Christians in Pakistan celebrate Christmas amid heightened security
Christian devotees attend a prayer service at Sacred Heart Cathedral to celebrate Christmas in Lahore, Pakistan, on Dec. 25, 2021. / A M Syed/ Shutterstock Lahore, Pakistan, Dec 28, 2022 / 17:15 pm (CNA). Despite the continued threat of terrori… […]
Staring into the light
In her book, “Kitchen Table Wisdom, Stories That Heal” (Riverhead Books, $9.49), medical doctor and writer Rachel Naomi Remen shares this story. When she was 14 years old, she took a summer job working as a volunteer in a nursing home for the aged. This wasn’t easy for her. She was young, shy, and mostly […]
New Year’s resolution: Saint watching
As a priest and now as a bishop, one of my great joys is baptizing infants and getting to know and minister to young families. Every mother and father knows that as their children grow, they learn through imitation. By watching what’s going on around them, especially their parents, they learn not only how to […]
Five doses of good news for Catholicism amid an otherwise bleak year
ROME — Let’s face it: By conventional measures, 2022 has not exactly been a banner year for the Catholic Church. Over the last 12 months, the clerical sexual abuse crisis has continued to drain the Church’s resources and morale, defections from Catholicism have continued across much of the developed world, the pope’s attempts at reform […]
Solemnity of Mary, the holy mother of God: She kept his word
From before all ages, God had destined her for this decisive role in salvation history. She was to be the woman who in the fullness of time would bear God’s only Son, as Paul tells us in today’s Epistle. In times past, God spoke to his chosen people, the Israelites, through prophets (see Hebrews 1:1–2), […]
A New Year’s technique
God willing and the creek don’t rise, another year will soon be in the books. Like the swallows returning to San Juan Capistrano, talk of New Year’s resolutions again descends upon us. I’ve learned to avoid those, finding that making them is usually a lose-lose game. I also try to avoid dwelling too much on […]
Penal-era chalice returns to its roots
An almost 400-year-old Irish chalice used throughout periods of persecution has been returned, Ruadhán Jones writes There were two Franciscan friaries in Co. Leitrim, one in north Leitrim and the other in south Leitrim. Creevelea friary was set up in the year 1508 beside the village of Dromahair in north Leitrim and Muintir Eolais friary… […]
Christian leaders in Holy Land: Refugees suffer like the Holy Family
The patriarchs and heads of Churches of the Holy Land spoke over Christmas of the suffering Jesus and the Holy Family endured in his early life, likening it to the way many people and refugees suffer today. “Similar sorrows and travails continue to afflict the world in our time, whether they be in Ukraine, Armenia,… […]
Peacekeeper’s family reinforce faith to ‘reunite in heaven’
The mother of UN peacekeeper Seán Rooney who was killed in Lebanon told mourners the family will “strengthen our faith” at his funeral last week. Private Rooney (24), from Newtowncunningham, Co Donegal, died when his convoy came under attack while travelling to Beirut from their camp in the Golan Heights. Speaking at the funeral, which… […]
Sport – in search of greater glory…and faith
Sport and religion overlap in that they can teach people values and understanding, writes Gerard Gallagher Sport continues to unite people from different backgrounds. This was evident recently. During December as the World Cup was played during a political storm, it was uplifting to see many sports stars make some small gestures of ritual and… […]