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Music rooted in an ethnic culture offers a poignancy that touches hearts. Overlay today’s news of the invasion of Ukraine by Vladimir Putin and we can feel the peoples’ ongoing struggle for freedom and independence. We need not know their language to be touched by the spirit that comes through their music.

As a member of the Dominican Order I have some concern for my brothers and sisters in Ukraine. Having received this letter from my Dominican Provincial Office in Chicago, I am bringing your attention to the bond I have with them. Please view the web site that is posted at the end of the letter to get a sense of their presence in Ukraine.

Canadian artist Timothy Schmalz is hoping his new sculpture will help put a spotlight on an issue he believes too many individuals and governments would prefer to look away from. And on Sunday, Feb. 6, the pope offered his blessing — both to the sculpture and to the religious sisters on the front lines leading the fight against human trafficking.

The International Plum Village Community of Engaged Buddhism announces that our beloved teacher Thich Nhat Hanh has passed away peacefully at Từ Hiếu Temple in Huế, Vietnam, at 00:00hrs on 22nd January, 2022, at the age of 95.

Dirk Ficca died on December 21, 2021 at age 66. He was the executive director of the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions, an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA), and moderator of Chicago Presbytery’s Committee on Ecumenical and Interreligious Relations.

By Neil Douglas-Klotz
With the recent report by the UN climate panel, it becomes more urgent than ever to change our consciousness of nature and our activity within it. Arguably, the source of all of our current challenges lies in our inability to do this.

by Matthew Fox
Watching the committee hearings on Tuesday that revealed the suffering that January 6 wrought not just on our country but on the individual policemen that defended it bravely was sobering indeed. And also inspiring.

by Joan Chittister
In 1975, a quote in The Oak and the Calf carried a warning from one of the most profound thinkers of the era. “In our country,” Russian writer and historian Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn said, “the lie has become not just a moral category, but a pillar of the state.” It gave me great pause until, now, I…

For Fr. Thomas McGlynn, OP, (1906 – 1977) the story of St. Martin’s life sparked a healing at the level of the soul, which then bore fruit in creativity. St. Martin de Porres was a revered healer in 17th-century Peru. The sanador of Lima’s El Rosaria priory, he treated the wounds and ills of his…

Dear friends, The Gospel narratives during Holy Week tell a familiar story, this time a story that is particularly poignant. What has always been touching about these Holy Week readings is felt more deeply this time. From our socially distant places away from our families, friends and praying communities, the Gospel writers speak of the…