Tuesday, January 12, 202104A joint statement from two U.S. bishops who head different committees of the U.S. bishops called for an end to the federal use of the death penalty as "long past time."
Saturday, January 9, 20210217In our everyday lives we find ourselves making deliberate attempts to prepare for the unforeseen future. We plan for retirement, put money in our 401k, and plan our savings. Some of us invest in the stock market and are anxious each time the market goes up or down. We do all this planning to be sure that the future is enjoyable for us,...
Friday, January 8, 2021060Through baptism and the sacrament of marriage, Catholic families have a special grace and are a gift to the church even if, too often, that grace and gift have not been recognized, said Cardinal Kevin J. Farrell, prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, the Family and Life.
Friday, January 8, 20210159I learned recently that the priest who baptized me, Monsignor Joseph Ferraro, died of Covid-19 on December 17. Father Ferraro was a Navy chaplain stationed in Oakland, California when my father was on active duty, and he de-heathenized me when I was a month old. I never met Monsignor Joe as an adult, but we exchanged emails several years...
Wednesday, January 6, 202108Each year on the night before the annual March for Life, at least 10,000 people have filled the Great Upper Church of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington for the National Prayer Vigil for Life. This year, due to local restrictions on attendance sizes because of the pandemic, the prayer vigil...
Tuesday, January 5, 202106The choral cries of newborn babies will not fill the Sistine Chapel in 2021 because the COVID-19 pandemic has forced Pope Francis to cancel his annual celebration of infant baptisms on the feast of the Baptism of the Lord.
Tuesday, January 5, 2021045As Cruz Bañuelas assembles the homemade board in front of him, a prototype of a game that this fall earned him national recognition as a winner in the 15th People of Play Young Inventor Challenge, the Frisco youth excitedly explains the different options for game play. Behind him, his father looks on with a glint of pride in his eye....
Monday, December 28, 2020026As the fifth anniversary of his apostolic exhortation "Amoris Laetitia" approaches, Pope Francis announced that the Catholic Church will dedicate more than a year to focusing on the family and conjugal love. During his Sunday Angelus address Dec. 27, the pope commemorated the feast of the Holy Family and said that it served as a reminder...
Monday, December 28, 202009Although the COVID-19 pandemic prevented European young adults from praying in the New Year together in Turin, Italy, moving the Taize prayer gathering online has allowed them to involve their peers from around the world in proclaiming "hope in good times and bad," Pope Francis said.