Opinion
CS&T in summertime
With the passing of Memorial Day on the calendar, summertime lies just around the corner. This summer as last, the Catholic Standard & Times again will publish on a biweekly schedule in July and August. That means you will receive this newspaper each Thursday this month. But come July, you’ll only receive a paper July […]
Who will do something?
The catastrophe playing out now in the Gulf of Mexico has defied every attempt to stop the millions of gallons of oil gushing from a reservoir beneath 20,000 feet of rock and another 5,000 feet of water. Non-engineer observers naturally plead, “Somebody do something!” We don’t know what to do or who will do it.{{more}} […]
One expects to meet Christ in the priest
By Carmina Magnusen Chapp If I were to meet a priest and an angel, I should salute the priest before I saluted the angel. The latter is the friend of God; but the priest holds His place. – St. John Vianney, Catechism on the Priesthood In a recent general audience, Pope Benedict XVI spoke of […]
Synthetic cell creation: Fine start, but what end?
Last week a team of American scientists had claimed to create living cells through artificial means. The news is an occasion for both optimism and caution. The optimism acknowledges that new synthetic cells could help treat diseases in people or serve as a potential energy source for a power-hungry society (there’s a metaphor to consider). […]
Flash mobs: Where are the parents?
By Father Leonard Peterson They twitter and tweettheir gang to meetOther kids for a bashbut headed for clash.And clash they didlike all mobs willwith rules and rulers.It sent a chill.So how to end itbefore a trend set?An answer not bad:it’s both Mom and Dad. If you dear readers will forgive my lame attempt at poetry, […]
New priests for the new evangelization
During the bicentennial celebration of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia in 2008, Cardinal Justin Rigali identified three “super priorities” for this local Church: Eucharistic adoration, confessions and vocations. The last of these came to fruition last Saturday, as gratefully it does every year at this time, with the ordination of men to the diocesan priesthood. The […]
A Pennsylvania primary primer
By A. B. Hill Tuesday, May 18, is primary election day in Pennsylvania. * What is a primary election? A primary election is the preliminary step in the process of electing a candidate running for office. Voters cast ballots in the primary to choose their party’s nominees to run in the general election. Pennsylvania is […]
Voting principles
The questionnaire of candidates running for elective office presented in this edition is one tool by which voters can assess the candidates and the stands they take, or refuse to take, on a wide range of issues. The importance of casting your votes in the primary election Tuesday, May 18, and/or the general election in […]
Run back to church
It’s a stark fact that more people (30,000) showed up to run 10 miles than to pray at weekend Masses in one archdiocesan vicariate’s 48 parishes combined. (Philadelphia-South had average weekly attendance of 25,871 in 2008.) Hopefully the fit Catholics running in last Sunday’s Broad Street Run attended Mass at some church. If not, they […]
Children teach peace
How can a community be transformed from one of violence to one of peace? St. Francis de Sales School in West Philadelphia may have the answer. A vibrant assembly recently recognized dozens of peacemakers among the more than 500 students. Sixth-grader Fifi Degarr received a special peacemaker medal by the pastor, Father Louis Bier, and […]