A funeral service was held at St. Sabina Church on the South Side of Chicago for 9-year-old Tyshawn Lee on Nov. 10. The church is about a mile from where Tyshawn was lured into an alley and shot in the head and the back on the afternoon of Nov. 2. The Rev. Michael Pfleger told the congregation that
Signs Of the Times
Pope Calls Paris Attacks ‘Blasphemy’ Says Dialogue Must Continue
Using God’s name to try to justify violence and murder is “blasphemy,” Pope Francis said on Nov. 15, speaking about the terrorist attacks in Paris. “Such barbarity leaves us dismayed and we ask ourselves how the human heart can plan and carry out such horrible events,”
Help for Abuse Victims
The U.S. church still stands ready to help the victims of sexual abuse by members of the Catholic clergy, according to Bishop Edward J. Burns of Juneau, Alaska, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Child and Youth Protection. “Victims of abuse have helped us see the errors of the p
Could Xi Jingping be Time’s Person of the Year?
You heard it here first: I predict China’s President Xi Jinping will be Time magazine’s Person of the Year.
Deferred Deportation To Supreme Court
The Obama administration will seek a ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court after a federal appeals court struck down the president’s program to protect more than four million immigrants from deportation. The ruling on Nov. 9 upheld a Texas-based federal judge’s injunction against President
Breaking Silence on Racism
A “seismic shift in demographics” in both society and the U.S. Catholic Church in the coming decades will create a church that is far less white, the Rev. Bryan Massingale told an audience in New Orleans on Nov. 6. The church will be unprepared to deal with that reality, he continued, un
Long-Debated Keystone XL Pipeline Shut Down by President Obama
After hovering for years in political limbo, the long-proposed Keystone XL pipeline, intended to move heavy Canadian crude oil through America’s heartland to the Gulf of Mexico and ultimately out into the world market, was brought to ground on Nov. 6 by President Obama. After noting that Secre
Pope’s Reforms Will Continue
Pope Francis on Nov. 8 denounced the stealing and leaking of confidential documents from the Vatican as “a crime.” At the same time, he confirmed his determination to press ahead with the financial reforms that he started in July 2013 and that are now underway in the Vatican.It was the p
Wage Theft, a ‘National Disgrace’
Ordinary citizens can also take action, ask how much workers will be paid.
Declaring Unity
Drawing on five decades of dialogue, the Catholic and Lutheran churches together have issued “Declaration on the Way: Church, Ministry and Eucharist.” It includes 32 statements of agreement describing points of convergence on church, ministry and the Eucharist. It also notes the differen
