DR Congo: street children, a home for a better future
A project that tries to return street children to their families. Stories that seem to come from the Gospel. It is early morning, but the sun is already hot. The streets of Kinshasa are already full of people. The large number of youngsters wandering about is striking. “The street is their home, their family,” Kasongo, […]
Latin America Witnesses: Mons. Angelelli, “The Romero of Argentina”
Bishop Enrique Ángel Angelelli was killed during the time of the dictatorship in Argentina because of their preferential option for the poor. A bishop must always “turn one ear to the Gospel and the other to the people.” The Argentine Enrique Angelelli learned this working alongside the members of the GIOC, Christian Youth Workers. It […]
Kenya: The Diocese of Ngong, Church of the People
Small Christian communities. Inculturation. Lay movements and a growing number of development projects. These are signs of a Christian community that is growing. From a humble beginning, the church among the Maasai is taking its place in Kenya. Among the first Europeans to reach the East African interior in mid-19th century there were Anglican missionaries. […]
Vocation Story: Sister Monica, “Freely you have received, so, freely give”
Sr. Monica Luparello was born and raised in Palermo, Italy. After graduating in medicine and surgery, she entered the Congregation of the Comboni Missionary Sisters. She tells us her story. You might say that surely the profession I had chosen was already in itself a way of helping others and that religious consecration was not […]
Uganda – The Buganda: The Last Funeral Rites
The Buganda are a bantu speaking ethnic group found in Uganda. They are the largest ethnic group in the country. They live in the Central Region including the Ugandan capital Kampala. We look at the Funeral Rites. Death is a sad and dark time among the Buganda. Loss of a loved one is usually a […]
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 […]