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May 7, 2017
NEW YORK CITY – When Christopher Alder, an 11-time Grammy winning music producer, first was asked to help create an album of Gregorian Chant, he was short on details.
PEORIA, Ill. – After riding bicycles a little more than 340 miles (547 km) over five days, three young priests of the Diocese of Peoria sailed across the Indiana state line April 28, bringing Priests Pedalling for Prayers to a close.
VATICAN CITY – There once was a Pope called “The Green Pope.”
May 8, 2017
Ontario’s Jesuits are using retreats as a way to help homeless people build a caring community of support among themselves.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. – Father Prakash Rao Kola was in Coldwater, Kansas, 30 miles east of Ashland, the afternoon of March 6 when he began to get frantic calls from parishioners.
PORTLAND, Ore. – Claudia Raffaele knows the fear of being stopped at gunpoint in Argentina, the bone-tiredness that comes after a nine-hour shift at a Los Angeles factory, and the worry and emotional weight of caring for three children as a single mother.
NEW YORK, N.Y – On September 11, 2001, Justine Cuccia was nine months pregnant when she watched in horror as two hijacked planes crash into the World Trade Center buildings in New York City.
May 9, 2017
Watch out against the sin of resisting the Holy Spirit and always be open to the surprises of God. This was the exhortation of Pope Francis in his homily at Mass, Monday morning, in the chapel of the Casa Santa Marta residence in the Vatican. He was commenting on the episode of the Acts of the Apostles where St. Peter confronts the first Christian community regarding being open to pagans who joined the Church. Reflecting on the Acts of the Apostles episode, the Pope stressed that Holy Spirit always moves the Church and the Christian community.
“Let us receive the Holy Spirit with docility!” This was Pope Francis’ message during his Tuesday morning homily during Mass celebrated in the Vatican’s Santa Marta residence.
VATICAN CITY – Two months after bishops of the Melkite Catholic Church declared they had reconciled with each other and found a way to move forward together, the Vatican announced Pope Francis had accepted the resignation of Melkite Patriarch Gregoire III Laham.
ABUJA, Nigeria – 82 girls abducted by Boko Haram militants over three years ago have been freed.
VATICAN CITY – While violent protests continue to break out in the streets of Venezuela, Pope Francis urged the country's bishops to remain close to the poor and needy.
MEXICO CITY – The Mexican bishops' conference has issued a call for action on the cases of the country's thousands of missing persons, most of whom disappeared during the country's decades-long drug war and whose bodies are increasingly being unearthed from mass graves.
ST. FRANCIS, S.D. – The Jesuits are returning more than 500 acres in South Dakota to the Rosebud Sioux. The formal return of the property is expected to be complete sometime in May.
VATICAN CITY – Indian Salesian Father Tom Uzhunnalil, who was kidnapped in Yemen more than a year ago, in a video message pleaded for the Indian government and the Catholic Church to do more to secure his release.
VATICAN CITY – It’s rare to see Pope Francis bopping behind the walls of the Apostolic Palace. Actually, if anyone has ever seen any pope dancing they've never said anything, nor filmed it and put it on YouTube. Yet there was Francis with a smile on his face, grooving to the music with a delegation of Hasidic Jews at the Vatican this week as they serenaded him with guitars and a chant in Hebrew of "Long years shall satiate him." If Francis was swaying more than dancing, well, the Argentine Pope's tastes run more to tango. And he is 80 years old and has a sore back. Still, when Yeshiva World News posted the brief video to YouTube it quickly became something of a sensation. The encounter took place during a 45-minute papal audience on Monday (May 8) with a delegation led by Polish Rabbi Edgar Gluck, who was accompanied by his son Zvi, who lives in New York, and other rabbis. While the Pope warmed to the traditional Jewish music and dance, the delegation also discussed issues of common concern, including the protection of Jewish cemeteries in Europe and fighting child sex abuse. After the meeting, Zvi Gluck tweeted that the Pope had told him and the delegation: “Zero tolerance” Said Pope Francis, “We need to keep kids safe.” Zvi Gluck is the founder and director of Amudim, an organization dedicated to helping victims of sexual and substance abuse and other problems in the Jewish community. His 80-year-old father, Edgar Gluck, is the chief rabbi of Galicia and divides his time between Poland and the U.S. The elder Gluck has been involved in preserving Jewish cemeteries in Eastern Europe for many years and discussed the issue when he met Francis during his official visit to Poland for World Youth Day in July 2016. Gluck previously served as a member of the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America’s Heritage Abroad. “Zero tolerance" Said Pope Francis, “We need to keep kids safe" to myself, my father and members of delegation, at meeting in the Vatican pic.twitter.com/RWHlFIv7ob — Zvi Gluck (@zgluck) May 8, 2017
PARIS – The head of the French bishops' conference welcomed the election of President-elect Emmanuel Macron and said he hoped June legislative elections would not place the country "in an ungovernable situation."
MONTREAL – Eva Kuper believes in the power of love. It’s the reason the 77-year-old Holocaust survivor attended a Eucharistic celebration to mark the annual Christian Commemoration of the Shaoh.
The way Chris Harshman figured it, if he was going to walk 2,700 kilometres anyway, he might as well help some people along the way.
May 10, 2017
VANCOUVER – More people need to take some cues from Metallica lead singer James Hetfield, according to Theology of the Body expert Sr. Helena Burns, FSP.