By Francis X. Rocca Catholic News Service  VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis will meet slum-dwellers and powerful politicians, pay homage at a Marian shrine and celebrate with participants at World Youth Day when he visits Brazil in late July. The Argentine pope’s first international trip, which will take him …

Back when I was in the college seminary and the vocation director would visit, I was always a bit skeptical of his noticing that ‘we (seminarians) have grown so much’ since the time of his last visit.  I could notice some growth that we were going through, but was never …

Though I’m having a hard time admitting it to myself, I’m now what’s considered to be middle-aged. As much as I want to deny it, one thing that confirms this stage in my life at present is my dislike, even fear, of surprises.

From the May 2013 print edition of The Catholic Telegraph By Patricia McGeever For The Catholic Telegraph A nursing home, originally built to care for infirm Franciscan Sisters of the Poor in 1971, will be razed this summer because the cost to upgrade it is too high. The building, now …

By Carol Glatz Catholic News Service  VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Going to confession isn’t like heading off to be tortured or punished, nor is it like going to the dry cleaners to get out a stain, Pope Francis said in a morning Mass homily. “It’s an encounter with Jesus” who …

The following letter from Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr appears in the May edition of The Catholic Telegraph. +++++++++ My Dear Friends in Christ, Once again, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is calling for a Fortnight for Freedom from June 21—the vigil of the Feasts of St. John Fisher …

By Steve Trosley The Catholic Telegraph  “A member of the Cardinal’s staff told me that attending one of his staff meetings was like watching a one-man think tank,” Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr said Wednesday evening after the Gardner Lecture in Moral Theology at the Athenaeum. Cardinal Francis E. George discussed — in …

By Jean Lim For The Catholic Telegraph  How do you see yourself as hope to a world that desperately needs persons of faith to bring it closer to peace? That question was the focus of events at Xavier University on April 18 commemorating the 50th anniversary of Pacem in Terris …

Staff Report (This article originally appeared in the E-pistle Newsletter) The Athenaeum of Ohio’s series of events commemorating the Year of Faith will continue with a visit by Cardinal Francis E. George, Archbishop of Chicago, who will address “Human Rights and Religious Freedom” when he presents the Gardner Lecture in …

By Catholic News Service  A glance around the nation and world in Catholic news. Marriage is not for government to ‘define or redefine,’ says bishop WILMINGTON, Del. (CNS) — Marriage “is a unique relationship between a man and a woman” and it’s not the government’s place to “define or redefine” …