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March 2012

March 1

Opening student minds to Canada's aboriginal experience [w/ slideshow]

March 1, 2012

TORONTO - In his Grade 9 art class at Fr. John Redmond Catholic Secondary School in west end Toronto, Roman Makuch is drawing beavers, turtles and geese, trying to see through aboriginal eyes and express himself with First Nations’ symbols. The semester dedicated to studying aboriginal art is not easy, Makuch tells a visitor. But he believes it’s valuable. “We’re all Canadian,” he said. “We’re all proud of being Canadian and part of our past is aboriginal.” Grade 12 student Radiyah Chowthury spent last year reading aboriginal authors in her Grade 11 University Enriched Natives Studies English class at Blessed Mother Teresa Catholic Secondary School in Toronto’s Malvern community. She can’t imagine not studying aboriginal authors. As an immigrant kid, she’s unwilling to settle for a history of Canada that begins and ends with European sailors bumping into a big, cold land mass on their way to India.

Holy Land peace requires justice, sacrifice, says Latin patriarch

March 1, 2012

WASHINGTON - Peace in the Holy Land will come only when all parties embrace justice and forgiveness and sacrifice for the good of all people, the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem said during a program at the United States Institute of Peace. Patriarch Fouad Twal called for continued prayer so that Jews, Muslims and Christians understand that true peace entails more than talking about who's right and who's wrong.

Vatican asks Catholics to help Christians in Holy Land

March 1, 2012

VATICAN CITY - Tension, hostility and even violence are the "daily bread" of many of the Christian communities living in the biblical lands of the Middle East, said Cardinal Leonardo Sandri, prefect of the Congregation for Eastern Churches. In a letter to bishops around the world, Cardinal Sandri asked for widespread participation in the annual collection on behalf of Christians in the Holy Land. The Vatican released the cardinal's letter March 1.

In Israel, Indian Catholics get rare chance to celebrate with leaders

March 1, 2012

JERUSALEM (CNS) -- At the entrance to St. Saviour Church, Aloysious Leone and women in traditional Indian dress gathered around Trivandrum Archbishop Mari Soosa Pakiam to ask his blessing and kiss his ring. Leone, 36, a Catholic from southern India, was among about 150 Indian Catholics who braved rain and freezing temperatures to attend a Mass of thanksgiving with church leaders from their country at Jerusalem's St. Saviour Church. "It is very special to have our cardinals and priests here and be able to attend a Mass with them," he said.

Vatican Secret Archives marks 400th anniversary with Rome exhibit

March 1, 2012

ROME - Working with the city of Rome, the Vatican Secret Archives is celebrating its 400th anniversary with an exhibit designed to shed light not only on its holdings, but on some of the myth and mystery surrounding its collection of millions of documents. "Lux in Arcana: The Vatican Secret Archives Reveals Itself" opened at Rome's Capitoline Museum Feb. 29 and is scheduled to remain open until Sept. 9. Vatican archives' officials and exhibit curators said about a hundred original documents are being displayed outside the Vatican for the first time.

U.S. church leaders plan to redouble effort for law to protect religious conscience

March 1, 2012

WASHINGTON - U.S. church leaders pledged to redouble efforts to support religious freedom after the Senate voted to table the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act March 1. Introduced as an amendment to a highway funding bill, the bill was tabled by a 51-48 vote, effectively killing it. Known as the Blunt amendment, so-named because its chief sponsor was Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., the bill was defeated largely along party lines. It drew the support of three Democratic senators, Robert Casey of Pennsylvania, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Ben Nelson of Nebraska. Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine was the lone Republican to vote against the measure.

Tornado destroys Illinois Catholic church; death toll reaches 12

March 1, 2012

RIDGWAY, Ill - Elizabeth Schmitt, who planned to get married in May at St. Joseph Church in Ridgway, never imagined she would be picking up debris from the gothic church that was completely destroyed in the Feb. 29 tornado. Tornadoes swept through parts of the Midwest and the South, killing at least a dozen people and injuring more than 100 in Illinois, Missouri and Tennessee. "It gives a whole new meaning to destruction," Schmitt said as she pulled on her gloves to continue cleaning up the church property.

March 2

Seminarians take to the soccer field in annual Rome tournament

March 2, 2012

ROME - More than 350 seminarians and priests from 71 countries will take to the field in early March for the kickoff of the sixth edition of Rome's Clericus Cup soccer tournament. The spring 2012 tourney will feature 16 teams from pontifical universities, seminaries and religious orders vying for a trophy of a cleat-wearing soccer ball sporting a wide-brimmed clerical hat known as a saturno. The Pontifical North American College, the U.S. seminary in Rome, placed fourth in 2011; team captain Daniel Gallagher, a seminarian from the Diocese of Pittsburgh, said March 2 the North American Martyrs plan to make some noise in the 2012 season.

Finding Jesus in the swing

March 2, 2012

MONTREAL - Alisha Ruiss knows very well that the performing arts community needs Jesus. But while Catholics need to realize that God is calling out for people to evangelize the arts community, Ruiss believes He is also calling just as loudly for Christians to discover His presence in the arts.

