holy See, on September 29, 2006. Our contemporaries hope that the diplomats in their role will contribute to establishing and maintaining “an international order, the art of establishing reasonable human relations among peoples”… continue reading
Death Sentence for Rafael and Other Immigrants
Rafael (not his real name), a construction worker, came to us a sick man. We went the usual procedure of trying to arrange help for him before his cancer became any worse. We tried to arrange an eligibility card—called a Gold Card—but were unsuccessful because he didn’t have a picture ID. We accompanied him to… continue reading
Pope Benedict XVI: A Voice Crying in the Wilderness on Nonviolence in the Middle East: We Will Not Be Quiet
During the recent war in Lebanon, Pope Benedict XVI cried out at every public appearance for all, in the name of God, to immediately lay down their arms. He said, “We will not keep quiet, we will do everything possible so that those in power hear us.” The Vatican Information Service has faithfully reported his… continue reading
Meeting Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin
Stanley visited the Catholic Worker when he was and idealistic 18-year-old and began to help. He could never decide if he wanted to stay or not for sure, but died as a Catholic Worker at age 80. One morning in the Williamsburg branch of the public library I picked up The Life of Christ by… continue reading
Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Bertone, Indicts International Monetary Fund and World Bank on Usury
Pope Benedict’s Secretary of State for the Vatican, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, recently gave an interview to the Italian journal 30 Giorni in which he condemns the practices of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund as usury. Several Catholic news services have reported on his recent interview. The National Catholic Reporter reminded readers that even in… continue reading
Bring Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Sick and Injured
Casa Juan Diego is a busy place.. A nurse called today from Ben Taub Hospital to tell us to be nice to Pedro—he had lost all of his fingers on one hand in an accident and wasn’t handling it too well. He was injured in an accident in southern Louisiana. No hospital there had the… continue reading
Milk Supply Threatened: Why Do Immigrants Keep Coming to the United States?
How the United States resolves the immigration issues will have tremendous impact on a number of industries throughout the nation. Employment of undocumented workers is no longer limited to the Southwestern states and those who traditionally travel for a few months each year to work the crops in a few other areas. Immigrant workers are… continue reading
My Dorothy Day
Tom Cornell is a long-time Catholic Worker who worked with Dorothy Day. He is a deacon in the Archdiocese of New York. Joe Zarrella, among the first Catholic Workers, preferred her old publisher’s publicity photo from the Thirties, Dorothy in wavy shoulder-length hair. I prefer the one from the mid-Sixties, before she lost her weight,… continue reading
Immigration and Economics
Immigration questions have everything to do with economics. They also have everything to do with our Catholic faith, our Scriptures, magisterial teaching, and our tradition of welcoming the stranger. We have rejoiced in the courage and leadership of the Cardinals and Bishops of the United States regarding the immigration bills which have recently passed in… continue reading
Once I Was Loved … A Vietnamese Priest Writes of the Sufferings of Immigration and 2005-2006
by Fr. Dat Hoang, Parochial Vicar, St. Mary Magdalene Church, Humble, Texas Have you ever been rejected before? Do you remember how it felt? I’ll never forget the first time I experienced rejection. It happened in late 1988 when I was only twelve years old. My dad had been working in the Republic Government of… continue reading