CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (CNS) – A Harvard University student group’s plan to conduct a satanic ritual “black mass” May 12 on campus brought a public outcry, leading to its formal cancellation and an apparently impromptu off-campus version of the event, as well as a well-attended alternative Catholic holy hour. The planned event had drawn wide criticism from religious leaders as well as students, alumni and faculty at Harvard.
Author: settinger
72 Parishioners Complete Lay Ministry Program
A bilingual liturgy and commissioning ceremony will be celebrated Monday, May 19, in the chapel at the Immaculate Conception Center, Douglaston, for those persons who have completed the requirements of the Lay Ministry Program, sponsored by the diocesan School of Evangelization/Pastoral Institute. The diocese will honor 72 persons who represent 27 parishes in Brooklyn and Queens. These commissioned lay pastoral leaders have completed a three-year program of study, spiritual reflection, mentoring and pastoral preparation. They join more than 750 others who have successfully completed the program, which is offered in both English and Spanish and has been in existence since 2001.
Nuns’ Group Responds To Cardinal’s Criticism
WASHINGTON (CNS) – The recent rebuke of the officers of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) by the head of the Vatican’s doctrinal office should be viewed as one part of his entire remarks and one aspect of the group’s visits and ongoing dialogue with Vatican officials, according to a statement by LCWR officers.
Vandalism in the Holy Land – Anti-Christian Graffiti Where Pope Is Scheduled to Visit
JERUSALEM (CNS) – The Latin patriarch of Jerusalem called a continuing wave of vandalism against Christian, Muslim and Druze properties a “blight on Israeli democracy” and urged authorities to step up prosecution against the perpetrators. Patriarch Fouad Twal said during a May 11 news conference in the northern city of Haifa that the attacks, which […]
Bishops Speak Out for Kidnapped Nigerian Teens
WASHINGTON (CNS) – Among the U.S. leaders speaking out for action to track down and return 276 kidnapped schoolgirls in Nigeria are the chairman of a Catholic bishops’ committee, the director of the Africa Faith and Justice Network and first lady Michelle Obama. Bishop Richard E. Pates of Des Moines, Iowa, and Dominican Father Aniedi […]
Called to Be Living Stones, Not Stumbling Blocks
We are “living stones” building upon an everlasting and living foundation…
The Easter season and today’s fifth Sunday invite us to an ongoing reflection and response to the call of God’s Spirit in our everyday lives and actions. As I read this Sunday’s Scriptures, I was brought back to a memory of more than 30 years. I was the principal of Blessed Sacrament School in Cypress Hills, and each Monday the classes came to the auditorium to pray at the start of a new week. We called it “round-up” as they gathered and listened to God’s Word.
Editing Our Own Genes?
A number of serious diseases are known to occur because of defects or mutations in our DNA. Curing such diseases could in principle be carried out by rewriting the DNA to fix the mutated base pairs. Yet until recently, scientists have remained largely stymied in their attempts to directly modify genes in a living animal. Findings described in the March 30, 2014 issue of Nature Biotechnology, however, reveal that a novel gene-editing technique, known as CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats), can be used successfully in mice to reverse disease symptoms for a liver defect known as type I tyrosinemia.
Insights from Diaries
Autobiographies and published diaries can be a mixed blessing. What is wonderful about them is that readers can receive the view of a life from the perspective of the person who is living it. However, who is to say that the author really understands himself or herself and the important decisions that are reported in an autobiography or a published diary? Several events have set me thinking about firsthand reports of a life. One is that John Paul’s spiritual diary, which he specifically said that he did not want published, is going to be published.
An Archbishop of Destiny
When we first met in April, 2011, what initially impressed me about Major-Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk was his almost preternatural calm, which was striking in that less than a month before and still a few weeks shy of his 41st birthday, Shevchuk had been elected Major-Archbishop of Kyiv-Halych and head of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church – the largest of the Eastern Catholic Churches, Byzantine in liturgy and governance while in full communion with the Bishop of Rome.
Francis’ Economics
Be very leery of any social commentator who calls the pope a Marxist or a Socialist simply because he cares for the poor and he thinks everyone should have an equal chance at earning a decent salary. Pope Francis is a great Christian who is reminding us that wealth and material resources are not meant to be hoarded but rather shared for the good of the greater community.