News
Bishop Zubik underscores religious freedom in speech to state lawmakers, officials
Speaking on the Catholic Church’s role in the public square, Pittsburgh Bishop David A. Zubik told a group of state legislators and his fellow bishops of Pennsylvania that religious freedom has never been understood in such a restrictive fashion as it is today. “You and I face a highly organized and well-funded crusade to block the Church from the public square,” he said.
Stable, growing southern Chester County parish hits 25-year mark
It’s not often you come across a parish celebrating its 25th anniversary with the founding pastor still ministering to the flock. That would be Father Richard J. Maisano, who was appointed to the brand new parish, St. Gabriel of the Sorrowful Mother in Avondale, Chester County, on Aug. 30, 1988. In actuality the worshiping community of St. Gabriel really goes back 120 years to a little mission chapel, St. Francis Xavier, in New Garden Township, served by St. Patrick Parish in Kennett Square.
Religious order urges action to stem chaos in Central African Republic
OXFORD, England (CNS) — A Catholic religious order has urged international action to stem “uncontrolled lawlessness” in the Central African Republic, after one of its Italian missionaries was threatened with death by rebel soldiers. “Let us pray that peace may return in this country torn apart by different factions,” the Sacred Heart of Jesus of […]
Duty to protect defenseless is not a license for war, archbishop says
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — An international obligation to intervene in situations of war or widespread violations of human rights does not mean a country or group of countries can decide to take military action in another nation, said the Vatican’s foreign minister. “The responsibility to protect,” a concept espoused by the United Nations, is not […]
Interfaith hospital on Turkish border helps Syrians save themselves
KILIS, Turkey (CNS) — Ali Ahmad was walking with his young son one evening after dark. It was after they had fled Aleppo, Syria, and begun their lives as refugees in southern Turkey. It was a clear, starry night. “He looks up at the stars and he says, ‘Dada, are they coming to bomb us?’ […]
Syria’s Armenians risk a winter without food, shelter in ancestral home
YEREVAN, Armenia (CNS) — Thousands of previously middle-class Syrians now stranded in Armenia are rapidly running out of resources and could soon have no shelter, food or medicine, said an international aid group official. “There is a big need on the humanitarian side: food, shelter, medical needs,” said Walter Hajek, head of international disaster management […]
Children make up half the Syrian refugee population
KILIS, Turkey (CNS) — Fifteen-year-old Abdullah Haji Mustafa wants to fight. He has been living in a refugee camp in Turkey for a year, since his family fled Tall Rifat, an embattled Syrian town just north of Aleppo. “Who wants not to go back?” he asks, standing between the gates of the camp and a […]
Players say concussions a concern, but joy of game outweighs risk
LAUREL, Md. (CNS) -- St. Vincent Pallotti High School senior Rudolfo Garcia said, despite having two concussions back-to-back, he never thinks about the possibility of becoming injured before stepping out on the football field to play. "You don't think of being scared," Garcia, 17, said. "If one man is going 100 percent and you're going only 50 percent, you're probably going to get hurt."
Cardinal sees religion’s soul, head, heart embodied in three popes
RYE, N.Y. (CNS) — The three most recent popes exemplify the soul, head and heart of religion, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York told an interfaith group Sept. 29. “All religions come to look to the pope for spiritual guidance and example,” he said. “Every religion, faith, church, organization, family needs a soul, a […]
Eucharistic congress celebrates ‘youth, vitality’ of Knoxville Diocese
SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. (CNS) — The Diocese of Knoxville celebrated its 25th anniversary in grand fashion by holding its first eucharistic congress, which drew about 5,000 Catholics from throughout Tennessee and around the country to gather in prayer and song, fellowship and worship. “My wife, Karen, and I attended this conference and were just blown away […]