WASHINGTON (CNS) — Instead of taking a typical vacation on a tropical beach, more college students are choosing alternative spring-break service trips to help the poor in the United States and around the world. Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y., has offered domestic service trips for more than 18 years. Canisius students also have traveled internationally […]
Continue readingVATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI has decided the collection taken up at his Holy Thursday evening Mass will be used to help support the Catholic community in the Gaza Strip. Each year the pope chooses where to send the collection taken up during the Mass of the Lord’s Supper at the Basilica of […]
Continue readingWASHINGTON (CNS) — Saying he believes strong moral guidelines are important in the human life sciences, President Barack Obama said he would be happy to avoid ethical and political disputes if alternatives to embryonic stem-cell research turn out to be equally promising. During his March 24 press conference, Obama was asked about his personal moral […]
Continue readingVATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Catholic Church’s annual Collection for the Holy Land helps maintain Christian sites in the Holy Land, provides care for aged religious who spent their lives ministering in the land of Jesus and supports projects that help native Christians remain and thrive in the region. Cardinal Luigi Sandri, prefect of the […]
Continue readingCALCUTTA, India (CNS) — The Missionaries of Charity, the congregation founded by Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, elected Sister Mary Prema as its new superior general March 24. The German-born nun replaces Sister Nirmala Joshi, who had been elected for a third time March 13. Sister Nirmala has led the congregation since 1997, after taking […]
Continue readingYAOUNDE, Cameroon (CNS) — Pope Benedict XVI, on his first full day in Africa, encouraged Cameroon’s bishops to be strong preachers of the Gospel and vigilant shepherds on matters of priestly formation and behavior, liturgical dignity and Christian marriage. Emphasizing the church’s missionary task, the pope said bishops must first of all be religious educators […]
Continue readingPORTLAND, Ore. (CNS) — Oregon’s annual report on assisted suicide showed that doctors helped 60 patients take their lives in 2008. That marked the highest annual total since the Oregon Death With Dignity Act went into effect 11 years ago. In all, 401 Oregonians have died by the legal lethal prescriptions, which are legal only […]
Continue readingWASHINGTON (CNS) — “Adopt-a-seminarian” programs to support and encourage young men studying for the priesthood are pretty common in U.S. dioceses, and programs like that for young women could help foster vocations to religious life, said Benedictine Sister Michelle Catherine Sinkhorn. Sister Michelle is co-director of vocation ministries at the monastery of the Sisters of […]
Continue readingALBANY, N.Y. (CNS) — The possibility the Catholic Church will allow married priests shouldn’t be dismissed, New York Cardinal Edward M. Egan said March 10 during a radio interview. “It’s a perfectly legitimate discussion,” he said during a talk radio program in Albany hosted by Fred Dicker. “I think it has to be looked at.” […]
Continue readingVATICAN CITY (CNS) — In a letter to the world’s bishops, Pope Benedict XVI expressed regret that his lifting of the excommunications of four traditionalist bishops gave rise to a storm of protests and bitterness. The pope said the controversy over Bishop Richard Williamson’s statements denying the extent of the Holocaust was “an unforeseen mishap” […]
Continue reading
