Bishop Donal McKeown of Derry told hundreds of mourners at the funeral of Sister Clare Crockett, killed in Ecuador during an earthquake on April 17, that “a life given in loving sacrifice is never wasted.” • Twenty-three new Swiss Guard recruits pledged during a ceremony on May 6 to
From AP, CNS, RNS, Staff and other sources
Pope Francis Has a Dream of Unity
Pope Francis, accepting a prize for promoting European unity, on May 6 bemoaned that the continent’s people “are tempted to yield to our own selfish interests and to consider putting up fences.”“I dream of a Europe where being a migrant is not a crime but a summons to a
Fort McMurray Fire
As wildfires continue to blaze in northern Alberta, churches of all denominations across Canada have been offering prayers and helping relief efforts. More than 100,000 residents of Fort McMurray have fled the inferno—most have lost their homes completely. Bishop Paul Terrio, bishop of St. Pau
Electric Effects
Something developed countries take for granted—electricity—could go a long way to stem violence often attributed to religion, said Bishop Matthew Hassan Kukah of Sokoto, Nigeria, in the country’s northwest. Only major cities, like state capitals, have reliable electricity, the bish
Sisters’ Acts of Mercy
When ISIS extremists rolled across Iraq’s Nineveh Plain in 2014, tens of thousands of Christians fled to Kurdish-controlled areas of Iraq. They still wait in limbo in crowded camps. Their only certainty is that whatever happens to them, a group of Dominican nuns will be at their side. “W
A Celebration of Life
One day after Planned Parenthood’s president, Cecile Richards, spoke at Georgetown University, Cardinal Donald W. Wuerl of Washington celebrated a University Mass for Life for college students at a nearby Catholic church, encouraging them to stand up for God’s gift of human life. A Georg
Jesuit Campaign Aims to Bring Education to the World’s Margins
Jesuit Refugee Service has a very specific answer to Pope Francis’ call to put mercy on the leading edge of a church reaching out to the peripheries. The answer is education.With a campaign called “Mercy in Motion,” J.R.S. is trying to raise $35 million this year so that by 2020 it
Focus Turns to Religious Orders
In a continuing effort to protect children, much of the attention of the Catholic Church has been on how dioceses and national bishops’ conferences have been responding to victims and protecting children. Religious orders and congregations are sometimes left out of that picture, even though mo
News Briefs
Pope Francis surprised a group of teenagers on April 23 in St. Peter’s Square, telling them that happiness is not a downloadable app and then hearing the confessions of 16 teens as he joined 150 other priests offering the sacrament of reconciliation. • Bishop Ägidius Zsifkovics of Austri
Closer to Canonization
A canonical inquiry into the life of Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, will begin soon and extend to the end of the year, according to the Archdiocese of New York, which is sponsoring her sainthood cause. The names of 256 people had been submitted as potential eyewitnesses to
