News
Group operating 14 ‘mission’ Catholic schools gets start-up grants
In just a little more than two months, the Archdiocese of Philadelphia’s parochial schools will close down for the summer. When they reopen in September, 14 of them will be under new management. They are the Independence Mission Schools (IMS), and although they will retain their old names, they will no longer be under the control of their respective parish or parishes but by the Independence Mission Schools organization that will assume responsibility for all aspects of operation.
Pope washes feet of 12 young detainees to serve them ‘from the heart’
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis told young inmates that, just as Jesus came to help and serve others, he, too, was at their service as a priest and bishop. During the evening Mass at Rome’s Casal del Marmo prison for minors, Pope Francis washed the feet of 12 young people of different nationalities and […]
High court: Definition of marriage less a focus than who’s defining it
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- In its second day of oral arguments about aspects of laws related to same-sex marriage March 27, the Supreme Court spent little time discussing the actual definition of marriage, focusing instead on issues of jurisdiction, state's rights, motives behind the federal Defense of Marriage Act and timing.
St. Charles seminarian with devotion to Divine Mercy dies at 39
Jose A. Serrano, II, 39, a first-year theology student at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary, died March 24 following an extended battle with cancer.
Crowd in support of traditional marriage marches to U.S. Supreme Court
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Thousands of people, including hundreds from the Philadelphia Archdiocese, who gathered at one end of the National Mall March 26 in support of traditional marriage took their message to the U.S. Supreme Court as they walked and held aloft placards with signs saying: "Kids do best with a mom and dad."
Three new laws affirm North Dakota’s commitment to life, says bishop
BISMARCK, N.D. (CNS) — North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple’s signature on three pro-life bills “affirms our state’s commitment to the protection of all human life,” Bishop David D. Kagan of Bismarck said March 26. Protecting life “from the moment of conception to natural death is the primary purpose of government,” the bishop said in a […]
Self-absorption is root of evils within church, future pope said
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Evils within the church are caused by a self-centeredness and "theological narcissism" that forget to share Christ with people outside of the church, Pope Francis said in the days before his election. "When the church is self-referential, inadvertently, she believes she has her own light," he said in a summary of a speech he gave to the College of Cardinals before the start of the conclave that ended in his election.
Holy Week is time to follow Jesus in search of lost sheep, pope says
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Holy Week is a time to follow Jesus out of one’s parish or group and out of one’s comfort zone to go with him in search of the lost sheep, Pope Francis said. “There is such a great need to bring (people) the living presence of Jesus, who is merciful and […]
Young woman’s disability makes her perfect volunteer to cheer the elderly
Residents are happy when Alexa Bucci, a volunteer at South Philadelphia’s St. Monica Manor, stops in to see them. She’s warm and friendly, always there with a smile and always wanting to do something for them. “I love it there; when you go in if you are in a bad mood they pick you up,” Alexa said. “I usually just talk to them or help them with their meals. The patients light up when they see me, because they like to be around people, and they tell me everything. I don’t feel like I have something wrong with me when I’m with them.”
Noted biographer Doris Kearns Goodwin sheds light on Lincoln at La Salle event
On the surface it would seem odd. A university celebrates its 150th anniversary by bringing in a Pulitzer Prize-winning Harvard PhD. to lecture on a man who by his own estimate had less than a total of 12 months formal education in backwoods schoolhouses. The university was La Salle University, the lecturer on March 21 was historian Doris Kearns Goodwin and the subject was Abraham Lincoln, generally considered America’s greatest president.