Slide Show: Embarking on Pilgrimage, WYD 2011

by: Antonina Zielinska After a six-hour overnight flight, with little to no sleep and no breakfast because of turbulance, the second group of World Youth Day pilgrims from the Diocese of Brooklyn arrived in Madrid Aug. 13, exhausted but ready to to begin their spiritual journey. When the pilgrims were finally allowed out of the […]

Faith, Academics and Service in Our Schools

by Sister Angela Gannon, C.S.J. In the week following Labor Day, students in Brooklyn and Queens will return to school.  Some will attend Catholic schools or academies; others will choose charter schools, public schools, magnet schools, private schools or home schooling.  The are many options in a large urban area. How fortunate we are in […]

Respect for Freedom

Root causes of recent outbursts of rioting, pillaging and violent protests around the world may not be as related as some analysts infer, citing mostly economic factors.  Israel is not Greece and Philadelphia is not London — to name a few areas in which social unrest has been reported. In some cases, one finds clear […]

16th Annual Bishops’ Golf Classic — Sponsored by The Tablet and The NET

The 16th annual Bishops’ Golf Classic was held Aug. 11 at North Hills Country Club, Manhasset, L.I.  Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio presented the Classic’s Pastor of the Year Award to Msgr. Kevin Noone, of Our Lady of Angels, Bay Ridge, and the Agency of the Year Award to Rocklyn Management Assets’ Robert Dadona, director of project […]

Opening Mass Shows Church Is Alive

by Gretchen R. Crowe MADRID (CNS) – A cloudless blue sky turned to inky night as hundreds of thousands of pilgrims participated in the opening Mass for World Youth Day, celebrated by Madrid Cardinal Antonio Rouco Varela in the Plaza de Cibeles. Protected from the heat by white umbrellas and streams of soft mists, dozens […]

Protest in Madrid

People protest against special reductions on public transport for pilgrims on the first day of the World Youth Day in Madrid. The banners read: “Secular state,” “A paid-for pope blesses the robbed” and “A subsidized Catholic is a politician, not a Christian.”

English Speakers Feel At Home in Madrid

by Gretchen R. Crowe MADRID (CNS) – The colors of World Youth Day lit up the auditorium of the Palacio de Deportes sports arena in Madrid Tuesday afternoon for the opening of the “Love and Life Center: A Home for English-Speaking Pilgrims.” American, Canadian and World Youth Day flags, among others, swayed to the rockin’ […]

British Law Offers Protection To Pro-Life Health Workers

MANCHESTER, England (CNS) – A 2010 law is providing conscience protections for health care professionals in England who believe in “the sanctity of life from conception onward,” regardless of their religious beliefs. The Thomas More Legal Centre, which specializes in religious discrimination law, recently successfully defended two Catholic nurses who had asked not to be […]

Vatican Rebuilds Trust With Religious Orders

by Cindy Wooden VATICAN CITY (CNS) – In the final stage of the apostolic visitation of U.S. women’s religious communities, the Vatican congregation overseeing the study not only is facing mountains of paper, but must try to rebuild a relationship of trust with the women, said the congregation’s secretary. U.S.-born Archbishop Joseph W. Tobin, secretary […]