Religion, Faith and Spirituality

"Tribes, NARF Join Legal Fight To Protect Chuckwalla National Monument"

"A coalition of tribes and the Native American Rights Fund jumped Monday into the legal battle to protect the Chuckwalla National Monument in southern California that President Joe Biden created during his last month in office. Tribes led a long fight to see the monument established."

Source: ICT, 08/12/2025

"At ‘Alligator Alcatraz,’ the Biggest Risk Isn’t Alligators"

"The area around the immigrant detention center, deep in the Everglades, is threatened by a number of environmental hazards like hurricanes, intense heat and even wildfires."

Source: NYTimes, 08/07/2025

Copper Mines Close in on Western Apache Sacred Site and Protected Forest

"To offset Resolution Copper’s impacts on the hallowed ground of Oak Flat, the federal government will take possession of a rare old-growth mesquite forest. But it already approved exploratory drilling for another mine nearby."

Source: Inside Climate News, 08/06/2025

"Pope Leo XIV Approves New Mass Centered On Care For The Environment"

"As record‑breaking heat scorches much of Europe — with triple‑digit temperatures, wildfires and deaths reported — the Vatican released a new liturgy Thursday for Mass reflecting concern for the environment, offering prayers, readings and hymns that highlight the church’s responsibility to protect the Earth."

Source: Religion News Service, 07/07/2025

Photo Essay: Tohono O’odham Families Carry On Sacred Saguaro Fruit Harvest

"The saguaro cactus is the iconic plant of the Arizona borderlands, and in June and early July, its thorn-covered small fruit ripens. For members of the Tohono O’odham Nation, whose ancestors have lived in this hot desert for thousands of years, harvest time for the “bahidaj” is sacred."

Source: AP, 07/03/2025

"National Parks Are Told to Delete Content That ‘Disparages Americans’"

"The Interior Department plans to remove or cover up all “inappropriate content” at national parks and sites by Sept. 17 and is asking the park visitors to report any “negative” information about past or living Americans, according to internal documents."

Source: NYTimes, 06/16/2025

California’s Yurok Tribe Gets Back Ancestral Lands Taken Over 120 Years Ago

"As a youngster, Barry McCovey Jr. would sneak through metal gates and hide from security guards just to catch a steelhead trout in Blue Creek amid northwestern California redwoods. Since time immemorial, his ancestors from the Yurok Tribe had fished, hunted and gathered in this watershed flanked by coastal forests. But for more than 100 years, these lands were owned and managed by timber companies, severing the tribe’s access to its homelands."

Source: AP, 06/06/2025

"Supreme Court Rejects Bid To Stop Arizona Copper Mine"

"The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a request from some members of the San Carlos Apache Tribe to block a massive proposed copper mine that they say will destroy a holy site in Arizona known as Oak Flat."

Source: E&E News, 05/29/2025

"Amazon Catholics Hope The New Pope Will Protect The Rain Forest"

"The bishop sat quietly near the front row, hands folded, listening as Indigenous leaders and church workers spoke about the threats to Peru’s northern forests, a part of the Amazon rain forest. It was 2016, a year after Laudato Si, Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment."

Source: AP, 05/13/2025

"Pope: Climate Change Impacts Poorest And Requires Global Cooperation"

"Speaking on the deteriorating environmental crisis facing the world, Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America and Prefect of the Dicastery for Bishops, stressed it is time to move “from words to action.” He said the answer to this challenge must be based on the Social Doctrine of the Church."

Source: Vatican News, 05/09/2025

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