Archdiocese, parishes promote more online giving, seek government help
By Joe Ruff | Catholic News Service ST. PAUL, Minn. (CNS) — As parish director of St. Joseph in New Hope, Minnesota, Dean Rademacher watched collections decline after public Masses were suspended March 18 to help mitigate the spread of the coronavirus in the...
Pope postpones International Eucharistic Congress in Budapest
By Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis, the Pontifical Committee for International Eucharistic Congresses and local organizers have agreed to postpone by one year the 52nd International Eucharistic Congress, the Vatican announced April 23....
Public Masses remain suspended as diocese explores options for future celebrations
Bishop Douglas J. Lucia issued the following letter to clergy and the diocesan community April 21: Dear Diocesan Family, Peace be with you! The Easter season we have entered into celebrates the Resurrection of our Lord and all that this epochal moment in...
Face masks of fury: churning them out in Town of Maine
By Tom Maguire | Associate editor It’s productive procrastination. Sandy Rozek and several others in the Town of Maine are sewing cotton face masks as a first line of defense against coronavirus. Creating masks, she said lightheartedly, is a “very nice break from...
St. Joseph’s keeping pace with COVID cases
By Renée K. Gadoua | Contributing writer St. Joseph’s Health CEO and President Leslie Paul Luke this week echoed state leaders with a cautiously optimistic report about COVID-19. “As it stands today, for us, the data that we have, it appears that we have passed the...
Pandemic stay-at-home rules affect ordination plans in mission dioceses
By Catholic News Service CHICAGO (CNS) — About 100 ordinations were scheduled to occur this year in the nation’s 87 mission dioceses supported by Catholic Extension, but the coronavirus has changed everything and left a cloud of uncertainty. Dioceses...
Catholic immigration advocates attack Trump tweet on halting immigration
By Rhina Guidos | Catholic News Service WASHINGTON (CNS) — Though it’s still unclear how an April 20 tweet from U.S. President Donald Trump saying he would “suspend immigration into the United States!” will manifest itself in policy, some...
COVID-19 takes toll on Maryknoll religious community in New York
By Dennis Sadowski | Catholic News Service CLEVELAND (CNS) — The Maryknoll religious community in Ossining, New York, has been hit hard by COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus. At least one priest and three women religious have died of the illness...
Memorial page for coronavirus victims allows family, others to grieve loss
By George P. Matysek Jr. | Catholic News Service BALTIMORE (CNS) — The Archdiocese of Baltimore launched a page on its website April 13 for people throughout the archdiocese to memorialize loved ones who have died of the coronavirus and to offer the prayers and...
Jesus’ love, mercy seen bringing ‘comfort and hope’ to all amid pandemic
By Leslie Miller | Catholic News Service ARLINGTON, Va. (CNS) — During a Mass livestreamed from the Cathedral of St. Thomas More in Arlington on Divine Mercy Sunday, Bishop Michael F. Burbidge spoke of the constant need to “ask for mercy, be merciful and...
Experts, advocates alarmed by pandemic’s possible effects on vulnerable
By Chris Herlinger | Catholic News Service NEW YORK (CNS) — U.N. leaders, humanitarian experts and sister advocates at the United Nations are alarmed by the COVID-19 pandemic’s potential to devastate vulnerable communities, particularly refugees, migrants,...
Money, vanity, gossip will always divide communities, pope says
By Carol Glatz | Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Only the humble submission of each individual to the Holy Spirit can bring harmony to communities suffering from division, Pope Francis said. While money, vanity and gossip will always tear people...
Bishop Lucia: Allow ‘the limitless ocean of God’s mercy’ to overwhelm your misery
On this Divine Mercy Sunday, Bishop Lucia said, “God reminds us of his mercy. And with that he says to each of us, just as he said to his apostles some 20 centuries ago — those confused, frightened, anxious, and doubting apostles — ‘Peace be with you. Doubt no longer, but believe.’”
Advocates call attention to pandemic’s wrath on ‘essential’ farmworkers
By Rhina Guidos | Catholic News Service WASHINGTON (CNS) — As those working from home escalated their complaints or jokes on Twitter about Zoom meetings, the United Farm Workers of America offered a reality check March 20 in the form of tweet: “You...
