I disagree with plenty of Catholic theology—especially on LGBTQ and women’s issues. So why should I care? The answer is simple: Chicago.

This 1991 film about friendship, food, and small-town Alabama perfectly shows the kind of Christian love that shapes my faith, despite its complex background spanning different spiritual traditions through the generations in my family in the far-off Ilocos and Hawaii.

When those sitting at the table come from similar backgrounds and hold similar assumptions, we risk falling back into old patterns.

As the Declaration of Faith reminds us, “We do not know when or how the final redemption of creation will be achieved. But we know that God will win.”

This is death by policy. Death by blockade. Death by indifference. And famine is always manmade.

My ancestors were told that their gods, their rituals, their ways of relating to the land were evil—and they were punished for honoring them.

Two of my favorite paintings are by Carl Bloch and Frans Schwartz of the same subject.