Life News

Number of Catholic marriages down nearly 60 percent since 1972
Dec 21 2011
WASHINGTON – Like the number of marriages among Americans in general, the number of marriages performed in the Catholic Church has been in decline over the past few decades.

Prague archbishop remembers Havel as friend, ‘fellow prisoner’
Dec 20 2011
PRAGUE – Calling former Czech President Vaclav Havel a “friend and fellow prisoner,” the president of the Czech bishops’ conference said the entire nation owes Havel a debt of gratitude for its freedom and the new flourishing of Czech life and culture.

“Posada” draws attention to need for immigration reform
Dec 20 2011
CHICAGO – Catholic advocates for immigration reform used a Dec. 16 “posada,” a traditional Mexican re-enactment of Mary and Joseph’s search for shelter in Bethlehem, to demonstrate the need to change the immigration system.

Pope advances sainthood causes of Marianne Cope, Kateri Tekakwitha
Dec 19 2011
VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI advanced the sainthood causes of Blessed Marianne Cope of Molokai and Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha.

Laguna, Acoma Pueblo Indians are ‘deeply steeped in Catholicism’
Dec 18 2011
LAGUNA, N.M. – San Jose Mission, built in 1699, sits atop a hill in the center of the village of Laguna and at the center of life for many Laguna Pueblo Indians.

Bishop Libasci installed as 10th bishop of New Hampshire’s only diocese
Dec 18 2011
MANCHESTER, N.H.– On the feast of the Immaculate Conception, the day when he said the “whole church recalls God’s invitation to life,” Bishop Peter A. Libasci was installed as the 10th bishop of Manchester.

At 80, Jesuit scholar talks frankly about Tridentine Mass and more
Dec 17 2011
VATICAN CITY – In a sitting room where lace doilies top every table, Jesuit Father Robert F. Taft’s gray sweater and wooden cane add to the impression that he’s a refined retired professor.

Lawyer among those serving as missionaries
Dec 16 2011
WASHINGTON – In the sparse chapel of a house tucked in a Washington neighborhood, a 62-year-old New York trial lawyer pledged to devote the next two years of her life to serving those in need in Nairobi, Kenya.

Archbishop Kelly, retired Louisville archbishop, dead at 80
Dec 16 2011
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Archbishop Thomas C. Kelly, who led the Archdiocese of Louisville from 1982 until his retirement in 2007, died peacefully in his sleep on the morning of Dec. 14 at his home on the campus of Holy Trinity Church. He was 80.

Let God make us one with each other
Dec 15 2011
It’s been said that only Francis Scott Key knows all the verses to the National Anthem. Most of us are lucky to know only the first verse, sung mostly at sporting events.

Israeli separation wall features women’s powerful stories
Dec 15 2011
BETHLEHEM, West Bank – Sylvana Giacaman, 54, is giving herself a different kind of gift for Christmas: She is allowing her photo and a personal story to be posted on the Israeli separation wall.

Advocates say reproductive services ‘important’ for trafficking victims
Dec 15 2011
WASHINGTON – Longtime advocates for victims of human trafficking told a House committee that the government must ensure that females who are trafficked can access all reproductive health services including contraception and abortion.

Catholics doubt British review that says no mental health-abortion link
Dec 14 2011
MANCHESTER, England – Catholic medical professionals have questioned the reliability of a British review concluding that women who have abortions have no increased risk of developing mental health problems.

Cardinal Foley, ‘patriarch of American Catholic press,’ dies
Dec 13 2011
Cardinal John P. Foley, an internationally respected priest-journalist who led the Catholic Church’s social communications council for more than two decades, died Dec. 11 in his native Philadelphia. The 76-year-old cardinal had been battling leukemia.

‘You are not alone,’ Hispanic bishops tell undocumented immigrants
Dec 13 2011
WASHINGTON – An emotional pastoral letter to immigrants from the U.S. Hispanic and Latino Catholic bishops offers love, encouragement, welcome, sympathy and assurance that “you are not alone or forgotten.”