A resolution of the state budget crisis remained elusive after Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn vetoed a budget bill on Wednesday that included huge funding shortfalls for social service programs. The governor’s veto came one day after U.S. District Judge John F. Grady issued an order requiring the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services to […]
Continue readingWith a nod to the faith, example, and mission of The Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis and all who continue it, the John Bearce family of Washington has pledged $1 million to OSF Saint Francis Medical Center’s new Milestone Building, now under construction. The $280 million Milestone Project is a year away […]
Continue readingIn a study released June 29 by the Pew Research Center, it was reported that 25 percent of people between the ages of 18 and 29 identified themselves as being atheists, agnostics or having no religion. It would have been tough to prove that on the streets of downtown Peoria on a recent Friday night, […]
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Photo Caption: Forty-seven years after leaving Cuba as teenagers and living in Guardian Angel Home in West Peoria, the nine reunion participants pose with former home chaplain Fr. Richard Mullen in Champaign June 27 By: By Tom Dermody The Fourth of July weekend is all about gratitude for the freedoms we enjoy in the United […]
Continue readingBy: By Msgr. Stuart Swetland Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, July 5 Ezekiel 2:2-5; Psalm 123:1-2,2,3-4; 2 Corinthians 12:7-10; Mark 6:1-6 My studentsknow that I am fond of saying “sleep is for the weak.” This expression was drilled into me while I was in training at the Naval Academy. Sleep seemed like a luxury then […]
Continue readingMy wife and I have a priest in the family. We’ve “adopted” him. In fact, he’ll be joining us, usually around dinner time, each night for the next year. He just won’t know it. And we are far from alone. Hundreds have already responded to a prayer-for-priests initiative announced last week by the religious community […]
Continue readingBOSTON (CNS) — Just days before a joint partnership between Caritas Christi Health Care and St. Louis-based insurance company Centene Corp. was scheduled to begin, the Archdiocese of Boston announced June 26 that its Caritas Christi Health Care System was relinquishing its membership and equity interests in the venture. The decision to withdraw from the […]
Continue readingBRIDGEPORT, Conn. (CNS) — Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport praised the Connecticut attorney general June 30 for his opinion urging state ethics officials to stop investigating whether the diocese violated state lobbying laws with its efforts to rally Catholics against legislation that would have given laypeople financial control of their parishes. Bishop Lori called […]
Continue readingLONDON (CNS) — British physicians opposed to euthanasia could face discrimination under new medical guidelines on how to treat dying patients, said a Catholic archbishop. Guidelines drafted by the General Medical Council, the regulatory body for the medical profession, were insufficient to protect doctors who believed “passive euthanasia” was morally wrong, said a June 30 […]
Continue readingRating: O (PG-13) NEW YORK (CNS) — The following is a capsule review of a movie recently reviewed by the Office for Film & Broadcasting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. A pessimistic New York grouch (Larry David) finds his life transformed when he reluctantly shelters a homeless but irrepressibly cheerful young Southerner (Evan […]
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