LONDON (CNS) — Chaldean Catholic officials have canceled traditional Christmas Eve midnight Masses because of security risks. Chaldean Archbishop Louis Sako of Kirkuk in northern Iraq told the agency Aid to the Church in Need that Christians will spend Christmas in “great fear” because of the risk of new attacks. All services and Masses have […]
Continue readingJERUSALEM (CNS) — Amid continuing turmoil in the Middle East, Latin Patriarch Fouad Twal of Jerusalem sent a message of hope and support to Christians of the region. “It is a very difficult situation. We have to support them. They must not lose hope,” the patriarch said at a Dec. 21 news conference where he […]
Continue readingMEXICO CITY (CNS) — The Mexican bishops’ conference declared a nationwide tour of relics of Blessed John Paul II a “total success” as an estimated 27 million Catholics came to venerate the items — including a vial of the late pontiff’s blood — and pray for peace in Mexico. Bishops’ spokesman Father Manuel Corral told […]
Continue readingBy: By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Crying out to God when one is in the grips of pain or fear is a sign of faith in God, Pope Benedict XVI said. A central tenet of faith is believing that the loving God is always close to his creatures and ready […]
Continue readingWASHINGTON (CNS) — A White House spokesman said the Obama administration is working to “strike the right balance between expanding coverage of preventive services and respecting religious beliefs” as it decides on a religious exemption to the mandate that all health plans cover contraceptives and sterilizations by Jan. 1, 2013. “This decision has not yet […]
Continue readingDETROIT (CNS) — A pastoral plan for the Archdiocese of Detroit that includes recommendations such as closing nine parishes, merging 60 parishes into 21 and establishing multi-parish teams or initiatives is a “plan to move the life of the church forward” over the next five years, said Detroit Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron. In a media […]
Continue readingBy: By Dennis Sadowski WASHINGTON (CNS) — Officials with the Catholic Campaign for Human Development rebutted a report that 55 agencies funded by the U.S. bishops’ anti-poverty program in 2010-11 were in conflict with church teaching. Bishop Jaime Soto of Sacramento, Calif., Bishop Stephen E. Blaire of Stockton, Calif., and Ralph McCloud, CCHD executive director, […]
Continue readingBALTIMORE (CNS) — Signaling the importance they gave to the topic, three U.S. cardinals offered a briefing Nov. 14 on efforts to expand and strengthen the church’s post-abortion healing ministry, Project Rachel. Cardinals Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, Sean P. O’Malley of Boston and Donald W. Wuerl of Washington reported on the work of Project […]
Continue readingBALTIMORE (CNS) — A series of advertisements for the U.S. bishops’ campaign to strengthen marriage have been successful in the numbers of people they have reached and the awards they have garnered from professional advertising organizations, Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Ind., said Nov. 14. The bishop, who is chairman of the […]
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Photo Caption: New York Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, addresses the U.S. bishops Nov. 14 during their annual fall meeting in Baltimore. By: By Nancy Frazier O’Brien, Catholic News Service BALTIMORE (CNS) — Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York called on his fellow bishops Nov. 14 to […]
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