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December 7, 2023
Recently, I have been thinking about indifference, which seems to me to be the defining attitude of our times. At least, I thought of indifference as an attitude. Then I was asked to reflect on a statement by St. Teresa of Kolkata which included these words: “The greatest evil in the world is the lack of love, the terrible indifference towards one’s neighbour.”
December 8, 2023
The Oct. 7 killing of about 1,200 people in Israel by armed Hamas militants represented the biggest killing of Jews since the Holocaust. It also started the war that has killed nearly 16,000 Palestinians, according to Hamas-run health ministry, followed by massive pro-Palestinian protests around the globe. What it also did was spark unprecedented instances of anti-Semitism.
After having for years helped to deliver daily nourishment to those in need, St. Francis Table is now offering free health services to that same clientele.
Second Sunday of Advent (Year B) Dec. 10 (Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11; Psalm 85; 2 Peter 3:8-14; Mark 1:1-8 ) What would “comfort” and “good tidings” sound like in 2023? To whom would they be directed? To be at all meaningful, the message cannot be only for believers and churchgoers. Although originally given to the people of Israel in Babylonian exile, our own times call for a more universal application.
Russian occupation authorities have banned the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church and other Catholic ministries in occupied areas of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, according to the church's main communications office in Kyiv.
Senate Republicans Dec. 6 blocked an emergency spending bill to provide billions of dollars in wartime aid to Ukraine and Israel while calling for strict new policies at the U.S.-Mexico border opposed by some Catholic immigration advocates.
December 9, 2023
Lala Mbabazi, who is three months pregnant, sat on a sofa in her one-bedroom mud house on the outskirts of Soroti, a town in eastern Uganda.
Graydon Nicholas, the Wolastoqey Indigenous elder, chancellor of St. Thomas University and member of the Our Lady of Guadalupe Circle, will deliver a presentation about the patroness of Indigenous peoples in North and South America on Dec. 12 at Saint Mary’s Cathedral in Halifax.
December 10, 2023
An early Christmas gift arrived Nov. 30 for the people of Cumberland, P.E.I, a county municipality devastated by post-tropical storm Fiona in September 2022.
December 11, 2023
A Nebraska priest has died after being attacked in the rectory of his parish in the early morning before he was to celebrate Mass for the Second Sunday of Advent.
December 12, 2023
The Vatican Museums has launched an initiative to give visitors -- online and in person -- a "backstage" peek into the secrets, curiosities and insights discovered by their art restorers.
The Vatican Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith has upheld a rule mandating that the ashes of the deceased be preserved in a consecrated place, but it also said family members could request "a minimal part of the ashes" be kept in a sacred place "of significance for the history of the deceased person."
The council of the Synod of Bishops will ask Pope Francis to authorize studies on the need to update canon law, revise the rules for priestly formation, deepen a theological reflection on the diaconate -- including the possibility of ordaining women deacons -- and consider revising a document that provides norms for the relationship of a bishop with members of religious orders in his diocese.
When Ukraine's embattled citizens gather this Christmas, their rich festivities will feel symbolically different -- as the festival is celebrated for the first time on Dec. 25, in line with the Western calendar.
December 13, 2023
Pope Francis said he has decided to be buried in Rome's Basilica of St. Mary Major instead of in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican and that he has simplified the rites for a papal funeral.
Plans to dramatically cut welfare benefits for refugees from Ukraine who flee to Ireland to avoid Russia's war are causing anxiety, according to a priest who works with the new arrivals. Officials in Dublin say that they want to "slow" the number of people arriving from Ukraine.
More than 350 people have stepped forward with a claim of being sexually abused by the Christian Brothers of Ireland at the Mount Cashel Orphanage in the 1940s through ’60s or by Archdiocese of St. John’s clergy over time.
Emotion filled the eyes of Kathryn Oswin-Groh and Michelle Perkins-Ball throughout their joint interview with The Catholic Register as the educators at Toronto’s St. Oscar Romero Catholic Secondary School shared how they have become better people because of the school’s annual Share Christmas community outreach campaign, a tradition.
December 14, 2023
In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. And everyone went to their own town to register.
Through the spring and fall of 2023, The Catholic Register and our partners at The B.C. Catholic, Catholic Conscience and the Religion & Journalism Project taught on-line classes in Catholic journalism.