ROME – Abortion, which leads to the deaths of innocent humans, is just as evil as killing innocent bystanders in a suicide attack, said the secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Some evil, like the shootings at Virginia Tech, are obvious and visible, said Archbishop Angelo Amato in an April 23...Read More
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – With a large cross of ashes on his forehead, Peter Noel - head bowed and deep in prayer - leaned on the windowsill at the back of the chapel where Ash Wednesday Mass was concluding.Read More
Like any parent, Stuart Czapski always felt his daughter, Ann, was special. He saw the eldest of his four children as a kind person devoted to her faith and community who also excelled in the classroom.Read More
Being known as the “Poster Child of Smoke-Free Maryland” may have shined the political spotlight on Baltimore City Council Vice President Robert Curran, but the St. Francis of Assisi, Baltimore, parishioner doesn’t believe his successful push for city- and state-wide smoking bans is his greatest accomplishment as a public servant. Leading the charge to help...Read More
SAN FRANCISCO – With a one-sentence order, the California Supreme Court March 1 denied a request to speed up consideration of a key question in the appeal over the constitutionality of Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot measure that banned same-sex marriage.Read More
VATICAN CITY – Two Italian nuns, both in their 60s, were kidnapped Nov. 10 in northeastern Kenya near the border with Somalia, the Vatican newspaper reported.Read More
LONDON – A revised code of ethics will prevent doctors from providing contraceptives and abortion referrals at a London Catholic hospital popular with celebrity mothers. The finalized code, which is expected to be passed by the hospital board May 16, will encompass all staff and resident practitioners at the Hospital of St. John and St....Read More
PHILADELPHIA – “Cry out full-throated and unsparingly,” says the first reading from Isaiah (58:1) for March 11 –- the date set for a Lenten prayer service at Philadelphia’s Cathedral Basilica of SS. Peter and Paul.Read More
When College of Notre Dame of Maryland dean of education Sister Sharon Slear arrived at the school 18 years ago, there was only traditional undergraduate course-work offered for potential teachers. The School Sister of Notre Dame saw possibilities for vast amounts of growth.Read More
All it takes to make Maureen Cannon cry is a good country or love song, especially “if I couple it with another situation going on in my life,” said the St. Francis Xavier, Hunt Valley, parishioner. “I think it’s extremely therapeutic to cry. Once I’ve cried, I have a better perspective and outlook on a...Read More
SEVERNA PARK – Warren Tanghe, ordained a transitional deacon by Archbishop Edwin F. O’Brien Feb. 26, will become a priest in the Catholic Church June 25.Read More
Anyone growing up in the Catholic Church through the 1960s might remember the term “pagan baby,” based on a parish/school program through which parishioners and students spiritually adopted babies from foreign countries to pray for them.Read More