GREEN BAY, Wis. (CNS) — For the past 40 years, Pat Boerschinger has been legally blind. And while she cannot see, her faith in God and devotion to Mary guide her every step. Boerschinger was diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa, a rare, inherited degenerative eye disease, in 1978. “It was devastating,” she said. “When I first
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Jesus himself showed that the best way to respond to scandal and divisiveness is to stay silent and pray, Pope Francis said Sept. 3 as he resumed his early morning Masses with invited guests. “With people lacking goodwill, with people who seek only scandal, with those who look only for division,
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Water is a gift of God that makes life possible and yet millions of people do not have access to safe drinking water, and rivers, seas and oceans continue to be polluted, Pope Francis said. “Care for water sources and water basins is an urgent imperative,” the pope said in a
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The seal of confession is so important and sacred that a priest would be automatically excommunicated under canon law for directly revealing the contents of a confession. The sacramental seal is absolutely inviolable and “admits no exceptions” — even if the intention was to prevent an imminent evil or serious crime,
SIOUX CITY, Iowa (CNS) — The director of Clare Guest House puts a different spin on the “What Would Jesus Do” slogan. “I think what we provide is ‘What Jesus Would Do,’” said Franciscan Sister Gwen Hennessey of the transitional home for women who have been released from prison. Clare Guest House began as an
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Christians must engage in spiritual combat every day against a worldly spirit that leads down a path of arrogance and petty gossip, Pope Francis said. In his homily during morning Mass Sept. 4, the pope said that the hearts of men and women are like “a battlefield” where the spirit of
DUBLIN (CNS) — In a stadium of Catholic families from around the world, Pope Francis told the laypeople they are the vast majority of church members and that, without them, the church would be cold, a collection of statues. “God wants every family to be a beacon of joy of his love to our world,”
DUBLIN (CNS) — Before celebrating Mass in a Dublin park, Pope Francis solemnly asked forgiveness for the thousands of cases of sexual and physical abuse perpetrated by Catholics in Ireland. “We ask forgiveness for the abuse in Ireland, abuse of power and of conscience, sexual abuse” by clergy and religious, he said Aug. 26. “In
DUBLIN (CNS) — God wants every person to love and be loved, creating a family or community where love is nurtured and shared with all who are poor, lonely or in need, Pope Francis said. En route to joining thousands of people at the World Meeting of Families, the Vatican-sponsored event being hosted in Dublin,
DUBLIN (CNS) — U.S. Jesuit Father James Martin set out a series of ways in which parishes can show welcome and respect to LGBT Catholics. Addressing a packed 1,000-seat auditorium, from which organizers of the World Meeting of Families were forced to turn people away Aug. 23, the theologian said gays have often been treated
