VATICAN CITY (CNS) - To ignore the suffering of another person is to ignore God, Pope Francis said. And going to church does not automatically make someone love their neighbor, the pope said April 27 as he reflected on the Gospel parable of the good Samaritan during his weekly general audience. Chr...
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Q. Unless illness prevented it, I have attended daily Mass most of my life. (I love starting the day with the Lord in his house!) Now in my late 80s, I have already paid for my funeral arrangements. Because I have only a few relatives still living, I have requested that there not be a wake. For the...
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) - In a continuing effort to protect children, the Catholic Church's focus is now turning to religious orders of men and women. Much of the attention had been on how dioceses and national bishops' conferences have been responding to victims and protecting children. But, religiou...
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WASHINGTON (CNS) - People who closely follow the Supreme Court know it's a waiting game. There's the wait to see if a case makes it to the court, the wait for a seat in the courtroom if it does, and then the wait -- in this day and age of instant answers -- for a court decision, which for major cas...
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Q. I recently joined a small parish where the entire congregation holds hands together at the Our Father. I feel uncomfortable holding hands with people I don't know; so instead, I put my hands in a prayer position as a signal to others not to grab for my hands. There is no other parish close by, a...
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) - Christians must look to their own sins and failings and not fall into the temptation of hypocrisy that causes them to believe they are better than others, Pope Francis said. "The relationship of salvation" with God cannot move forward if people justify themselves and look at th...
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ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT FROM GREECE (CNS) – When an aide suggested Pope Francis offer to fly some Syrian refugees back to Rome with him, the pope said he agreed immediately because it was "an inspiration of the Holy Spirit."             I...
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WASHINGTON (CNS) - The federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, created in 2010 in the wake of a severe recession as part of the Dodd-Frank bill enacted by Congress, is preparing regulations to govern the practice of payday lending, which has grown widely over the past couple of decades. But m...
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VATICAN CITY (CNS) - Without a repentant heart, Christians can risk living out their faith superficially and fail to live out God's desire for "mercy, not sacrifice," Pope Francis said. Instead, Jesus' love for sinners shows that the church is not "a community of perfect people, but disciples on a...
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Q. Recently, I have been "convicted" to wear a veil in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament -- both when I am at Mass and during my adoration hours in our parish's Chapel of Perpetual Adoration. Several other women in the parish have also felt led to do so. However, I am told that some of these wo...
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