News

Local man named head of pro-family organization

Already the president of the National Organization for Marriage, Philadelphia resident Brian Brown will also lead the World Congress of Families, an international group advocating for the traditional family.

Royersford parish celebrates its patronal feast day

Sacred Heart Parish celebrated its feast Friday, June 3 with morning Mass and an evening holy hour with benediction. Parishioners prayed a special prayer in honor of the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

St. Charles Seminary seeks to move all operations off site

Citing planned renovation costs that would exceed proceeds of selling the lower side parcel, the seminary's board called for moving all seminarians and programs to a local Catholic college and selling the whole 76-acre property.

Broadcaster Vin Scully wins Gabriel Personal Achievement Award

Broadcaster Vin Scully, who for 67 years has done play-by-play for the Dodgers in Los Angeles and before that in Brooklyn, New York, received the Gabriel Personal Achievement Award

Sisters who also are mothers bring new perspectives to religious life

Sister Johnson said this particular phenomenon, while not new, is another sign of increasing diversity in the "very dynamic reality" of Catholic religious life.

Survey finds growing interest among Catholics in reading the Bible

"There's come, I think, some very encouraging data on Catholics" thanks to the so-called "Francis effect," Jason Malec, U.S. mission director for the society said.

Catholic newcomers to Philadelphia raise their prayers — not only in English

On any Sunday in parishes of the Philadelphia Archdiocese, 17,000 people pray at Mass in 20 different languages other than English, with Spanish the leading tongue. Diversity in language goes back two centuries in the archdiocese.

Seamstresses hope their work offers comfort to grieving families

Sarah Novak heard about a cousin of her sister-in-law who delivered a stillborn baby late in her pregnancy. Novak wanted to do something to help ease their family's pain.

Swiss church official deplores vote allowing genetic testing of embryos

The law permitting the genetic testing of embryos would allow imperfect human embryos to be discarded.

Iona: Scotland’s ‘thin place’ between earth and heaven

When the Irish St. Columba settled here with a dozen monks in the sixth century, it was a dangerous, forbidding place. Today, it's still a stark setting for religious contemplation.