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December 15, 2017
VANCOUVER, B.C. – Father Larry Lynn was wrapping up a visit to the Northwest Territories, interviewing aboriginal survivors of residential schools about their experiences, when he thought to ask his tour guide about her life.
Blue is the new green. At least that is the case for the Federation of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Canada.
December 16, 2017
3rd Sunday of Advent, Dec. 17 (Year B) Isaiah 61:1-2a, 10-11; Luke 1:46-54; 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24; John 1:6-8, 19-28 We would all welcome a bit of good news. This seems to be a very rare commodity these days, but it has probably almost always been the case.
December 18, 2017
Students at the Toronto Catholic School Board are firm believers that wellness starts with caring for mental health.
OTTAWA – If there’s one message two women leaders from South Sudan can take back to their war-torn country, it’s that they are not alone in their fight to end gender-based violence.
VATICAN – Pope Francis celebrated his 81st birthday with a pizza party for sick children Sunday, reflecting on the joy of children and the importance that they are raised with the faith.
VATICAN – People need factual and trustworthy news that avoids sensationalism and whipping up heated reactions, Pope Francis said.
VATICAN – Pope Francis advanced the sainthood causes of Holy Cross Father Patrick Peyton and St. John Paul II's mentor, Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski.
MONTREAL – Now that the military in Iraq has declared ISIS defeated, about 30,000 Christians have returned to their villages in the Nineveh Plains with help from Aid to the Church in Need.
VATICAN – Only relics that have been certified as authentic can be exposed for veneration by the faithful, said a new Vatican instruction.
December 19, 2017
VATICAN – Countries with low birthrates suffer from that awful disease called "demographic winter," Pope Francis said in a morning homily.
BERLIN – Sitting on the bare pavement outside a Catholic church, an Afghan refugee woman, dressed in a bright floral headscarf, calls out plaintively to passersby, begging for coins.
Come Christmas morning in churches around the world, Christians are told once again that “In the beginning was the Word.”
VATICAN – Pope Francis met with Jordan's King Abdullah II at the Vatican, two weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital provoked outrage in the Middle East.
The new president of the Canadian Council of Refugees knows what it’s like to be a refugee in Canada, because she’s living it right now.
December 20, 2017
MELBOURNE, Australia – An Australian Royal Commission has recommended that the Vatican consider lifting the seal of the confessional in child-abuse cases and allowing voluntary celibacy for priests.
MONTREAL – For sculptor Sylvette Chanel, Advent is the busiest time of the year. She is among the few people left who keeps alive the ancient New France craft of making and repairing wax Jesus figures for Nativity scenes.
VATICAN – Cardinal Bernard F. Law, who had been one of the United States' most powerful and respected bishops until his legacy was blemished by the devastating sexual abuse of minors by priests in his Archdiocese of Boston, died early Dec. 20 in Rome at the age of 86.
DUPONT, Wash. – Catholic leaders in the Archdiocese of Seattle and the Archdiocese of Portland, Oregon, offered prayers for all affected by the Dec. 18 derailment of an Amtrak train that had just come from the Tacoma station and was headed to Portland.
JERUSALEM – The status quo of Jerusalem should remain as is until an agreement about the holy city is reached by Palestinians and Israelis, said Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, apostolic administrator of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem.