WASHINGTON – In a new directory the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate has identified 165 U.S. Catholic communities of consecrated life that have sprung up since 1965. A little more than half of the 152 communities that provided membership information by gender admit only women, CARA said, while 24 percent admit only men...Read More

The requirement to participate in a March 15 commencement of a Catholic Charities program was to stay out of prison for two years. But for the 23 graduates of the Baltimore-based Maryland Re-entry Partnership, the ceremony celebrated a new outlook on life. “If you told me three years ago I wouldn’t be back in prison...Read More

WARSAW, Poland – A Polish archbishop has said there is no need to tighten anti-abortion laws by amending the Polish Constitution. “I’m convinced our constitution protects life decisively enough at this moment,” said Archbishop Tadeusz Goclowski of Gdansk. “The stable situation now created should prompt us not to take actions which could dramatize or complicate...Read More

WILMINGTON, Del. – Here’s how Rocco Palmo announced his appearance at the March 22 Theology on Tap session in Wilmington in his blog, Whispers in the Loggia: “Two nights later … it’s a short trip down I-95 to Wilmington and another ToT, this time for Bishop Mickey and Co., offering some reflections and” – whoa!...Read More

VATICAN CITY – Many people today seem to have a difficult time recognizing sin, but at the same time the number of people suffering from “guilt complexes” seems to be growing, Pope Benedict XVI said. “We see a humanity that wants to be self-sufficient, where not a few maintain they can do without God and...Read More

As Loyola Blakefield, Towson, senior Garrett Winand puts the final touches on a bowl he is making in his ceramics class, the 17-year-old is reminded his craftsmanship is bound for a March 24 fundraising event to feed the hungry of Baltimore. The Church of the Nativity, Timonium, parishioner said he is pleased representatives from Beans...Read More

VATICAN CITY – As Pope John Paul II’s sainthood cause rolled forward, two people close to him have offered quite different insider accounts of his life and times. Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz of Krakow, the late pope’s personal secretary for 39 years, has produced a conversational memoir called “A Life with Karol.” In anecdotal fashion, it...Read More

LORETTO, Pa. – The sainthood cause for the second priest ordained in the United States, a Russian prince who became known as the “apostle of the Alleghenies,” has been initiated by the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown. Bishop Joseph V. Adamec of Altoona-Johnstown held the opening session of the diocesan inquiry for the canonization cause of Servant...Read More