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By BISHOP WILLIAM D. BYRNE and MEMBERS of CATHOLICS FOR INCLUSION

In 2021, Pope Francis instituted a call to every Catholic congregation, and beyond, to take part in a worldwide synod, an invitation to even non-Catholics who wished to participate, to listen to people and ask how the Holy Spirit was moving them, and...

By DICK EVANS

Today, Dec. 5, 2023, is the 90th anniversary of a remarkable — and rarely remarked upon — episode in American history, having enormous consequences in law, in commerce, in families and in culture. More remarkable was its path, perhaps the best-kept...

By ALI WICKS-LIM

Many are celebrating the new MassReconnect program, which extends free community college tuition to adults over 25 years of age, but not enough are aware that educators at all 15 Massachusetts community colleges, now working harder to meet the needs...

By GENE STAMELL

My teaching career has spanned well over four decades. I recall staining and ruining many perfectly good shirts and sweaters while hand-cranking copies of math papers on ditto machines. Yes, back then, teaching sometimes resulted in strong biceps and...

By BILL NEWMAN

In November, the United States Supreme Court adopted a Code of Conduct. It’s a list of suggested, not required, ethical dos and don’ts for the Justices.The justices issued this document because they want the klieg lights that the news media has been...

By DANIEL CANTOR YALOWITZ

It’s no easy feat to create and sustain safety in our contemporary and crazy world. Governments and communities worldwide have tried and failed to do so. People everywhere are feeling increasingly unsafe, scared, and scarred by both the threats and...

By RUTH CHARNEY

Picture an intersection in East Springfield. Never mind the East Springfield part, any intersection will do. Picture a small, older woman behind the wheel of a modest sedan. You don’t know this, but she is driving to her son’s apartment. She doesn’t...

By JON HUER

It was legendary how those who wanted Donald Trump’s attention had to use, as one report said, “Compelling visual material. Big fonts. With photos and graphics. In color.” Although this Trump anecdote is somewhat amusing, we all love big fonts and...

By H. PATRICIA HYNES

Civilization has been described as “the slow process of learning to be kind.” This past summer and early fall, while I stood with peace and justice companions on the Greenfield Common, I witnessed a pervasive culture of kindness.Karen Boyden, with the...

By MUSBAH SHAHEEN

‘I feel scared being a Jew,” said my friend as we debriefed the war in the Middle East. As a Muslim who was raised in Syria and was fed from a very young age political anti-Israeli and antisemitic propaganda, I often refrained from commenting on the...

By CHRIS MATERA

Can we try to be honest with ourselves? Most scientists say we currently live in the middle of growing climate and biodiversity calamities.Massachusetts has an excellent opportunity to help mitigate these existential threats by ending the senseless...

By CARRIE N. BAKER and MAX FALLON-GOODWIN

‘They stripped me down, they cut my hair off, they poured the liquid in my hair and told me to go to the showers,” testified 72-year-old Dora Brought Plenty about when she first entered the Indian boarding school where she spent her childhood...

By CARL DOERNER

Back before succumbing to fame, poet and folksong creator Bob Dylan wrote a ballad about how people are used by the powerful titled “Only a Pawn in Their Game.” The subject — the rifle shot in darkness by a white man taking the life of Black civil...

By JOHN BOS

Here in the U.S. each fall season, Thanksgiving is a time we give thanks for the bounty and blessings of the year. Along with the traditional turkey, mashed potatoes, squash, homemade cranberry sauce and pumpkin pies, it is a moment to celebrate...

By NANCY HAZARD

The Saturday, Nov. 18 edition was an excellent example of what I love most about the Greenfield Recorder — in-depth reporting with exploration of solutions to the challenges we face, uplifting local actions, listings of coming events, and an...

By JESUS LEYVA

On Sept. 15, the Recorder printed the exciting news that our Greenfield Department of Public Works was awarded a $2 million grant that would primarily be used to modernize and replace our fleet of vehicles used for recycling pickup.But alongside that...

By RAZVAN SIBII

No. The border isn’t open. Not even close. It’s is full of walls and fences, sensors and cameras, patrol cars and helicopters, rivers and mountains. And running this gauntlet is extremely dangerous business that often costs desperate border-crossers...

By ALLEN WOODS

I admit to being a bit foggy when I woke up on Nov. 5. I had just returned from a trip out of state and airplane rides always throw my internal clock off a bit, even if they don’t involve different time zones.So, I looked at the clock and the...

By IAN RHODEWALT

My first union job, and my first strike for cost of living increases, was as a teacher in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank. Several weeks ago, trade unions in Palestine put out an urgent call of solidarity to unions around the world on on Oct. 16 to...

By ALAN HARRIS

Many aspiring authoritarians assume the grandiosity of history’s monsters as though immune to the unfolding tragedy that may ultimately consume them. The appeal is intoxicating. Power can be a drug as we know. Benevolent rule a luxury, most often...