Vocations Newsletter

Join Orbis Books Publisher, Robert Ellsberg, as he discusses "Ecomartyrdom in the Americas: Living and Dying for Our Common Home", with Elizabeth O'Donnell Gandolfo , author, in this One On One Interview.This book lifts up the witness of women and men in the Americas who have been murdered for their commitment to environmental justice and ecological liberation. The central claim here is that murdered environmental activists can and should be understood theologically by Christians as eco-martyrs.Therefore, their witness should challenge the church, especially in the Global North, to enter into solidarity with the ecological struggles of poor and indigenous communities not only in the Americas, but around the world.Get The Book: Ecomartyrdom in the Americas: Living and Dying for Our Common HomeCheck out more One On One Interviews with Orbis Books,
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The narrative from Luke’s Gospel of the journey of two disciples to Emmaus is well known and loved (Lk 24:13-35). We can imagine the scene: two men are walking; they are dejected, sad, and overwhelmed by recent events. Jesus, their dear friend and presumed messiah, met with a terrible end: an ignoble death by crucifixion on Calvary. There is nothing else to do: leave Jerusalem; return home to Emmaus; begin life all over again. That chapter of life has been permanently closed!
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It’s a beautiful September morning. Maryknoll Fr. Ray Nobiletti had just celebrated 8 o’clock Mass in Transfiguration Church in Lower Manhattan. The primary election for the Mayor of New York City was that day and the elementary school at Transfiguration was buzzing with the start of brand new school year. In fact it was the children’s 2nd day of school. The date is September 11, 2001. After Mass Fr. Nobiletti received a phone call and was informed that a plane had crashed into the World Trade Center, a building he always enjoyed looking at from his bedroom window, and he was asked if he could go immediately to the burning building to help minister to the wounded. Barely having time to collect his thoughts, let alone his stole, prayer book, and holy oils, Fr. Nobiletti proceeded into the chaos of what would become known as one of the worst tragedies the United States has ever seen. As tens of thousands of people are trying to escape Lower Manhattan, Fr. Nobiletti is walking in that direction. With people grabbing on to him, screaming, and crying it didn’t matter whether you were Catholic or not that day. He didn’t know it at…
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With deep faith and courageous hope, Saint Maximilian Kolbe endured the extreme horrors of Auschwitz, the notorious Nazi concentration camp in Poland. He proved that self-giving love and compassion can thrive even in extreme darkness and cruelty. His heroic life inspired other prisoners, giving them hope that kindness and self-sacrifice were possible—even in Auschwitz. This “factory of death” functioned from 1940 until 1945; studies demonstrate that between 1.1 and 1.5 million people perished there.
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