News

Bishops describe Christmas in besieged Aleppo, Syria

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Because of ongoing fighting in the city, Catholic leaders in Aleppo, Syria, canceled their traditional Christmas visits to local government officials, but the local governor dropped in on a meeting of bishops and priests Dec. 27 to offer his best wishes, said Bishop Giuseppe Nazzaro. The bishop, who is the Latin-rite […]

Msgr. Wendrychowicz, 65, pastor of Sellersville parish, laid to rest

Msgr. John B. Wendrychowicz, 65, pastor of St. Agnes Parish in Sellersville, died Dec. 20. Born in Philadelphia, the son of the late John B. and Rita (Shepherd) Wendrychowicz, he attended Visitation B.V.M. School, St. George School and Northeast Catholic High School, which he left during his sophomore year, to enter St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. He […]

Make room for God, pray for peace, pope says in Christmas liturgies

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI urged people to think seriously about their faith at Christmas, and he urged them to recognize the connection between believing in God and helping others through acts of charity and by praying and working for peace. The birth of Jesus is a source of hope for the world, […]

Pope names Boston priest to be Vatican’s abuse investigator

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI has named a canon lawyer from the Archdiocese of Boston to be the new promoter of justice in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, a position that includes monitoring and investigating cases of priests accused of sex abuse.

Pope visits butler in jail, personally delivers pardon

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — During a 15-minute meeting in the Vatican police barracks, Pope Benedict XVI visited with his former butler, Paolo Gabriele, and told him he was forgiven and was being pardoned. Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi, Vatican spokesman, said the pope had wanted “to confirm his forgiveness and to inform him personally of his […]

Montgomery County’s Catholic, civic agencies volunteer to make Christmas bright for families

Families in Montgomery County got a big lift just before Christmas, thanks to the efforts of volunteers and staff of Catholic Social Services’ Family Service Center in Norristown, the county seat. The St. Nicholas Store at the center gave out donated gifts to 140 families and 331 children, with another 49 families receiving food from the center’s food cupboard, for two hours last Thursday evening, Dec. 20.

Seminary Christmas Concert to air on The Catholic Channel on Sirius XM 129 radio

Bicycling Santas bring gifts to foster children served by Catholic Social Services

Santa Claus arrived early Friday, Dec. 21 with Christmas presents for little boys and girls, at perhaps an unaccustomed stop: the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center in Philadelphia. In this case, the Santa suit was donned by real estate developer Carl Dranoff, as he led a horse-drawn carriage loaded with more than 100 gifts through center city.

Pope says false ideas of human nature threaten basis of the family

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI said the family in Western society is undergoing a "crisis that threatens it to its foundations," owing to false ideas of human nature that equate freedom with selfishness and present God-given sexual identities as a matter of individual choice to the profound detriment of humanity dignity.

Catholic author taps fond memories of orphanage, now captures finest Christmas carols

Ron Clancy loves Christmas and most of all Christmas music, especially the fine old carols that have been passed down from generation to generation. You could call him a modern day Scrooge, who after seeing the light, “holds Christmas in his heart and tries to keep it all the year.” Except in this case, Ron was not an old man when he received his epiphany.