VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI encouraged the bishops of the Central African Republic to continue efforts to promote peace and reconciliation in their country. “Peace and national harmony are among the most urgent challenges to which the church in your country must respond,” the pope told the bishops June 1 at the end of...Read More

It came as a shock to learn that Father John Dietzen died (CR, March 31). Evidently because an old picture was used in his column, most of us readers had no idea of his advancing age. We will miss him very much.Read More

When parishioners of the Catholic Community of St. Michael/St. Patrick, Fells Point, opened their May church bulletins, inside they found a brochure informing immigrants how to legally protect themselves if they are detained.Read More

MANOGUAYABO, Dominican Republic – Until her son was born, Maria Rosa Remier never questioned her nationality. By all measures, she considered herself Dominican.Read More

WEST RUTLAND, Vt. – When Father Adam Krempa sits down for a light meal, he enjoys a bowl of cottage cheese drizzled with honey, seeded rye bread lightly toasted with butter not margarine and a cup of coffee with a heaping teaspoon of honey. “It’s like dying and having lunch with the Lord,” said the...Read More

NOTRE DAME, Ind. - A Mercy nun and a laywoman who co-founded a program that is widely credited for reducing Philadelphia’s homeless population by half have been named the winners of the 2011 Laetare Medal given by the University of Notre Dame.Read More

When the second collection basket is passed to parishioners around the Archdiocese of Baltimore June 2 and 3, their donations will be given to evangelization programs nationwide in the black, Native American, Eskimo and Aleut communities. The Black and Native American Missions collection has been conducted throughout the United States since 1884, with proceeds distributed...Read More

VATICAN CITY – A call to arms – to take up the weapons of the rosary and prayer – rang out at a recent international conference on exorcism in Rome.Read More