In official reports of the closed-door talks at the Synod of Bishops on the family, an emerging theme has been the call for a new kind of language more appropriate for pastoral care today."Language appeared many, many times," Basilian Father Thomas Rosica, the briefer for English-speaking

Gathered with Pope Francis, members of the Synod of Bishops on the family issued a message of solidarity, support and prayers for all families suffering the impact of war and violence, especially in Iraq and Syria.The members prayed particularly for those who, "because of the Christian faith th

Continuing to set a standard on the working conditions and treatment of adjunct professors Georgetown University has reached a tentative agreement with SEIU Local 500 nbsp on all of the terms of the university 39 s first collective bargaining agreement covering part-time faculty members on the mai

Sarah Pulliam Bailey of Religion News Service reports nbsp that a number of seminaries have been awarded grant money for the purpose of integrating more science into their academic programs According to her article 10 U S seminaries will receive a combined 1 5 million in grants to include science

Families of 43 students who "disappeared" in Guerrero state spend their time praying at the teacher training college the students attended.They plead for intervention from Our Lady of Guadalupe and pray the rosary in front of a makeshift St. James shrine, adorned with flowers placed in pla

Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi won the 95th Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for their work promoting education rights for children in a year that has been anything but peaceful.The Norwegian Nobel Committee cited the two “for their struggle against the suppression of children and young peo

During my year in the United Kingdom I kept up obsessively with news of home. It is not a habit that is encouraged among students abroad, but I expected with the sort of headlines I followed I would not be missing much. How is it possible, I then reasoned, to read about controversial or troubling ev

We see life rsquo s most important scenes more fully through the lenses of time and memory Sometimes there rsquo s a surfeit in the original spectacle too many rich details to absorb With the distance of years they come into focus and we recognize their import Jesus likens the kingdom of heaven

On Thursday a federal judge struck down Texas rsquo s voter ID law which requires citizens to produce photo identification in order to cast ballots in federal and state elections The law does not make the same demands of those mailing in absentee ballots U S District Judge Nelva Gonzales Ramos

I recently posted about the nature of gratitude and soon after had the privilege of finding Jim Manney 39 s short work nbsp A Simple Life-Changing Prayer Discovering the Power of St Ignatius of Loyola 39 s Examen There Manney writes It 39 s impossible to exaggerate how important gratitude is

Poverty, in particular understanding its root causes and finding innovative ways to reduce it, was the focus of Catholic Charities USA's annual national gathering Oct. 4-7 in Charlotte.Discussions had extra urgency given the stagnating number of Americans living at or below the poverty line.&quo

The Obama administration announced plans in early October to allow minors to apply for refugee status from within El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, in an effort to discourage them from making the dangerous trek to enter the United States illegally. • On Sept. 29, during a ceremony at Chicago

Autumn is the time of yearwhen God’s invisible handpaints the leavesin broad strokesof color,then plucks them offone by one.

Senior Catholic leaders meeting at the Vatican are deep into passionate debates about how the church can respond to the realities of modern family life yet at the same time they have repeatedly stressed that they are not going to alter long-standing doctrines such as nbsp the teaching on divorce a

'His empathy and compassion toward the disenfranchised has earned him fans worldwide.'

Joshua Davis rsquo s two-year-old son has congenital talipes equinovarus or club foot and the treatment requires him to wear specialized orthopedic shoes to bed He recently outgrew his current shoes and needs a new pair However the health insurance that covers him comes through his father rsquo

Speakers ask synod fathers to stop giving 'contradictory advice' on birth control.

Captors released a Franciscan priest who was among about 20 Christians kidnapped from a Syrian village near the border with Turkey, said the Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land. Franciscan Father Hanna Jallouf was being held under house arrest in a convent in Knayeh, a small Christian village i

'Our people have been abandoned' by political and religious leaders.

One of the Vatican rsquo s top canon lawyers at the Synod of Bishops on the Family says the current process for the annulment of marriages in the Catholic Church could be streamlined and expanded to the benefit of very many people whose marriages have broken down This could be one of the positive f