By Victoria Edwards This January, I had the opportunity to travel to Paris and Rome with some of the St. John’s University Catholic Scholars Program’s Sophomore Cohort. The program, run by campus ministry was founded in 2012; the mission is for college students to learn and grow in their Catholic and Vincentian roots, which will allow […]
Rome
Preparing for Priesthood
Juan Luxama, a fourth-year seminarian at the North American College, Rome, whose home parish is Holy Innocents, Flatbush, was ordained a deacon Oct. 4 at the Altar of the Chair at St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City, by Cardinal James Harvey. Auxiliary Bishop Octavio Cisneros and several Brooklyn priests concelebrated the Mass. Deacon Luxama assisted at […]
Pope Francis Tells His Priests That Sanctity Will Overcome Scandals
by Francis X. Rocca ROME (CNS) – Acting in his capacity as bishop of Rome, Pope Francis offered words of encouragement to his diocesan priests, assuring them that recent and current scandals cannot overcome the Church’s holiness and urging them to keep their vocations alive through love of God. The pope made his remarks Sept. […]
God Wants Our Eternal Salvation
by Father John P. Cush I REALLY CONSIDER myself blessed to have been assigned to Rome for post-graduate doctoral work this past semester. Instead of just reading about Church history, I had the opportunity to live it out in the events of February and March, 2013. The resignation of our beloved Benedict XVI and his final days […]
Kindness and Courtesy Are Rewarded
by Father John P. Cush HERE’S A LITTLE riddle for you: How many people can fit on a bus in the city of Rome, Italy? The answer: always one more! As someone who has lived in Rome for a few years, in my first incarnation as a seminarian and as a newly ordained priest, and […]
Pope Baptizes 20
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The Sistine Chapel sounded a bit like a nursery Jan. 14, as Pope Benedict XVI baptized 20 babies, whose crying provided a constant accompaniment to the two-hour Mass on the feast of the Baptism of the Lord. Referring to the day’s reading from the Gospel St. Luke, which recounts the baptism […]
When in Rome, Lesson Is in the Cobblestones
by Father John Cush Last April, I was asked by Bishop DiMarzio to begin studies for the doctorate in Sacred Theology in Rome, beginning this September. This came as a big surprise! I had been a student at the North American College as a seminarian and as a newly ordained priest and I had earned […]
Little Credence Given to To Jesus’ ‘Wife’ Papyrus
ROME (CNS) – Biblical scholars are putting little credence in the authenticity of a newly published text containing a reference to Jesus’ “wife.” But the tiny papyrus fragment, purportedly dating to the fourth century A.D., is being used to stir a debate about the Church’s attitudes toward marriage, sex and the role of women. The […]
Lori in Rome Talks About Threat to Religious Freedom
by Francis X. Rocca ROME (CNS) – On the same day that the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Obama administration’s health care law, Archbishop William E. Lori of Baltimore warned an audience in Rome about what he characterized as the law’s threat to religious freedom. The archbishop, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Ad Hoc Committee […]
Pope Leads Procession Through Rome
Pope Benedict XVI kneels in prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament during the Corpus Christi procession in Rome. At Corpus Christi Mass, the Pope said a misunderstanding of the Second Vatican Council has led some Catholics to think that Eucharistic adoration and Corpus Christi processions are pietistic practices that pale in importance to the […]