APARECIDA, Brazil – On a five-day visit to Latin America, Pope Benedict XVI identified a host of social and religious challenges and said the church should respond by focusing more clearly on the person of Jesus Christ. “This is the faith that has made America the ‘continent of hope.’ Not a political ideology, not a...Read More
GUARATINGUETA, Brazil – In a meeting with recovering Brazilian drug addicts, Pope Benedict XVI said drug dealers will face God’s judgment for the damage they have inflicted on individuals and society. The pope made the remarks during a visit May 12 to Fazenda da Esperanca, or Farm of Hope, a church-run drug rehabilitation center in...Read More
APARECIDA, Brazil – In calling for a “renewal and revitalization of faith” in Latin America and the Caribbean, Pope Benedict XVI warned against a revival of indigenous religions, said the church should work for justice but not become directly involved in politics, and criticized both Marxism and capitalism for their detachment from “the decisive reality...Read More
LATROBE, Pa. – President George W. Bush praised volunteerism and service and encouraged the approximately 300 graduates of St. Vincent College to “take what you’ve learned here into the world and always live up to the high ideals that this college stands for.” “The volunteer spirit of America makes us unique; it represents the true...Read More
VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI has approved stricter guidelines for determining which saints will be remembered with mandatory feast days throughout the Latin-rite calendar of the Catholic Church. The General Roman Calendar, the universal schedule of holy days and feast days, is so packed that more selectivity is needed, according to new norms and...Read More
SAN FRANCISCO – Describing what he sees as an “electronic tsunami of pornography,” Archbishop George H. Niederauer of San Francisco told a Utah-based anti-pornography organization that pornography “debases the priceless worth and dignity of each human being and (God’s) gift of human sexuality.” While pornography “is not a new challenge,” the archbishop told members of...Read More
Catonsville resident Jeanne Marie Hannon doesn't mind getting her hands dirty if it means slowly watching the plants at Catholic Charities' Gallagher Services in Timonium transform into colorful flowers or luscious vegetables. Cultivating plant life for the summer is an annual tradition for the St. Agnes, Catonsville, parishioner and client of the residential and day...Read More
In the past 23 years, Bel Air resident Sean P. Tully experienced the deaths of both his father and a brother and noticed some people were more comfortable than others when dealing him during his initial time of mourning. In the days of viewings, prayer vigils and the eventual funeral and interment services, the 41-year-old...Read More
Jennifer Schall was pregnant with her third child when she had a miscarriage. Although she was upset she still wanted to have more children. She became pregnant again and at 36 weeks her baby died suddenly in her womb. Mrs. Schall eventually had two more healthy babies, but the loss of her children stayed with...Read More
SAO PAULO, Brazil – The Brazilians stood quietly in a line, waiting for the nuns at the Monastery of the Immaculate Conception of Light to open the door and start handing out “Frei Galvao’s pills.”Read More
GUARATINGUETA, Brazil – In a meeting with recovering Brazilian drug addicts, Pope Benedict XVI said drug dealers will face God’s judgment for the damage they have inflicted on individuals and society.Read More
APARECIDA, Brazil – Celebrating Mass at Latin America’s biggest Marian shrine, Pope Benedict XVI said the church needs “courageous and effective missionaries” to revitalize the region’s Christian identity.Read More