The Mass in Focus
Readings of the holy Mass – First Sunday of Lent
Read or listen to the readings before Mass with the resources below from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, using the New American Bible, Revised Edition.
World Meeting of Families raises $30 million, two-thirds toward goal
The donations will go toward expenses for security, transportation, telecommunications, labor and other needs for the papal visit and four-day congress in September that aims to strengthen families.
Ukrainian bishops seek to be heard over the din of rhetoric
As the Ukrainian Catholic bishops met in a private audience with Pope Francis Feb. 20, Ukraine was marking its first Day of the Heavenly Hundred Heroes, commemorating those who died in the Euromaidan movement one year earlier.
Pope tells Ukraine’s bishops to unite against unfolding tragedies
Pope Francis urged Ukraine's Eastern- and Latin-rite Catholic bishops to be a clear moral voice calling for peace and harmony, and to avoid politicizing their role as church leaders.
Descendants of Holocaust survivors offer moving spiritual reflections
Catholic readers will be taken into the collection "God, Faith & Identity From the Ashes" and deeply into themselves, finding spiritual nourishment in the continuing faith of descendants of Jewish survivors of the Shoah and their determination to affirm their Jewishness and to dedicate their lives to helping others.
To protests deaths, Mexicans mark ’43’ instead of cross in ashes
Some Mexicans used Ash Wednesday to rebuke authorities who insist that 43 students were kidnapped, killed and then had their bodies burned in a garbage dump and ashes tossed in a river.
Interfaith working group calls for opposition to Pacific trade deal
An interfaith coalition Feb. 17 announced it opposes what it called "undemocratic" actions proposed by the Obama administration regarding the much-anticipated Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement and called on other people of faith to do the same.
Movie review: Hot Tub Time Machine 2
Heeding neither logic nor taste, "Hot Tub Time Machine 2" (Paramount) is as glaringly stupid as it is vile.
Pax Christi program in Cite Soleil helps youths become peacemakers
Mentor Elison wants peace for the little kids, if for no one else, in Cite Soleil.
Today’s teaching on the family
See the daily excerpt from the preparatory catechesis for the 2015 World Meeting of Families, “Love is Our Mission: The Family Fully Alive.”