OMAHA, Neb. (CNS) — It started in 1917 with a rented house, five boys who needed a home in Omaha and a Catholic priest determined to help troubled and abandoned youths throughout the city. Now, Boys Town helps more than 1.6 million people each year through its main campus of group homes, churches, a grade […]
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Photo Caption: A man walks by destroyed St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Ridgway, Ill., March 1. The church, built in 1894, was destroyed just after 5 a.m. Feb. 29 by a tornado. By: By Liz Quirin, Catholic News Service RIDGWAY, Ill. (CNS) — Elizabeth Schmitt, who planned to get married in May at St. Joseph […]
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By: From the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops WASHINGTON — Bishop David L. Ricken of Green Bay, Wis., chairman of the Committee on Evangelization and Catechesis of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), offers “10 Things to Remember for Lent” as the Church prepares to begin the season with Ash Wednesday on February 22: […]
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Photo Caption: U.S. President Barack Obama makes a statement at the White House in Washington Feb. 10 as Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius looks on. By: By Nancy Frazier O’Brien, Catholic News Service WASHINGTON (CNS) — In an move that appears unlikely to end the controversy over a federal mandate that all […]
Continue readingSEATTLE (CNS) — Members of the House of Representatives in Washington state voted Feb. 8 to legalize same-sex marriage, and Gov. Christine Gregoire was expected to sign the bill into law by mid-February. The vote came one day after a federal appeals court in California struck down that state’s voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage. In […]
Continue readingVATICAN CITY (CNS) — The take-away message from a Vatican-backed symposium on clerical sex abuse was clear: Victims, truth and justice come first. And the church can no longer wait for a crisis to erupt before it begins to address the scandal of abuse. “We do not need to wait for a bomb to explode. […]
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WASHINGTON (CNS) — Every child and adult with special needs, every unwanted unborn child and every person who is “poor, weak, abandoned or homeless” is “an icon of God’s face and a vessel of his love,” said Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput. “How we treat these persons — whether we revere them and welcome them, […]
Continue readingWASHINGTON (CNS) — It is not enough to be pro-life intellectually and politically, said Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport, Conn. “We must embrace the Gospel of life in the depth of our souls in such a way that it continually transforms us: bringing us to our knees in repentance for our own failures against […]
Continue readingVATICAN CITY (CNS) — Amid the deluge of information and nonstop chatter in today’s media, the church needs to help people find safe havens of silence, Pope Benedict XVI said. Far from being the enemy of calm and quiet, social media and the Internet can lead people to virtual sanctuaries that offer silent reflection, thoughtful […]
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Photo Caption: Cardinals’ red hats are pictured as Pope Benedict XVI celebrates Mass marking the feast of the Epiphany in St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican Jan. 6. By: By Francis X. Rocca, Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI named 22 new cardinals, including two from the United States, and announced […]
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