Young people stand in the schoolyard of the Academy for Peace and Justice while waiting to sing the national anthem in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Jan. 9, in preparation for the anniversary of the earthquake that devastated the nation. The school is run by a Catholic priest and funded by a roster of Hollywood celebrities.
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Proposed Vikings Stadium Threatens Minn. Basilica
by Theresa Malloy, MINNEAPOLIS (CNS) – Father John Bauer, rector of the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis, called on parishioners and community members to contact government officials to voice concerns about two proposed Vikings stadium sites near the church, particularly one that would be about 300 feet away. Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton and city […]
Institute Offers Foundations for Ministry Program
The Pastoral Institute will offer a 10-week, 20-hour Foundations for Ministry Program in five languages beginning in February at various sites throughout the diocese. Men and women who are discerning participation in the three-year Lay Ministry program or who desire a basic update in theology for ministry can study in English, Haitian Kreyòl, Mandarin, Polish […]
Mormons Feel They Are Not Understood
by Carol Zimmerman, WASHINGTON (CNS) – Mormons in the United States might be getting more attention these days, but they have mixed views on what this attention means. According to a new Pew Forum poll, most members of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints feel that Americans don’t know enough about their […]
Vatican Museums Top 5 Million in Attendance
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – In 2011, for the first time, the number of visitors to the Vatican Museums topped five million. Antonio Paolucci, director of the museums, said breaking the five-million threshold poses serious problems as well as challenges in the areas of access and education. “Five million visitors means 10 million hands that touch […]
‘Croc’ to Make Cuban Trip
A member of Rome’s Biopark zoo shows Pope Benedict XVI a rare young Cuban crocodile during the pope’s weekly audience in Paul VI Hall at the Vatican Jan. 11. The crocodile is set to be introduced to its natural habitat in Cuba during the pope’s trip in March.
Vatican Recommends Year of Faith Activities
by Carol Glatz, VATICAN CITY (CNS) – In an effort to help Catholics have a better and correct understanding of their faith and become authentic witnesses to Christ, the Vatican issued a list of pastoral recommendations for celebrating the upcoming Year of Faith. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith released a “note” Jan. […]
Religious Leaders Object To Same-Sex Marriage
by Mark Pattison, WASHINGTON (CNS) – A letter signed by more than three dozen U.S. religious leaders objects to the specter of religious groups being forced to treat same-sex unions “as if they were marriage.” “Altering the civil definition of ‘marriage’ does not change one law, but hundreds, even thousands, at once,” said the letter, […]
Court Backs Church Hiring Practice
WASHINGTON (CNS) – The direction the courts will take with other cases related to religious employment is far from clear, but the Supreme Court’s Jan. 11 ruling opens a whole track of possibilities. The decision in Hosanna-Tabor vs. EEOC held that fired teacher Cheryl Perich could not sue under federal disability discrimination laws, because the […]
The Children of Roe
Next week marks the 39th anniversary of the most remarkable adventure of judicial hubris in the history of our constitutional Republic since the infamous Dred Scott vs. Sanford (1857) decision. Through Roe vs. Wade (1973), purportedly to settle public policy by standardizing state regulation of abortion, our highest Court essentially concocted a fictive legislative chimera […]