News

Salvadoran bishops to write Vatican to support Romero's sainthood

Catholic News Service — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:00:33 -0800

SAN SALVADOR (CNS) -- As the 30th anniversary of the murder of Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero approaches, El Salvador's bishops have agreed to write a letter to the Vatican supporting Romero's canonization.

"As church, it is our great desire that Archbishop Romero be canonized as soon as possible," San Salvador Archbishop Jose Escobar Alas told reporters Feb. 7.

Archbishop Escobar said the Vatican Congregation for Saints' Causes is considering the matter.

Cardinal asks dialogue partners if an ecumenical catechism might work

Catholic News Service — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 11:58:27 -0800

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A Vatican official has floated the idea of a shared "ecumenical catechism" as one of the potential fruits of 40 years of dialogue among Catholics, Anglicans, Lutherans, Methodists and members of the Reformed churches.

"We have affirmed our common foundation in Jesus Christ and the Holy Trinity as expressed in our common creed and in the doctrine of the first ecumenical councils," Cardinal Walter Kasper, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, told representatives of the churches.

Shelter kits provide short-term solution for 35,000 homeless Haitians

Catholic News Service — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 11:55:33 -0800

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (CNS) -- A pregnant Germaine Sylace struggled to get control of the two tarps, a plastic bin of nails and 100 feet of nylon rope. Nothing was going to stop her from making sure her family would be sleeping under something better than a couple of thin bed sheets tied together with string.

New York's last Catholic hospital struggles to keep its doors open

Catholic News Service — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 10:55:47 -0800

NEW YORK (CNS) -- The last surviving Catholic general hospital in New York is enmeshed in a struggle to keep its doors open and fulfill its mandate to serve the sick poor.

St. Vincent's Hospital, a 160-year-old fixture of Manhattan's Greenwich Village neighborhood, is the flagship operation of debt-burdened St. Vincent Catholic Medical Centers, which is sponsored by the Sisters of Charity and the Diocese of Brooklyn.

German church leaders: 'Christian' in party name should mean something

Catholic News Service — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 10:24:49 -0800

BERLIN, Germany (CNS) -- German church leaders have criticized Chancellor Angela Merkel's governing Christian Democratic Union for moving away from its Christian ethos.

In an interview with Germany's Rheinische Post in late January, Bishop Gerhard Muller of Regensburg said having the word "Christian" in a name should mean "something concrete."

Bishops call charges against USCCB official false, ridiculous

Catholic News Service — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:38:18 -0800

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Bishops who work closely with John Carr, who oversees the Catholic Campaign for Human Development, say new claims against him and the agency are false and "totally ridiculous."

Bishops William F. Murphy of Rockville Centre, N.Y., and Roger P. Morin of Biloxi, Miss., spoke with Catholic News Service Feb. 3 about recent allegations of "a systemic pattern of cooperation with evil" by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops because of Carr's past involvement with the Center for Community Change.

Vatican official says religious orders are in modern 'crisis'

Catholic News Service — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 10:33:56 -0800

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- A top Vatican official said religious orders today are in a "crisis" caused in part by the adoption of a secularist mentality and the abandonment of traditional practices.

Cardinal Franc Rode, prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, said the problems go deeper than the drastic drop in the numbers of religious men and women.

Study: Catholics at Catholic colleges less likely to stray from church

Catholic News Service — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 10:31:21 -0800

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A new study finds Catholic students at Catholic colleges are less likely than Catholics attending public colleges to move away from the church's teachings on a variety of issues.

However, on the issue of same-sex marriage in particular, newly released research from the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate found that many Catholic students at Catholic and public colleges disagree with church teaching.

Haiti must build a new society based on justice, says Haitian bishop

Catholic News Service — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 11:21:27 -0800

ROME (CNS) -- The tragic destruction of Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas is an opportunity for Haiti and the world to rebuild a nation free from poverty and prejudice and based on justice and compassion, said the president of Caritas Haiti.

Bishop Pierre Andre Dumas of Anse-a-Veau et Miragoane also appealed to the international community to make aid be "more humane" in a way that respects human dignity and is free from self-interest, speculation, and politics.

Notre Dame, Tucson Diocese form partnership to help Catholic schools

Catholic News Service — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 11:19:05 -0800

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The University of Notre Dame and the Diocese of Tucson have agreed to designate three parish schools in Tucson as the nation's first Notre Dame Alliance for Catholic Education Academy Schools.

Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas and Notre Dame Alliance for Catholic Education officials announced the plan Jan. 29 at the Bishop Moreno Pastoral Center in Tucson.

