Catholic

Caste off: The plight of Christian Dalits in India

Published by U.S. Catholic, March 2013

Franklin Caesar Thomas and R. L. Francis both attend Mass at Sacred Heart Cathedral in New Delhi. Though the two lay activists with similar backgrounds may be polite on Sundays, they don’t like each other.

Like 70 percent of Catholics in India, Thomas and Francis are Dalits—untouchables. For thousands of years, Indian society has been structured by caste, divided into four main groups and thousands of sub-groups. A family’s caste still largely determines one’s social standing and opportunities, and Dalits fall at the bottom. Continue reading “Caste off: The plight of Christian Dalits in India” →

March 18, 2013 0

Are Priests Obsolete? PW Talks with Garry Wills

Q&A published by Publishers Weekly, March 12, 2013

Historian Garry Wills’ latest book, Why Priests? A Failed Tradition (Viking), came out with impeccable timing, on February 12—a day after Pope Benedict announced his resignation. Once a Jesuit seminarian, the prolific scholar now argues that “the priestly monopoly on grace is a distortion,” with little historical or scriptural basis.

Why take on the priesthood, and why now?

I’ve been studying St. Augustine all my life, but more intensely recently. His view of the Eucharist made me change my attitude toward the Mass, because he denied that the bread and wine are changed into the body and blood of Jesus. The body of Jesus, he said, is the body of believers. …

Catholics United? Take a Closer Look

Media critique for TRANS/MISSIONS, the site for the Knight Center for Media and Religion, February 13, 2012

Since President Barack Obama announced his contraception compromise on Friday, the coalition of religious conservatives that had united against the Health and Human Services mandate to cover contraception has begun to fall apart. Obama said that insurance companies rather than religiously affiliated institutions would be required to cover “objectional services.” Roman Catholic bishops in the U.S. question whether this would actually work, but in rejecting the compromise Friday night, they also called “for the rescission of the mandate altogether.” (Rocco Palmo has a “bulked up” explanation of the bishops’ position.) Continue reading “Catholics United? Take a Closer Look” →

February 13, 2012 0

Palm Sunday crafts video

Published on USCatholic.org, March 2010

Art columnist Jerry Bleem, O.F.M. shows U.S. Catholic editors how to make crafts with palm fronds.

August 3, 2011 0

Parks & re-Creation

Published in U.S. Catholic, April 2011

A group of young people in the Bronx finds that by beautifying an old eyesore, they’ve unleashed a desire to serve their community.

David Shuffler walks through the park that he helped build in the South Bronx on his way to work.

Grass and young trees line his path through Concrete Plant Park, named after the factory that was once on the site. Some of the old factory structures remain—but they’ve been transformed into public art.

On a sunny September afternoon, a young family sits in the grass, a boy casts a fishing line into the Bronx River below the promenade, and a few teens lounge in a reading circle, as Shuffler tours the park with part of his team from Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice (YMPJ). Two of the teen workers, Shanay Sneed and Andre Rivera, approach their peers in the reading circle to tell them about YMPJ, the force behind the park.

“My greatest joy is to see people using this park,” says Shuffler, director of YMPJ. “That’s a reward. The environment definitely transforms and connects people just because of its beauty and what it does for your soul, and I think we see it right here.” …

I’ll be green for Christmas

Published in U.S. Catholic, December 2010

Let’s not only be green when summer’s here but also during the most wonderful time of the year.

The anticipation was over, the gifts all opened, and nothing left to do except take it all in. Even when I was little, it was one of my favorite moments of Christmas. I’d sit with my loot sorted next to me and survey the living room while peeling the customary orange from my stocking. Red, green, and patterned wrapping paper covered the floor, and the cats, high on new catnip, would be attacking a bow under the tree.

I loved getting the orange, along with an apple and nuts (and chocolate, of course) in my stocking. It felt so Little House on the Prairie, as if these were exotic fruits, a special treat savored in the middle of the winter and not an ordinary purchase at the grocery store. I imagined Pa trekking home from town with brown paper packages—one each for Ma and us girls—getting caught in the blizzard and having to eat our special Christmas treat to survive. Ah, those were the days!

It’s not that I wanted to give up the Nintendo, books, and whatever other toys I got for this frontier fantasy. But at some age I started to see the effect of all my gifts. Eventually my moment of Christmas bliss was over, and we would have to stuff trash bag after trash bag with packages and shiny wrapping paper. According to use-less-stuff.com, Americans produce 25 percent more waste from Thanksgiving to New Year’s, amounting to 25 million tons of extra trash.

Is this any way to celebrate Christ’s birth? …

Religious by nature: An interview with Keith Warner

Edited interview published in U.S. Catholic, April 2010

Keith Warner, a Franciscan environmental activist, recycles some ancient traditions for modern use.

Megan Sweas

Writer, Editor, Student of Life

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