Benjamin Stewart

What to Know About Canada’s Fires as Smoke Drifts South

Climate change is “turning Canadian forests into a tinderbox.

‘The United States is, for the most part, the main reason for that,’ said Dr. Waddington, referring to the role of the US as one of the biggest generators of planet-warming greenhouse emissions.”

www.nytimes.com/article/cana...

to Jews, on the Gaza famine an open letter: we have been commanded

I just sent this out.

The Jewish people have moral frameworks for this moment.

It is a choice not to heed them.

Please let us meet this moment, let us see the shattered Temple around us, right now, and our responsibility to it.

More than 100 humanitarian groups warn of mass starvation in Gaza A joint statement says the Israeli government's "siege" has left aid supplies "totally depleted".

An intentional, avoidable mass starvation event is happening in the context of an ongoing genocide and not only is the US not doing anything to stop it, we are actively enabling it, both materially by continuing to fund and arm Israel and also by silencing protest here. www.bbc.com/news/article...

The New “Mass for the Care of Creation”: When “better than nothing” simply is “not good enough” - PrayTellBlog TERESA BERGER -- What remains is a largely anthropocentric posture embodied in the “Mass for the Care of Creation”: we humans should care for creation.

Teresa Berger of @yaledivinityschool.bsky.social has a wise & critical take on Rome's new "Mass for the Care of Creation" praytellblog.com/index.php/20...

It would cost *minuscule* amounts of money and lost driving time to put a bike path on every single dangerous road in your city, at least relative to how much you're already spending on car infrastructure. But they won't do it because they recognize that *everything would change if they did.*

Alan Sparhawk - "Not Broken" - Perfect Duluth Day The video for the second release from Alan Sparhawk‘s second solo album, With Trampled by Turtles, was directed by edited by Alexa Viscius and features vocals by Hollis Sparhawk. The album releases Ma...

Duluthian Alan Sparhawk's haunting new video looks like it might be filmed at Chicago's Hyde Park Promontory Point? www.perfectduluthday.com/2025/05/12/a...

Pope Leo’s Classmates Drew Ire of Church With Protest for Women

Fascinating historical account of a liturgical protest within a liturgy in the church building where (until recently) LSTC held its commencements www.nytimes.com/2025/05/15/u...

So much appreciation for your life and witness, Helen. You were a fantastically gracious and good-humored guest lecturer for my students and I continue to learn from you. Sending love and good courage.

Pyramid showing a tiered hierarchy in "pharaoh's egypt"

this image from Daniel Erlander's "Manna and Mercy" has been such a helpful one on the parish level.

student photo of Robert Prevost, OSA 9/14

CTU also released his student photo which is adorable

Pastoral Letter from Bishop Eaton on the Election of Pope Leo XIV

Fun fact: there’s now an #ELCA Lutheran seminary (LSTC) inside the walls of the Catholic seminary that Pope Leo attended (CTU), whereLutherans and Catholics learn alongside each other.

And Martin Luther, like Leo, was an Augustinian. www.elca.org/news-and-eve...

Alright info coming in, but here are my big hot papal takes:

First, conclaves really are unpredictable. I've been reticent to pick someone as a likely candidate, but the one sure bet I thought you could make is that there wouldn't be a pope from the US, and here we are.

Includes a 2023 tribute from CTU:

“Prevost brings... the heart of a missionary and years of ministerial experience, ranging from academic classrooms to poor barrios to the upper echelons of administration... He embodies the Gospel call to be ready to serve wherever the Spirit leads.”

screenshot of Prevost sharing NCR article: "JD Vance is wrong: Jesus doesn't ask us to rank our love for others"

Interesting-looking liturgical studies book by the author of the @ncronline.bsky.social article shared by then Cardinal Prevost, now Pope Leo. www.ncronline.org/opinion/gues...

Robert Prevost reposted Rocco Palmo @roccopalmo · Apr 14 As Trump & Bukele use Oval to 🤣 Feds’ illicit deportation of a US resident (https://bit.ly/3ROMjnP), once an undoc-ed Salvadorean himself, now-DC Aux +Evelio asks, “Do you not see the suffering? Is your conscience not disturbed? How can you stay quiet?” https://bit.ly/4j700KN

The most recent retweet from the new pope is 👀.

