Author Archive
Historic flooding in Louisiana has changed region forever, many say
IMAGE: CNS photo/Jonathan Bachman, Reuters By Richard Meek BATON ROUGE, La. (CNS) — Water lapped at the heels of Father Michael Galea, steady rain an arduous reminder of Mother Nature’s unfinished business. With a sadness in his voice, Father Galea, pastor at Holy Rosary Church in St. Amant, estimated that …
‘Icon of mercy’: Missionaries superior describes Blessed Teresa
IMAGE: CNS photo/Robert Duncan By Cindy Wooden ROME (CNS) — Blessed Teresa of Kolkata was a woman who truly felt wed to Jesus, and the freedom she experienced in loving him led her to radical poverty, a courageous outreach and an immense love for the poor, said the superior general …
For 2017 World Peace Day, pope asks to focus on nonviolence
By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — When nonviolence is the basic approach of political decisions and public policy, it promotes the restoration and consolidation of peace, the Vatican said. In his message for the Jan. 1 celebration of World Peace Day, Pope Francis will offer reflections on the …
Retired Pope Benedict says it was his ‘duty’ to resign from papacy
By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Retired Pope Benedict XVI said in an interview that he felt a “duty” to resign from the papacy because of his declining health and the rigorous demands of papal travel. While his heart was set on completing the Year of Faith, the …
Pope asks Jesuits to educate diocesan clergy in practice of discernment
By Cindy Wooden ROME (CNS) — When it comes to the Christian life, too many seminaries teach students a rigid list of rules that make it difficult or impossible for them as priests to respond to the real-life situation of those who come to them seeking guidance, Pope Francis said. …
Trustees agree to protect whistleblowers at Irish national seminary
IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Michael Kelly DUBLIN (CNS) — The trustees of Ireland’s national seminary have agreed to bring in a specific policy to protect whistleblowers after serious allegations were made about life in the college. The Aug. 23 announcement also followed a decision by Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin to …
Catholic mission set up to bring God to hipsters
IMAGE: CNS photo/Ed Wilkinson, The Tablet By Chaz Muth WASHINGTON (CNS) — The gray robes worn by the Conventual Franciscan friars may not be fashionable in the Williamsburg/Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, but the religious men appear to be fitting in just fine in the heart of “hipster” country. …
Vatican newspaper: ‘Amoris Laetitia’ is authoritative church teaching
By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis’ apostolic exhortation on the family is an example of the “ordinary magisterium” — papal teaching — to which Catholics are obliged to give “religious submission of will and intellect,” said an article in the Vatican newspaper. Father Salvador Pie-Ninot, a well-known …
Rebuilding in Ecuador after April quake complicated by enduring poverty
IMAGE: CNS photo/Barbara Fraser By Barbara J. Fraser JAMA, Ecuador (CNS) — Ask Jose Santos about the earthquake that struck the northern coast of Ecuador in April and he paints a vivid picture. “The ground moved like waves on the ocean,” he recalls, while a pall of sulfurous-smelling haze rose …
Mother Teresa knew what being unloved felt like, priest says
IMAGE: CNS photo/Robert Duncan By Cindy Wooden ROME (CNS) — In the chapel of the first house Blessed Teresa of Kolkata established in Rome, Father Brian Kolodiejchuk of the Missionaries of Charity talks about her life, mixing the concrete and even mundane with the spiritual and even mystical. “She was very …