IMAGE: CNS photo/SANA news agency By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis urged Syrian President Bashar Assad to do everything possible to end the war in his country, to protect civilians and to ensure humanitarian agencies can deliver emergency aid to the people. Syria’s SANA news agency reported …

The Chapel of the Immaculate Conception at
Five community partners have come together to ensure the revitalization of the Montgomery County Fairgrounds will support community and economic development as well as complement the growth and positive momentum already occurring in the area. Montgomery County, the City of Dayton and the Montgomery County Agricultural Society have agreed in …

Photo Credit (l to r): Front Row: Bishop Joseph Binzer. Second Row: Father Anthony Brausch, Aaron Hess, John Stein, Edward Hoffmann, K. Scott Morgan, Louis Jacquemin, Father Benedict O'Cinnsealaigh. Back Row: Scott Brand, Elijah Puthoff, Michael Poussard, Kendall Ketterlin, Michael Kopolka, Anthony Marcelli. (Photo by E.L. Hubbard.)
Eleven men publically declared their commitment to a program of formation for service to God and to the Catholic Church as priests on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Catholic Church, through Bishop Joseph Binzer, publically accepted the aspirants into the ranks of the …

Steve Trosley
The Catholic Church seems to be engaged in a slugfest. I know a scant bit about boxing because my Dad enjoyed the sport, something he learned in the Army. He felt the manly art of self-defense was something I needed to learn because I was hopelessly not fleet of foot. …

Believe or not, a large number of students at Our Lady of Lourdes School in Western Hills are choosing a lab experience after lunch over the playground. “At lunchtime it is optional for our students. Rather than going to the cafeteria and playground, they can eat their lunch and go …

IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Celebrating the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Pope Francis described Mary as a strong woman who inspires believers to give “flesh to the Gospel” in societies often marked by distrust and blindness. “To look at the Guadalupana is to …

IMAGE: CNS/Jaclyn Lippelmann, Catholic Standard By Kelly Seegers WASHINGTON (CNS) — People on the sidewalks of Washington momentarily stopped their holiday shopping and paused in the cold Dec. 10 to take in the sight of hundreds of pilgrims processing through the streets alongside images of Mary. One procession began at …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Mohamed Hossam, EPA By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis phoned Coptic Orthodox Pope Tawadros II of Alexandria Dec. 12, expressing his prayers and condolences for the previous day’s terrorist attack at the Cairo cathedral that left 25 people dead. “We are united in the blood …

IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — As Christmas approached, St. Peter’s Square was filled with balloons, singing and an incredible variety of Baby Jesus figurines — everything from plastic figures that would fit in a walnut shell to those that were larger-than-life sized. For Pope Francis, …

William Cross’s mother wasn’t exactly thrilled when he converted to the Catholic faith. Back then, in 1964, he was a University of Cincinnati student on scholarship to study business administration. “She was very skeptical about my conversion,” he recalls. She was even more adamant, a little over a year later, …