News
Internal matters top agenda of bishops’ fall assembly in Baltimore
Statements on preaching and ways that bishops can respond using new technologies to modern-day challenges to their teaching authority are among the items the U.S. bishops will consider when they gather in Baltimore for their annual fall assembly. Set for Nov. 12-15, the assembly also will consider a statement on work and the economy proposed by the Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development as a way to raise the profile of growing poverty and the struggles that unemployed people are experiencing.
Supreme Court declines to hear Oklahoma ‘personhood’ law case
WASHINGTON (CNS) — An Oklahoma ruling that stopped an attempt to amend the state constitution to define “personhood” in order to ban abortion will stand, after the Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal. Without comment Oct. 29, the court rejected an appeal of the state Supreme Court’s order last spring that stopped a citizens’ […]
Hurricane Sandy a storm ‘many have feared for a long time,’ says N.J. Catholic official
Hurricane Sandy "is a storm that people in southern New Jersey have feared for a long time because of its direct impact on the coast," an area with that is highly developed and also has a significant rate of poverty, said an official of Catholic Charities for the Diocese of Camden, N.J. "Ocean City, N.J., which is in Cape May County, that was completely covered with water ... and that's a fairly large area," Kevin Hickey, executive director of Catholic Charities, told Catholic News Service Oct. 30. He said Wildwood, N.J., was similarly underwater and flooding would be a severe problem anywhere where rivers met bays or estuaries.
Archbishop Chaput offers statement on Hurricane Sandy
Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput issued the following statement Monday, Oct. 29 regarding Hurricane Sandy. Archdiocesan parochial and secondary schools will remain closed Tuesday, Oct. 30, as will the offices of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Center.
Peruvian diocese, first in South America, celebrates 475 years
CUSCO, Peru (CNS) — When Jose Venero Villafuerte was 5 years old, his mother took him to see the statue of Our Lord of the Earthquakes for the first time. “In this moment my path to God was opened,” said Venero, now president of the Fraternity of the Our Lord of the Earthquakes. “I realized […]
Bishops to consider new document on preaching at fall meeting
WASHINGTON (CNS) — “My dad used to say, ‘I know what happened 2,000 years ago. I need to know how to live my life today.'” These words, from Archbishop Robert J. Carlson of St. Louis, get to the heart of a new proposed document on preaching to be considered by the U.S. bishops at the […]
Pope says faith and hope are foundation of migrants’ journeys
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Migrants usually are forced to leave their countries because of poverty, hunger or violence, but faith and hope help them face their hardships and seek a better life elsewhere, Pope Benedict XVI said. The pope chose “Migrations: pilgrimage of faith and hope” as the theme for the 2013 celebration of the […]
Catholics urge more focus on social justice, new national survey shows
WASHINGTON (CNS) — A large national study on faith and political views released Oct. 23 highlighted Catholics’ interest in having social justice take a bigger role in the church’s policy priorities. The American Values Survey by Public Religion Research Institute queried a cross section of all Americans but zeroed in on the opinions of Catholics, […]
New Blessed Teresa Church dedicated in Limerick
The winding country roads of Limerick host modest homes, small churches and businesses as any town. But now high spires poke out of the Montgomery County landscape as parishioners of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta Parish now worship God in their new church. Archbishop Charles Chaput dedicated the 22,000 square foot Gothic edifice Saturday, Oct. 27.
Humility helps us call God ‘Abba:’ ‘Father!’
Oct. 27 Before we make our own this first exclamation of the Lord’s Prayer, we must humbly cleanse our hearts of certain false images drawn “from this world.” Humility makes us recognize that “no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the […]