Reflection for World Day of Peace/Solemnity of Mary

Click here for a Pax Christi reflection from John Dear, SJ, including a vow of nonviolence for the new year.

World Day of Peace Message

Click here to read the Holy Father's message for the World Day of Peace on January 1, 2012, "Educating Young People in Justice and Peace."

Homily of Pope Benedict XVI for Christmas Eve

"Let us ask the Lord to help us see through the superficial glitter of this season, and to discover behind it the child in the stable in Bethlehem, so as to find true joy and true light." Click here for the official English translation of the Holy Father's Christmas Eve homily.

. . . And a blessed Christmas to all!

Talitha Kum

Remember Talitha Kum? It is the International Network of Consecrated Life Against Trafficking in Persons. Here's a recent video by romereports.com to update us on the efforts of the organization. (E-mail subscribers click here if you do not see a video below.)



Here are some objectives of the organization, as noted on its website:

• To share information, research, best practices, experiences, human and material resources, strategies.



• To strengthen/intensify communication through the existing and possible means.



• To provide training so as to enable members to intervene in a strategic way on the causes of trafficking.



• To take a stance by making public declarations, especially during world events, becoming spokespersons for, and empowering, those who have no voice, sharing strategies for counteracting and limiting supply and demand.

Flooding in the Philippines

From Catholic Relief Services: Flash floods caused by Tropical Storm Washi have killed more than 400 people on the southern Philippines Island of Mindanao. The Catholic Relief Services office in Davao is sending a team to Cagayan de Oro City, site of some of the most severe devastation, to assess urgent needs. We are working with our partners, the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro and Xavier University.

Click here for a NY Times story.

Iowa Catholic Sisters' Immigration Reform Campaign

Click here to read about the campaign being launced by Catholic Sisters in Iowa, focusing on seeing the face of Jesus in immigrants. Check out the campaign on Facebook, too, at www.facebook.com/catholicsisters.

December 2: We Remember

Today we remember Sister Ita Ford, Sister Maura Clarke, Sister Dorothy Kazel, and Jean Donovan, who were raped and murdered by the Salvadoran military on December 2, 1980. These missionaries trained catechists, ran sacramental preparation programs, distributed food to the poor and worked to provide food, clothing, shelter and medical care to refugees. As we remember their lives, we continue to strive for the closing of the School of the Americas, which trains many of these military members who commit such atrocities.