Food cards are key for homeless quake victims in search of a meal

Catholic News Service — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:05:57 -0800

PETIONVILLE, Haiti (CNS) -- Hundreds of people lined up in the center of Petionville early Feb. 1 as the U.N. food distribution system began making its way into the neighborhoods and suburbs of Port-au-Prince.

Nearly three weeks after the Jan. 12 earthquake destroyed large portions of the metropolitan area and beyond, the U.N.'s World Food Program made its first visit to suburban Petionville, located in the hills overlooking the Haitian capital.

At Olympic venues, chaplains prepare to serve faiths -- and see events

Catholic News Service — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 16:04:41 -0800

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (CNS) -- During the 2010 Winter Olympics, most ski runs on the Whistler Blackcomb venue will remain open, and Msgr. Jerry Desmond from Our Lady of the Mountains Catholic Church in Whistler plans to take advantage of the opportunity.

An avid skier, Msgr. Desmond said he does not plan to buy any tickets for Olympic events. However, he is going to strap on his skis and sneak a peek at some of the alpine events like the giant slalom and the super-G.

Pius XII feared outcry against atrocities would worsen situation

Catholic News Service — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:59:36 -0800

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Pius XII wanted to speak out against Nazi atrocities, but was advised not to for fear of worsening the wartime situation, said the Vatican newspaper, L'Osservatore Romano.

"If the pope was silent, it was not out of fright or self-interest, but concern for worsening the situation of those oppressed" by the Nazi regime, it said.

Haitians in tent camp give thanks, place future in God's hands

Catholic News Service — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:57:31 -0800

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (CNS) -- With words of praise to God in a melodic song that carried over the din of thousands of people, Dolce Rochelle let it be known to anyone who cared that no matter the challenge, she was doing just fine.

One of an estimated 50,000 people living in makeshift shelters of sheets, blankets and plastic tarps on what was once a golf course at the Petionville Club, Rochelle passes her days singing and selling goods for a friend out of her tent.

"I like to praise God," she said, a smile gracing her face.

Archbishop Hannan pulling for New Orleans Saints to march in

Catholic News Service — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:56:07 -0800

NEW ORLEANS (CNS) -- Retired Archbishop Philip M. Hannan of New Orleans said "it would be tremendous" if his city's team, the Saints, beat the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV Feb. 7 in Miami.

"As a matter of fact, if it happens, the downtown parish of the city will simply explode," he told the Clarion Herald, newspaper of the New Orleans Archdiocese.

Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond, current head of the archdiocese, and Indianapolis Archbishop Daniel M. Buechlein placed a friendly wager on the game.

Vatican making final review of English liturgical translations

Catholic News Service — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:51:58 -0800

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments is pulling together the final version of the English translation of the complete Roman Missal, the book of prayers used at Mass.

The Vox Clara Committee, an international group of bishops established to advise the congregation about the translation of the Roman Missal into English, met in Rome Jan. 26-29.

No sleep, little aid: Salesian nun pleads for more help for Haitians

Catholic News Service — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 11:49:34 -0800

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (CNS) -- Sister Silvi Elie hasn't eaten all day, and the tiredness shows on her face as she pleads with a Brazilian nongovernmental organization for some tents for the homeless families who have camped out on the patio of her convent, the House of Maria Auxiliatrix.

Tents are in short supply in the Haitian capital these days, and she has to argue forcefully. Her persistence finally pays off, and she fills her pickup with two loads of tents.

Language lessons: New media test Vatican's digital fluency

Catholic News Service — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 11:31:14 -0800

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI recently urged the world's priests to make better use of new media, but in his own backyard the digital revolution is still seen as a mixed blessing.

The Vatican Web site remains largely a repository of printed texts, displayed on pages designed to look like parchment. And despite more than a decade of discussion about making the site interactive, www.vatican.va continues to provide information in one direction only: from them to you.

Canadian bishops condemn trafficking, expected to be issue at Olympics

Catholic News Service — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 10:54:54 -0800

OTTAWA (CNS) -- Members of the Canadian bishops' justice and peace commission have called for prayers for victims of human trafficking, noting that they expect it to be a problem at the Feb. 12-28 Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia.

A pastoral letter issued Jan. 26 said major sporting events often see "systems put in place to satisfy the demand for paid sex."

Some think Scott Brown is pro-life and Catholic, but he is neither

Catholic News Service — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 12:57:15 -0800

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The positive views expressed by some Catholics and pro-life advocates following the election of Republican Scott Brown to the U.S. Senate led many to believe that Brown is a Catholic who takes a 100 percent pro-life stand.

Neither is the case.

Brown and his family attend New England Chapel in Franklin, Mass., part of the Christian Reformed Church in North America, which has roots in the Protestant Reformation.