MEDIA COVERAGE
NEWS: Ayala: San Antonio becomes first city to develop ‘compassionistas’
Elaine Ayala, San Antonio Express-News, September 12, 2020 A hint of fall this week gave us a reprieve, however temporary, from a summer that was long and hot and steeped in shared stress. No one in the United States was spared the effects of a mismanaged pandemic, a...
NEWS: Essential services — Worship has evolved amid the disruption of COVID-19, minister says
By Peggy O’Hare STAFF WRITER San Antonio Express-News, 10 May, 2020, page H1 The Rev. Ann Helmke, a Lutheran minister who serves as the city’s liaison to its faith-based communities, discusses how churches and temples can best meet the needs of their congregations and...
COMMENTARY: On other side of this crisis, what will humanity be?
By Ann Helmke FOR THE EXPRESS-NEWS May 9, 2020 page A13 Who are we in the midst of COVID-19? Sometimes I find myself imagining the God’s eye view of our human movement during these surreal times. The image is daunting and more than the eye of my heart can take in...
NEWS: San Antonio joined Compassionate and Sister Cities in prayer and in tears
by Elaine Ayala Express-News, 13 August, 2019 Despite a searing noontime sun bearing down on the stone pavement between city council chambers and San Fernando Cathedral, about 100 people gathered Monday for prayer. The service drew Christians, Jews and Muslims. Among...
Father Ron Rolheiser: Christ’s call for true compassion is the goal of all religion
Published in the Express-News Faith section, 11 August, 2019 Dictionaries define compassion as a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering. What does it mean to offer...
Sr. Martha Ann Kirk: A person’s ‘compassion muscle’ can be strengthened
by Sister Martha Ann Kirk “Total Death List Eight” — so read the October 1912 San Antonio Express headline. I was doing research in the Archives of the Sisters of Charity of the Incarnate Word, when our archivist showed me newspaper clippings describing the fire that...
Nickie Valdez: Affirming the LGBTQI community as children of God
by Nickie Valdez Dignity USA is a national organization of LGBTQI Catholics and allies primarily concerned with the spirituality of the LGBTQI (lesbian-gay-bisexual-trans-queerintersex) individual. Dignity’s statement of position and purpose declares that we are...
Poorest among us have so little, yet they give so much
by Patti and Rod Radle Patti and Rod Radle are 2011 San Antonio Peace Laureates and volunteer co-directors of Inner City Development. During our first year in our West Side neighborhood, our income was extremely low. We spent our days working or going to school and...
Hoping for interreligious dialogue to become way of life
BELIEF by Rajam Ramamurthy, M.D. As a 3-year-old girl in India, I received letters from my father, who was studying mining engineering in the U.S. In one, he described how newspapers were sold in the 1940s by being piled in a corner. He said nobody took one without...
Working for justice requires never-ending vigilance
Working for justice requires never-ending vigilance by Mario Marcel Salas The human spirit seeks a better world. We battle for the dignity of humankind at every level. We should always be apprehensive for those marginalized and left in vulnerable positions. However,...