News
St. Basil’s turns around program, teaching true value of sports
Imagine losing 36 straight soccer games. Heck, imagine losing 36 straight anything. A little more than one month has been completed in the girls varsity soccer season, and St. Basil’s no longer sees the number zero on the left column of the daily win-loss standings. With a few weeks remaining, the Panthers are 7-7 overall; more impressively, they are 3-5 in the Catholic Academies League. As for the expectation of shaking their opponents’ hands while congratulating them on a victory, that is no longer the case.
Pope, in Assisi, calls on church to renounce ‘spirit of the world’
ASSISI, Italy (CNS) -- Making his first pilgrimage as pope to the birthplace of his papal namesake, Pope Francis called on the whole church to imitate St. Francis of Assisi, embracing poverty and stripping itself of the "spirit of the world." "This is a good occasion for inviting the church to strip itself," the pope said, adding that he directed his invitation not merely to the hierarchy but all the church's members, and that he sought renunciation of spiritual complacency as well as material riches.
Seminary professor to speak on Year of Faith at Drexel Hill parish
St. Andrew the Apostle Parish, Drexel Hill, presents a Year of Faith event with Msgr. Michael K. Magee, chair of the Systematic Theology Department of St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Wynnewood, on Wednesday, Oct. 16 at 7 p.m. He will present his talk, “Word of God, Light of Nations: Rediscovering the Second Vatican Council,” in […]
Pope: Are ‘justice’ and ‘solidarity’ just words in a dictionary?
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Cold War has ended and the Berlin Wall has fallen, but war and the threat of war continue and migrants are still dying as they travel in search of safety and a better life, Pope Francis said at a conference marking the 50th anniversary of Blessed John XXIII's encyclical "Pacem in Terris" ("Peace on Earth").
Author Tom Clancy dies at age 66; was supporter of Catholic education
BALTIMORE (CNS) -- Even after Tom Clancy became an international best-selling novelist whose fans included the likes of President Ronald Reagan, the Baltimore-born writer never forgot the role his hometown Catholic education played in giving him the tools to his success. Clancy, best known for works including "The Hunt for Red October" and "Clear and Present Danger," died Oct. 1 at age 66 after a brief illness at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore.
Colorado officials say recovery from epic flooding could take years
DENVER (CNS) — Recovery efforts following heavy rain that dumped on northern Colorado in mid-September are expected to take years. “Catholic Charities will be there to help in any we can,” pledged Larry Smith, president and CEO of Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Denver. “We are here as early responders and will continue to […]
Some faith-based contractors using own funds during federal shutdown
WASHINGTON (CNS) — Social Security, food stamp and Medicare benefits continued, but the federal government shutdown over a congressional budget impasse was putting other aid and nutrition programs at risk and forcing some faith-based contractors to use their own funds to keep them operating. On the second day of the partial shutdown that began Oct. […]
N.D. Catholic Conference challenges ruling on ‘right to abortion’
BISMARCK, N.D. (CNS) — The North Dakota Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of the state’s bishops, filed a friend-of-the-court brief Oct. 1 with the North Dakota Supreme Court, urging the court to reverse a district court ruling that found a right to an abortion in the state constitution. “The district court’s judgment, recognizing a […]
Pope, cardinal advisers looking at major overhaul of Roman Curia
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Francis and his international Council of Cardinals are laying out plans to completely overhaul the Roman Curia, underlining its role of "service to the universal church and the local churches," the Vatican spokesman said. As the pope and the eight cardinals he named to advise him were about to begin the final session of their Oct. 1-3 meeting, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, the spokesman, said the role and responsibilities of the Vatican secretary of state, the revamping of the world Synod of Bishops, and the Vatican's attention to the role and responsibility of laity also were major themes of discussion.
In interviews, Pope Francis crafts a new genre of papal language
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- When Pope Benedict XVI answered a journalist's 2010 question about condom use by offering a nuanced reflection on the ethical complexities of a hypothetical case, his words led to a worldwide media sensation, a clarification by the Vatican spokesman, and a statement from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith that the pope had not changed church teaching on contraception. Three years later, Pope Francis is making news by giving three wide-ranging interviews in two months. This time, however, the Vatican is letting the pope's words speak for themselves.