Below is a great article from Catholic News Service about 15 year-old Gold medalist Katie Ledecky. Kate won Gold in the 800 meter freestyle on Friday! She says a Hail Mary before every race, and loves attending Mass every Sunday. As the article below indicates, she's one of Catholic America's shining stars!
The Education Secretary Michael Gove has said he has no plans to relax the rule which means that no more than half of places in free schools may be reserved for Catholics, regardless of demands from Catholic parents hoping to take advantage of the new scheme.
The Archbishop said that, just as David 'wasn't much good at fighting in overgrown suits of armour but was quite good with stones and slings', we all have to look inside ourselves and learn what gifts God has given us - gifts that will help 'when life is tough and the challenges and crises are fresh and difficult'.
For almost all of her 40 years, a Suffolk-born psychiatric nurse-turned published poet and passionate atheist felt little but contempt for Catholicism. But then, in less than a year, after a springtime epiphany she was received into the Church. This is her journey.
Thirty years ago, its 400 pupils were all Catholics, many of them first or second-generation Irish. Now all but 10 per cent are Muslims, yet their parents are apparently happy for them to sit through lessons taught by a largely Christian staff and taken from a Catholic syllabus. “What can I say?” exclaims 72-year-old Fr Kelly. “It’s their choice. We make no imposition on them to change their religion.”
“The faith of our forefathers is hanging in the balance, especially in the western world. Grandparents have a special role to play in passing it on to their grandchildren. If we don’t act now, it may be too late, as quite often our own children have little knowledge of the faith. I truly believe that grandparents are being called at this moment in history.
Any church that cannot hand on its faith and values to its own younger generation has reason to be fearful. Until young people can enter into a dialogue with the Church, neither the Church nor young people can be fully renewed on their faith journey.
The involvement and association of children in armed conflicts in the Philippines continues to increase, the UN said Wednesday.“These children are not only casualties of explosions, shootings, and attacks but are also victims of kidnapping, killing, and maiming.”
A former British publishing executive has found a novel way to help the poor in one of the Philippine capital's biggest slums -- by turning garbage into fashion items sold in boutiques abroad. AFP.
For the London 2012 Olympic Games, Christian Churches in the UK have also picked up the theme of 100 days of peace around this major sporting event. It will be launched at an all night prayer vigil in London’s central Trafalgar Square on Friday June 8th by Church leaders including Archbishop Vincent Nichols of Westminster and the Anglican Bishop of London Richard Chartres.
Being a journalist with integrity is a dangerous way to make a living. People with something to hide fear and hate journalists, because beyond providing sports scores and traffic accident reports, their vocation is to expose what is hidden in darkness so that it might be cleansed in the light. A good journalist is a passionate pursuer of truth, but also a target.
The Catholic imagination — the imagination that allowed Shakespeare to sprinkle his plays with references to Catholic religious beliefs and practices in meaningful ways — also helped to create the fictive worlds of Denmark, Rome, Verona, Venice, and Illyria. The imagination that made him Catholic also helped make him the greatest writer in the English-speaking world.
Prison director Gareth Sands said music was among a number of activities the inmates take part in. "We see changes in them and music is part of that driver for change," he said."Music and the arts can play a part in their rehabilitation and we hope the Turnage project will be successful in helping prisoners raise their aspirations so they don't return to a life of crime," he said.
Facebook, the most popular social network in the world, has several tools to maintain and enrich mutual friendship: this is well-known. However, in general, no one asks themselves how come the dynamics of relationships are exclusively based on positive feedback (thumbs up, sharing) and there are no instant options for disapproval
In recent years, we “adults,” have had difficulty taking seriously into consideration the possibility of indicating to young people authentic values and correct choices. Not to mention the difficulty and near allergy to addressing the theme of the search for truth.
According to the latest census of Catholic schools published by the Catholic Education Service of England and Wales (CES) the overall percentage of Catholic pupils in Catholic state schools fell to little more than 70 per cent last year. In Catholic sixth-form colleges the figure was closer to half.
“The Catholicity of our schools is not defined by the religious backgrounds of the children they take in, but by what they have to offer children,” said Mr Mannix. “[Catholic schools] are one of our most important tools for evangelisation. They can show children the good things Catholicism has to offer.”
Colleges that have deliberately watered down their Catholic identity, in part to help themselves compete for government aid, now face church pressure to strengthen their religious identity. The choice for Catholic educators is increasingly clear: defend religious liberty and stand up for a strong Catholic identity—or give up the pretense.
RE teachers say that religious education is being squeezed out of the school curriculum. Leaders representing Christians, Sikhs, Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists said they were "gravely concerned" about the "negative impact" that current government policies were having.
In a wide-ranging lecture on the subject of 'Faith in Education', to be given at Guildford Cathedral on the evening of 11 March 2011, Archbishop Vincent Nichols will say that the study of Religion 'is an invaluable help in the project of building the common good and of self-fulfilment.
