JUNE 2010 ISSUE

Victims and heroines

All around the developing world, women and girls are the pillars of their families and communities. As part of their daily tasks, they cook, clean, farm, collect wood and fetch water for their households; and provide them with health and hygienic care. Because of these roles, they are particularly vulnerable. In situations of conflict, they become more and more the main targets – through sexual assault and common violence. The importance of their role is their weakness. For the contenders, to humiliate and control them is a way to demoralize the “enemy.” Sometimes, they are also made pawns in a sadistic game of ethnic cleansing. Ironically, when we look closely at war zones and violent prone areas, we’ll see that most of the peacemakers, even in the remotest and harshest places, are also women. The Catholic nuns, who risk their own lives to help the victims and alleviate their burden, are among them. The courage and resilience they show is a lesson in humanity.

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FEATURE OF THE MONTH

DOUBLE VICTIMS

Sexual violence in war is no longer a mere act of savagery. It is more and more a weapon deliberately used and, in some cases, an instrument of ethnic cleansing. Rape is nowadays a crime against humanity and treated as such when it is possible to find and prosecute the perpetrators. Victims are often double victims: raped and rejected by their families or communities.

by ANA GLÓRIA LUCAS
Journalist

Complete story
 
GLOBAL - UNSAFE WATER IS A SILENT KILLER
Every 20 seconds, a child dies from a water-related disease – 1.8 million children younger than five years, each year. This alarming figure is from a new report by the UN Environment Program (UNEP), which says millions of tons of solid waste are being flushed into water systems every day, spreading disease.


 
Complete story
 
USA - PATENTS ON HUMAN GENES INVALIDATED
A judge in the U.S. had invalidated seven patents related to the BRAC1 and BRAC2 genes which are associated with breast cancer in women. The decision is very good news, especially for women who may have these genes and a history of breast cancer in their family


 
Complete story
 
SOUTH KOREA – BISHOPS CRITICIZE FOUR RIVERS PROJECT
The president of the South Korea Bishops Conference, Peter Kang, held a press conference to express the deep concern of all the Catholic bishops of the country about the Four Rivers Project.

 
Complete story
 

World Mission receives again a Catholic Mass Media trophy

World Mission (WM) was awarded another trophy by the prestigious Catholic Mass Media Awards (CMMA) in its 31st edition. The magazine was distinguished as the Best Local Community/Parish Newspaper for the third consecutive year.

Complete Story

QUOTES OF THE MONTH

""Man is made to love; his life is fully realized only if he lives in love."

  Pope Benedict XVI in a message
 sent to Cardinal Stanislaw Rylko,
president of the Pontifical Council
 for the Laity, and to the participants
 of the 10th International Youth
 Forum, held in Rocca di Papa.

"We, Christians, even lately, have often avoided the word 'penance.' Now, under the eyes of the world that speaks of our sins, we see that doing penance is grace and we see how penance is necessary."

 
Pope Benedict XVI in an
 apparent reference to the sex-abuse
 crisis, in a homily during a Mass
 at the Pauline Chapel of the
 papal palace, attended by members
 of the Vatican's Bible Commission.

"The Pope and I are united on the relationship between reason and science, the necessity of dialogue between religions and the need for worldwide ethics, even if my hopes of a reformist course have not been fulfilled."

Hans Küng, a Roman Catholic priest,
 Swiss-born theologian and Vatican critic,
 in an interview conducted by
The European, a Berlin-based
 online news service.

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