DURBAN, South Africa (CNS) – Excessive focus on money is destroying the environment and dehumanizing people, said Honduran Cardinal Oscar Rodriguez Maradiaga, president of Caritas Internationalis. Religious communities have a duty to call attention to the importance of the human person, who is “at the center of creation,” he said, while international leaders were debating […]
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Listening to “A Mass for Peace”
The Tablet Forum sponsored a showing of composer Karl Jenkins’ “The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace” at Immaculate Conception Center, Douglaston, on Dec. 2. About 100 people attended. Above, Father Frank Mann, who coordinates Tablet Forum events watches the dramatic conclusion to the music and choral piece.
Catholics in Pakistan Condemn NATO Strike
KARACHI, Pakistan (CNS) – The Catholic Church’s justice and peace commission organized a protest condemning a NATO airstrike that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers. The Asian church news agency UCA News said that, holding pro-army banners and national flags, more than 50 protesters from several Catholic institutions gathered outside the press club in Karachi Dec. 2. […]
Earthquakes Impact Diocesan Planning in New Zealand
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (CNS) – Christchurch Diocese will reduce the number of parishes by more than half, Bishop Barry Jones announced. The bishop said that because of a diminishing number of clergy, the number of parishes will be reduced from 50 to 24. He said larger parishes formed from two or more consolidated parishes will […]
Detroit Considers Plan To Close, Merge Parishes
DETROIT (CNS) – Nine metro Detroit parishes will close over the next five years if Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron accepts the recommendations a mostly lay advisory board approved Nov. 30. Another 60 parishes would be merged down to 21 if the recommendations of Detroit’s Archdiocesan Pastoral Council are accepted as presented. At a news conference […]
Obama Seeks Balance on Conscience
by Nancy Frazier O’Brien WASHINGTON (CNS) – A White House spokesman said the Obama administration is working to “strike the right balance between expanding coverage of preventive services and respecting religious beliefs” as it decides on a religious exemption to the mandate that all health plans cover contraceptives and sterilizations by Jan. 1, 2013. “This […]
Vatican Officials Says Deaths From AIDS Cannot Be Justified
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The deaths each year of more than a million people from AIDS, the suffering of their families and the new infections of hundreds of thousands of infants are unacceptable when the medicines needed to prevent them exist, a Vatican official said. Archbishop Zygmunt Zimowski, president of the Pontifical Council for Health […]
Pope Supports End to the Death Penalty
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Benedict XVI gave a special greeting of encouragement to delegations meeting in Rome – including a group from Illinois – to promote the abolition of the death penalty. During his weekly audience Nov. 30 at the Vatican, Pope Benedict said he hoped the work of the delegations would “encourage political […]
New Academy to Open in Windsor Terrace
Since 2008, the diocese has been involved in a strategic planning initiative for Catholic education, titled Preserving the Vision. In September 2012, St. Joseph the Worker Catholic Academy will open in Windsor Terrace. Holy Name of Jesus School and Immaculate Heart of Mary School will close, and the new academy will be housed in Holy […]
New York State Bishops Meet Pope – Benedict Praises Efforts to Combat ‘Scourge’ of Sex Abuse
by John Travis VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In a speech to U.S. bishops, Pope Benedict XVI defended the Church’s “honest efforts” to confront the priestly sex abuse scandal with transparency, and said its actions could help the rest of society respond to the problem. While the church is rightly held to high standards, all other […]