Abuse in women’s congregations is rife, according to Giovanni Cucci SJ. Through research, pastoral experience and interviews with F Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz, prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, Cucci has formed a picture of the abuse. For the most part the abuse does not take Read more
St Damien of Molokai is a “hero” to the Hawaiian people, a Hawaiian Catholic catechist says. Dallas Carter, a native Hawaiian says far from being a white supremicist, St. Damien learned the native language and culture and became as one with Hawaiian people. Carter leapt to Damien’s defence after a congresswoman, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezn, spoke scornfully Read more
The next pope won’t be able to ignore “seeds” planted by Pope Francis, according to the editor of the semi-official Vatican journal La Civiltà Cattolica. Fr Antonio Spadaro SJ who is a confidant of Francis, told Herder Correspondenz magazine that whoever the next pope is, “He will continue to move forward.” Spadaro – both Jesuit Read more
Church pews have been removed from a 700-year-old church in case obese couples struggle to walk down the narrow aisle. The 32 Victorian pews have been put up for sale for £200 each as part of alterations to the inside of Grade II listed St Andrew’s Church in the Dorset village of Okeford Fitzpaine. The Read more
A US diocese cited COVID-19 and the subsequent “precipitous decline in revenue” for halting its participation in an independent compensation program for victims of clerical abuse. The Diocese of Camden, New Jersey released a statement last week saying it “is fast approaching a point where it will not be able to continue to borrow the Read more
A Catholic pastor has tested positive for COVID-19 and is in isolation after writing several articles advising his congregants not to fear the virus. Washington, D.C. health officials told those who attended recent services to quarantine after Monsignor Charles Pope of the Holy Comforter Saint-Cyprian Roman Catholic Church was diagnosed. Pope has been a vocal Read more
The Office of the Central Cyberspace Affairs Commission has launched a campaign of cyber checks across China to crack down on what it considers “the illegal activities” of commercial websites and media outlets. Although the campaign claims to target commercial web platforms, websites and social media accounts managed by church people have also been affected Read more
John Hume was “a person of vision, who lifts us up to see and think beyond the confines of our own, much narrower, perspectives,” according to the Primate of All Ireland, Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh. Hume, who died Aug. 3 at the age of 83, was principal architect of Northern Ireland’s 1998 Good Friday Read more
Shani Ashley’s father, a Capuchin Franciscan Friar, officiated at her wedding in a beautiful church ceremony on March 7. And, it was made all the more special as her mom Anne Sanderson walked her down the aisle when Shani married her husband Craig. In 1993, Shani’s parents divorced after her father decided to join the Read more
Emeritus Pope Benedict’s papal biographer, Peter Seewald says the former pope as “extremely frail”. Seewald’s comments are reported in the Monday edition of the German Passauer Neue Presse. He visited the former pope in Rome on Saturday to present him with his biography. Benedict, 93, reportedly became ill after visiting his sick brother in Germany Read more