My generation failed to deal with racism
(RNS) — We cheered for black athletes, we welcomed a few blacks to our schools and workplaces, but we still live separate lives in our gated communities.
COVID-19 virus puts a spotlight on inequality and racism
(RNS) — We should not be surprised that African Americans are 2.4 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than whites.
Who would you choose, Jesus or the Spirit?
(RNS) — Most of us would give up a lifetime with the Spirit for five minutes with Jesus. Yet if that's what we believe, then we really did not understand the Gospels.
American Catholics, meet the Communion service
(RNS) — The coronavirus may force American Catholics to experience what liturgical life is like in the Amazon, where there are few priests and many faithful.
Celebrating Mass safely — but pastorally — during a pandemic
(RNS) — American Catholic bishops have received two sets of recommendations on how to proceed once churches begin to meet again. Either way, they should go slow.
Crowded into camps, refugees are sitting ducks for COVID-19
(RNS) — Refugees and displaced persons live under conditions ideal for the spread of COVID-19.
Responding to COVID-19 is a marathon, not a sprint
(RNS) — The COVID-19 pandemic is a wakeup call for political, economic and spiritual conversion. Returning to ‘normal’ is not an option.
How social distancing may change the way we do church
(RNS) — Given the average age and low number of Catholic priests, services that conform to social distancing will have to be led by laypersons, most of whom will be women.
Bending the COVID-19 inequality curve
(RNS) — The government needs to focus on helping people who were already on the margins before the pandemic and now have been pushed over the edge.
Why Holy Week is made for this pandemic
(RNS) — The suffering servants that the prophet Isaiah speaks of are the doctors, nurses and caretakers who are risking their lives, getting sick and dying after ministering to those who are sick.
Is Trump killing his supporters?
(RNS) — Data from the Pew Research Center indicates that Republicans may have risked their lives because they trusted the president’s views on the pandemic.
Released from quarantine into social distancing
(RNS) — Being quarantined is a minor place in purgatory compared with the hells of having the virus itself, losing a job or living in a society in chaos.
Caring more for each other could have ameliorated the pandemic. It’s not too late.
(RNS) — A crisis either makes us better or worse people; it never leaves us the same.
Meditating on death during a pandemic
(RNS) — My precautionary isolation due to contact with someone with COVID-19 has given me time to think.
When a priest and housemate falls ill, the practical becomes spiritual
(RNS) — When a member of my Jesuit community announced he had COVID-19, I could not do the Christian thing and rush to give him comfort. Instead, I updated my power of attorney and wondered who I'd infected.