IMAGE: CNS photo/Paul Haring By Cindy Wooden ROME (CNS) — Marked with ashes, Christians set off on a Lenten journey where they strive to leave behind everything that will turn to dust and instead focus on drawing closer to God and God’s promise of eternal life, Pope Francis said. After …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Paul Haring By Junno Arocho Esteves VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The kingdom of God is being established slowly in the world through patience and gentleness and not by violence or force, Pope Francis said. Jesus’ petition for his father’s kingdom to come "is not a threat at all; …

They may just be ashes, but Fr. Mike points out that what they represent goes far beyond mere dust of the earth. With a simple cross on the forehead, we are recognizing that we are far from perfect, but that God loves and redeems us—not despite our brokenness, but in …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Katie Rutter By Katie Rutter COLUMBUS, Ind. (CNS) — Smoke billowed from a small fire pit, rising nearly as high as the steeple of St. Bartholomew Church in Columbus. About 100 students watched from a safe distance March 4 as church staff stoked the flame and periodically tossed …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Bob Roller By Carol Zimmermann WASHINGTON (CNS) — When Lent begins March 6, U.S. Catholics will likely be more than ready for it. This set-aside time for prayer and reflection — after all the church has been through in recent months — could provide both a healing balm …

IMAGE: CNS photo/Laura Ann Phillips By Laura Ann Phillips PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad (CNS) — A Catholic all-male secondary school in Trinidad and Tobago has adopted an unusual element in its student formation program: a traditional African warrior craft called kalinda, also known as stick fighting. Once banned among African slaves, kalinda …

The Light is On for You on Tuesday, March 19, is a special day set aside in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati to receive God’s forgiveness in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The name of this initiative reflects the reality that the Sacrament of Reconciliation, also known as Confession or Penance, is …

Mike Wolf marks a parishioner’s forehead with the sign of a cross during Ash Wednesday services at St. Peter in Chains Cathedral in Cincinnati Wednesday, Mar. 1, 2017. (CT PHOTO/E.L. HUBBARD)
As Catholics, we like anonymity. We like to blend into the crowd. We don’t wear yarmulkes like Orthodox Jews, or plain clothes like the Amish. We can generally go unnoticed. Until Ash Wednesday. With that big, ashen cross on our foreheads, everyone knows who we are. It’s a sign that …

Fr. Thomas J. Beischel, C.PP.S., 92, died at 4:30 a.m. on Monday, March 4 in the infirmary at St. Charles Center, Carthagena, Ohio, where he made his home. He was born May 31, 1926 in Cincinnati, to Victor and Edith (Frey) Beischel. He served in the U.S. Army as a …

The Light is On for You (La luz está encendida para usted), el martes 19 de marzo, es un día especial en la Arquidiócesis de Cincinnati reservado para recibir el perdón de Dios en el Sacramento de la Reconciliación. El nombre de esta iniciativa refleja la realidad del Sacramento de la Reconciliación, …