Posted in english, Local, tagged capital campaign on December 27, 2011 |
The Church in Southeast Texas is reaping benefits from the Together For God’s Good Work capital campaign, but the total harvest is still a few years away. And, in order to see that completed harvest, pledges have to be completely paid.
The news this week from the Office of Stewardship and Communications indicates that despite a sluggish economy, parishioners’ commitment to the future of the local Church remains high. (more…)
SEATTLE (CNS) — Elsa and Donny Finkbonner of St. Joseph Parish in Ferndale had no doubt that their young son’s recovery from a deadly flesh-eating bacteria almost six years ago was a miracle.
On Dec. 19, Pope Benedict XVI confirmed that when he signed a decree acknowledging a miracle attributed to the intervention of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha in the recovery of Jake Finkbonner from the rare and potentially fatal disease, necrotizing fascilitis. (more…)
By Catholic News Service
CAGAYAN DE ORO, Philippines (CNS) — Church agencies teamed with international aid groups and the Philippine government to assist tens of thousands of people left homeless in northern Mindanao by flash flooding caused by an intense tropical storm that left at least 1,000 people dead. (more…)
By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — When young people recognize the dignity and beauty of every human life, including their own, and are supported in their natural desire to make the world a better place, they become agents of justice and peace in the world, Pope Benedict XVI said.
Peace and justice are built on “a profound respect for every human being and helping others to live a life consonant with this supreme dignity,” the pope said in his message for the World Day of Peace 2012. (more…)
St. Mark the Evangelist, Silsbee, got a visit from parishioners at Cristo Rey, Beaumont, to help celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe Dec. 18. The matachines began during the procession at Mass and afterward parishioners gathered in the parish hall to watch a few dances and eat breakfast. (more…)
The 2012 Bishop’s Faith Appeal kicked off at the Leadership Dinner Dec. 13 at Holy Family Retreat Center, Beaumont.
The evening started off with a workshop focusing on BFA led by Letty Lanza, director of Stewardship and Communications. Lanza focused on how those who are new to working with BFA and how they can use their talents at their parishes.
After the workshop attendees gathered for dinner and were introduced to the 2012 BFA chairs Frank and Cathy Zummo. (more…)
By Catholic News Service
Bishops' concerns rise over growing infringements on religious liberty
WASHINGTON (CNS) — Concerns that religious liberty is being eroded by government action and policymaking prompted the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to open a campaign in 2011 to head off what they consider dangers to the rights of people of faith and conscience.
The bishops’ concerns deepened as the year progressed, leading to the formation of an Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty in September.
The 10 bishops on the committee are working to shape public policy and coordinate the church’s response on the issue.
Bishop William E. Lori of Bridgeport, Conn., was named to chair the committee and he wasted no time in taking the bishops’ concerns to various public forums. (more…)
By Catholic News Service
Cardinal John P. Foley arrives to celebrates Mass at the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome in this Nov. 26, 2007, file photo. Cardinal Foley, a dean of the Catholic press in the United States, died Dec. 11 in Darby, Pa., after a battle with leukemia. H e was 76. Cardinal Foley spent more than two decades leading the church's social communications council and later worked for the church in the Middle East.(CNS photo/Paul Haring)
DARBY, Pa. (CNS) — U.S. Cardinal John P. Foley, who spent more than two decades leading the church’s social communications council and later worked for the church in the Middle East, died Dec. 11 after a battle with leukemia. The cardinal, who had been residing at Villa St. Joseph, the home for retired Philadelphia archdiocesan priests, was 76.
Cardinal Foley’s media-friendly style and quick sense of humor shone in person and throughout the numerous speeches and homilies he delivered around the world. He often spoke of the joys of working for the church, telling his audiences that while the pay often is not great “the benefits are out of this world.”
Last February he retired from his post as grand master of the Knights of the Holy Sepulcher, a chivalric organization dedicated to supporting the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and to responding to the needs of Catholics in the Holy Land.
Addressing the 2010 Synod of Bishops on the Middle East, he said he was convinced that “the continued tension between the Israelis and the Palestinians has contributed greatly to the turmoil in all of the Middle East and also to the growth of Islamic fundamentalism.”
“While many, including the Holy See, have suggested a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian crisis, the more time passes, the more difficult such a solution becomes, as the building of Israeli settlements and Israeli-controlled infrastructure in East Jerusalem and in other parts of the West Bank make increasingly difficult the development of a viable and integral Palestinian state,” the cardinal said.
He told participants in a U.S.-based conference on the Holy Land in 2009, “The most tragic thing I have seen is the miles-long wall that separates Jerusalem from Bethlehem and separates families and keeps farmers from the land that has been in their families for generations. It is humiliating and distressing.”
The cardinal said he understood Israel’s need for security but added, “many of these measures raise serious human rights issues that they refuse to acknowledge and address.”
To many, the cardinal was the voice they heard giving commentary during the pope’s Christmas midnight Mass. For 25 years, beginning in 1984, his voice was heard not only in North America, but also Asia, Africa, Europe and, for many years, Australia.
The longtime journalist told Catholic News Service in 2007 that he always tried to take “a positive approach toward the means of communication and toward the people who run them.” For decades he helped media gain access to cover or rebroadcast Vatican events.
As head of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications from 1984 to 2007, the cardinal took the lead in articulating Catholic policy with regard to the media. Under his leadership, the council issued separate documents on ethical standards in advertising, communications and the Internet. It also produced a document denouncing pornography. (more…)
By Dennis Sadowski Catholic News Service
WASHINGTON (CNS) — The letter arrived after business hours at the end of the workweek the last Friday of September in an email message to the U.S. bishops’ Migration and Refugee Services.
“Thank you for submitting an application for the National Human Trafficking Victim Assistance Program …,” began the correspondence from George H. Sheldon, acting assistant secretary in the Administration for Children and Families at the Department of Health and Human Services. “I regret to inform you that your organization’s application was not approved for funding.” (more…)
The music at Immaculate Conception, Liberty, started before the sun came up Dec. 11 during the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Parishioners sang and prayed the rosary together before the youth danced during the celebration. (more…)
