BRONX, N.Y. (CNS) -- Smiling behind their bushy beards, the gray-frocked Franciscan Friars of the Renewal served up Easter brunch for the homeless once again this year -- a beloved feature of Easter in the South Bronx.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Catholic college graduation ceremonies -- like everything else this past year -- look different. But they are primarily happening in-person unlike last year, when many ceremonies were canceled or took place virtually.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on International Justice and Peace called on Israelis and Palestinians to end the violence in Jerusalem and Gaza that has claimed dozens of lives and left hundreds of people injured.
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Hartford, Conn., May 12, 2021 / 14:07 pm (CNA). The Latin rite bishops in Connecticut announced Monday that in each of their dioceses the general obligation to assist at Mass on Sundays and holy days will resume May 23.
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ARLINGTON, Va. (CNS) -- Eight weeks before Samuel Aiden Pelletier was born by cesarean section April 29, 2020, he was oblivious to the fact that his mother was pregnant as a pandemic swept the globe.
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Washington D.C., May 6, 2021 / 21:01 pm (CNA). A Catholic bioethicist has repeated his objection to the Biden administration's decision that the National Institutes of Health no longer needs an ethics board's approval before awarding funding to researchers who will use fetal tissue obtained from elective abortions.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The Biden administration's May 5 announcement that it supports waiving intellectual property protections for COVID-19 vaccines -- as a means to expand the vaccine's production and distribution -- is a move the Vatican has been suggesting.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A diverse group of Christians, including the nation's Catholic president and the bishop of the statewide Diocese of Portland, Maine, have offered reflections for the National Day of Prayer, observed on the first Thursday of May each year.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The announcement that the Biden administration was raising the limit of annual refugee admissions from 15,000 to 62,500 was cause for celebration at a Georgetown University online discussion of migrant issues May 4.
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LOS ANGELES (CNS) -- Authorities announced charges against a suspected arsonist who investigators believe ignited an overnight fire that gutted much of Mission San Gabriel last July. Officials charged John David Corey Jr., 57, with two felony counts of arson of an inhabited structure and one count each of arson during a state of emergency, possession of flammable material and first-degree residential burglary.
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CLEVELAND (CNS) -- Pope Francis' repeated calls for mercy and for the church to hear voices from the peripheries is an invitation to accept that the Holy Spirit speaks not just to church leaders but to all the baptized, Cardinal Joseph W. Tobin of Newark, New Jersey, said in an online lecture.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The work of Georgetown University and the Jesuits in reckoning with the history of owning and selling enslaved people may hold lessons for the rest of the Catholic Church and American society, said several panelists at an April 29 discussion at the university.
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COLUMBUS, Texas (CNS) -- Carson Crosby, a student at St. Anthony Catholic School in Columbus who received his first Communion this spring, faced a unique challenge. Carson has a genetic mitochondrial disease that prevents him from consuming food and drink orally. Since his infancy, he has been receiving nutrition through a feeding tube, but the Catholic Church does not allow the Eucharist to be given in this manner.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- President Joe Biden announced May 3 he was raising the historically low refugee cap of 15,000 left by the Trump administration, but he also warned that his administration may not be able to meet the new number of refugees it is seeking to resettle in what remains of the fiscal year: 62,500.
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WATERBURY, Conn. (CNS) -- Jesus performed his first miracle at a wedding feast at Cana, in Galilee, according to the Gospel of John. When the wine was running low, Jesus requested that the stone jars be filled with water. He prayed over the jars and then offered them to the headwaiter, who realized that the water had been transformed into wine.
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AUSTIN, Texas (CNS) -- Texas Catholic bishops said they are opposed to a bill pending in the state legislature that would allow people to carry handguns without a permit. Writing to legislators and the state's 8.5 million Catholics May 3, the bishops said the "permitless carry" proposal "would remove important safeguards to protect human life in our communities."
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Denver Newsroom, May 2, 2021 / 10:00 am (CNA). The Papal Foundation announced April 28 they will be distributing $9.2 million in grants to dioceses in 64 countries in the coming year. This year's grants will finance the construction and repair of church and school buildings, environmental initiatives and the education of children in need, among other projects. The organization cited Pope Francis' call earlier this year to rebuild church buildings in the Middle East as a guiding factor in this year's grants.
