VATICAN CITY – Continuing an 80-year-old papal tradition, Pope Benedict XVI is canceling regular audiences and clearing his calendar to make a weeklong Lenten retreat. The spiritual exercises not only shut down the normal business of his pontificate, but also place the pope in the unusual position of doing all the listening and none of...Read More
VATICAN CITY – A year after Pope Benedict XVI opened the way to wider use of the Tridentine Mass, implementation of the papal directive is drawing mixed reviews from its target audience.Read More
Most people know the Knights of Columbus as the men who stand outside church in October handing out tootsie rolls or the men who march in local Independence Day parades dressed in capes and feather hats, but the Knights are so much more. Along with doing charitable works, these men are husbands, fathers and employees,...Read More
From the moment she began swimming at age 4, Shelby Kestler was hooked. “My whole life has been in the water,” said Kestler, a 16-year-old junior at The Catholic High School of Baltimore. “I like the quietness of the sport because you can’t hear people around you while you’re swimming. It’s completely your race and...Read More
WASHINGTON – The financial shocks that have staggered the U.S. economy in September have raised worries about the prices of housing, energy and food as well as retirement income, said a spokesman for a Catholic-run investment services firm.Read More
LONDON – The size of the Catholic Church in the British capital is being boosted by waves of illegal immigrants, according to a new report. Undocumented or irregular migrants now make up more than three-quarters of the congregations of at least three London parishes, said “The Ground of Justice: The Report of a Pastoral Research...Read More
I disagree with Ken McVery’s opinion (CR, Nov 18) that promoting a game of Quidditch for the students at Mount St. Mary’s University is a great way to “speak to them.” I am shocked that a Catholic university would even consider, let alone promote, a recreational activity for students based on the Harry Potter series.Read More
John McGinty sat down at a table in the basement of the Loyola/Notre Dame Library Sept. 12 with a soda can in hand and breathed a sigh of relief. He looked around and marveled at his surroundings.Read More
TOLEDO, Ohio – Like moviegoers everywhere, the 100-plus people who filled the auditorium at WGTE-TV in Toledo on a recent evening were looking forward to the show – complete with popcorn and beverages. But this was no ordinary “night at the movies.” It was the result of two years’ work and a partnership between Toledo’s...Read More
Last week, I read a newspaper article about a Connecticut man whose wife and two daughters were raped and murdered three years ago. At the killer’s recent sentencing hearing, the man, a physician, spoke of the impact such a crime has had on his life: “I seriously considered suicide many times. I have no wife,...Read More
LACKAWANNA, N.Y. – Minutes before a memorial Mass for NBC News journalist Tim Russert, Mercy Sister Lucille Socciarelli smiled as she looked out at nearly 1,000 people who had come to Our Lady of Victory Basilica in Lackawanna.Read More