by Ed Wilkinson The first parish established in Queens is now the first church in the diocese to house a stained-glass window honoring Pope Francis and one depicting Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio’s coat of arms. Bishop DiMarzio dedicated the colorful new windows at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, Astoria, Dec. 7, as part of a […]
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that Msgr. John Brown, Walgreens drugstores and the New York Mets have been awarded the 2013 Rick Rescorla National Award for Resilience, recognizing their contributions to their communities in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Msgr. Brown, the pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas parish, Flatlands, was the pastor of St. […]
By Francis X. Rocca VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel Dec. 2 and discussed prospects for peace in the Middle East and the pope’s still-unscheduled trip to the Holy Land. The two met privately for about 25 minutes in the pope’s library. Talked About Complex Situation A […]
WARSAW, Poland (CNS) – Church officials in Germany defended plans by the country’s bishops’ conference to allow some divorced and remarried Catholics to receive Communion, insisting they have the pope’s endorsement. “We already have our own guidelines, and the pope has now clearly signaled that certain things can be decided locally,” said Robert Eberle, spokesman […]
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The kidnapping of five Orthodox nuns from a Christian village near Damascus has shocked Syria’s Christian community and filled many Christians with fear, said Chaldean Bishop Antoine Audo of Aleppo, Syria. Speaking to Vatican Radio, Bishop Audo said the latest information is that the superior and four of the nuns belonging […]
Msgr. Jamie Gigantiello, diocesan director of development, has been named by Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio to his Inauguration Planning Committee. He is the only Catholic clergyman named to the 73-member panel, that also includes a Greek Orthodox priest, a Jewish rabbi, an imam, a female bishop of the Bethesda Healing Center and a bishop of […]
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – In addition to having worked sweeping floors and running tests in a chemical laboratory as a teenager, Pope Francis revealed he also used to work as a bouncer. No longer kicking troublemakers out of clubs, he has discovered the secret to bringing people back, this time, into the church, according to […]
By Francis X. Rocca VATICAN CITY (CNS) – When the Synod of Bishops on the new evangelization met at the Vatican in October, 2012, among the top items on the agenda was the threat of militant secularism in a post-Christian West. “It is as if a tsunami of secular influence has swept across the cultural […]
By Francis X. Rocca VATICAN CITY (CNS) – In enunciating the principles of Catholic social teaching, popes have long stressed the Church’s special concern for the poor and the need for state intervention to promote economic justice. Pope Benedict XVI, for instance, blamed the “logic of profit” for widespread hunger and pollution; called for a […]
