On March 31, 2014, Irene Fernandez, passed away in her country, Malaysia, after a heart attack at the age of 67. She had decades ago given up the possibility of a safe teaching career for a life devoted to addressing…
Dawn Morais
Communications Consultant/ Instructor/ Blogger/ Issue Advocate • Born in Kerala. Raised in Malaysia. Living in Hawaii.
Blog Archives
Catholic workers: Irene Fernandez and Dorothy Day
Tagged with: Amnesty International, Catholic social teaching, Catholic Worker Movement, Chaminade University, Danny O'Regan, Dorothy Day, Honolulu, Irene Fernandez, Mackey Lecture, Malaysia, Martha Hennessy, Mary House, Notre Dame University, Peter Maurin, Tenaganita
Posted in Catholic Social Doctrine, Feeding the Hungry, Fighting Poverty, Human Rights in Malaysia, I BLOG, Justice, Lay Catholics, Malaysian Government, Uncategorized, War, Women in the Church, Women's Rights, Workers' Rights
Posted in Catholic Social Doctrine, Feeding the Hungry, Fighting Poverty, Human Rights in Malaysia, I BLOG, Justice, Lay Catholics, Malaysian Government, Uncategorized, War, Women in the Church, Women's Rights, Workers' Rights
New Contracts for Catholic Teachers In Hawaii: No “Fragrance of the Gospel”
If it isn’t already hard enough to attract the best and the brightest to the teaching profession, the Honolulu diocese now plans to make full and part-time teachers in Catholic schools sign contracts that promise termination if they violate Church…
Tagged with: abortion, Catholic school, Catholic Teacher contracts, Cincinnati, Evangelii Gaudium, Fortunate Families, Honolulu, in vitro, Joy of the Gospel, LGBT, Michael Rockers, Pope Francis, Superintendent of Catholic Schools, Susie Roth
Posted in Catholic Teachers, Children, I BLOG, LGBT Catholics Hawaii, Uncategorized
Posted in Catholic Teachers, Children, I BLOG, LGBT Catholics Hawaii, Uncategorized
Bishop Spong: Towards an Educated Laity
Reprinted here, with permission from Bishop John Shelby Spong, is a Q & A from a recent edition of his newsletter in which he discusses the healthcare debate and calls for more honesty. His response to a reader’s question urges…
Raising the Minimum Wage is Pro-Life. So why aren’t all Pro-lifers for it?
Speaker of the House, John Boehner, a Catholic pro-lifer who has previously said he would rather commit suicide than raise the minimum wage, offered the logic that a raise would adversely affect minorities who hold low-wage jobs and would be…
Tagged with: Catholic Charities Hawaii, FACE, Faith Action for Community Equity, Give Hawaii a Raise, Jery Rauckhorst, John Boehner, Minimum wage, Paul Ryan, PHOCUSED, Pro Life, RE. Bob Nakata, USCCB, Women and Minimum Wage, Women's Chamber of Commerce
Posted in Business and Justice, Equality and Faith, I BLOG, Justice, Politics and Religion, Uncategorized, US Bishops
Posted in Business and Justice, Equality and Faith, I BLOG, Justice, Politics and Religion, Uncategorized, US Bishops
From Solomon Northup to Pope Francis’ Abolitionist Movement
It feels like a minor, incidental scene. A slave wanders into a store where the free-born Solomon Northup is shopping with his wife. The slave is quickly followed in by his owner who apologizes for the intrusion and hurries him…
Tagged with: 12 years a slave, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Evangelii Gaudium, Joy of the Gospel, Pope Francis, Slavery, Solomon Northup, Steve McQueen
Posted in Catholics and Culture, Equality and Faith, I BLOG, Justice, Uncategorized
Posted in Catholics and Culture, Equality and Faith, I BLOG, Justice, Uncategorized
On the Road to Lujan
As we head towards the farmhouse in Carlos Keen, the sky is ablaze with the splendor of an Argentine sunset. But all at once, as we pass the poor neighborhoods along the highway to Lujan, it seems as if dusk…
Women: Instruments of a Franciscan World
More than once in Paul Vallely’s excellent book, Pope Francis: Untying the Knots, the writer quotes a former long-time aide who describes Jorge Mario Bergoglio’s irritation with the high-handed advice of Rome. He had no patience, we are told, for…
Tagged with: Argentina, Jorge Bergoglio, Leonardo Boff, liberation theology, Mother of God, Paul Vallely, Solemnity of Mary, St. Austin's Church, St. Francis of Assisi, Women
Posted in Environment, I BLOG, Uncategorized, Women in the Church
Posted in Environment, I BLOG, Uncategorized, Women in the Church
Exorcism and the Church as “the totality of God’s people.”
We may have just crossed some lunatic fringe. But as when a fever breaks, perhaps this may help to move us towards sanity and real healing. The lunacy was the “minor exorcism” conducted by Bishop Thomas Paprocki of Illinois to…
Tagged with: Bishop Paprocki, Exorcism, Illinois, Jack Andraka, Pope Francis, Same Sex Marriage, Same-sex marriage Hawaii, science prodigy
Posted in Child sex abuse, I BLOG, Lay Catholics, Uncategorized, US Bishops
Posted in Child sex abuse, I BLOG, Lay Catholics, Uncategorized, US Bishops
Marriage Equality: Maria Ahern will someday wonder what the fuss was all about.
Four month old Maria Ahern, in the arms of her mother Chelsea Ahern, was at the Hawaii State Capitol on November 12, 2013 as the same-sex marriage bill advanced to passage. Dressed in rainbow colors to proclaim solidarity with LGBT…
Tagged with: Any Given Tuesday, Chelsea Ahern, Hawaii State Capitol, Maria Ahern, Same Sex Marriage
Posted in I BLOG, LGBT Catholics, LGBT Catholics Hawaii, LGBT Families, LGBT Homeless Youth, Uncategorized
Posted in I BLOG, LGBT Catholics, LGBT Catholics Hawaii, LGBT Families, LGBT Homeless Youth, Uncategorized
Dawn Morais 