PHOENIX – Nearly two years after parishes in the Phoenix Diocese were asked to restore the order of the sacraments of initiation and begin confirming third-graders before they receive the Eucharist, students, families and parish leaders are still adjusting. Phoenix Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted said the restored order “has gone remarkably well,” thanks to everyone...Read More

DUBLIN, Ireland – Victims of clerical child sexual abuse and groups representing them reacted with a mix of anger and disappointment to a Vatican statement issued after a papal meeting with Irish bishops.Read More

Christopher Gunty wrote an excellent editorial “Super ad meets super hypocrisy Sunday” (CR, Feb. 4), but must correct something he wrote in the last sentence.Read More

ROME – Pope Benedict XVI visited a Rome juvenile detention center and told young people that true happiness involves discipline as well as freedom. The pope celebrated Mass in the chapel of the Casal del Marmo Prison for Minors March 18, then met with the 49 young detainees in a gym. Greeting them individually, he...Read More

SAN FRANCISCO – “It is a mistake to judge Islam on the basis of terrorists, just as it is (unfair) to judge Christianity from the Crusades,” an Islamic scholar told a San Francisco audience. Mona Siddiqui, founder and director of the Center for the Study of Islam at the University of Glasgow in Scotland, made...Read More

In popular culture, the sacrament of reconciliation can often be portrayed as intimidating. Some who are seeking to lighten the heavy burden of sin are often scared away from the confessional.Read More

It was something I had done literally thousands of times before. I was purifying the sacred vessels at Mass, carefully wiping the crumbs of the Eucharistic Bread, the Body of Christ, into the chalice. It happened to be the Feast of the Epiphany. This was the day we celebrated the Wise Men following the star...Read More

Anyone looking for a quick way to send a card for the Lenten season online should check out the Web site of the Redemptorists of the Denver Province. The site, www.redemptorists-denver.org, now offers electronic cards, called e-cards, for the Lenten season, Easter and Good Friday. There are also cards for respect for life, birthdays, Mother’s...Read More