CHICAGO (CNS) – Archbishop Blase J. Cupich, who will succeed Chicago Cardinal Francis E. George in mid-November, told the priests of the Archdiocese of Chicago that he has decided he will live in the rectory at Holy Name Cathedral.
International News
Synod Father: Change Requires a Consensus
ROME (CNS) – Looking ahead to the October, 2015 world Synod of Bishops on the family, Cardinal George Pell said the task for Catholics “over the next 12 months” is to explain “the necessity of conversion, the nature of the Mass” and “the purity of heart the Scriptures require of us to receive holy Communion.”
Liturgy Items Dominate Bishops’ Slate
WASHINGTON (CNS) – Liturgical matters will take center stage on the agenda of action items at the fall general meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), to be held Nov. 10-13 in Baltimore.
Nun’s Murderer Says Family’s Forgiveness Gave Him ‘New Life’
UDAINAGAR, India (CNS) – The man who served a prison term for the 1995 murder of a Franciscan Clarist nun said that the forgiveness shown to him by the slain nun’s family has given him “new life.”
Pope Calls for End To Death Penalty
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis called for abolition of the death penalty as well as life imprisonment and denounced what he called a “penal populism” that promises to solve society’s problems by punishing crime instead of pursuing social justice.
Year for Consecrated Life
The worldwide observance of the Year for Consecrated Life proclaimed by Pope Francis will open in the diocese with prayer services in Brooklyn and Queens. Our Lady of Angels Church, Bay Ridge, will be the site for the Brooklyn service on Sunday, Dec. 7, at 3:30 p.m. The opening in Queens will take place on Sunday, Dec. 14, at Immaculate Conception Monastery Church, Jamaica Estates, at 3:30 p.m.
Muslims Condemn ISIS Terrorism
WASHINGTON (CNS) – More than 100 Muslim leaders – clerics and laypeople alike – have signed on to a letter criticizing the Middle East Muslim military group ISIS, short for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
Dallas Diocese Houses Ebola Victim’s Family
DALLAS (CNS) – Dallas Bishop Kevin J. Farrell said that he followed the teaching of Christ and stepped in to house the fiancee of Ebola victim Thomas Eric Duncan and three others for several weeks at a diocesan facility because when no one else would.
Deacon Ordained in Rome
Nicholas Colalella, from St. Margaret parish, Middle Village, a fourth-year seminarian at the North American College, Rome, was ordained a deacon at St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican on Oct. 2 by Cardinal Donald Wuerl.
Pope: Terrorism Is at Unimaginable Levels
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The Middle East, especially Iraq and Syria, are experiencing “terrorism of previously unimaginable proportions” in which the perpetrators seem to have absolutely no regard for the value of human life, Pope Francis said.