Throwback Thursday: Students prep for first communion with ‘Mass’
Springtime is here with all that means. The Easter season continues, pollen counts are high, and thousands of young boys and girls are preparing to meet Jesus Christ in their first reception of Holy Communion. Since the spring doubles as “first communion season,” today’s Throwback Thursday highlights the second graders …
Associate director retires after 36 years of highs, lows in pro-life work
IMAGE: CNS photo/Bob Roller By Nancy O’Brien WASHINGTON (CNS) — Many paths led Richard Doerflinger into pro-life work. And now his path is taking him into retirement as associate director of the U.S. bishops’ Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities and eventually across the country to Washington state. Doerflinger, a 63-year-old native …
USCCB Report: More than 500 to be ordained priests in U.S. this year
An April 21 news release from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops reported that 548 men are slated to be ordained to the priesthood in the U.S. this year. That number is slightly down from 595 in 2015, but up from 477 in 2014. The same report that notes the total number …
After job-swap show, Irish street cleaner pledges help to Filipinos
IMAGE: CNS photo/courtesy RTE By Nick Bramhill DUBLIN (CNS) — An Irish Catholic street cleaner, who was filmed by a TV documentary crew as he temporarily swapped his job in the Irish capital for the poverty-stricken Philippines, has pledged to spend the rest of his life helping the struggling family …
True believers serve others, pope says at audience
IMAGE: CNS/Paul Haring By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — To ignore the suffering of another person is to ignore God, Pope Francis said. And going to church does not automatically make someone love their neighbor, the pope said April 27 as he reflected on the Gospel parable of the …
Pope says pastors must ‘serve, not use’ laypeople
By Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Clericalism is a danger to the Catholic Church not only because on a practical level it undermines the role of laity in society, but because theologically it “tends to diminish and undervalue the baptismal grace” of all believers, whether they are lay or …
Pope names Camaguey archbishop, who helped rebuild church, to Havana
IMAGE: CNS/Nancy Wiechec By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis named Archbishop Juan Garcia Rodriguez, who has worked quietly to help rebuild the Cuban church, physically and spiritually, to be the new archbishop of Havana. He succeeds 79-year-old Cardinal Jaime Ortega Alamino of Havana, whose retirement was accepted …
Priest blesses motorcycles in first annual ‘Blessing of the Bikes’ [Photos]
Sporting a biker vest emblazoned with a monstrance, Father Ethan Moore blessed between 75-100 motorcycles gathered for the first annual Blessing of the Bikes and Rosary Run April 24 at St. Michael Catholic Church in Fort Loramie. Father Moore’s first foray into what he calls “Biker Ministry,” aimed to bring …
Catholic agencies begin work of rebuilding after Ecuador quake
IMAGE: CNS photo/Jose Jacome, EPA, Reuters By QUITO, Ecuador (CNS) — Catholic agencies are beginning to build temporary shelters for thousands of families in Ecuador made homeless by the South American country’s worst natural disaster in nearly seven decades. As the death toll continues to climb following a magnitude-7.8 earthquake, …
U.S. teens say faith strengthened at youth celebration in Rome
IMAGE: CNS photo/Tony Gentile, Reuters By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Sharing and celebrating the joy of faith with thousands of Catholic teenagers from around the globe was a rare moment that not many people are able to experience, a U.S. teen said. “It was a different atmosphere …