News
Palestinian question key to Mideast peace, say Catholic leaders
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — At the end of a three-day meeting in Lebanon, the Catholic patriarchs and bishops of the Middle East said peace in the region will be impossible without a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The 77 Catholic leaders said the greatest contribution to peace in the region would be to finally find […]
Amid ongoing violence, Chicago-area Catholics challenged to build peace
CHICAGO (CNS) -- In a metropolitan area rocked by crime, Chicago-area Catholics are being challenged to respond and realize their spiritual responsibility to build peace. More than 200 children and adults gathered on a street corner on Chicago's South Side Nov. 30 to pray for peace on their streets. Earlier that week, shots rang out at nearby St. Columbanus Church following the funeral of a reputed gang member. One man was killed and another injured in the shooting.
Catholic jazz pianist Dave Brubeck dies; known for ‘Take Five’
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Dave Brubeck, the influential and prolific pianist whose composition "Take Five" became a standard in the annals of jazz, died of heart failure Dec. 5 at age 91, one day before his 92nd birthday. Brubeck played his "cool" brand of West Coast jazz before Blessed John Paul II and eight presidents. He became a Catholic in 1980 after completing a commission from Our Sunday Visitor -- a Mass titled "To Hope." Brubeck said in a PBS biographical profile, "I didn't convert to Catholicism, because I wasn't anything to convert from. I just joined the Catholic Church."
Six seminarians return to alma mater Shanahan for liturgy
Deacon John Stokely (back row, third from right) recently returned to his alma mater, Bishop Shanahan High School in Downingtown, to preach at the school’s Thanksgiving Mass Nov. 21. It was Deacon Stokely’s first homily given at the school since his diaconate ordination last May. He was joined by fellow St. Charles Borromeo seminarians and […]
Advent is time to renew faith, bring God’s love to others, pope says
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Advent's liturgical preparation for Christmas calls Christians to renew their faith in the reality of God's great love and to make a commitment to bringing his love to the world today, Pope Benedict XVI said. Advent, he said, "places before us the bright mystery of the coming of God's son, the great plan of God's goodness through which he desires to draw us to himself to let us live in full communion, joy and peace with him."
Reform must respect immigrants’ human rights, dignity, says archbishop
ATLANTA (CNS) — Some 200 national immigration leaders surveyed the landscape of immigration reform at the federal and state level during a three-day Catholic conference in Atlanta Dec. 3-5. Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory of Atlanta told the leaders that while the federal government recently acted to offer young people brought into the country as children […]
Thousands rally in Ireland to block abortion bill
DUBLIN (CNS) — Thousands of pro-life demonstrators held a candlelight vigil outside the Irish parliament Dec. 4, calling on the government not to introduce abortion legislation. An estimated crowd of 8,000 people braved bitterly cold weather to hear speakers from a coalition of pro-life organizations call on Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny to keep a […]
Use of Louisiana state funds for school vouchers ruled unconstitutional
BATON ROUGE, La. (CNS) -- Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal called it "wrong-headed" and a "travesty" that a state judge ruled Nov. 30 that a voucher program passed by the Legislature last spring is unconstitutional. State District Judge Tim Kelley said the state cannot use funds set aside for public education to pay for children in failing schools to attend nonpublic schools.
Papal events, Vatican webcam feeds streamed live with new ‘Pope App’
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Vatican is offering a new app that provides live streaming of papal events and video feeds from the Vatican’s six webcams. “The Pope App” also will send out alerts and links to top stories coming out of the Vatican’s news outlets, said Gustavo Entrala, founder and CEO of the Spanish […]
Deacon Eichman, of St. Kevin Parish, laid to rest
Deacon Thomas E. Eichman, 84, a retired permanent deacon at St. Kevin Parish in Springfield, died Nov. 27. Born in Philadelphia the son of the late Edward A. and Frances (Liebert) Eichman, he was a graduate of St. Joseph’s Preparatory School, Villanova University and Villanova School of Law. He was a veteran of the Korean […]