September has always been one of my favorite times. Instead of going in big for New Year’s resolutions, something in me cries out for renewal in autumn.
Author: settinger
Understanding Proxies and POLSTs in End of Life Planning
Planning for end-of-life situations is important. We should put in place an advance directive before our health takes a serious turn for the worse and we are no longer able to indicate our own wishes or make our own decisions.
The Best and Worst of The Human Condition
It has been a summer filled with the troubles of our time. In Iraq and Syria, barbaric fanatics have slaughtered thousands in the name of religion. In West Africa, hundreds have died from Ebola, a particularly virulent virus. Within those horrors, however, there were acts – heinous and heroic – that gave pause to think.
Networks of Dialogue Needed for Peace
In recent months, people of goodwill throughout the world have been horrified by the violence perpetrated by the Islamic State of Iraq and Greater Syria (ISIS). Thousands of Christians and other religious minorities have been forced to leave their homes. Women have been raped.
The Paradox of the Cross
Perhaps it is because I am not very learned in science that the idea of a vaccine for me is intriguing. And also somewhat frightening. I remember as a very young child watching a movie on television, probably shot in the 1930s, about Edward Jenner, the English surgeon who in 1796 advanced the use of the cowpox vaccine as an immunization against smallpox.
Responding in Love to The Needs of Others
I don’t know how many times during the summer that someone said to me: “The world is in a mess.” I knew immediately what the speaker meant. Often reading the first page of a newspaper can be depressing.
14 Couples Invited to Synod on the Family
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – More than 250 participants, including 14 married couples from around the world, were expected to attend October’s extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the family.
Gazans Say Nothing Has Changed
JERUSALEM (CNS) – Gazans are frustrated that, despite all the sacrifice and loss of life, nothing has changed for them, except perhaps having more fishing rights, said a Catholic aid official.
Pope Mourns Murders Of Nuns in Burundi
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis mourned the deaths of three Xaverian Missionary Sisters of Mary, who were murdered in two separate attacks in their residence in Burundi.
Two Losses, One Win For Same-Sex Marriage Bans
WASHINGTON (CNS) – A federal judge upheld an amendment to Louisiana’s state constitution in early September that defined marriage as the union of one man and one woman, but later that same week, a federal court struck down same-sex marriage bans in Wisconsin and Indiana.