Italians Honor Heritage With Mass in Flushing

The diocesan Italian Apostolate brought its annual celebration to Flushing, last Sunday, to honor Our Lady of Pompeii. Processing with banners of their favorite saints and a statue of Our Lady of Pompeii, the procession made its way through the streets of St. Mel’s parish prior to the celebration of Mass with Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio. […]

CTN Wires Five Schools To Improve Internet Use

by Antonina Zielinska As part of an ongoing collaboration between Catholic Television Network (CTN) and Clearwire Corp., five Catholic schools in the Diocese of Brooklyn were provided technology makeovers. DeSales Media Group, the parent company of CTN and The Tablet, hired Vectro Network to install wireless Internet access throughout the school buildings and to award […]

Pope Entrusts Year of Faith to Mary

LORETO, Italy (CNS) – During a visit to the Shrine of Our Lady of Loreto, Pope Benedict XVI formally entrusted to Mary the world Synod of Bishops and the Year of Faith. The pope was marking the 50th anniversary of Blessed John XXIII’s visit to the Marian shrine, about 175 miles northwest of Rome, when […]

Pope’s Butler Is Guilty; May Receive a Pardon

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – A three-judge panel of Vatican jurists found Paolo Gabriele, the papal butler, guilty of aggravated theft and sentenced him to 18 months in jail for his role in leaking private papal correspondence and other confidential documents. The verdict was read Oct. 6 by Giuseppe Dalla Torre, president of the three-judge panel, […]

Indulgences for the Year of Faith

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Catholics who participate in events connected with the 2012-2013 Year of Faith can receive a special indulgence, the Vatican said. Pope Benedict XVI authorized the granting of a plenary, or full, indulgence in order to highlight the Year of Faith and encourage the “reading, or rather, the pious meditation on” the […]

Chinese Order Priests, Nuns to Be Reeducated

SHANGHAI (CNS) – Priests and nuns in the Shanghai Diocese were forced to attend compulsory “study classes,” which observers believe were imposed by Chinese authorities in response to the new Shanghai auxiliary’s renunciation of the Catholic Patriotic Association. In September, approximately 80 diocesan priests and 80 nuns of the Our Lady of Presentation Congregation were […]

New Doctors Of the Church

by Francis X. Rocca VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Benedict added a 16th-century Spanish priest and a 12th-century German abbess to the roster of doctors of the universal church. The pope proclaimed the new doctors, St. John of Avila and St. Hildegard of Bingen, at Mass Oct. 7 in St. Peter’s Square, where the thousands […]

2012 – The Issues – Religious Freedom – At Home and Abroad

by Carol Zimmermann WASHINGTON (CNS) – Over the past several months, the U.S. Catholic bishops and other religious leaders have urged Americans to defend religious liberty in the United States in the face of what they see as threats to that freedom. And the issue continues to gain momentum as the November election draws near. […]

Beyond the Packaging

As the campaign season winds down to the wire, both press and pundit crave the latest zinger (or gaffe) that could fuel the next news cycle. To be at their most persuasive yet, without overly taxing the intellect or attention span of their audiences, candidates will strive to make their pitches with clarity and conviction. […]

State Bishops Raise Catechetical Standards

by Marie Elena Giossi Training catechists to meet the complex challenges of an evolving catechetical ministry was the focus of a daylong conference at the Immaculate Conception Center, Douglaston, on Thursday, Sept. 27. New York State’s bishops, along with the state Council of Diocesan Directors of Religious Education, gathered to formally launch and discuss their […]