Dolores Orlando of Towson recently walked into the Catholic Corner Bookstore determined to find specific Christmas cards and a statue of St. Joseph, and looked relieved when she spotted the establishment’s owner, Joan Linz. “Joan, I really need your help,” said Ms. Orlando, an Immaculate Conception, Towson, parishioner. The bookshop keeper, a parishioner of St....Read More

JERUSALEM (CNS) -- Once again Christmas in the Holy Land is faced with "circumstances of death and frustration," but the holiday still brings joy and announces salvation to all, said Latin Patriarch Michel Sabbah of Jerusalem in his traditional Christmas message. Though the West Bank city of Bethlehem should be a city of peace it...Read More

ST. LOUIS (CNS) -- Midnight Mass used to be one of the mainstays of a Catholic Christmas. But in recent years the tradition once celebrated at virtually every parish has given way to Masses at 11 p.m., 10 p.m. or even earlier. "The midnight Mass is a tradition that goes back to the 11th century,"...Read More

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (CNS) -- Church authorities in Argentina are preparing to encase the country's most revered icon -- a 17th-century terra-cotta statue of the Virgin of Lujan, patron saint of Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay -- in bulletproof glass to safeguard it from vandalism.Read More

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Vatican and the Polish bishops are convinced Warsaw's new Archbishop Stanislaw Wielgus was not a spy for the secret police under Poland's former communist regime, the Vatican said. "In deciding to nominate the new metropolitan archbishop of Warsaw, the Holy See took into consideration all the circumstances of his life,...Read More

PORTLAND, Ore. (CNS) -- The Archdiocese of Portland will not need to sell off parish or school property under terms of a $75 million settlement between the archdiocese and almost 150 sex abuse claimants. The more than 100-page settlement plan was filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Portland Dec. 18, a week after U.S. District...Read More

Imagine living away from family and friends for months, facing isolation, depression, and loneliness while working backbreaking, sometimes 24-hour shifts on a container ship in foreign ports; sometimes with insufficient food, nothing to foster spirituality, delayed paychecks, meager entertainment and limited recreational time. Such is the reality for some merchant marines who labor intensively on...Read More

When approaching the front of Rita Martin’s Randallstown home, one can’t help but notice the attention the New All Saints, Liberty Heights, parishioner has given to the colorful Christmas decorations illuminating the house. But it’s the aroma of baking rum cakes that really lets new arrivers know the spirit of the holidays is alive and...Read More