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People hang photos of their disappeared loved ones on a tree in Poza Rica, Veracruz’s Benito Juarez Park. Photo by Madeleine Wattenbarger for Sojourners
“My name is Maria Herrera,” she told the congregation, “and I have four disappeared sons.” She went on to plead for their solidarity: for anyone with information about where the brigade might find clandestine graves to speak out. The brigade, Maria emphasized, doesn’t look for guilty parties. They don’t care about finding out who took their loved ones. They just look for their family members, dead or alive.
Juan Carlos Trujillo Herrera and other family members of disappeared people march in Poza Rica, Veracruz, on February 21, 2020. Photo by Madeleine Wattenbarger for Sojourners
Desde donde me encontraba en la iglesia de Papantla, esperando agarrar aire cerca de la puerta lateral, miré a mi alrededor para ver docenas de mujeres con los ojos llenos de lágrimas. La procesión volvió a las calles de Papantla, encabezada por el obispo con sus vestimentas verde esmeralda. Marcharon durante la siguiente hora por la ciudad, sosteniendo sus fotos y gritando. Los espectadores se reunieron en las esquinas; los dueños de las tiendas se acercaron a la puerta para ver pasar a la multitud. "Unete, únete, que tu hijo puede ser," cantaban.
At the end of May, the Amazon basin region had almost 134,000 confirmed cases and 6,883 reported COVID-19 deaths according to a Catholic Church aggregation of published official government data from the region. There were nearly 115,000 cases in the Brazilian Amazon basin alone.
U.S. President Donald Trump holds up a Bible as he stands in front of St. John's Episcopal Church. June 1, 2020. REUTERS/Tom Brenner
After an incendiary Rose Garden speech on Monday— in which he threatened to deploy the military if mayors and state governors refused to call out the National Guard to end protests of police brutality — President Donald Trump crossed Lafayette Park to pose for pictures while holding a Bible in front of the historic St. John Episcopal Church. Before his photo op, police used tear gas and rubber bullets to clear peaceful protesters from the park, which stands between the White House and the church.
A man passes graffiti on a building a day after protests over the death in Minneapolis police custody of George Floyd in Washington, U.S., June 1, 2020. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
In more than 60 cities across the country, people stopped on June 1 to remember the more than 100,000 people who have died from COVID-19 as part of a National Day of Mourning and Lament.
Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan at a news conference on May 30.
"There are white supremacists, there are anarchists, there are people who are burning down the institutions that are core to our identity and who we are," Flanagan said, pointing to Migizi, a nonprofit organization serving Native American youth, which was trashed and its historical archives destroyed amid the protests. " ... We need to create the space for people to be able to grieve, to come together, to mourn the loss of George Floyd, but in order to be able to do that, we need to create the space to remove the people who are doing us harm."
A protester kicks the door of the Florida home of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in the Windermere neighbourhood of Orlando, Fla., May 29, 2020. REUTERS/Scott Audette
Derek Chauvin, the Minneapolis police officer who is seen on a bystander's cellphone video kneeling on George Floyd's neck on Monday, has been charged with third-degree murder in Floyd's death, according to Mike Freeman, Hennepin County attorney.
Pastor Traci Blackmon poses inside the closed Christ the King United Church of Christ in Florissant, Mo., May 22, 2020. REUTERS/Lawrence Bryant
When Traci Blackmon, the senior pastor for a predominantly black church in the suburbs of St. Louis, Mo., is finally able to open the doors for service again, one of her main concerns is the collective sorrow her congregation will experience.
Staff at Casa del Migrante prepares food for migrants still houses at the shelter during the pandemic with a facemask on. Photo courtesy Casa del Migrante
“The big, big risk in Tijuana is that somebody comes, and if they're sick, where do I send them? There is no option,” he said. “The general hospital won't take them unless they're a certain level of sick, they have to be severely sick, so there is no structure here.”
Image via Chris Dobens/We ACT for Environmental Justice
“The communities that suffer environmental injustices that affect their underlying illnesses have higher rates of pulmonary diseases, which render them more at risk of dying from COVID-19,” said Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Calif., who authored legislation upon which the provision is based. Ruiz said the environmental justice grant programs need to be codified because “you never know” which administration will neglect or defund the programs.
The politics in ‘Mrs. America,’ evangelicals in Brazil, and finding joy right now.
Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro adjusts his mask as he leaves Alvorada Palace in Brasilia, Brazil. May 13, 2020. REUTERS/Adriano Machado
Even while Brazil is a COVID-19 global hot spot, some pastors flout social distancing.
First Baptist Church of Lexington, Va. will open its doors for services this Sunday.
This Sunday, churches in parts of Virginia will be permitted to open their doors for services as part of phase one of Gov. Ralph Northam’s reopening plan.
It’s a moment many pastors in the state have been eagerly anticipating.
Learning from Octavia Butler, pandemic changes for seminary students, mystery at Oxford, and more.
When campus life shuttered in March to slow the spread of the coronavirus, more than 14 million students across the nation were forced to adapt to new routines. Campus lawns speckled with students gave way to uniform rows of faces on video calls. The now coined “Zoom fatigue” replaced “pulling an all-nighter” at the library.
While the pandemic has strained students from all academic disciplines, seminary and divinity students have felt unique pressure as they discern calls to enter positions and spaces of worship that may not resemble what they did before the virus took hold.
Four students shared with Sojourners what their studies look like amid the pandemic and how this moment is shaping their call.
Pope Francis holds weekly general audience virtually from the Library of the Apostolic Palace due to the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at the Vatican April 15, 2020. Vatican Media/Handout via REUTERS
Pope Francis praised the work of nurses around the world on Tuesday, saying the coronavirus crisis had shown how vital their service is, as he appealed to governments to invest more in health care.
Mother’s Day grief, spiritual care on the front lines, essential workers, and more.
A member of the medical staff sends a message at the Clinique de l'Estree private hospital in Stains, April 2020. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
“When there’s a code blue or a stroke — when there’s pandemonium and crisis — everyone goes running,” Canosa said. “We joke that chaplains don’t run. Part of what we do is offer that calm and compassionate presence.”
Why Zoom leaves us unfulfilled, churches addressing financial distress, food hospitality, and more.