The Dispatch
Catholicism at the bottom of the planet
A priest remembers his time ministering to those living and working in one of the world’s harshest environments. […]
Articles by R. Cavanaugh
The Dispatch
The resilience of Native American Catholicism
Some estimates put the proportion of Native Americans who identify as Catholic at as much as 25 percent of the Native population. […]
Special Report
Papua New Guinea: Unique challenges face some of the world’s most isolated Catholics
In October 2016, Archbishop John Ribat became the first cardinal from Papua New Guinea, a South Pacific nation of about 7.5 million people, more than one-quarter of whom are Catholic. But in this geographically remote […]
General
Catholistan: The state of the Church in Central Asia
The “-stan” suffix, when attached to a nation or territory, is a different version of the “-land” suffix attached to European countries. Though most people are acquainted with Afghanistan, many have barely heard of such […]
Special Report
Catholicism in Somalia: The Brave Few
When built in 1928, the Catholic cathedral in Mogadishu, Somalia’s capital city, was the largest on the African continent. But more recent decades have not been kind to Somali Catholicism. In fact, the nation’s last […]
Special Report
Catholics in Bangladesh: An Embattled but Expanding Minority
In Bangladesh, Catholics—who account for just 0.2 percent of the population—have suffered from incidences of violence and persecution. However, the Catholic population continues to grow in the Southern Asian country, where Pope Francis has just […]