Vice President Joseph Biden stood at the University of Notre Dame's commencement ceremony on Sunday (May 15) with a medal signifying American Catholicism's highest honor slung on a blue velvet rope around his neck.
The longtime Democrat turned and looked to former Speaker of the House John Boehner, a stalwart Republican who also wore the Laetare Medal that had just been awarded to them both for their efforts to work for the common good in a time of deep partisan rancor.
Rich Stearns, head of World Vision, the evangelical relief and development group, says Christians should follow a model pioneered by Chaldean churches in Iraq's Kurdistan region in which displaced people are treated as "guests" not refugees.
Recently returned from Lebanon and Iraq, Stearns said that Christians in Iraq's Kurdish north, Jordan, and Lebanon are becoming more innovative in responding to the needs of people displaced due to the brutal conflicts in Syria and Iraq.
