The earth has inscribed itself on every form of life, in a diversity of genes and cultures – expressions of survival – shaped over countless generations. Tragically, the record numbers of people being forcibly displaced from familiar lands means that both biological and cultural diversity are increasingly being lost…

“Now I am here on this earth and I know of them who died in a dungeon, who died burnt alive, and I want to be their voice. I want to do whatever I can to tell their story. That’s connected to the sense of being a whole — we are an extended body. This to me is making history. This to me is making politics. This to me is spirituality.”

[A Previously Unreleased Letter from Fr. Daniel Berrigan]

Your Excellency:

I am addressing you in regard to Mr. John Harris, condemned to death last November for sabotage activities in which he had engaged in protest against government racial policies in your country.

Frank’s is ultimately a hopeful story, however, for the coup unleashed a broad nonviolent resistance that even the bullets and clubs of the security forces have been unable to contain…

“Maybe it’s a sign,” I thought, as Notre Dame burned.  I question whether the Roman Catholic Church, my church, should associate itself with such things while there are people without a safe place to call home.

On February 4, 2019, they entered an Enbridge Energy Valve site, breaking the lock with bolt cutters and replacing it, then cutting the chain for Pipeline Three, which transports crude oil from the Alberta Tar Sands to processing facilities in Northern Wisconsin.

This discussion of seed saving and sharing was not totally surprising to me, as friends in Georgia had explained to me previously how they do the same, even sometimes describing as best they could the types of seeds their family members living in the camps had, such as particular types of squash or gourd, and wishing that they could access these. Here the sharing of seeds between Karen refugees in third country resettlement sites not only recreates familiar social relationships in a new place but also symbolically connects people to family members far away.

The officers emphatically spoke to the boys and began to march them away, back down that long and narrow corridor. As we attempted to follow them, we were given a choice: Turn around and enter the U.S. or be arrested.

For me and many around the world, homeland is a metaphor, or a memory, or a dream.

But for me, the vows I’ve taken are much more about saying ‘yes’ to things than ‘no.’ Every ‘yes’ we say requires a ‘no.’ I am saying ‘yes’ to service to all, to loving everyone. It’s a daily ‘yes’ that I say.”