Madagascar – Famadihana: The Feast of Return
On the Madagascar plateau the bodies of the dead are exhumed from their tombs and brought out for a day of celebration which, with singing and dancing renders homage to their dead. Close to the edges of the rice fields connecting the valleys of the central highlands, flickering lights can be seen in the darkness […]
Oral Literature: The Hare and the Elephant
One day the hare, feeling hungry, went to look for food. Now, although he was full of mischief, the hare was also very lazy, and whenever he could conveniently do so, he took life easily and let others toil while he benefited from their labours. After aimlessly wandering about the bush, hoping that he could […]
Herbs & Plants: Basella alba, an incredibly rich sources of vitamin A
Basella alba (Plant family Basellaceae) is an edible, fleshy, perennial, climbing creeper. Basella or vine spinach is a popular tropical leafy-green vegetable, commonly grown as a backyard herb in home gardens. It is popularly known as Indian spinach, Malabar spinach or Country spinach. Vine-spinach has two chief cultivars; Basella alba, which features green-stems and deep-green […]
Great Missionaries: Archbishop Guido Maria Conforti
To bring the Gospel to those who had yet to hear it was a fundamental feature of the apostolic activity of Archbishop Guido Maria Conforti, founder of the Xaverian Missionaries. Guido Maria Conforti was born on March 30th, 1865, at Ravadese, in the Diocese of Parma, in the north Italy. While still attending primary school […]
Catholic Church in Numbers
According to the Church’s book of statistics updated to December 31, 2018, which takes in everything from the number of Catholics globally to the numbers behind the Church’s worldwide involvement in healthcare, welfare and education, on December 31, 2018, the world population was 7,496,394,000, up 88,020,000 people compared to the previous year. On the same […]
Archbishop Justin Welby: “Fratelli Tutti is a truly ecumenical document”
Commentary on Encyclical Letter “Fratelli tutti” by Justin Welby, Archbishop of Canterbury. In this Encyclical, Pope Francis sets out a clear, exciting and ambitious vision of the role of human friendship and solidarity as the basis for a better future world order. Throughout this work, he interweaves the themes of the individual and the social, […]
Great missionaries: Cardinal Lavigerie, a man of strong convictions
Charles Martial Allemand Lavigerie, Cardinal Archbishop of Algiers and Carthage, missionary founder and anti-slavery campaigner, was born near Bayonne in the Basque region of southern France. After his schooling, he studied theology at Saint Sulpice in Paris. In 1854, after priestly ordination and further studies, he was appointed professor of church history in the university […]
Oral literature: why the bananas belong to the monkey
Once upon a time when the world had just been made and there was only one kind of banana, but very many kinds of monkeys, there was a little old woman who had a big garden full of banana trees. It was very difficult for the old woman to gather the bananas herself, so she […]
DR Congo: asking for justice and to promote reconciliation
From the assassination of Archbishop Christophe Munzihirwa to the violence in the country today. The Catholic bishops speak out. “More than 24 years have passed since the assassination of Archbishop Christophe Munzihirwa in Bukavu in circumstances that have not yet been clarified. People want to know the truth,” said the Archbishop of Bukavu, Mgr. François-Xavier […]
Reflection: The challenges of “Fratelli Tutti”
On October 4, the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, Pope Francis released a new encyclical entitled, “Fratelli Tutti” on fraternity and social friendship. It can appear a rather depressing read because of its searing realism, except it plays the long game of Christian hope. “Fratelli Tutti” lays out reasons why there’s so much injustice, […]
