WASHINGTON – Precious Blood Father Clarence Williams has been chosen as Catholic Charities USA’s new director of racial equality and diversity initiatives. Father Williams, director of black Catholic ministries in the Archdiocese of Detroit for the last 12 years, starts the new job Sept. 1. A consultant to Catholic Charities for about nine years, Father...Read More
LORENZAGO DI CADORE, Italy – Pope Benedict XVI left the Italian Alps July 27, flying to Rome and then driving to the papal summer villa at Castel Gandolfo. On the eve of his departure from Lorenzago di Cadore, the pope met with the mayors of the 22 small towns in the region and with the...Read More
NEW ORLEANS – Manifesting joy and living a life of holiness are fundamental ways to attract young African-American men to consider a vocation to the priesthood, Redemptorist Father Maurice Nutt of Memphis, Tenn., told the joint convention of the National Black Catholic Clergy Caucus and the National Black Sisters’ Conference July 25. The conference, attended...Read More
WASHINGTON – Members of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom heard testimony July 25 from witnesses regarding the persecution of the ancient, non-Muslim minority religions in Iraq. The witnesses mentioned their personal experiences as religious minorities as well as their professional experience working in Iraq.Read More
Although his 40-year career spanned the globe and taught this priest four languages, Monsignor John L. FitzGerald is back in his native town of Baltimore doing what he knows best: ministering to seafarers. As a child, he attended St. Mark, Catonsville. Once ordained, he was assigned first to St. Matthew, Northwood, then St. Peter the...Read More
As a young girl in the late 1960s, Nancy Perlman boarded a school bus near her Rodgers Forge home five mornings a week that delivered her safely to nearby St. Pius X School. It was a luxury for which her parents happily paid, in addition to the annual tuition for the Catholic education the now...Read More
When Bishop Denis J. Madden was ordained a priest in 1967, the April Fools Day date assured the anniversary of the event would be forever etched in his memory. “It really is a memorable date,” said the 67-year-old urban vicar of the Archdiocese of Baltimore, with his trademark jocular chuckle. “For better or worse, people...Read More
HONG KONG – Catholics in mainland China say they welcome the recent letter from Pope Benedict XVI, but some say they worry it will not produce the desired effects.Read More
QUEZON CITY, Philippines – The agenda President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo announced for the second half of her term includes issues that some Philippine bishops have targeted as concerns.Read More
NEW YORK – “Christopher Closeup,” the television show sponsored by the organization that says it’s better to light one candle than to curse the darkness, will no longer be broadcast after the end of the summer.Read More
ROME – Digital worlds where viewers can interact with each other and create vast social networks carry several risks, but they also might be grounds for evangelization, said an influential Jesuit magazine.Read More