After violent storms, states facing recovery while coping with pandemic
By Catholic News Service BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (CNS) — The Diocese of Birmingham “may have been spared greater disaster” because of Mary’s intercession when numerous tornadoes and widespread damaging winds ripped through Alabama and much of the...
Guatemalan bishops: Deporting people during pandemic lacks humanity
By David Agren | Catholic News Service MEXICO CITY (CNS) — Guatemala’s bishops have criticized continued deportations during the COVID-19 pandemic, saying the practice has “no sense of humanity” during a health crisis. In a strongly worded...
New Mexico bishop to allow public Masses with restrictions
By Carol Zimmermann | Catholic News Service WASHINGTON (CNS) — One month after Bishop Peter Baldacchino of Las Cruces, New Mexico, announced there would no longer be public Masses in the diocese to curb the spread of the coronavirus, he reversed his decision...
Divine Mercy Sunday seen as opportunity to receive Christ’s mercy ‘anew’
By George P. Matysek Jr. | Catholic News Service BALTIMORE (CNS) — Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori, supreme chaplain of the Knights of Columbus, will celebrate a special livestreamed Mass for Divine Mercy Sunday, April 19, at 3 p.m. (EDT) at the Basilica of...
Pope’s ‘virtual’ congregations show true unity in prayer, Jesuit says
By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Using the media to pray together and, especially, to join others for Mass is showing Catholics that they can be united around the Lord’s table even when they are not physically together, said...
Pandemic prompts makers of ‘Fatima’ film to delay its release to theaters
By Sophia Martinson | Catholic News Service NEW YORK (CNS) — Moviegoers anticipating the feature film about the story of the children of Fatima will have to wait a few more months to see the famous miracle story on the big screen. The historical drama, directed...
Retired pope, celebrating 93rd birthday, is well, secretary says
By Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Retired Pope Benedict XVI “is well,” although the coronavirus pandemic restrictions mean he will receive no visitors April 16, his 93rd birthday. “Thank God, all of us in the Mater Ecclesiae...
Congolese archbishop highlights double challenge of Ebola, COVID-19
By Fredrick Nzwili | Catholic News Service NAIROBI, Kenya (CNS) — As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread in Congo, the country’s Catholic bishops are insisting on measures to also fight Ebola, the deadly epidemic that has made a surprise return. In...
Bishop allows doctors to give Communion to coronavirus patients
By Junno Arocho Esteves | Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Looking for a way to provide both spiritual and physical care on Easter, a group of Italian doctors received their bishop’s permission to distribute Communion to those infected by the...
Talk of aid for journalism includes religious news outlets
By Dennis Sadowski | Catholic News Service CLEVELAND (CNS) — Local journalism outlets, including diocesan newspapers, are being touted as vital information sources during the COVID-19 pandemic worthy of being included in a new round of federal emergency aid....
Christ’s peace is reflected in acts of love, reconciliation, pope says
By Cindy Wooden | Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The peace that is Christ’s gift to individuals and to humanity as a whole is not some superficial sense of calm, but an active force of reconciliation that calls for cooperation and self-giving,...
Pope prays for elderly fearful of dying alone
By Junno Arocho Esteves | Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Pope Francis offered prayers for elderly people living alone or in retirement homes who are living in fear of contracting the coronavirus and dying alone. “They are our roots, our...
Bishop says praying over diocese from helicopter may give comfort
By Tom Dermody | Catholic News Service PEORIA, Ill. (CNS) — Bishop Daniel R. Jenky of Peoria took to the skies via a helicopter on Good Friday, April 10, to offer a blessing to the entire Diocese of Peoria as well as to pray for all affected by the coronavirus...
Tech-savvy Catholics help faithful tap into their parishes’ online Masses
By Anthony D. Alonzo | Catholic News Service GARY, Ind. (CNS) — In these extraordinary times of sheltering at home by order of civil authorities to prevent the spread of the coronavirus pandemic, pastors and parishioners in the Diocese of Gary are making use of...
Easter in the time of global pandemic: a hopeful day of new creation
Easter Sunday is more than a celebration of the dawning of the new light of resurrection, Bishop Douglas J. Lucia reminded Catholics. “It is the commissioning of each one of us to light a candle rather than curse the darkness.”
