unlike Bible study or even Renew groups, these communities have members who function somewhat as a family, who consider the meeting a sacred space to unburden themselves, share problems and help other members.

It was an annual men’s fly fishing retreat, complete with a spiritual theme and a patron saint — St. Zeno of Verona, after whom they have named a group they formed, with members going on local outings throughout the year that sometimes include wives and children.

“Catacombs by Candlelight” perhaps conjures images of a subterranean tour in Rome led by a guide wearing a headlamp. In New York, it’s the name of a revenue-generating history lesson told while exploring the cemetery and burial vaults of one of the city’s oldest Catholic churches.

Those with disabilities typically don’t want sympathy or charity. They want to belong, just like every other parishioner.

Pope Francis asked Mary to look mercifully upon the human family, “which has strayed from the path of peace,” and entrusted to her protection the world’s regions and nations at war.

Dubbed “Cor” — Latin for “heart” — the initiative is designed, its website says, “to form and strengthen Catholic men in faith and virtue as missionary disciples by drawing them into a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ through prayer, formation, and fraternity.”

olding a Synod of Bishops with a much greater participation of non-bishops as voting members, particularly lay women and men, clearly expresses what it really means to be a bishop, said Dominican Father Timothy Radcliffe.

The fate of two Ukrainian Greek Catholic priests remains unknown almost a year after their capture by the Russian National Guard amid Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to Forum 18, an Oslo, Norway-based news service that covers religious and intellectual freedom violations in several countries.

Pope Francis has lifted the statute of limitations on abuse accusations against Father Marko Rupnik to allow for a formal investigation of the case by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith.

The youngest member of the synod assembly is confident that the Holy Spirit is guiding the Synod of Bishops, but to get out of class he looked for a little extra help from the pope.