Can mass violence in Darfur, Congo and Somalia be stopped? A report from the United Nations General Assembly.
The “interconnectness of life” emerged as a popular phrase at a two-day conference in early May at Columbia University in New York City. Titled “Common Ground: Science and Religion in Dialogue for a Sustainable Future,” the gathering brought together a wide range of experts from the seemingly diverse fields of science and religion. Introducing the event on its first day, Dr. Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at the university’s Center for the Study of Science and Religion, said that combining science and religion does not necessarily make for a smooth dialogue. And yet such dialogue was indeed evident as the conference got under way. The three keynote speakers and the panelists affirmed the connectedness of the two, as well as the need to see them as essential in creating an ethic of sustainability. Such an ethic, they all emphasized, is key to the future of our ever more fragile earth.
Service arising from faith in a God who cares for the world's most vulnerable: these were hallmarks of an April 15, 2009 conference that celebrated the ten-year collaboration between Catholic Relief Services and Fordham University. CRS places graduates of Fordham's International Political Economic and Development program into CRS internships overseas. Begun by the U.S. Catholic bishops in 1943, CRS assists people in the developing world to break free from grinding poverty though community based initiatives in many of the world's poorest countries. Young women and men spoke in a series of workshops of their own first-hand involvement in sustainable development efforts in half a dozen nations.