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Sr. Helga Leija, a Benedictine Sister of Mount St. Scholastica, lives in Atchison, Kansas. She shares a few thoughts with us. As I walk around our Benedictine monastery in Atchison, Kansas, and see our trees slowly changing their colours for fall, my heart takes me back to the Mexican markets of my youth, where the […]

“Calaca’s taken him” is a Mexican expression that is used when someone dies. Also known as ‘Catrina’, a figure in high heels and a hat is the star of thousands of celebrations throughout the country in November. Here, we examine this character. On the 1st and 2nd of November each year, Mexico celebrates ‘The Day

The Filipinos are the most thoughtful when it comes to celebrating All Souls’ Day. In the Philippines, we honour our loved ones who have moved on to the afterlife to let them know that we will never forget them. Throngs of people flock to the cemetery. Candles lit. Feast for the souls. Visiting departed loved

The Asantes, an ethnic group living in the central part of Ghana, perform rituals for their dead kinsmen and loved ones generally known as ayie (funeral) in the Akan language. The traditional Asante funeral is a festive celebration in which the whole community participates (not only family and friends of the deceased), where the predominant

She organized community efforts to stop mining development by British mining company Anglo American in Brazil’s Amazon rainforest. Brazil is one of the five largest mineral producers in the world, with much of the activity concentrated in the Amazon region. Mining caused nearly 3 million acres of deforestation between 2005 and 2015. In 2019, the

Many African governments continue to focus on fossil fuels. And, despite enormous potential, investment in renewable sources by multinationals is not taking off. The next international climate conference is scheduled in Dubai from 30 November until December 12th. Over the past two decades of the $2.8 trillion invested globally in renewable energy, only 2% has

In his latest apostolic exhortation, Laudate Deum, Pope Francis has highlighted the urgency of every person doing their best to minimize the effects of climate change. The exhortation, published on the Feast of St Francis of Assisi this year, is a follow-up on his profoundly significant encyclical, Laudato Si’, published at Pentecost in 2015. In

Alarmed by the pollution produced by the Konkola Copper Mines operation in the Copperbelt Province of Zambia, Chilekwa Mumba organized a lawsuit to hold the mine’s parent company, Vedanta Resources, responsible. Chilekwa’s victory in the UK Supreme Court set a legal precedent – it was the first time an English court ruled that a British