All Saints’ Day, All Souls’ Day and ‘Dia de los Muertos’

While this year’s observance of All Saints’ Day won’t be a traditional holy day of obligation because it falls on a Saturday, millions of Catholics will take time to remember the lives of departed saints and loved ones Nov. 1-2.
While Nov. 1 recalls the most visible of Catholic icons, it’s Nov. 2, All Souls’ Day, [...]

Homosexuality and the priesthood revisited

VATICAN CITY – In 2005, the Vatican issued a long-awaited document saying the church could not ordain men with “deep-seated” homosexual tendencies. That document did not say, however, who should determine whether a candidate for the priesthood has homosexual tendencies.
On Thursday, the Vatican released an even longer-awaited document that partly answers that question. The “Guidelines for the [...]

CNS Bible Blog: A world without stars is a tragedy

By Brother Guy Consolmagno, SJ
Special to Catholic News Service
The Bible is not without its share of wrathful moments. Like a stern parent, God challenges his people to do better, and warns them of the tragedy that will result if they do not change their ways. What could be more tragic than the end of the [...]

A growing concern for hunger

The country’s economic maladies have been slowly unfolding for quite some time now. Home foreclosures, job losses and gradually growing lines at hunger centers mark such troubled times and have led to an air of uncertainty that has permeated every level of society.
For the poor, the impact always is the harshest. People on the bottom rungs [...]

CNS Bible Blog: Stars are to be appreciated, but not to be worshipped

By Brother Guy Consolmagno, SJ
Special to Catholic News Service
In ancient civilizations, the study of the planets and stars was carried out for two very practical purposes: time-telling and astrology. The opening chapter of Genesis, cited in our first blog entry, refers to the sun, moon and stars as the rulers of day and night: using [...]

Climate change to get major Catholic attention in 2009

Climate change and the vital importance of protecting God’s creation is going to be the focus of a major campaign opening in 2009 and coordinated through the Catholic Coalition on Climate Change.
The coalition, under executive director Daniel Misleh, is planning to introduce an ambitious effort to reach all of the country’s 19,000 parishes through what [...]

CNS Bible Blog: Aliens! Stars also praise and adore God

By Brother Guy Consolmagno, SJ
Special to Catholic News Service
Another lesson that stars in the Bible tell us is that we are not alone. The universe is more than just us, and God is responsible for more than our own narrow neck of the woods. First and foremost, we need a dose of humility when approaching [...]

Putting a human face on homelessness

The death of John Robert McGraham, a homeless man living on the streets of Los Angeles, easily could have been overlooked as just another lost person meeting an unfortunate end. But The Tidings, newspaper of the Los Angeles Archdiocese, didn’t stop at the police report.
A report by R.W. Dellinger puts a face on a human being [...]

A gift for life

VATICAN CITY — Right on the heels of two separate conferences on evolution will be an international congress dedicated to organ donation called “A Gift for Life.”
The Pontifical Academy for Life together with the World Federation of Catholic Medical Associations and Italy’s National Transplant Center will sponsor the Nov. 6-8 event to discuss the medical, legal [...]

CNS Bible Blog: In the stars we see God

By Brother Guy Consolmagno, SJ
Special to Catholic News Service
It is not by coincidence that the word for “heaven” is the same as the word for “sky” in so many languages. To the writers of Scripture, the attributes that we find in the heavens, in contemplating the starry sky, are the same attributes that we find [...]