News
Catholic mission school uses $500K grant for innovative program
The mid-July announcement that Germantown’s DePaul Catholic School was awarded a $500,000 grant by the Philadelphia School Partnership to adopt an innovative instructional program was big news. Well it should be. The instructional model put together by New York-based Seton Educational Partners, called Phaedrus, divides the students’ school day into 25- to 30-minute sessions between computer time and traditional oral instruction.
Maryland teachers head to Alaska to build partnerships, expand outreach
UPDATED - WASHINGTON (CNS) -- On Aug. 5, Carol Mackie Morris and Margaret Mackie plan to leave behind the comforts of home in Maryland to embark on a three-week journey to Alaska. During their trip, the sisters hope to develop partnerships, expand outreach and compare the spiritual beliefs of the native Alaskans to those of the Catholic faith.
Church musician convention highlights liturgy constitution anniversary
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Most Americans will remember Nov. 22, 1963, as the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, but liturgists will note that date also as the day the Second Vatican Council approved the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. The effects of the constitution, promulgated Dec. 4, 1963, are still being felt today, and its golden anniversary was being celebrated by the National Association of Pastoral Musicians during its July 27-Aug. 2 convention in Washington.
Parish makes it a mission to spread faith, Jesus’ love to neighborhood
SOUTHBRIDGE, Mass. (CNS) -- About 100 people gathered in a school parking lot in Southbridge on a recent Monday. They laughed, sang, talked, listened, ate -- and went to Mass. It was part of the Neighborhood Mission that Blessed John Paul II Parish is conducting at various sites throughout the summer.
Pope’s remark on gays does not change church teaching, cardinal says
NEW YORK (CNS) -- New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, a July 30 guest on "CBS This Morning" to discuss the pope's impromptu news conference on a papal flight the previous day, stressed that Pope Francis "would be the first to say, my job isn't to change church teaching; my job is to present it as clearly as possible." Cardinal Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, was asked to comment in particular on the pope's remark: "If a person is gay, seeks God and has good will, who am I to judge? They should not be marginalized. They are our brothers."
At least 38 pilgrims killed in crash after visiting Padre Pio shrine
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- In addition to 38 people killed when a bus plunged off an elevated highway in a mountainous region of southern Italy July 28, another 19 people were reported seriously injured, including passengers of nearby vehicles. A number of the victims were children. Only 11 people were pulled alive from the wreckage, Vatican Radio and other news outlets reported.
In Brazil, Pope Francis shows power of his simple actions, frank words
RIO DE JANEIRO (CNS) -- If Blessed John Paul II had an actor's mastery of the dramatic gesture and Pope Benedict XVI engaged the faithful most effectively through his learned and lucid writing, Pope Francis showed the world on his first international trip that his forte as a communicator is the simple, seemingly artless action that resonates powerfully in context.
Church property auction nets almost $2 million for parishes, archdiocese
Of the eight church properties listed in an auction by the Archdiocese of Philadelphia on Wednesday, July 24, seven attracted bids that archdiocesan officials had hoped they would. “We got our asking price on all of them,” said Deacon Thomas Croke, director for real estate services of the archdiocesan Office for Property Services.
Lindy Boggs, former congresswoman and U.S. ambassador to Vatican, dies
NEW ORLEANS (CNS) -- Former U.S. Ambassador to the Vatican Lindy Boggs, whose career in public service spanned 60 years, including four years in Rome during which she served as a staunch advocate for human trafficking victims, died July 27 at her home in Chevy Chase, Md. She was 97.
Youths speak of what they’re searching for on sands of Rio
Approximately 250 pilgrims from the Philadelphia, Washington and Arlington dioceses were looking for a safe place to spend the night when Catholic News Service met up with them on a side street in the Copacabana neighborhood at 10 p.m. Although Pope Francis' address had been over for hours and the Neocatechumenal Way group had just walked almost six miles, they were still in high spirits, singing as they slowly moved along.