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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Jim Mattis is not lonely in the Pentagon, but two months into his tenure as secretary of defense not a single political appointee has joined him....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Melania Trump's invitation for high-powered women to join her at the White House was about more than the lunch they would eat, or the stated purpose of honoring International Women's Day....
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Vice President Mike Pence is set to rally support in Kentucky for a White House-backed health care overhaul, traveling to a state that has often been front-and-center in the battle over former President Barack Obama's sweeping health care law....
NEW YORK (AP) -- This time they clashed up north, and Duke took down Carolina....
NEW YORK (AP) -- Human rights lawyer Amal Clooney, who represents victims of rape and kidnappings by members of the Islamic State group, urged a United Nations meeting to step up the pressure on the extremists, so why did her yellow dress and her "baby bump" also make headlines?...
LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Cars with no steering wheel, no pedals and nobody at all inside could be driving themselves on California roads by the end of the year, under proposed state rules that would give a powerful boost to the fast-developing technology....
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- South Korean police on Saturday braced for more violence between opponents and supporters of ousted President Park Geun-hye, who was stripped of her powers by the Constitutional Court over a corruption scandal that has plunged the country into a political turmoil....
Washington D.C., Mar 10, 2017 / 02:05 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The divorce rate has doubled for Americans over age 50, and tripled among Americans over 65, a new survey shows.“At a time when divorce is becoming less common for younger adults, so-called ‘gray divorce’ is on the rise,” the Pew Research Center said.In 2015, the divorce rate among married persons over 50 was 10 in 1,000, an increase from 5 in 1,000 in 1990. Among those 65 and older, the divorce rate has tripled to 6 per 1,000.Pew said the divorced rate among those 50 and older is partly linked to the aging of the Baby Boomer generation, the age cohort 51-69 in 2015. As young adults, this generation had unprecedented levels of divorce. Remarriages tend to be less stable than first marriages, with the divorced-and-remarried having twice the divorce rate as those married once. Among the divorces of adults age 50 and older, 48 percent were in a second or later marriage.The risk of divorce is also higher ...
Washington D.C., Mar 10, 2017 / 02:05 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- The divorce rate has doubled for Americans over age 50, and tripled among Americans over 65, a new survey shows.
“At a time when divorce is becoming less common for younger adults, so-called ‘gray divorce’ is on the rise,” the Pew Research Center said.
In 2015, the divorce rate among married persons over 50 was 10 in 1,000, an increase from 5 in 1,000 in 1990. Among those 65 and older, the divorce rate has tripled to 6 per 1,000.
Pew said the divorced rate among those 50 and older is partly linked to the aging of the Baby Boomer generation, the age cohort 51-69 in 2015. As young adults, this generation had unprecedented levels of divorce. Remarriages tend to be less stable than first marriages, with the divorced-and-remarried having twice the divorce rate as those married once. Among the divorces of adults age 50 and older, 48 percent were in a second or later marriage.
The risk of divorce is also higher among those who have been married for a shorter time.
At the same time, Pew said a “significant share” of divorces are among those 50 and older. About 34 percent of those divorcing after 50 years old had been married for at least 30 years, and 12 percent were married for over 40 years. Many of these divorcees cited dissatisfaction in their marriages and a desire to seek opportunities to pursue their own interest and independence late in life.
These older divorcees, especially women, face more financial insecurity than married and widowed adults.
As for younger age cohorts, the divorce rate slightly increased among married adults age 40-49.
Divorce rates have dropped 21 percent among those aged 25-39, from 30 in 1,000 to 24 in 1,000 from 1990 to 2015. According to Pew, this decline is in part attributed to younger generations’ delay in marrying. It is also attributed to the phenomenon of the college-educated being more likely to marry and also being less likely to divorce.
Guatemala City, Guatemala, Mar 10, 2017 / 03:29 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- There is mourning in Guatemala after at least 35 girls perished in a fire at a state-run home for youth, which had attracted widespread charges of abusive conditions and mistreatment.The Church “greatly mourns a tragedy of this kind,” Auxiliary Bishop Raúl Antonio Martínez Paredes of the Archdiocese of Guatemala told CNA.The fire occurred March 8 at the Virgin of the Assumption Safe Home. A group of girls and teenagers rioted to protest what they alleged was physical and sexual abuse at the facilities. Authorities said that some of the children set fire to mattresses and the fire then spread to the rest of the facility.Gloria Castro, attorney for the children, told Guatemala’s Congress that the girls who died in the fire were unable to get out because they were locked in a room, apparently as a punishment. The previous night, some 60 children escaped from the center.The center, locat...
Guatemala City, Guatemala, Mar 10, 2017 / 03:29 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- There is mourning in Guatemala after at least 35 girls perished in a fire at a state-run home for youth, which had attracted widespread charges of abusive conditions and mistreatment.
The Church “greatly mourns a tragedy of this kind,” Auxiliary Bishop Raúl Antonio Martínez Paredes of the Archdiocese of Guatemala told CNA.
The fire occurred March 8 at the Virgin of the Assumption Safe Home. A group of girls and teenagers rioted to protest what they alleged was physical and sexual abuse at the facilities. Authorities said that some of the children set fire to mattresses and the fire then spread to the rest of the facility.
Gloria Castro, attorney for the children, told Guatemala’s Congress that the girls who died in the fire were unable to get out because they were locked in a room, apparently as a punishment. The previous night, some 60 children escaped from the center.
The center, located in the San Antonio area of the town of San José Pinula, was created to provide protection for about 400 girls and teenagers abandoned and at risk. However, it currently houses close to 750 children, including those in trouble with the law.
