News
Catholic Mathletes, led by Archbishop Ryan teacher, number one in city again
Whenever there is a high school Mathlete competition in the Philadelphia area there is a fair chance Archbishop Ryan High School will be the winner, or if it is a combined team drawn from several schools they will be on the winning side. This year was no exception.
Two-day garage sale at Bryn Mawr parish
The annual garage sale at St. John Neumann Church in Bryn Mawr is planned for Saturday, May 18 from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Sunday, May 19 from 8:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. This is a major fund raiser for the parish. All the treasures are at bargain prices and are donated by parishioners in two indoor […]
Pope confirms young people, including two from New Jersey
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Administering the sacrament of confirmation to 44 people, including two teenagers from the United States and two from Ireland, Pope Francis encouraged them to "swim against the tide; it's good for the heart." After making the sign of the cross with chrism oil on the foreheads of those being confirmed, Pope Francis rubbed the oil all over their foreheads, sealing them with the Holy Spirit. After wishing them peace, he gave each a quick kiss on the cheek.
Archbishop at Red Mass: Traditional marriage is ‘best for children’
MIAMI (CNS) -- Traditional marriage is "best for children" and efforts to legalize same-sex marriage will "open a Pandora's Box of unforeseen and, to be sure, unintended consequences," Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski said during the annual Red Mass. Delivering the homily at the April 23 Mass, Archbishop Wenski said the growing movement in support of same-sex marriage would "redefine marriage for all as existing solely for the gratification of two consenting adults" rather than for the creation of life.
French Catholics vow to try to block same-sex marriage law
PARIS (CNS) — French Catholics have vowed to continue attempts to block a law allowing same-sex marriage, despite its passage by the National Assembly April 23. “We’ll tell our president we don’t care about the views of parliament and government — we’re against this foolish law,” said Antoine Renard, president of France’s National Federation of […]
Laity key to Irish church’s renewal, Dublin archbishop says
NEW YORK (CNS) -- Renewal of the Catholic Church in a "post-Catholic" Ireland depends on a homegrown effort by the laity to overcome clericalism and witness the Christian message in a secular society, Archbishop Diarmuid Martin of Dublin told a New York audience. Once considered "one of the world's most deeply and stably Catholic countries," Ireland, like other parts of Europe, can now be classified as post-Catholic because of sociological changes and lingering fallout from the child sexual abuse scandals that swept the country in recent years, he said.
U.N. speeches recognize reality of global migration
NEW YORK (CNS) - Addresses on migration by U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Archbishop Francis A. Chullikatt, permanent observer of the Holy See to the United Nations, struck similar chords about the reasons for and problems of migration, while disagreeing about some solutions.
Corruption is worse than sin because heart hardens to God, pope says
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Corruption is worse than any sin because it hardens the heart against feeling shame or guilt and hearing God’s call for conversion, Pope Francis said. “Situations of sin and the state of corruption are two distinct realities, even if they are intimately linked to one another,” he said when he was […]
Ban on religion forced Albanians to pray in secret: one woman’s story
TIRANA, Albania (CNS) -- Almost every evening at 6, the sounds of the organ resonate in the brick Catholic church on Kavaja Street. The hymns may vary, but the organist, Maria Dhimitri, is always the same. It has been that way for nearly 23 years and could have been double that, Dhimitri said in a recent interview, if it had not been for a brutally enforced ban on religion in her country in southeastern Europe from 1967 to 1990.
A new constitutional amendment? Even if it fails, it may work
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The process to amend the U.S. Constitution can be a long and winding road that may have no end. Just ask those who have been working for the Human Life Amendment since shortly after abortion was legalized in 1973. Though it failed in 1983, pro-lifers who have backed a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court's 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade have seen in the succeeding years a string of successes that partially achieve the amendment's aims.