“I am very, very spiritual but I am not religious. I believe in the existence of God, and before I start an operation I pray to God, and after the surgery I again pray to him for taking me through the operation.” More →

August 26, 2016

“We’re here as a sign of God’s presence,” says Father Edwin Leahy, headmaster of St. Benedict’s Prep School in Newark, New Jersey. “That’s who we are as monks. We take a vow of stability of place, so even though the neighborhoods change around us on a regular basis, we stay.” More →

June 10, 2016

More and more churches in Alabama are opposing the high interest charges of payday lenders. “There’s a moral and ethical injunction starting back in the Old Testament going all the way into the New Testament church,” says Rev. Shannon Webster, pastor of Birmingham’s First Presbyterian Church. “There are injunctions against lending at interest in an exorbitant way.” More →

June 3, 2016

“Our ministry is different because we focus on development as opposed to just relief. We want to end poverty more than just relieve people from the pain of poverty. We want to change communities,” says Katie Delp, executive director of FCS (Focused Communities Strategies) Urban Ministries. More →

November 25, 2015

“Give people job opportunities, give children education, and then you bring them out of poverty. Just giving them condoms and contraceptives will not automatically draw them out of poverty,” says Rev. Joel Jason of the Archdiocese of Manila. But some women say lack of access to family planning and free birth control makes it harder for them to improve their lives. More →

June 12, 2015

Most millennials, says Rev. Wayne Meisel, “do not believe the church cares about them or the causes they care about. There’s this bubbling fervor and energy and possibility that we just have to figure out how to both tap and how to support, and then get out of the way.” More →

May 14, 2015

“It took many parts of very many communities to make peace in Baltimore,” says Eugene Sutton, Episcopal Bishop of Maryland. “Religious leaders from all over the city—Christian mainly, Muslim and Jewish leaders—got out on the streets and congregations and really proclaimed a message of hope and of nonviolence and peace. City officials did the same.” More →

May 1, 2015

“I’ve realized that my neighbors are not just the folks living down the street or over a block, but they are living all around the world. They’re living in Rwanda, they’re living in Kenya, they’re living in Senegal, they’re living in Morocco, and so forth. And we need to be looking out for each other,” says Steve Clarke, a volunteer at Compatible Technology International. More →

March 27, 2015

Jockin Arputham started his campaign to build a network among the urban poor by organizing a critical mass of India’s slum-dwelling population, especially women’s collectives. Today they pressure local governments to be more responsive to their needs, especially toilet and sanitation facilities. More →

January 30, 2015

According to Father Michael Doyle, crime and poverty in Camden, New Jersey are worse today than when he first arrived there 39 years ago. But through his church’s ministry of feeding, housing, and educating the poor, Father Doyle sees hope for what the FBI considers the most dangerous city in America. “We’re working against the odds, but I think God is on our side,” he says. More →

November 26, 2014