WASHINGTON – Several Catholics were among nearly 40 U.S. religious leaders who called on President George W. Bush to launch a new Israeli-Palestinian peace initiative. “We ask that you make Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking, in the context of a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace initiative, an urgent priority for your administration,” the leaders said in a letter delivered to...Read More

MEXICO CITY – The Catholic aid agency Caritas has responded to the torrential downpours in Guatemala with appeals for food and clothing for the victims of what has been described as the heaviest rains to be dumped on the Central American country in more than 50 years.Read More

SEOUL, South Korea – A whistle-stop visit by North Korean leader Kim Jong Il to a church in China is not a sign that the secretive communist regime’s stance toward religion is softening, South Korean Catholics say.Read More

VATICAN CITY – A recent sermon by the papal preacher, Capuchin Father Raniero Cantalamessa, took aim at John Lennon’s famous line, “Imagine there’s no heaven,” saying it represented an empty, secularized vision of human destiny. But an Italian biblicist, Father Carlo Buzzetti, has approached the question from a different angle: The modern church, he said,...Read More

Some graduates go back just for the sandwiches. The buffalo chicken wrap is popular, as is The Kevin Special: hot roast beef, melted provolone, barbecue sauce, mayonnaise, onions, lettuce and French fries (yes, French fries) wrapped in a flour tortilla. Both are favorites of students and alumni in the dining hall at Loyola Blakefield, Towson.Read More

NEW YORK – More than 1,000 people dressed in blue and white filled a cordoned traffic lane across from the Empire State Building Aug. 26 to protest the decision of the building’s owner to deny a request to illuminate the upper floors in honor of the 100th birthday of Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.Read More

WASHINGTON – Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo praised a federal judge’s recent ruling that temporarily stopped federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research, but the U.S. Department of Justice said it would appeal the decision.Read More

Sister Mary Brigid Tembo took her first formation vows Jan. 6 in her journey to become a Sister of Bon Secours. More than 125 people attended the mass of first profession held at the Sisters of Bon Secours Provincial Chapel in Marriottsville. Of Zambian decent, Sister Brigid incorporated several African cultural elements into the Mass,...Read More