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April 14, 2013
WASHINGTON - An organization called World- Priest is offering a pilgrimage for priests and their parishioners and friends from around the world to experience the cultural heritage and spirituality of the Emerald Isle as part of “Gathering Ireland 2013.”
April 15, 2013
VATICAN CITY - Amid rising concerns about corruption and mismanagement in the central administration of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis named an international panel of cardinals to advise him on the latest reform of the Vatican bureaucracy.
April 16, 2013
Updated 04/18/13 BOSTON - Within hours of two explosions near the finish line of the Boston Marathon April 15, Boston Cardinal Sean O'Malley sent a message of prayer and support for those injured, their loved ones and those who experienced the trauma of the tragedy.
VATICAN CITY - The eight cardinals named by Pope Francis to begin work on ways to reorganize the Roman Curia are predominantly active archbishops of very large archdioceses, but they also have a wide range of pastoral and organizational experiences and skills.
April 17, 2013
Pro-life activists are branding Justin Trudeau as a pro-abortion, anti-family Catholic politician committed to maintaining a legal vacuum around abortion.
Updated 04/18/13 BOSTON - The first name released of someone killed in the April 15 explosions at the Boston Marathon was that of eight-year-old Martin Richard, whose picture in newspapers showed him grinning broadly, apparently at his first Communion.
April 18, 2013
VATICAN CITY - In the teaching of Pope Francis, the devil has a more dastardly agenda than just convincing people to break one of the Ten Commandments; "the enemy" wants them to feel weak, worthless and always ready to complain or gossip.
VATICAN CITY - Unless western nations immediately find ways to bring peace to Syria instead of debating whether to arm opposition forces, the country will continue to be in turmoil and a victim of the West's indecision, said a Syrian patriarch.
VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis called for prayers for the victims of a deadly explosion in Texas.
OTTAWA - After winning the Liberal Leadership with 80 per cent of the vote, Justin Trudeau may be able to woo some disaffected Catholics back to the Liberal fold say observers.
ISEYIN, Nigeria - Several Catholic bishops warned the Nigerian government to be wary of the consequences of granting amnesty to Boko Haram, a sect that wants to impose strict Islamic law, and at least one said Mass attendance had dropped because the Islamist sect often targeted churches with bombs.
OTTAWA - Conservative MP Mark Warawa has decided to abandon his gendercide Motion-408 and replace it with a bill to protect sexual abuse victims.
How do we lift our darkest, most depressed, most lonely moments up to God? How can we pray when we are most deeply alone, helpless and our whole world seems to be collapsing?
Fifth Sunday of Easter (Year C) April 28 (Acts 14:21-27; Psalm 145; Revelation 21:1-5; John 13:1, 31-33, 34-35) Becoming a follower of Jesus Christ was not an easy task in the first century. It often involved the loss of friends, the estrangement of family and alienation from one’s culture. Occasionally violent persecution was thrown in.
When asked by a deacon how best to communicate the Christian faith, St. Augustine encouraged him to share the story of salvation, especially drawing from the Bible. Scripture can be summarized as stories of God’s dealings with men and women and the unfolding of His love in their lives in order to bring them salvation.
There’s an extraordinary painting in the National Gallery of Scotland of a Spanish wake. Painted in 1864 by John Philip, La Gloria depicts a mother grieving in the shadows as her dead little daughter is taken from her home. Friends encourage her to look into the sunny square where the neighbours are celebrating the entrance of the little girl’s soul into heaven.
After last week’s Masters golf tournament, perhaps Tiger Woods’ sponsor should change its marketing campaign to: “Don’t mess with the golf gods.” The world’s Number 1 ranked golfer again found himself in the middle of a media storm when in the second round of the Masters he took an illegal drop after his ball careened off the flagstick and into the water. When Woods later admitted to the mistake, the rules committee assessed him a two-stroke penalty and used a new rule to allow him to remain in the tournament instead of facing disqualification, which was the automatic penalty up until two years ago. Some thought he should have been disqualified, others thought a two-shot penalty was ample punishment...
Fifty years after the publication of Pacem in Terris, one of the most important papal encyclicals of the 20th century, the world has changed radically but the 1963 teaching of Blessed Pope John XXIII remains as powerful as ever.
It is a bit silly for fortysomethings to be speaking about a “bucket list” but that’s what I heard leaving Toronto’s Roy Thomson Hall after an Aretha Franklin concert. A man my age, who should be busy about living rather than thinking about dying, commented that seeing Aretha Franklin in concert was on his bucket list. That’s rather a nice compliment to Aretha, who has made all sorts of lists in her life, including some years back taking the No. 1 position in Rolling Stone magazine’s Top 100 singers of all time. How exactly one measures the top 100 singers is not clear, but to finish first in such a manner of list-making is be acknowledged as a rare talent. Aretha is still that, 50 years after she got her start.
I write this column from my hotel in London, just a few hundred metres from the Houses of Parliament, Whitehall and 10 Downing St. Margaret Thatcher died two days ago. I am just a few feet away from County Hall, the former home of the notorious Greater London Council, an entity that was supposed to govern London but instead became the epicentre for Marxist politics in 1980s Britain. Thatcher abolished it, it’s now a hotel, and flies its flag at half-staff due to the death of Britain’s greatest Prime Minister since Winston Churchill.