The people of Africa possess "a great wealth of spiritual resources, which are very valuable in our time: love for life and the family, a sense of joy and of sharing, enthusiasm in living their faith in the Lord. ...
"Mariology since Vatican Council II: reception, outcomes and prospects" is the theme of the twenty-third International Mariological Congress. The Holy Father highlighted the appropriateness of the theme in light of the fact that 11 October this year will mark the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Council.
The ground–breaking rock musical Jesus Chris Superstar is back on the road, in a production that its composer Andrew Lloyd Webber loves and with a cast that includes comedian Tim Minchin. They both talk to Sarah Crompton
The Jesus story of pain is familiar to us. But we are reminded that without a Good Friday there can be no Easter Sunday. The British writer CS Lewis wrote an incisive line in The Problem of Pain. "God whispers to us in our pleasure, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain."
The state of childhood in Britain is woeful – but poverty is not to blame, whatever Save the Children might claim. The Save the Children advert focuses on families living in 'poverty'. But Britain's problem is an ever more deeply entrenched cultural one, of state-encouraged, if not promoted, ignorance, dependence and cultural degradation.
Pope Benedict XVI has called upon lay Catholics to evangelize Africa, the “continent of hope.” “In this transformation of the whole society, which is so urgent for Africa today, the lay faithful have an irreplaceable role,” the Pope said in a Sept. 5 message to the Pan-African Congress of Catholic Laity.
Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini must have known what he was doing when he gave an interview, to be published after his death, that amounted to a sweeping indictment of the last two papacies.
This week, four Christians will argue in court that they face discrimination in Britain because of their faith. Discriminated: A woman who was asked to remove her cross while working as a nurse is taking her case to the European Court of Human Rights to argue that she has suffered discrimination as a result of her faith.
I presume that most of us were unaware of this story.Forty-three years ago two human beings changed history by walking on the surface of the moon. But what happened before Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong exited the Lunar Module is perhaps even more amazing.
“We need to treat the Paralympic Games with exactly the same enthusiasm as the Olympics and really get behind the athletes. Whilst they are separate games, Paralympians are amazing sports people who have worked hard and have faced the same ups and downs as those who participated in the Olympics"
Spanish swimmer Mireia Belmonte offered her two silver medals from the London 2012 Olympic Games to Our Lady of Monserrat in Barcelona. The 21-year-old – who won silver in the 800 meter free-style and the 200 meter butterfly.
Watching the Olympics this week? If you tune into the men’s 800-meter track final on Thursday, pay attention to Kenya’s David Rudisha, the current world record holder and favorite to win gold. Rudisha’s coach happens to be a Catholic priest originally from Ireland.
Hundreds of young people have gathered near the London 2012 Olympic Park at the start of a 12-day evangelisation event called the Joshua Camp. The camp is being held at St Bonaventure’s Catholic high school in one of the most deprived parts of East London, a mile away from the Olympic Park. It is hosted by the Sion Community.
The concert by this unique orchestra of musicians from Israel, Palestine and other Arab nations, began as the sun-set over the courtyard of the Apostolic Palace in Castel Gandolfo. As the last notes of the symphony died on the evening air, Pope Benedict addressed those gathered, praising the foresight of the Israeli Maestro, whom together with the late Edward Said – a Palestinian intellectual and accomplished pianist – founded the orchestra to give the children of these divided communities a vehicle to look beyond their differences.
With the London Olympics just days away, the Archbishop of Westminster talks to "Vatican Insider" about the initiatives launched by Catholics With the London Olympics just days away, the Catholic Church is ready to do its part to ensure this great event is not just a series of competitions but truly representative of the “Olympic spirit”.
Big Ben has chimed non-stop for three minutes to ring in the Olympic Games. The London landmark was joined by hundreds of churches and other organisations across the nation as bell ringers greeted the official start of London 2012. Fr. Philip Blandford, full of Olympic Spirit run the bells of the Imm. Heart of Mary Parish in Hayes as an expression of joy and unity the London 2012 means to all nations.
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Two Claretian missionary priests, a deacon and a theology student narrowly escaped an attempted ambush by suspected Abu Sayyaf militants in Basilan province Sunday. The incident occurred four days after the al-Qaeda-linked terror group were thought to have killed eight people and wounded 22 others in an attack on plantation workers on the same road near the village of Tumahubong.
The Barclays rate-fixing scandal has refocused attention on the behaviour of Britain’s banks. Here, a whistle-blower who exposed excessive risk-taking at HBOS argues that only a mass movement of social renewal can address the root causes of the crisis.
The Catholic chaplains have been selected from a range of backgrounds and include priests, deacons, sisters and laypeople, who will work eight-hour shifts beginning a week before the games open and up to a week after they close. Besides athletes from all over the world, they will offer spiritual support to more than 50,000 unpaid volunteers and about 25,000 journalists.
Fr. Tony Wall thinks Catholics should spend more time living out their faith in the marketplace. That's why he spent every day, except Sunday, for a month in Portland's Lloyd Center Mall. Father Wall, a priest for 60 years, wore his Roman collar or white friar's habit, simply making himself obvious for those yearning to talk about life's greater issues.
