Editor's note: for nearly 50 years the late Msgr. Thomas Raby penned his The Little World of Fr. Raby column for The Catholic Register. The following, Christmas lights in September, is a Msgr. Raby classic, along with one of the Christmas poems he wrote annually.
The candy cane’s Christian origins — fact or fiction
By Ruane Remy, The Catholic RegisterThe candy cane has been a Christmas treat and tradition for so long that no one is completely sure of its origin. In lieu of a history as solid as the hard candy itself, myths and legends have popped up in its place, including a tale that ties every aspect of its existence to Christianity.
Innocence recovered in Jesus
By Paul-André DurocherThe following is the Christmas message from Archbishop Paul- André Durocher, president of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops.
As I write this Christmas message, barely a week has gone by since Remembrance Day, a day marked by the still fresh memory of the recent assassinations of two members of the Canadian Armed Forces. This year, Christmas in Canada will take on a different shading, muted and somber, because of these events which have saddened our hearts and our spirits.
God took on what is ours to give us what is His
By Archbishop Luigi BonazziThe following is the Christmas message from Archbishop Luigi Bonazzi, papal nuncio to Canada.
We are just at the threshold of Christmas, a great event which — if we welcome it — is capable of changing our lives. A story by Tolstoy which I learned and owe to Pope Benedict XVI helps me to share the light and life that springs from Christmas:
Believers pray to ‘Our Lady of the Milk’ in this ancient Bethlehem spot where Mary nursed
By Michele Chabin, Religion News ServiceBETHLEHEM, West Bank - Dozens of photos of smiling babies accompanied by moving testimonials line the walls of Franciscan Brother Lawrence Bode’s office in the Milk Grotto Church where, tradition holds, the Virgin Mary hid in an underground cave in order to breast-feed Jesus as she and Joseph were fleeing King Herod.
Cardinal Timothy Dolan cuts ties with anti-abortion crusader Frank Pavone
By David Gibson, Religion News ServiceNEW YORK - In the latest clash between the Catholic hierarchy and one of the church’s leading anti-abortion crusaders, New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan accused the Fr. Frank Pavone of continuing to stonewall on financial reforms, and Dolan said he is cutting ties with his group, Priests for Life.
Monstrance fished from reservoir centerpiece of new adoration chapel
By George P. Matysek Jr., Catholic News ServiceBALTIMORE - A man fishing at the Loch Raven Reservoir in north Baltimore County some two decades ago was convinced he had snagged a big fish after his line hooked something substantial.
Former Protestant loved stumping Catholics with Bible verses
By Deborah Gyapong, Canadian Catholic NewsOTTAWA - Catholic apologist Tim Staples used to love stumping Catholics with Bible verses in the days he was a Pentecostal, until he met a Catholic who stumped him.
New evangelization needed to counter lukewarm faith, says speaker
By Joanne Fox, Catholic News Service
Pope meets Curia to discuss reform; names new head of worship office
By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News ServiceVATICAN CITY - The same day he spent three hours meeting the heads of Vatican offices to discuss the reform of the Roman Curia, Pope Francis named 69-year-old Guinean Cardinal Robert Sarah to be the new prefect of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments.
Seal of confession is absolute
By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News ServiceVATICAN CITY - The secrecy of a confession is maintained so seriously and completely by the Catholic Church that a priest would be excommunicated for revealing the contents of a confession when ordered to testify by a court or even after the penitent dies, Vatican officials said.