Bishop Martinez Paredes said it might be possible to discover who is responsible for the incident, but he said it is most important to resolve the problems of the safe house.
“If it’s closed, what will be done with the young people who have rights and needs?” the bishop asked. “It's almost certain that we Christians can offer some help.”
Noting the complaints that provoked the riot, the bishop voiced concern that no distinction was made between younger girls and teenagers, or between those who have committed crimes and those who have not. He said the facilities are “not appropriate” and are joined together.
The shelter “practically became a children's prison, when the original idea was to be a home to help children at risk.” He called on authorities to fulfill their obligations to protect children and to build the proper infrastructure.
After the tragedy, the Attorney General’s Office for Human Rights reiterated that in November 2016 it recommended closing this center for failing to comply with the recommendations made in 2015, when the problems facing the children began to be known.
The Office of Human Rights for the Archdiocese of Guatemala also expressed “its deepest sorrow and solidarity” with the families of those who died and with those injured in the fire.
It said such an event is unacceptable and would have been avoided had the shelter improved the unfit conditions. The office urged that those responsible for the shelter’s condition be sanctioned, and child protection policies be adopted in line with national and international law.
Such centers must strengthen human persons and their rights, not become places of imprisonment and mistreatment, the human rights office said.
“We pray to the Lord Our God to give us and the affected families strength,” it said.
By Rhina GuidosWASHINGTON (CNS) -- While one Catholic archbishop was urging afix to the country's immigration laws before a Catholiccrowd, another was pleading with the government not to separate mothers fromtheir children while in immigration detention, and yet another, a cardinal, wasaccompanying a grandfather to an appointment that could have resulted in hisdeportation.Catholic Church leaders in the U.S. spent the week of March 6-10trying to allay fears, urging compassion, not just from the government fromthose who are not seeing "God's creation" when they malign unauthorizedimmigrants."In the church, we say, '¡Somos familia!' Immigrants are ourfamily. We say, 'En las buenas y en las malas.' In the good times and in thebad. We always stay together," said Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles, ina March 8 address to those who attended the Napa Institute'sWashington conference. "That is why the church has always been at thecenter of our debates about immigration. And we always w...
By Rhina Guidos
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- While one Catholic archbishop was urging a fix to the country's immigration laws before a Catholic crowd, another was pleading with the government not to separate mothers from their children while in immigration detention, and yet another, a cardinal, was accompanying a grandfather to an appointment that could have resulted in his deportation.
Catholic Church leaders in the U.S. spent the week of March 6-10 trying to allay fears, urging compassion, not just from the government from those who are not seeing "God's creation" when they malign unauthorized immigrants.
"In the church, we say, '¡Somos familia!' Immigrants are our family. We say, 'En las buenas y en las malas.' In the good times and in the bad. We always stay together," said Archbishop Jose H. Gomez of Los Angeles, in a March 8 address to those who attended the Napa Institute's Washington conference. "That is why the church has always been at the center of our debates about immigration. And we always will be. We cannot leave our family alone, without a voice."
Archbishop Gomez, vice president of the U.S Conference of Catholic Bishops, said immigration is the "human rights test of our time" and said that having a policy that solely focuses on deportations without addressing reform of the immigration system risks causing "a human rights nightmare."
He said it's not morally acceptable to say: "It's their own fault," or "This is what they get for breaking our laws."
"They are still people, children of God, no matter what they did wrong," Archbishop Gomez said.
He said he was concerned because people seem to be incapable of showing mercy, or to see in another person, for example, an unauthorized immigrant, a child of God.
"And so we are willing to accept injustices and abuses that we should never accept," he said.
In Texas, Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller of San Antonio was pleading with the government to stop plans that would separate children from mothers in immigration detention centers, a proposal confirmed by U.S. Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly March 6.
Calling it an "unjust and inhumane method of border enforcement," Archbishop Garcia-Siller said the proposal had been put out into the public sphere with the suggestion "that once this is known, it will serve an example to discourage future such attempts at entering our country illegally."
"With my brother bishops and millions of people of goodwill, I must say that the willful separation of families is a terrible injustice on its face!" he said in a March 8 statement, adding that it is "an assault on the human dignity we proclaim and uphold."
Archbishop Gomez in his address said politics today are more divided "than I can ever remember" and "by our inaction and indifference we have created a quiet human rights tragedy that is playing out in communities all across this great country."
While all can agree that a person who commits a violent crime and is not authorized to be in the country should be deported, "what is the public policy purpose that is served by taking away some little girl's dad or some little boy's mom?" Archbishop Gomez asked.
"Right now the only thing we have that resembles a national immigration 'policy' is all focused on deporting these people who are within our borders without proper papers," he said.
And while some people see them as less than human, these "millions of men and women" are living as "perpetual servants -- working for low wages in our restaurants and fields; in our factories, gardens, homes and hotels."
"Why aren't we punishing the businesses who hired them, or the government officials who didn't enforce our laws? It just does not seem right to me," Archbishop Gomez said.
While saying that the deportation situation is not new and that President Barack Obama had deported more people than any other president, "the sad truth is that the vast majority of those we are deporting are not violent criminals," he said.
The week ended with Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, accompanying a 59-year-old grandfather in New Jersey, Catalino Guerrero, who was facing deportation after living in the U.S. for 25 years. Cardinal Tobin prayed with Guerrero, who was subsequently granted a short-term stay but needs to see immigration officials again in May and still faces deportation.
According to a report by NJ Advance Media, Cardinal Tobin later said: "I can't accompany the 11 million undocumented people in this country, what I hope to do is say look they've got faces, they've got histories and there's a lot of advantage to leaving them alone."
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Follow Guidos on Twitter: @CNS_Rhina.
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