FREE access to the digital edition and archives until September 2. Click here. →
Browse › 2013 › May
May 21, 2013
VATICAN CITY - With humor and passion, Pope Francis shared highlights of his personal faith journey and explained some key points of his teaching to an enthusiastic crowd of representatives from Catholic lay movements.
VATICAN CITY - As the death toll rose from the massive tornado that struck near Oklahoma City May 20, Pope Francis offered a special prayer for the victims during his early morning Mass May 21 and later offered his condolences through his Twitter account.
LAGOS, Nigeria - Nigerian bishops said they hoped the government's declaration of a state of emergency would help restore some normalcy, and one bishop said President Goodluck Jonathan was just fulfilling his constitutional duties.
QUEBEC CITY - More than 400 people, including Archbishops Gérald Lacroix of Quebec City and Christian Lépine of Montreal, marched peacefully to the Quebec National Assembly on May 18 to oppose government plans to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide.
PARIS - Visitors were evacuated from Notre Dame Cathedral after a man committed suicide in the 850-year-old church, police said.
May 22, 2013
OKLAHOMA CITY - Even after the initial death toll was cut by more than half, the human and material devastation of a string of tornadoes that buffeted areas of the archdiocese of Oklahoma City May 19-20 was incalculable.
TORONTO - Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Toronto officially turned 100 at a May 16 banquet that was a celebration of a century of helping the needy through its many agencies and volunteers.
May 23, 2013
It is difficult to envision peace coming soon to war-torn Syria. Lasting peace, the type that brings security and respect for human dignity, is unlikely without religious freedom, and there is no apparent will among Syria’s warring factions to embrace this inalienable human right.
Some years ago, a woman shared this story at a workshop. She had a six-year-old son whom she had conscientiously schooled in prayer. Among other things, she made him kneel beside his bed every night and say aloud a number of prayers, ending with an invocation to “bless mummy, daddy, grandma and grandpa.” One night, shortly after he had started school, she took him to his room to hear his prayers and to tuck him in for the night. But when it came time for him to kneel by his bedside and recite his prayers, he refused and crawled into bed instead. His mother asked him: “What’s the matter? Don’t you pray any more?” There was remarkable calm in his reply: “No,” he said, “I don’t pray any more. The sister teaching us at school told us that we are not supposed to pray, she said that we are supposed to talk to God ... and tonight I am tired and have nothing to say.”
Body and Blood of Christ (Year C) June 2 (Genesis 14:18-20; Psalm 110; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26; Luke 9:11-17) In a good story there is almost always more than meets the eye. The plot and main characters in the foreground are not necessarily the only or the most important elements of the story. Characters that play important roles only much later in the story make brief and fleeting appearances throughout the earlier portions of the narrative. Reading the story carefully and with attention to detail will reveal aspects of the story that are missed by others.
VATICAN CITY - Pope Francis received a bloodstained relic of slain Archbishop Oscar Romero as a gift from El Salvador's President Mauricio Funes Cartagena.
In his first letter to Christian converts living at Corinth, St. Paul told them that death was “the last enemy” but, take heart, a defeated enemy. For two millennia the Church has proclaimed and pondered this message — but what does it mean? What happens to us after death?
A story that a hospital chaplain once shared spoke to me deeply. Here’s what she said: “When I met Bibi, a staff worker at St. Blaise retirement home, she expressed concern for the welfare of Doug. He suffers from a degenerative disease and had just returned from hospital after surgery to correct bleeding on the brain. Doug was unable to get out of bed and unable to speak clearly. I could not help with his physical needs and he seemed distressed by my presence. I was told he disliked strangers so I stood in the corridor and observed as two staff members attended to him. Then I moved to an office where two other staff members shared some information about the man they had come to know. “They told me Doug had been falling frequently before his hospitalization and they were frustrated at the slow process of finding a placement for him in a long-term care facility. They expressed sadness for the man they had known and cared for and who was now in a very difficult situation. They expressed helplessness because they could no longer care for him and voiced uncertainty about what could be done in the face of the latest crisis...
Convivium magazine’s recent event in the heart of Canada’s financial district counted as an overwhelming success for me for one reason alone.
OTTAWA - Canada's Catholic bishops have joined with leaders from the 23 other members of the Canadian Council of Churches in writing the Prime Minister to express concerns about the "humanitarian tragedy" in Syria and other Mideast issues.
GANANOQUE, ONT. - A year ago I visited the diocese of Whitehorse, heading north to the Yukon for the first time. Last week, the bishop of Whitehorse — which comprises all of the Yukon and a little of northern British Columbia — returned the visit as it were, preaching the priests’ retreat for the archdiocese of Kingston, here in the Thousand Islands.
The government has long worked with Canadian development organizations that have religious affiliations and roots. These organizations, and the people who work and volunteer for them, share a commitment to improving the lives of the most vulnerable in the developing world. Shared values of generosity and compassion is the foundation for our collaborations.
Exclusive articles, video, audio and photo galleries in the Catholic Register: Digital Edition for our May 19th, 2013 issue:
WASHINGTON - A majority of U.S. priests said they dislike the translation of the Roman Missal introduced at Advent 2011, a new survey found.
May 24, 2013
TORONTO - Three years ago, Rami Kaai took his family from Toronto to visit relatives in his Syrian birthplace of Al Hamidiya in the city of Homs.