News
Advent music festival at St. Genevieve, Flourtown
The St. Genevieve Parish choirs and musicians will present a concert of sacred seasonal works on Sunday, Dec. 16 at 7 p.m. in the church located at 1225 Bethlehem Pike, Flourtown. The second annual Festival of Lessons and Carols will include performances of traditional choral masterworks, uplifting Gospel arrangements and new pieces from international composers. The program features ample opportunities […]
Archbishop Ryan High presents ‘The Wizard of Oz’
Students from Archbishop Ryan High School in Northeast Philadelphia performed a dress rehearsal version of their fall play “The Wizard of Oz” for local grade school students on the morning of Nov. 30. The opening performance of the show was set to begin at 7:30 p.m. Two more performances will be on Saturday, Dec. 1 at 7:30 […]
A goat for Christmas? Thriving alternatives for less commercial gifts
WASHINGTON (CNS) — Should the Christmas shopping crowds, costs and commercialism be at odds with how one is trying to observe Advent and the celebration of the birth of Christ, there’s a burgeoning world of alternative ways of gift-giving that are vying for attention. * Angel trees or giving trees set up in churches, schools […]
Reading Vatican II as break with tradition is heresy, prefect says
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Traditionalist and progressive camps that see the Second Vatican Council as breaking with the truth both espouse a “heretical interpretation” of the council and its aims, said the prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. What Pope Benedict XVI has termed “the hermeneutic of reform, of renewal in […]
World Youth Day vigil, Mass to be in neighborhood known for its beaches
SAO PAULO (CNS) — World Youth Day organizers have chosen a spot in Rio de Janeiro’s Guaratiba neighborhood, nearly 60 miles from the city center, for the vigil and closing Mass July 27-28. Rio Archbishop Orani Tempesta announced the venue Nov. 28 during a preparatory meeting for World Youth Day, which will run July 23-28. […]
Vatican praises new UN status for Palestine, urges full sovereignty
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Vatican praised a United Nations vote making Palestine a non-member observer state but called for full recognition of Palestinian sovereignty as necessary for peace in the region. One hundred thirty-eight member states voted Nov. 29 to boost Palestine’s status from “entity” to “non-member state” — the same status held by […]
Lawsuits’ dismissal called disappointing but won’t end legal challenge
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- After judges in two separate rulings Nov. 27 dismissed lawsuits filed by Catholic organizations and dioceses in Pennsylvania and Tennessee challenging the federal contraceptive mandate, Catholic leaders in both states expressed disappointment but also some hope the rulings left the door open to refiling their claims.
Bishop, pro-lifers concerned that abortion may widen in Ireland
DUBLIN (CNS) — An Irish bishop and pro-life activists insisted that any legislation to provide abortion in limited situations would inevitably lead to widespread abortion. “If abortion is introduced, even on a very limited basis, it becomes widespread,” Bishop William Murphy of Kerry said during a radio interview Nov. 29. Days earlier, Irish Prime Minister […]
For a century, parish brings a taste of Italy to Conshohocken
How did it happen that an Italian personal parish founded a hundred years ago in Conshohocken took the name SS. Cosmas and Damian, which honors twins who are believed to have been born in Arabia and martyred in Syria in the early 4th century? The reason is most of the founding parishioners were from Isernia, […]
New York Archdiocese announces 26 schools ‘at risk of closure’
NEW YORK (CNS) — The New York Archdiocese has announced that 26 of the 159 regional, parish and archdiocesan elementary schools are at risk of closing next June. In addition, St. Agnes Boys High School in Manhattan also is at risk of closing at the end of the current school year. The Nov. 26 announcement […]