New Catholic magazine debuts

At a time when a number of newspapers and magazines of all kinds across the country have stopped publishing, opting for an online presence only, comes word that the Pittsburgh Catholic is debuting a new free quarterly magazine, in addition to everything else it publishes.
A May 28 announcement from Bill Cone, editor of the diocesan newspaper of the [...]

Kmiec and George: Best of friends

Don’t let the views exchanged by two high profile Catholic law professors during a May 28 program at the National Press Club deceive you. Douglas Kmiec and Robert George are friends.
Throughout the 80-minute program sponsored by The Catholic University of America’s Columbus School of Law, the two constitutional law experts acknowledged each other’s pro-life credentials. They [...]

Labor of love

Parishioners at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in La Follette, Tenn., really love their parish.
The 90 families in the parish love their community so much that they undertook an expansion of parish facilities on their own. Members, ranging in age from 56 to 83,  are handling every aspect of the project, reports The East Tennessee [...]

New ambassador pick is theology professor

ANAHEIM, Calif. — We just got word that Miguel Diaz, a theology professor at St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn., is President Obama’s pick as the United States ambassador to the Holy See.
The press release from St. John’s:
Miguel Diaz, Ph.D., who serves on the graduate faculty of the School of Theology∙Seminary of Saint John’s University and undergraduate [...]

Faith reflection offered on climate change

World Environment Day is June 5 and the Carmelite NGO, or nongovernmental organization, is asking people to pray for the environment and climate change that day.
The purpose, explained Carmelite Father William Harry in a brief press release, is to call attention to “the spiritual challenge of the ecological crisis.”
To help us in prayer, the order has prepared a [...]

Bishop Matthiesen named Pax Christi USA Teacher of Peace Award winner

Bishop Leroy T. Matthiesen, who once urged Catholics in the Diocese of Amarillo, Texas, to reconsider their employment at a nuclear weapons factory in his diocese, has been named the Pax Christi USA Teacher of Peace Award winner.
Writing in 1981 in The West Texas Catholic, the diocesan newspaper, Bishop Matthiesen urged people to seek peaceful employment. His call [...]

Priest raises awareness about his homeland

Father Robert Aliunzi, a priest of the Apostles of Jesus and pastor of St. James Parish in Glendale, Ariz., is more than familiar with the needs of Ugandan youths. The 47-year-old native of Uganda — who became an orphan at age 6 and had to fend for himself and his siblings while on the run from soldiers — is now getting financial [...]

A papal prayer for Memorial Day

MONTECASSINO — Pope Benedict XVI yesterday paid a visit to the Polish military cemetery in Montecassino, Italy. The prayer he recited there for all those who have fallen in any war seems appropriate to share today when the United States marks Memorial Day.
Here is the English translation of the pope’s prayer from the Vatican Information [...]

Exhibit tells Catholic veteran’s story

Edward Haider, a parishioner at St. Rose of Lima in Roseville, Minn.,  is one of many Minnesotans from World War II whose story is included in a new multimedia exhibit at the Minnesota History Center in St. Paul called “Minnesota’s Greatest Generation: The Depression, The War, The Boom.”
In a simulated aircraft, museum visitors can get a sense of Haider’s experience as [...]

Christian exodus from Holy Land is an old story with new urgency

During Pope Benedict XVI’s apostolic trip to the Holy Land earlier this month, the pope time and again encouraged the small communities of Christians living there to remain faithful to their ancient beliefs and to their homeland. Both are serious pleas, but the latter especially so in these times. The flight of Christians from the Middle East has been [...]