Even though Catholics account for only about 22 percent of the U.S. population – admittedly the largest body of religious belief in the country – they make up 31 percent of the House and the Senate.
National News
Vineyards Blend Beauty, Savings for a Calif. Diocese
OAKLAND, Calif. (CNS) – A decision several years ago to plant vineyards to beautify vacant cemetery land and produce wine for Mass has proven to be a win-win for the Diocese of Oakland and its parishes and schools. The plan by Catholic Funeral and Cemetery Services of the diocese took root in 2006 when officials […]
Cardinal George Ends Experimental Treatment
CHICAGO (CNS) – Cardinal Francis E. George, retired archbishop of Chicago, has been dropped from the clinical drug trial to treat his cancer after scans showed the experimental treatment was not working for him, the Archdiocese of Chicago said. Although the antibody drug was not effective on the cardinal, physicians overseeing treatment assured him that […]
Survey Says Minorities Moving to the Suburbs
By Mark Pattison WASHINGTON (CNS) – Catholics in the U.S. have been told frequently over the past decade or more about the demographic changes coming to the makeup of their church – especially with the growing number of Hispanics now living in the U.S. Now, however, it’s the United States’ turn to recognize and deal […]
Physician-Assisted Suicide and Confronting Our Fears
By Father Tadeusz Pacholczyk THE PROSPECT OF a very attractive, recently married young woman with a terminal illness facing excruciating pain and suffering as she dies is enough to move anyone. The life and death of 29- year-old Brittany Maynard recently captured enormous media attention when she declared she was moving to Oregon to commit […]
Sweet Taste of Justice: Fair-trade Commerce Supports Decent Wages, Safe Work Conditions
By Beth Griffin MARYKNOLL, N.Y. (CNS) – Fair-trade chocolate tastes better than its commercially produced counterparts,“because you can’t taste the blood of the worker,” Cara Weidinger said. She was quoting a colleague in the Students for Global Justice organization at St. John’s University, Jamaica. Weidinger, a senior, is president of the group that encourages the […]
Peace Light Arrives With Message of Hope
An open flame, referred to as the Peace Light, arrived by plane in JFK Airport, Dec. 11 escorted by officials from Austrian Airlines. After a welcome ceremony at Our Lady of the Skies Chapel, the flame began its pilgrimage across the U.S. in trucks and cars, lighting wicks in homes, churches and community centers along […]
Fished from Deep, Monstrance Is Placed in Adoration Chapel
By George P. Matysek Jr. BALTIMORE (CNS) – A man fishing at the Loch Raven Reservoir in north Baltimore County some two decades ago was convinced he had snagged a big fish after his line hooked something substantial. After reeling in his haul, the angler had no fish. He had, however, caught something even more […]
Catholic Theologians Make a Mark Against Racial Injustice
WASHINGTON (CNS) – This year the “hope for a just peace” that is Advent “must face the flagrant failures of a nation still bound by sin, our bondage to and complicity in racial injustice,” said a group of Catholic theologians. “The killings of black men, women and children … by white policemen, and the failures […]
Religious Leaders Condemn The Use of Torture by U.S.
WASHINGTON (CNS) – The chairman of the U.S bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace said acts of torture outlined in a Senate Intelligence Committee report “violated the God-given human dignity inherent in all people and were unequivocally wrong.” Bishop Oscar Cantu of Las Cruces, New Mexico, also called on President Barack Obama to strengthen […]