WASHINGTON – The long-held tradition of St. Patrick’s Day parades has experienced a bump in the road this year with the saint’s feast day occurring during an unusually early Holy Week.Read More

WASHINGTON – The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has informed four Catholic dioceses that it will not renew their contracts to provide foster care and adoption services because there has been “no meeting of the minds” about providing services to same-sex couples.Read More

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI asked the Jesuits to continue to be pioneers in dialogue, theological research and work for justice, but insisted that they also must make clear their faith and their acceptance of the teachings of the Catholic Church.Read More

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI named an official delegation to represent him at the July 9 independence celebrations in Southern Sudan and charged members with conveying his hopes for “peace and prosperity” to citizens of the world’s newest nation.Read More

WASHINGTON – During nearly 50 years of rule, Fidel Castro had an often-stormy relationship with the Cuban Catholic Church. The Jesuit-educated Castro was equally comfortable defusing the Cuban church as an institutional force during the early years of his revolution in the 1960s as he was bantering casually with Pope John Paul II during the...Read More

GLYNDON – Future priests were very much on the minds of worshippers at Sacred Heart, Glyndon, July 1.Read More

With the understanding that no one gets out of this existence alive, those who want to prepare for the inevitable can plan their funeral and prepay for most of it, too.Read More

With this, my last column prior to a bit of a summer hiatus, I thought I would use the occasion to tie up some loose ends by commenting on a number of topics that have been on my “to-do” list for some time.Read More