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Ordination – Visitation Church Is Scene of Ceremony for Koinonia Priest (with slide show)

by Marie Elena Giossi Irish-born Father Eamon Gerard Murray was ordained to the priesthood by Auxiliary Bishop Frank Caggiano at Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church, Red Hook, on Saturday afternoon, Dec. 10. Bishop Caggiano welcomed the congregation to witness the transitional deacon “be configured to the image of Christ the High Priest in […]

Church Schools Freed Of MTA Payroll Tax

Civic and religious officials applauded the decision to exempt private and parochial schools from the MTA payroll tax. Councilman David G. Greenfield (D-Brooklyn) was joined by Councilman Eric A. Ulrich (R-Ozone Park), Msgr. Kiernan E. Harrington, Vicar for Communications for the Diocese of Brooklyn, Rabbi Mordechai Besser, principal of Manhattan Day School, and Sam A. […]

Treasured Creche – Middle Eastern Tradition Is Passed To the Next Generation

by Paul Catafago Growing up in Queens, Christmas decorations meant my mother setting up the traditional crèche, the Nativity scene, in our living room. The practice is a popular one amongst Catholics in Mediterranean countries. Every year around Christmas, the Metropolitan Museum in Manhattan features a Neapolitan baroque crèche, a Nativity scene set around a […]

Pope to Visit Cuba, Mexico

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Celebrating the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe and confirming he will travel to Mexico and Cuba in the spring, Pope Benedict XVI called on the people of Latin America to hold firm to their faith. During his homily at the Mass Dec. 12 in St. Peter’s Basilica, the pope prayed […]

U.S. Latino Bishops Offer Solidarity to Immigrants

WASHINGTON (CNS) – An emotional pastoral letter to immigrants from the U.S. Hispanic and Latino Catholic bishops offers love, encouragement, welcome, sympathy and assurance that “you are not alone or forgotten.” “We recognize that every human being, authorized or not, is an image of God and therefore possesses infinite value and dignity,” begins the strongly […]

Multi-Ethnic Ridgewood Celebrates O.L. Guadalupe

by Antonina Zielinska In order to show their devotion and love for Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patroness of the Americas, parishioners from St. Matthias, Ridgewood, processed down the chilly streets of Ridgewood last Sunday night. When Father Silvester Sarihaddula, who ministers to the Latino community of the parish, shouted “Viva La Virgen de Guadalupe!” […]

‘Miracle’ May Move Bishop Sheen Toward Sainthood

by Tom Dermody PEORIA, Ill. (CNS) – Boxes wrapped in ribbon and a happy little boy are Christmas images, but the combination had another joyful meaning Dec. 11 during ceremonies closing the Diocese of Peoria’s inquiry into an alleged miraculous healing through the intercession of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen. “May God, who has begun this […]

Nun Who ‘Allowed’ Abortion No Longer Excommunicated

PHOENIX (CNS) – A Mercy sister who was automatically excommunicated because of her role on the ethics committee that allowed an abortion to be performed at a Catholic hospital in Phoenix in 2009 is back in good standing in the Catholic Church. In May, 2010, officials at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center publicly acknowledged […]

Cardinal Foley, ‘Voice’ Of Church, Dead at 76

DARBY, Pa. (CNS) – U.S. Cardinal John P. Foley, who spent more than two decades leading the Church’s social communications council and later worked for the Church in the Middle East, died Dec. 11 after a battle with leukemia. The cardinal, who had been residing at Villa St. Joseph, the home for retired Philadelphia archdiocesan […]