Today's religion and world affairs news from the United States and around the globe: the end of the Vatican synod on the family, the beatification of Pope Paul VI, and Boko Haram.
AROUND THE WORLD
No Consensus at Vatican as Synod Ends
by Laurie Goodstein and Elisabetta Povoledo
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/19/world/europe/no-consensus-at-vatican-as-synod-ends-.html?ref=today...
A closely watched Vatican assembly on the family ended on Saturday without consensus among the bishops in attendance on what to say about gays, and whether to give communion to divorced and remarried Catholics.
Pope Francis Walks the Talk
New York Times editorial
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/18/opinion/vatican-signals-on-gays-and-remarriage-are-a-hopeful-begin...
A half-century after the historic changes of the Second Vatican Council, Pope Francis is showing his intent to drive a comparably ambitious agenda for the Roman Catholic Church in the 21st century.
What Is a Catholic Family?
by Peter Manseau
New York Times op-ed
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/18/opinion/what-is-a-catholic-family.html?ref=todayspaper
Yet even if the effects of the “pastoral earthquake” described by one longtime Vatican correspondent turn out to be as lasting as the wall-shaking rumble of a passing diesel truck, something undeniably significant did happen at the synod last week. More than just a momentary softening of rhetoric, it was an indication that the idea of family is again evolving in Rome.
Pope Francis Beatifies an Earlier Reformer, Paul VI
by Elisabetta Povoledo
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/20/world/europe/pope-francis-beatifies-pope-paul-vi.html?ref=todayspa...
Pope Francis on Sunday beatified Pope Paul VI, who died in 1978 after shepherding the church through a period of internal reform amid an era of social and political change and growing challenges to the church’s traditional teachings.
Islam’s Clash With Islam
by Jeffrey Simpson
Globe and Mail op-ed
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/islams-clash-with-islam/article21138368/
In Iraq, and in many places throughout the Islamic world, militant Muslims are fighting not just those of other faiths—Buddhists in Thailand, Christians in northern Nigeria and the Central African Republic—but they are also fighting other Islamic sects and secular governments headed by Muslims. To say that Islam is fighting itself stretches a point, but not that far.
At Birthplace of the Arab Spring, Discontent Opens a Door to the Past
by Carlotta Gall
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/20/world/at-birthplace-of-the-arab-spring-discontent-opens-a-door-to-...
Tunisia has been torn by ideological divisions between Islamists who won the first elections after the revolution in 2011 and secularists who led a protest movement against the Islamist government last year after the assassination of two members of Parliament. Now riding on the wave of discontent, former officials from the Ben Ali government, who are free to run for office for the first time since the uprising, are attempting a comeback.
Lebanon's Jewish Revival
by Adam Rasmi
Foreign Affairs
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/142184/adam-rasmi/lebanons-jewish-revival
Fewer than 200 Lebanese Jews still live in Lebanon today. But some Lebanese are now hoping this trend can be reversed—and there is cause for cautious optimism.
India's Isolationism
by Shashank Joshi
Foreign Affairs
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/142209/shashank-joshi/indias-isolationism
The fate of the Middle East, home to roughly seven million Indians, has long been tied to that of India. Despite its stake in the region, however, India has remained passive in the face of crises. It appears wary of taking on a more assertive diplomatic or military role—more likely to evacuate citizens than send more in to grapple with the Middle East’s problems.
Six Months After Abducting Nigerian Schoolgirls, Boko Haram Reportedly Wants to Free Them
by Rick Noack
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2014/10/17/six-months-after-abducting-nigerian-sch...
On Friday, the Nigerian military reportedly agreed to a truce with the militant group Boko Haram. According to the announcement, more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls who were abducted this year will be freed.
China’s Crackdown Slows Tibetan Refugee Crossings to Freedom in India
by Annie Gowen
Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/china-crackdown-slows-tibet-refugee-crossings-to-fr...
Declining numbers of refugees are likely to have a profound effect on the Tibetan diaspora—with an estimated 120,000 living in India alone—who have relied on survivors and their first-hand accounts to help raise support for their cause in the West, experts say. Now the Chinese have tightened the border further as part of a counterterrorism campaign launched this year in the wake of two violent terrorist attacks by extremist Uighurs, a Muslim minority, advocates say.
Redeeming the System
Economist
http://www.economist.com/blogs/erasmus/2014/10/catholicism-and-capitalism
Much of Clifford Longley’s paper is devoted to a critique of the financial and economic boom that preceded the crash of 2008. It is implied that if the "market fundamentalism" and "neoliberalism" of that frothy era had been tempered by a good dose of CST (Catholic Social Teaching), the collapse might have been avoided: and that CST is the answer to averting such tragedies in future.
DOMESTIC
The Beggars of Lakewood
New York Times Magazine
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/19/magazine/the-beggars-of-lakewood.html
A small New Jersey town is world-famous among Orthodox Jews as a place to come ask for handouts.
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