Alexandre Martins is a young theologian and bioethicist from Brazil who teaches at Marquette University. In this interview, Alex and CWCIT's Bill Cavanaugh discuss his work bringing together liberation theology and health care ethics, examining the way that medicine for profit distorts the true care of the body and soul. Among other topics, they discuss Dr. Martins work with indigenous communities in Brazil and what they have to teach us about health care.

A CWCIT interview with Sr. Catherine Mulligan, DC, regional coordinator for 13 years of the Daughters of Charity’s Kenya mission, which includes projects like Project DREAM. An extraordinarily successful, innovative health care model launched in Nairobi, DREAM now provides free state-of-the-art, holistic treatment for HIV/AIDS in 6 sub-Saharan countries: Mozambique, Nigeria, Congo, Cameroon, Tanzania, and Kenya.

A collaboration between the Daughters of Charity and the Community of Sant’Egidio, DREAM stands for "Drug Resource Enhancement against AIDS and Malnutrition" and has a special focus on the care of pregnant women and their children. Learn more about Project DREAM at http://www.daughtersips.org/hivaids.

A native of Ireland trained as a nurse/midwife, Sr. Mulligan has 14 years of experience in different medical disciplines, including psychiatry and hospital administration. She was the DCs' provincial leader in Ireland when her province was invited in 2001 to open a new mission in Kenya.

A CWCIT interview with Fr. Joseph Fitzgerald, CM, a Vincentian priest who has served in Panama since 2005, shortly after being ordained. In 2007, he began serving at the Vincentian mission in Soloy, traveling to 50+ villages throughout the mountains, often on foot or horseback, to work with and minister to the Ngäbe people, who are Panama's largest indigenous group and among the poorest. In addition to sacramental ministry and agricultural and artisan projects, a significant part of the Vincentians' ministry has been accompanying them in their struggle to maintain their cultural identity and values, as well as their lands, which have been increasingly threatened by mega-projects such as open-pit mineral mines and dams.

Fr. Fitzgerald holds an MA in global development and social justice (St. John's University, New York) and a PhD in theology (Pontifical Bolivarian University, Bogotá). Since 2016, he has served as executive secretary of the National Coordination of Indigenous Ministry (CONAPI) of the Panamanian Bishops' Conference. And in 2019, he published a book in Spanish, "Danza en la casa de Ngöbo: Resiliencia de la 'Vida Plena' Ngäbe frente al neoliberalismo" (To Dance in Ngöbo's [God's] House: The Resilience of the Ngäbe 'Full Life' in the Face of Neoliberalism).

A CWCIT interview with Yasmine Cajuste, project development manager for the FamVin Homeless Alliance (FHA) and former education coordinator for the Vincentian Haiti Initiative. A native Haitian who has been active in the International Vincentian Family since high school, Yasmine is also a wife, mom, and graduate of DePaul University where she earned her MA in educational leadership. (Learn more about the FamVin Homeless Alliance here: https://vfhomelessalliance.org)

In this interview, she speaks, among other things, about her own personal story and what attracted her as a lay person to the international mission and work of the Vincentians...what she has learned through her role with FHA about homelessness—and the efforts to reduce it—across so many different parts of the world (FHA works on 6 continents)...how she and others in the Vincentian community support each other and "keep on keeping on" in work that seems, at times, overwhelmingly daunting.

A CWCIT interview with Andrés McKinley, a mining and water specialist at San Salvador's Central American University (UCA). In March 2017, El Salvador became the first country in the world to ban metal mining, safeguarding its natural resources and its people's health. Leading the push was the Catholic Church and key to the effort was McKinley. Born in the U.S., McKinley has lived in Central America since 1977 and holds a master's in health administration.

According to the organization, Global Witness, environmental activists are being murdered at an increasingly alarming rate worldwide. The deadliest year on record was 2017; 207 people were killed, nearly 4 a week, and 60% of recorded killings were in Latin America.* People working on land, water and mining issues are among the most vulnerable worldwide, which makes the saga of mining politics in El Salvador all the more remarkable.

With important roles played by local citizen activists, an array of indigenous and other communities, and with contributions from the Church, something surprising is unfolding in this small country of 6.4 million people.

*Reference: https://www.globalwitness.org/en/press-releases/deadliest-year-record-land-and-environmental-defenders-agribusiness-shown-be-industry-most-linked-killings/

A CWCIT interview with Fr. Bernhard Udelhoven, MAfr, a longtime missionary in Zambia. Fr. Udelhoven holds an MA in social anthropology (SOAS University of London) and has 20 years' experience in mediating witchcraft-related disputes in Zambia.

For CWCIT's 2018-19 Spiritual Works of Mercy lecture series, Fr. Udelhoven gave a talk at DePaul University on the topic of this podcast's title. In the West, witchcraft and demons are typically the stuff of fiction. But in Zambia, these are real issues that affect real people. Those who have occult experiences, feel afflicted by demons, or stand accused of witchcraft are ostracized, even by their own families, often with threats to their very lives. Fr. Udelhoven's "Fingers of Thomas" support group offers them comfort. Its culturally-sensitive approach takes seriously people's fears yet also pursues justice for those who are victims of moral panics and minority demonization.

(Learn more about the "Fingers of Thomas" here: https://www.fenza.org/fingers-of-thomas.html)

A CWCIT interview with Fr. Patrick Chibuko, professor of sacred liturgy at the Catholic Institute of West Africa in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. He discusses Pope Francis’ ecclesiological paradigm, or model, of the Church as a “field hospital.” And he argues that this new model needs to be ritualized and cemented into the sacramental and pastoral life of parishes through appropriate, corresponding liturgical celebrations. Doing this, he says—that is, ritualizing the idea of the church as a field hospital—can inspire social ministries in parishes. It will also inspire theological developments among Catholic scholars, particularly in Africa, so that theology can meet, at the practical level, the challenging social realities of God’s people, especially those who are wounded and feeling very distant from God and from love.

A CWCIT interview with Fr. Emmanuel Katongole, a professor at the University of Notre Dame and a co-founder of the Bethany Land Institute (BLI) in Uganda. BLI was inspired by Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato Si’, and born as a response to three interrelated problems: food insecurity, deforestation, and land depletion in Uganda.

BLI is an educational program dedicated to forming the poor and excluded in rural Africa in the practices, lifestyle, and spirituality of sustainable land care, food production, and economic expertise. And it does this through the Caretaker Program, an intensive 2-year residential program where students (called Caretakers) receive hands-on training in farming, agro-business, and personal formation. Learn more about BLI on its website: https://bethanylandinstitute.org

A CWCIT interview with David Gaus, MD, an American physician and public health expert who is the founder/CEO of Andean Health & Development (AHD), a nonprofit that provides high-quality, sustainable health care in rural Ecuador and operates a residency program for local family physicians.

For CWCIT's 2017-18 Corporal Works of Mercy lecture series, Dr. Gaus gave a talk at DePaul University on "visiting the sick," discussing the connection between missionary medicine's evolution and liberation theology. This interview addresses that topic as well as related aspects of Dr. Gaus' 20 years of work in rural Ecuador. Learn more about Andean Health & Development here: https://www.andeanhealth.org

A CWCIT interview with Chris Herlinger, author of "Food Fight: Struggling for Justice in a Hungry World" and an international correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter’s Global Sisters Report, covering the U.N. and humanitarian challenges in South Sudan, Bangladesh, Haiti, and the Middle East.

For CWCIT's 2017-19 Corporal Works of Mercy series, Herlinger gave a talk at DePaul University on the topic of this podcast's title. This interview addresses that topic as well as related aspects of Herlinger's work.