BALTIMORE (CNS) – Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, said on Nov. 14 that he had opened the bishops' fall general assembly "expressing some disappointment;" but "I end it with hope."        ...
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Q. I have been a lifelong Catholic, never missing Mass on weekends or holy days. But for the last four or five weeks, I have not attended Mass, and it was a conscious decision. I am utterly disgusted at what the Catholic Church has become. I still believe that the Catholic faith is the correct one,...
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Editor’s note: U.S. bishops overwhelmingly approved this pastoral letter in a Nov. 14 vote. The Message will have more coverage of the meeting in the Nov. 23 issue.  BALTIMORE (CNS) – The U.S. bishops took the first steps toward approving a pastoral letter against racism with the d...
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The annual Retirement Fund for Religious collection will be held Dec. 8-9 in the Diocese of Evansville. Coordinated by the National Religious Retirement Office in Washington, D.C., the appeal benefits 31,000 elderly Catholic sisters, brothers and religious order priests. The Diocese of Evansville d...
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Q. As an extraordinary minister of holy Communion, I have something bothering me. As we give out Communion, we say "body of Christ" for the host and "blood of Christ" for the chalice. But aren't we actually offering the "complete Christ" -- body, blood, soul and divinity -- under each species? (Oga...
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PHILADELPHIA (CNS) – A Pakistani Catholic priest living in Philadelphia is grateful to learn that Asia Bibi, a Catholic convicted of violating Pakistan's strict blasphemy laws, has had her death sentence overturned.             Father Tar...
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Editor’s note: World Day of Poor is Nov. 18. The Vatican originally released Pope Francis’ message in June. VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Pope Francis asked, How is it that God in heaven can hear the cries of the poor, but so many people watching or standing nearby either cannot or just do...
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Q. There's a question that has occurred to me from time to time, and I would appreciate your answer. I was always led to believe that suicide is a mortal sin, so someone who takes his own life cannot go to heaven. It makes me wonder what fate awaited Judas when he hanged himself after turning Jesu...
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KANSAS CITY, Mo. (CNS) – The precipitous decline in the number of women in religious life and what it means to the church has people thinking about how to prepare for the future.             Their actions stem from data gathered by the Na...
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Q. Luke's Gospel begins, "Several biographies of Christ have already been written." Why, then, are there only four Gospels in the New Testament, and how were they chosen? (Charlottesville, Virginia) A. First, just a comment on your quote from the opening verse of Luke. The text you offer comes from...
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