Catholic leaders canceled Sunday Masses as Sri Lanka’s churches remained closed for a second week for fear of new terrorist attacks after the Easter Sunday suicide bombings that killed more than 250 people.


Catholic leaders canceled Sunday Masses as Sri Lanka’s churches remained closed for a second week for fear of new terrorist attacks after the Easter Sunday suicide bombings that killed more than 250 people.

In the Catholic heart of Bulgaria, Pope Francis celebrated a special Mass for 245 children receiving their first Communion and thanked them for helping him, their parents and grandparents remember their own first Communion.

Life in a military barracks — with so many different people living in such close proximity — teaches much needed social, spiritual and ethical values, Pope Francis told new recruits to the Swiss Guard.

Today as we see these wonderful young people receive Jesus for the first time, let us lay claim to the developing faith of the Apostles in this morning’s Gospel.

What enabled the Apostles to break through the futility of fishing and not catching? How did they shed their confusion and timidity so as to become the bold witnesses to the Gospel that we see in today’s reading from the Acts of the Apostles? There are two conditions for this that applied to them and that apply to us also.

If you have come to one of my parties, you know that what I focus my energy on are the favors, inviting people the morning of the event, designing veggie trays, and scrambling to get the rest of the food together at the last minute.

The border between Venezuela and Brazil has been closed since Feb. 22, but hundreds of Venezuelan migrants still stream across daily, seeking refuge from a worsening political and economic crisis.

Invaluable to the Christian life is a warm and loving devotion to Mary, the Mother of God.

One of the most important lessons of Christianity that Becky Egan Hogg tries to convey to her religion students at Mercy High School in Baltimore is God’s unconditional love.

A few weeks ago our friend Annie traveled to Israel to visit family there. Her airplane landed there on Palm Sunday, and she even texted me from the airport to tell me she was there.

“At this challenging time in the life of our City, we pray that God gives strength and wisdom to our acting mayor and to the leaders of our community in order that they might bring the residents of Baltimore together in confronting our challenges, while also asserting those aspects that represent our promise and true potential, for the advancement and good of all.”
— Archbishop William E. Lori

We celebrate, we loudly proclaim “Alleluia,” but we also hover in that upper room, wondering what this event means for the rest of our lives. As Christians, it is the question we cannot deny or avoid. It’s the pivotal question of our entire existence.