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FORT WAYNE, Ind. (CNS) -- The head of the Vatican's justice, peace and human development efforts urged over 700 graduates of the University of St. Francis to follow the example of their school's namesake and the advice of the pope who shares his name.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Last year's conference of the Theology of the Body Institute was an unexpected success, attracting more than 70,000 online registrants. "There was a perfect storm last year with COVID and the lockdown, and everyone was home and interested in online formation," said Christopher West, who co-founded the institute near Philadelphia in 2004.
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HOUSTON (CNS) -- When the Easter livestream of Pope Francis' general audience and the Angelus was broadcast for the first time in American Sign Language on the Vatican's YouTube channel, the deaf Catholic ministry group in Texas took particular notice.
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MADISON, Wis. (CNS) -- The Wisconsin Department of Justice is opening a statewide investigation of abuse by clergy and faith leaders within the state's five dioceses. "We're conducting this review to promote greater accountability and to promote healing for victims" as well as improving the response to abuse and preventing future abuse cases, said Attorney General Josh Kaul during an April 27 news conference outside the Wisconsin State Capitol.
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OKLAHOMA CITY (CNS) -- Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt signed three bills restricting abortion into law April 26. The measures require physicians who perform abortions to be certified in obstetrics and gynecology, place performing an abortion on the list of unprofessional conduct by doctors and prohibit abortions if a fetal heartbeat can be detected.
Read moreWASHINGTON (CNS) -- A recent analysis by The New York Times found evidence for what many Catholic organizations and other entities warned about at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States -- the faster spread of the coronavirus among those detained in facilities for immigration violations.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- As Catholic colleges grapple with how to reopen in the fall, many are already saying they will require their students to be vaccinated for COVID-19 and some schools are also mandating that staff members be vaccinated.
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PORTLAND, Ore. (CNS) -- It took courage for Leilani Arellano to return to Mass, but she is glad to be back. Over the summer, Arellano had COVID-19 and she still cannot breathe quite right. The prospect of worshipping in a room full of people, even properly distanced and masked, made her uneasy.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- If there's any connection between the figures profiled by documentarian Martin Doblmeier, it's that they're key religious figures from the mid-20th century who are at risk of being forgotten by Americans.
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EAST WILLISTON, N.Y. (CNS) -- To put Sister Francis Dominici Piscatella's extraordinarily long life into historical perspective, consider that Pope Pius X was pontiff and Woodrow Wilson was U.S. president when she was born in 1913.
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DALLAS (CNS) -- Thousands of pro-life advocates from across America will gather together online and in person for the National Prayer Luncheon for Life April 30 to honor "high-impact pro-life organizations" and award $85,000 in grants for ongoing effective pro-life ministry and advocacy.
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CLEVELAND (CNS) -- President Joe Biden's plan to withdraw U.S. armed forces from Afghanistan by Sept. 11 is leading observers to renew concerns about continued progress on human rights, the status of democratic reforms and whether a resurgence of violence will set back the war-beleaguered country.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Although Catholic leaders across the country called the April 20 jury verdict in the Derek Chauvin trial a moment of justice, they also stressed there is still a lot of work to do to move toward healing.
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MINNEAPOLIS (CNS) -- A jury found former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin guilty on all three counts April 20 for the death of George Floyd, after deliberating for about 10 hours over two days.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The principal message of an April 15 Georgetown University webinar on immigrants at the U.S.-Mexico border: Don't believe everything you hear from politicians. Because more often than not, no one pays close attention to the reality of border issues, and repeat the same old talking points.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The joyous strains of "Rendez Grace au Seigneur" ("Give Thanks to the Lord") filled Ss. Peter and Paul Cathedral for the April 17 episcopal ordination of Bishop-designate Jerome Feudjio and his installation as the sixth bishop of the Diocese of St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
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ST. PAUL., Minn. (CNS) -- Bishop Michael J. Hoeppner presided over a farewell Mass to the Diocese of Crookston, Minnesota, April 15, two days after Pope Francis accepted the bishop's resignation from pastoral governance of the northeast Minnesota diocese.
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WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The chairman of the U.S. bishops' migration committee said April 19 he is disappointed that President Joe Biden announced he will not increase the 15,000 cap on the number of refugees who can be resettled in the United States for the current fiscal year.
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