ENI for the latest news about churches and religion.
Cardinal Oswald Gracias, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of India, told the bishops' biennial assembly on 1 February that the widening of the gap between rich and poor is "a matter of serious concern for the church."
Posted on 2 February 2012 @ 12:00 am
Roman Catholic bishops in Malawi have endorsed a government move to allow men to get circumcised in hospitals as a prevention measure aimed at HIV/AIDS.
Posted on 1 February 2012 @ 12:00 am
A group of theologically conservative American Christian leaders is joining with animal rights defenders to advocate against cockfighting, calling the practice of watching and betting on roosters who fight to the death antithetical to biblical values.
Posted on 31 January 2012 @ 12:00 am
It is harvest time for strawberries in the northern Philippine town of La Trinidad, so strawberry farmer Alice Rivera will start repaying a loan extended by a Geneva-based ecumenical church loan fund.
Posted on 30 January 2012 @ 12:00 am
posted on June 20, 2011 in Blogs, Columns, Miscellaneous, The Messy Table
Share : 
Lucy Moore started what she called Messy Church near Portsmouth, England in 2004. It’s a great idea – gather a group of parents, kids and everyone else who wants to come along for some good old fashioned hands-on crafts, cooking, and worship.
posted on September 1, 2010 in Blogs, Connie Purvis, Malawi 2010
Share :
“Farewell, farewell, but not forever!” the Malawians sang as the Canadians began, one by one, to vanish into Chileka airport security.
posted on September 1, 2010 in Blogs, Connie Purvis, Malawi 2010
Share :
“What do you most want to see?” asked our guide, Raphael, who looked all the world like a gun-toting Peter Pan.
“Elephants!” came the communal cry.
posted on September 1, 2010 in Blogs, Connie Purvis, Malawi 2010
Share :
Inside one of the classrooms of Ng’onga Primary School, about a dozen villagers meet each Monday. All of them are HIV positive, and live in an area that has been particularly hard-hit by the pandemic.
posted on September 1, 2010 in Blogs, Connie Purvis, Malawi 2010
Share :
Alex, 19, is unable to speak or walk, and he lacks motor skills. At Tidzalerana Club, a meeting for people living with disabilities, he lay with his head in his grandmother’s lap.
posted on September 1, 2010 in Blogs, Connie Purvis, Malawi 2010
Share :
Some had spent the weekend in beautiful houses behind high walls and well watched gates, with attentive maids and personal drivers. The homestay experience had been a glimpse into the world of Blantyre’s upper class. But today it jarred with another part of the same world.
posted on September 1, 2010 in Blogs, Connie Purvis, Malawi 2010
Share :
The morning meant departure from the beauty of Likhubula House and the ever-present vision of Mount Mulanje. It was time to return to the city, and to face a new cultural challenge.
posted on September 1, 2010 in Blogs, Connie Purvis, Malawi 2010
Share :
The climb began at 6 a.m. on May 12. It took over six hours to reach the CCAP cottage on one of Mount Mulanje’s most popular plateaus.
posted on September 1, 2010 in Blogs, Connie Purvis, Malawi 2010
Share :
“This was the one thing on the itinerary that I felt uncomfortable doing because it’s something I’d never do back home,” admitted Sarah Smith as she sat with the other youth on a concrete floor at Mulanje Mission Hospital. “It was like I was being a tourist of sickness, almost, but I don’t feel like it did any harm so I’m not sure.”
posted on September 1, 2010 in Blogs, Connie Purvis, Malawi 2010
Share :
It was a sentiment commonly expressed by participants on short term mission trips. “The people here seem so happy, even though they have so little.”
posted on September 1, 2010 in Blogs, Connie Purvis, Malawi 2010
Share :
The dancing began at the offering. As the leader called each group up by their region–including Canada—people filed down their aisle to leave their gifts to God.
posted on September 1, 2010 in Blogs, Connie Purvis, Malawi 2010
Share :
Today was one of songs and laughter. About two dozen children walked to Likhubula House, some coming as many as six kilometres, to attend a weekly Saturday school.
posted on September 1, 2010 in Blogs, Connie Purvis, Malawi 2010
Share :
The Lujeri Tea Estate sprawls across the foothills near Mount Mulanje. It was established in 1926 and today is Malawi’s second-largest tea estate.
posted on September 1, 2010 in Blogs, Connie Purvis, Malawi 2010
Share :
It was a task destined to take up part of any trip: souvenir shopping. After changing dollars into kwacha, the local currency, the group headed into downtown Blantyre to find a little something for everyone back home.
posted on September 1, 2010 in Blogs, Connie Purvis, Malawi 2010
Share :
It began with an awkward meeting. The Canadians gathered their bags (at least those bags that had made the three-plane journey from Canada to Malawi) and emerged from the airport, blinking in the sudden light.
posted on July 15, 2010 in Blogs, Miscellaneous, Wondering Wanderer
Share :
Spong categorically rejects Wright’s interpretation of a supernatural God who miraculously invades the world to save us from the reality of death.
posted on June 27, 2010 in Andrew Faiz, General Assembly, General Assembly 2010
Share :
“Moderator, its not Presbyterian.”
posted on October 21, 2009 in Blogs, Connie Purvis
Share :
It was our final night in Jordan. We sat in the hotel bar in the still-warm evening, reflecting back on a week spent roaming through the deserts, ruins and breathing cities of a country little-known and less understood by the inhabitants of our homelands. And as with most reminiscences, the stories twisted back on themselves, away from these final moments and toward the beginning of our journey.
posted on October 21, 2009 in Blogs, Connie Purvis
Share :
Our guide for the week was Ali Abu Shakra, the son of a Palestinian father who fled Israel during the occupation of Gaza. As a 12-year-old boy he boarded a bus, not knowing where he was bound. In the early morning, he stepped off on a street corner in Amman, Jordan.
posted on October 21, 2009 in Blogs, Connie Purvis
Share :
Modern Amman is home to an estimated 2.5 million people, or 40 per cent of Jordan’s total population. The city has grown from its initial seven hills to sprawl across more than 40 in endless waves of sandstone houses and tentacle-like roads that have a disconcerting tendency to veer off in unexpected directions.
