Archdiocese to mark bicentennial with special events
Mar 31 2008
Baltimore Catholics have a lot to celebrate this spring. April 8 marks the 200th anniversary of the elevation of the Baltimore diocese to archdiocesan status by Pope Pius VII, and Catholic leaders have planned a host of special events to mark the historic event.
Chinese church leaders respond to Vatican talks
Mar 29 2008
HONG KONG – Several Chinese bishops interviewed by an Asian church news agency expressed concern about the “government of dioceses,” an item the Vatican said was recently discussed at a meeting of a special church commission on China.
America must play even-handedly to stop cycle of violence
Mar 28 2008
The Catholic News Service quotes Father Artemio Vitores, former director of Jerusalem’s Franciscan seminary (CR, March 13). When asked about the deadly attack by a gunman on Mercaz Harav Seminary students, he described the attack as “monstrous.” It was indeed. No word could better describe what happened.
The Gaza I Live
Mar 28 2008
Most Americans think of Gaza as a place of suffering and militancy, but the reality is that Gaza is home to some of the most inspiring and creative people in the Middle East. For the past two years, as the area’s representative for Catholic Relief Services, I’ve traveled there as much as I can. I see what the front-page newspaper photos don’t show you: this tiny sliver of land on the Mediterranean is a place of energy and dynamism, of humor and warmth and unbelievable hospitality, of delicious fish and crabs and the romantic fragrance of apple tobacco.
Brooklyn youngsters chosen to give pope flowers at airport
Mar 27 2008
BROOKLYN, N.Y. – When she was asked to choose a student to greet Pope Benedict XVI, Barbara Kavanagh, principal of Our Lady of Grace School in Howard Beach, said, “Kaitlin Karcher was the first student to pop into my head.”
Pope: Death of Iraqi archbishop ‘act of inhuman violence’
Mar 13 2008
VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI called the kidnapping and death of an Iraqi archbishop “an act of inhuman violence that offends the dignity of the human being and seriously harms the ... coexistence among the beloved Iraqi people.”
After four centuries, Galileo to return to the Vatican
Mar 09 2008
VATICAN CITY – Four centuries after he was called by church officials to retract teachings deemed suspect of heresy, the 17th-century Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei will be returning to Vatican City.
Former Franciscan seminary head calls attack 'monstrous'
Mar 07 2008
JERUSALEM -- A Palestinian gunman's attack on a Jewish seminary was a "monstrous" atrocity, said a former director of Jerusalem's Franciscan seminary.
Father Artemio Vitores, vicar of the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land, told Catholic News Service he has lived through five wars and two Palestinian uprisings in the Holy Land, but the attack on the seminary, or yeshiva, affected him on a more personal level.