News
Wine and cheese at St. Barbara’s
The St. Barbara Social Trendsetters are sponsoring a Wine & Cheese Social on Saturday, Oct. 20, 7 to 11 p.m. in the St. Barbara Parish Hall, 54th St. and Lebanon Avenue, Philadelphia. Tickets are $25 per person. Join us and experience an array of delicious cheeses and other tasteful tidbits along with fruitful and bubbly […]
Cardinal Rigali had back stage pass to Vatican II’s proceedings
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (CNS) -- Cardinal Justin Rigali, former archbishop of Philadelphia and St. Louis who is currently in residence in Knoxville, was a priest assistant at the Second Vatican Council -- a spot that essentially gave him a backstage pass. The significance wasn't lost on the then-27-year-old Los Angeles priest, who called it a privilege to play a minor role at the council.
Catholic group enlists young adults to help people ‘lift themselves up’
BALTIMORE (CNS) -- When Towana Bowers-Scott looks at Anthony Newman, she doesn't see a youthful do-gooder spending his second post-college year doing a year of service for a Catholic organization. The 30-year-old Baltimore high school dropout sees a tireless tutor determined to help her pass her GED high-school equivalency exam. "He don't give up on us," Bowers-Scott said, following a tutoring session with Newman at the McElderry Park Community Resource Center in an east Baltimore neighborhood littered with boarded-up houses and all of the markings of extreme poverty.
Sister Catherine Shean, M.M.S.
Sister Catherine Shean, M.M.S., a Medical Mission Sister who lived at St. Joseph’s Manor in Philadelphia, died Oct. 1 in Philadelphia. She was 97 years old. After receiving her diploma as a registered nurse from St. Vincent’s Hospital inNew Yorkin 1937, Sister Catherine worked as a nurse at several health facilities before entering the Medical […]
Papal butler says he’s innocent of theft, but guilty of betraying pope
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Paolo Gabriele, the papal butler charged with stealing and leaking papal correspondence, said he was innocent of charges of aggravated theft, but "I feel guilty for having betrayed the trust the Holy Father placed in me." "I loved him like a son," Gabriele said of the pope during the second day of his trial. The morning session of the trial Oct. 2 also featured brief testimony by Cristina Cernetti, one of the consecrated laywomen who work in the papal apartment; and longer testimony by Msgr. Georg Ganswein, Pope Benedict XVI's personal secretary.
Missouri Catholic businessman to appeal judge’s decision on HHS lawsuit
ST. LOUIS (CNS) — A federal court ruling that rejected a Catholic St. Louis business owner's challenge to the federal mandate that employee health insurance cover contraceptives will be appealed to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. U.S. District Judge Carole Jackson Sept. 28 granted the Obama administration's motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed […]
US Catholics urged to renew commitment ‘to defend’ life during October
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- During October, designated each year as Respect Life Month by the U.S. Catholic Church, Catholics should "renew their personal commitment to defend all human life, especially the most vulnerable members of the human family," said the chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Pro-Life Activities.
Archbishop urges Catholics to follow pope’s ‘road map’ of faith renewal
LOS ANGELES (CNS) -- In a wide-ranging address at the eighth annual Los Angeles Catholic Prayer Breakfast, Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Philadelphia spoke of the "debris of failure" that must be dealt with if the Catholic Church in America is to be truly renewed. The archbishop said the obvious problems include the clergy sex abuse crisis, a decline in priestly vocations, struggling Catholic schools and parishes, years of deficit spending and unrealistic financial management, and drastic demographic changes.
Sister Rita Tassinari, M.P.F.
Sister Rita Tassinari, M.P.F., 70, died Sept. 25 at the St. Joseph Hall Infirmary, Morristown, N.J. Born in Somerville, Mass., Sister Rita entered the Religious Teachers Filippini on July 14, 1951, and made her religious profession Aug. 27, 1961. She earned a Bachelor of Science degree in elementary education from Seton Hall University, South Orange, […]
La Milagrosa to be sold by Vincentians to benefit order’s retirees
The Congregation of the Mission, also known as the Vincentians, intends to sell Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal Chapel and other properties in order to support the retired priests and brothers of the order in Spain, where it is headquartered in Barcelona. Best known in the Hispanic community as La Milagrosa, the chapel is associated with the Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul and located just blocks from the cathedral at 1903 Spring Garden St. in Philadelphia. In a statement released Sept. 28, the Archdiocese said it does not own the property and does not have the funds to purchase it from the Vincentians.