Catholic movie reviews - The Lorax, Project X, Tyler Perry's Good Deeds & more

March 2, 2012

Looking for a movie this weekend? We've got reviews of five of the week's new releases for you. 01lorax [images/stories/movies/01lorax.jpg] DR. SEUSS' THE LORAX

Armed men storm desert monastery in Syria, seeking weapons, money

March 2, 2012

ANTAKYA, Turkey - Masked gunmen stormed the Syrian desert monastery of Deir Mar Musa, about 50 miles southwest of Homs, destroying property and briefly holding its inhabitants captive. The monastery's website reported March 1 that on Feb. 22, approximately 30 armed men infiltrated the hillside monastery, holding community members at gunpoint as they searched for weapons and money. Dating from the sixth century, Mar Musa was re-established by an Italian Jesuit priest in the early 1980s. The monastery and its church are staffed with Catholic and Orthodox nuns and priests, and the compound has become a center for Muslim-Christian interfaith dialogue.

March 3

A Pope’s story through a brother’s eyes

March 3, 2012

ROME - Recounting their rural Bavarian childhood and subsequent lifelong friendship, the elder brother of Pope Benedict XVI offers a privileged look at the personal side of the spiritual leader of 1.3 billion Catholics. My Brother the Pope, published March 1 by Ignatius Press, is based on interviews with Msgr. Georg Ratzinger by German writer Michael Hesemann and was originally published in German last year.

Researcher's advice to pastors: Spend more time on church suppers

March 3, 2012

WASHINGTON - Harvard public policy professor Robert D. Putnam has a tongue-in-cheek suggestion for pastors: "Spend less time on the sermons, and more time arranging the church suppers." That's because research by Putnam and Chaeyoon Lim, assistant professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, shows that the more church friends a person has, the happier he or she is. "Church friends are super-charged friends, but we have no idea why," Putnam told a Feb. 16 summit on religion, well-being and health at Gallup world headquarters in Washington. "We have some hypotheses, but we don't know for sure."

March 4

Headed to the Summer Olympics? Check out London's Catholic history

March 4, 2012

LONDON - Visitors to the 2012 Olympic Games might be surprised to discover the extent to which London has been marked by the Catholic faith over the centuries. Riding the trains of the London Underground they notice stations with names such as Temple, Blackfriars, Charing Cross and Covent Garden. Above ground, the traces of Catholicism are yet more noticeable: Whitefriars, Greyfriars, Ave Maria Lane and Paternoster Square all denote a rich Catholic heritage that precedes the Reformation.

March 5

God's Word: New exhibit shows Bible's evolution, beauty, perseverance

March 5, 2012

VATICAN CITY - Desecration, censorship, the ravages of time and even nesting mice have been unable to destroy the word of God, handed down for millennia by people of faith. The endurance of sacred Scripture is the centerpiece of a new interfaith exhibit called Verbum Domini, which brings to the Vatican rare biblical texts and artifacts spanning a period from the third century B.C. to the 17th century. "We seek to tell the amazing story of the preservation and translation of the most loved, most debated and the best-selling book every year and of all time," said Steve Green, an entrepreneur and the primary benefactor of The Green Collection, a private collection of more than 40,000 biblical antiquities.

Faith is light at end of dark tunnel of life's struggles, Pope says after Lenten retreat

March 5, 2012

VATICAN CITY - When life feels like a dark and silent tunnel, faith gives a Christian light and music, Pope Benedict XVI said at the end of his weeklong Lenten retreat. Congolese Cardinal Laurent Monsengwo Pasinya of Kinshasa led the Pope's retreat Feb. 26-March 3 in the Redemptoris Mater Chapel of the Apostolic Palace, offering the Pope and top Vatican officials three meditations each day on the theme "Christians' Communion With God." Thanking the cardinal at the end of the retreat, Pope Benedict said Cardinal Monsengwo "seasoned these meditations with beautiful stories -- taken mostly from your beloved African land -- which gave us joy and helped us."

Pope says everyone needs help getting through tough moments

March 5, 2012

VATICAN CITY - Just like the disciples, every follower of Jesus needs a "mountain-top" experience of light and of closeness to the Lord to get them through life's difficult and painful moments, Pope Benedict XVI said. Celebrating a morning Mass March 4 at the Church of St. John Baptist de la Salle in a Rome suburb and reciting the Angelus at midday with visitors at the Vatican, Pope Benedict commented on the day's Gospel account of the Transfiguration.

Fire triggers explosions in Brazzaville, razing church, other buildings

March 5, 2012

VATICAN CITY - A Catholic church where Sunday Massgoers were just leaving was among dozens of buildings flattened by a series of explosions triggered by a fire at a military munitions depot in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo. Government officials suspect a short-circuit set off the fire at the military storage facility early March 4, causing huge fires and a series of explosions that devastated Mpila, a neighborhood on the eastern edge of Brazzaville, causing the collapse of several buildings, including St. Louis Catholic Church, according to news reports.

Mexican archdiocese says Pope might talk politics during visit

March 5, 2012

MEXICO CITY - Pope Benedict XVI might broach the issue of politics during his upcoming visit in Mexico, potentially provoking controversy in a country with a long history of sour church-state relations. The Archdiocese of Mexico City released an editorial March 4, saying the pontiff could speak on any topic, including politics and social issues affecting country.

Archbishop says attacks on Christians tripled in 2003-2010

March 5, 2012

VATICAN CITY - Terrorist attacks on Christians in Africa, the Middle East and Asia tripled in a seven-year period, a Vatican official told a U.N. meeting. Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi, the Holy See's permanent observer to U.N. offices in Geneva, told the U.N. Human Rights Council that while Christians are not the only victims, attacks on them in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia "increased 309 percent between 2003 and 2010." He did not offer any specific numbers.