ROCK ISLAND — The bricks, mortar, and stained glass of Sacred Heart Church here were replaced with gingerbread, frosting, and crushed lollipops in a tiny replica that may go a long way to help fix a boiler at the 106-year-old church. The edible edifice was a part of the Gingerbread Village at this year’s Festival […]
Continue readingAs government leaders continue to address crises in the national economy, parish food pantries in the Diocese of Peoria are seeing higher numbers of people in need of their services. The Peoria Area Food Bank, which supplies food to 125 pantries in eight counties, has seen a minimum of a 25 percent increase in demand […]
Continue readingThe next “Post Poll” asks readers to share their “resolutions” for the new church year, which begins this Sunday, Nov. 30, with the first Sunday of Advent. What prayers, devotions or spiritual reading will you be taking up as you prepare for the coming of Christ into your life at Christmas and throughout the year? […]
Continue readingThere won’t be any bottles of champagne uncorked or crowds of people gathered in New York’s Times Square to sing “Auld Lang Syne,” but a new year is beginning at midnight on Sunday, Nov. 30, and it calls people of faith to conversion of life just as surely as any New Year’s resolution made on […]
Continue readingIt happened Tuesday morning. My wife got the pen out and we started marking all over our family calendar for December. Dates for work Christmas parties, from my employer and hers, were blocked off. Holiday plays and concerts we hope to attend took a few more dates, as did family gatherings, evenings to entertain friends, […]
Continue readingBy: By Msgr. Stuart Swetland First Sunday of Advent, Nov. 30 Isaiah 63:16b-17,19b and 64:2-7; Psalm 80:2-3,15-16,18-19; 1 Corinthians 1:3-9; Mark 13:33-37 Happy New Year! This November’s end is a time of new beginnings. A new liturgical year is upon us as we begin the beautiful season of Advent in preparation for the Christmas season. […]
Continue readingVATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Vatican newspaper said the musical compositions of the Beatles were far more creative than the “standardized and stereotyped” pop music of today. The Beatles’ songs have demonstrated “remarkable staying power, becoming a source of inspiration for more than one generation of pop musicians,” it said. The newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, published […]
Continue readingVATICAN CITY (CNS) — Christian martyrdom is the fullest expression of human freedom and reflects the supreme act of love, said a top Vatican official at a Mass beatifying 188 Japanese martyrs. “It is not the punishment or the torture that creates a martyr,” but rather the fact the person suffered and died for Christ, […]
Continue readingVATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Vatican said the current market crisis calls for a new international agreement to effectively monitor global financial operations and give poorer countries a greater voice in economic policies. In particular, steps are needed to curb the abuses of offshore financial institutions, which many see as one of the causes of […]
Continue readingRating: A-II (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. Gothic romance about a self-possessed high school student (Kristen Stewart) who moves to Washington state to live with her divorced father (Billy Burke) […]
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