"the smoke is white, and the Catholic world holds its breath" sounds like a rubric from "Liturgia Cheech et Chong"

My daughter Emma radiated love and light everywhere she went and for all people. Even as a child, she was a friend to everyone and someone who spoke up for the less fortunate. She dedicated her life – her career and her free time – to causes of social justice and equity. That was just who she was. To see her used by Secretary Noem and others to advance a cruel and heartless political agenda is not just deeply painful to us – it is an insult to her memory. Noem’s words are in direct conflict with who Emma was as a person. Emma built up community and stood with all members, including immigrants. No parent should have to experience the loss of a child. But every time her name is brought into these conversations – conversations she would have wanted nothing to do with – we have to relive the pain of her death. Secretary Noem, as a mother still grieving the loss of a child, I beg you to stop. This is not who she was. This is not helping us. Her memory should live in all the people she touched and the causes that she fought for. And I ask all of you to remember Emma as she was. And to live your life as she did: with courageous empathy and love for all. Cathy Schwartz and John M. Shafer

Kristi Noem went to Springfield, Illinois, where I grew up, and tried to use the memory of Emma Shafer to promote Trump's racist and brutal agenda. Emma's parents are not standing for this, and they released a statement that is worth reading in-full.

T&T Clark Handbook of Sacraments and Sacramentality Introducing readers to the contemporary field of sacramental theology, this volume covers the biblical and historical foundations, a survey of the state of the…

some qualms about that articulation of the promise but I like how you're thinking :) Ch 22. The Ecosacramentality of the Funeral www.bloomsbury.com/us/tt-clark-...

I love this: “You’re going into a huge support system … and don’t be discouraged by the impact you alone have,” Yapel said she would tell people on the fence about engaging in climate work.

The Top 1% of U.S. earners now have more wealth than the entire middle class

“End Times Fascism”: Naomi Klein on How Trump, Musk, Far Right “Don’t Believe in the Future” An alliance between the far right and Silicon Valley oligarchs has given rise to a form of “end times fascism,” says journalist Naomi Klein, who details in a recent essay co-authored with Astra Taylor...

"End Times Fascism": Naomi Klein on How Trump, Musk, Far Right "Don't Believe in the Future"

oof. I think about the histories of religions & spiritualities that looked up in awe at the night sky to see a more powerful order of things and took courage against despots on earth. These billionaires really do seem to think they should have everything, including the sky.

Here’s the Stanford report the Politico story is based on: purl.stanford.edu/gf151tb4868

they know there's going to be an apocalypse for trucking jobs due to tariffs so they're trying to stem the political damage by making it so the layoffs disproportionately affect non-english speaking truckers

Dudley Edmondson: Nature for All Dudley Edmondson, a Duluth-based author, filmmaker, nature photographer, and speaker, has a new idea for how to save the world now.

“I’m not sure people who are not from here realize how outdoors-oriented Duluth is. Some days I feel like everyone I talk to is on their way to or coming back from ice climbing, sea kayaking, mountain biking, downhill skiing, fishing, or hiking. It’s a nature city." ❤️‍🔥 mspmag.com/arts-and-cul...

NYT screenshot: "Can 3,500 Percent Tariffs Protect the U.S. Solar Industry? It's unclear whether sky-high tariffs on solar imports will be enough to fight back Chinese competitors."

paging @nytpitchbot.bsky.social

@nytimes.com: "Do we need tariffs higher than 3,500% to fight invasive solar panels? We ask the question with a straight face while the economy craters and the planet burns"

Thanks, followed. Still figuring out this sky place :)

Ha! I gave these away to students in my “liturgy and the cycles of creation” course, but dm me with a style you like from the photo and I’ll see if we can make one in the next batch.

Pope Francis, the First Global South Pontiff His papacy set many new precedents for the church, and his successor will be chosen from a group that he himself quietly transformed.

I'm in @thenation.com today with a long read on some of Pope Francis's reforms, highlighting that the next pope will be elected by a conclave made up of a majority of cardinals from outside of Europe.
www.thenation.com/article/soci...