Clerical kidnappings, elections, and COVID dominate Catholic news in Americas
- Apr 13, 2021
Lucia DeClerck has survived the 1918 influenza pandemic, two world wars, the loss of three husbands, one son and many of her physicians. Recently added to the list: COVID-19, which she tested positive for on her 105th birthday.
The Madeleine parish in Northeast Portland, has a vaccine outreach for seniors. It’s focused on helping parishioners schedule their vaccinations and no one is turned away.
In communities around the world, the social isolation that keeps elders safe from the coronavirus but precludes going to church is proving extremely difficult for many. In some remote areas, younger generations are helping their elders.
Catholic bishops on two different sides of the Atlantic reminded Catholics of the enormous suffering of vulnerable peoples, but most especially the elderly, during the coronavirus pandemic.
Janice Dean is the senior meteorologist for FOX News Channel,
Phylis Nyambura sits on a plastic chair, pensive and alone in the shade of a tree at Cheshire Home for the Elderly in the Kariobangi slum northeast of Nairobi. She laments how her social life has changed as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.
John “Jay” Surufka knows a lot about growing things because he has been doing it for 90 years. The 97-year-old World War II Army veteran said that’s what his family did when he was growing up in Harvey, a suburb south of Chicago.
Since 2006, Thomas Blonski has been president and chief executive officer of Catholic Charities New Hampshire, one of the state’s largest social services organizations. He is working to protect seniors at Catholic Charities-run care facilities.