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October 16, 2013
NAIROBI, Kenya - Foreign intervention in the fight against al-Shabaab militants in Somalia is necessary, but not an absolute requirement, said the leader of the Catholic Church in Somalia.
ROME - The traditionalist Society of St. Pius X offered to celebrate a funeral for convicted war criminal Erich Priebke after the diocese of Rome said the service would be allowed only in a private home, but violent protests outside the chapel forced cancellation of the Mass.
Have you ever received a love letter from a stranger, addressed just to you? Many people have, thanks to the More Love Letters team.
October 17, 2013
Toronto - In high school, the ladies loved Branden Gordon, and he loved them back. But Gordon always felt restless and unsatisfied, a feeling he assumed is typical of youth. Yet he persistently searched for what was missing, for the truth. Eventually, he says, God revealed Himself, and so Gordon eventually found his way to religious life. Men entering religious life with the Salesians have the option to become permanent brothers or priests, and though there is still time to change his mind, Gordon has entered the discernment process with the intention of becoming a priest.
One of the capital sins recognized in the medieval Church was acedie (or accidie, the older spelling) which the Catechism misleadingly equates with sloth. Actually, acedie is worse than sloth. The Oxford dictionary defines sloth as “laziness or indolence” but defines acedie as “spiritual torpor” or “black despair.”
Canadians can’t stop talking about the appropriateness of allowing the weakest and sickest members of society to be killed.
At a recent conference in Montreal on religious freedom and education, the principal of Loyola High School pinpointed the threat facing people of faith.
Last Sunday, on the anniversary of the final apparition of the Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima, the Holy Father consecrated the entire world to her Immaculate Heart, in the presence of the original statue of Our Lady of Fatima, brought to Rome from the Portuguese shrine.
During a mid-1970s election campaign in Great Britain, William Whitelaw, the Conservative opposition leader, famously accused Harold Wilson, then Labour prime minister, of going round the country stirring up apathy.
MANILA, Philippines - Like many others in the town of Jetafe, Fr. Chito Lozada and his staff at Santo Nino parish did not go inside their homes Oct. 15; they remained outdoors. They feared aftershocks that continued after a magnitude 7.1 earthquake struck earlier in the day.
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (CNS) - A miscommunication between the Vatican and New Zealand church officials resulted in an adventurous arrival for the prelate who coordinates a key commission of cardinals that advises Pope Francis.
TORONTO - Degrading, humiliating and violent words and acts between men and women need to be more than acknowledged. They need to be talked about in Catholic parishes and schools, two abuse survivors told The Catholic Register as preparations are underway for the fourth annual Mass to End Woman Abuse.
TORONTO - Catholic school principal Tony Casole is a champion — at least that’s how Kids Now sees him.
OTTAWA - Catholic identity is at stake unless Catholic schools do a better job of making disciples, says Fr. James Mallon.
As a Manitoba pro-life campus group celebrated the defeat of an attempt to have its club status revoked, it was cautiously awaiting word on further attempts to censor its message. “We were encouraged to hear members of the (student) council defend free speech on campus and see the motion to revoke our student group status defeated soundly,” said Cara Ginter, vice-president of University of Manitoba Students for a Culture of Life (UMSCL), in a press release. “Unfortunately, two other motions were passed that could be used to censor our student group and others in the future.” The school’s student council tried to revoke the pro-life group’s club status after it displayed the controversial Genocide Awareness Project on campus. The GAP shows photos of aborted fetuses and likens them to victims of historical genocides. Now the UMSCL is awaiting, indefinitely, the consequences of motions passed by the University of Manitoba Student Union. According to a National Campus Life Network press release, the first motion is looking at having the student council and university administration reconsider and review the process to approve public displays on campus. The second motion is meant to review and clarify the policies surrounding penalizing clubs and revoking club status. “The policies in place right now are very vague to... the reasons why the student group status would be revoked,” said Agnus-Mariae Lucas, UMSCL president. “We’re in our fourth year as a student group and throughout those years it’s been very apathetic, (the) attitude towards our events. We’ve been holding low-key events for a while, and so GAP was the first really big event that we’ve had that really stirred things up. “We’ve met upset people, but there were no violent reactions, no really big, explosive arguments,” said Lucas, who adds that she was surprised to learn of complaints to administration.
VATICAN CITY (CNS) - Pope Francis gave Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas a fancy pen as a gift, and Abbas told the pope, "I hope to sign the peace agreement with Israel with this pen." Pope Francis responded with his hope that the agreement would be reached "soon, soon."
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- "As a good Jesuit," Pope Francis knows it is best not to try to make a retreat where one lives and works, so he has decided the annual papal Lenten retreat with Roman Curia officials will be held outside Rome, a Vatican spokesman said.
VATICAN CITY (CNS) - The president of the German bishops' conference said he was "strengthened and encouraged" by his discussion with Pope Francis about the case of a German bishop under fire for a massive building project that critics have denounced as extravagant.
Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity is the most visually arresting movie since Avatar. Its special effects have been quite rightly characterized as revolutionary and groundbreaking. But what is perhaps most surprising about this stunning film is its clear and profound religious import.