By: By Msgr. Stuart Swetland Fourth Sunday of Advent, Dec. 21 2 Samuel 7:1-5,8b-12,14a,16; Psalm 89:2-3,4-5,27,29; Romans 16:25-27; Luke 1:26-38 Sometimes a wait can seem forever. A traffic jam, long check-out lines, a doctor’s office, the airport — all of these can try one’s patience and make time seem to stand still. For children, the […]
Continue readingDETROIT (CNS) — Cardinal Adam J. Maida of Detroit emphasized the need for urgent government action to allocate at least enough money to help Detroit’s automakers stay afloat until a more comprehensive assistance package can be worked out in the new year. “People in households throughout southeast Michigan and all across the country are counting […]
Continue readingVATICAN CITY (CNS) — This year’s economic crisis could help people rediscover the true meaning of Christmas and the values of life, love and charity, Pope Benedict XVI said. After the “consumerist and materialistic scales have been shed, Christmas can then become an occasion to accept as a personal gift the message of hope that […]
Continue readingROME (CNS) — An Italian government official intervened to stop a hospital from withholding nutrition and hydration from a woman who has been in a persistent vegetative state for 16 years. The Dec. 16 decree by Maurizio Sacconi, Italy’s welfare minister, temporarily blocked Eluana Englaro’s physician and family from carrying out an Italian supreme court […]
Continue readingRating: L (R) 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. Surreal, pessimistic drama in which a theater director (Philip Seymour Hoffman), deserted by his artist wife (Catherine Keener), endlessly rehearses a constantly expanding […]
Continue readingFERDINAND, Ind. — “Mindful Living: Being Present to the Moment” is the theme for a Benedictine Life Weekend offered Jan. 2-4, 2009, by the Sisters of St. Benedict of Ferdinand, Ind. Open to single Catholic women, ages 18 to 40, who want to experience the Benedictine way of life, the weekend will be held at […]
Continue readingURBANA — A new collectible ornament to benefit Provena Hospice has been introduced. The second in a series, it is a handmade porcelain heart that bears the words “Forever in our hearts.” The ornament is $10 and may be purchased at the gift shops of Provena Covenant Medical Center, 1400 W. Park St., Urbana, and […]
Continue readingDAVENPORT, Iowa — Jeffrey C. Dunn expects to receive a wonderful gift for his 21st birthday next week, but he has no intention of keeping it to himself. That gift is his first book, “Verses by Virtue: A Reference of Organized Bible Verses,” which he hopes to have in hand by Dec. 17. He plans […]
Continue readingMOLINE — For 43 years, Sister Judith Terese McNulty, BVM, has called the Quad Cities home and she said she knows so many people now that she can’t misbehave — not that she would have the time. She volunteers at the Illini Campus of Genesis Medical Center in Silvis three days a week, helping people […]
Continue readingSTREATOR — From her office in the former convent of St. Stephen’s Parish, Sister Alice Ann Harcharik, OSF, can see St. Stephen’s School. “My, if this building could speak,” said Sister Alice Ann of the three-story structure, whose halls she once walked as a student and principal. Starting tomorrow, it will be up to the […]
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