MIAMI (CNS) — After spending a week with adults and Catholic school children in the hurricane-impacted Florida Panhandle, one mental health professional noted how the Christmas season is a mixed blessing for survivors of natural disasters. “Right now the holidays are working in two different ways — both as a distraction and an underlying stress
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — As the celebration of Christmas draws near, the plight of the Holy Family calls to mind the sufferings of the many men, women and children escaping war and persecution, Pope Francis said. Meeting with organizers and artists participating in a benefit Christmas concert at the Vatican, the pope said the holy
WASHINGTON (CNS) — It has been 25 years and counting, but Father Michael Shields doesn’t have any plans to leave the mission of the Archdiocese of Anchorage, Alaska, in Magadan, Russia, at least any time soon. Father Shields, 69, loves his ministry in the Russian Far East city of 100,000. Magadan and Anchorage are sister
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Just as she did hundreds of years ago from a small hill in Tepeyac, Mexico, Mary accompanies the downtrodden and the lowly like a mother caring for her children. Mary “is a woman who walks with the gentleness and tenderness of a mother, she makes her home in family life, she
WASHINGTON (CNS) — With a diapered baby Jesus doll in her arms, the woman named Mary descended the steps and walked toward an opening marked “Bethlehem” where she put the figurine on top of a bale of straw as Franciscan friars and other priests in brown habits and white cassocks sang all around. The baby
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Catholic media have a responsibility to be “spiritual antennas” that connect the world to the sufferings of the poor and the unwanted in society, especially prisoners on death row, Pope Francis said. During a Dec. 13 audience with journalists and collaborators of Telepace, an Italian Catholic television and radio station, the
SALT LAKE CITY (CNS) — By posting a complete list of priests with credible abuse allegations against them, the Salt Lake City Diocese said it “seeks to shed some light” on such claims within the diocese, “with the hope that it may further the healing process for those betrayed by men they believed they could
By: Julie Anne Loong, for the North Star How can the Spirit, especially in this time of Christmas, remain alive in our tiny islands when something happens and affects the lives of over 50,000 inhabitants? It is only possible through God, and it is a mystery beyond our human understanding. Two months ago, the record-setting
Things look a little different around Saipan these days. I hope they do in Tinian, too. There are no more long lines at gas stations or water suppliers. No more traffic jams in As Lito because of the S-(Supplemental) and D-(Disaster) NAP (food stamps). There are fewer “Feds” driving around, too, replaced now by the
A friend shared the story about the sign at the door of a clinic which says: The Radiologist is: “ IN/OUT”. And the patient asked; Is the Radiologist on AM or FM band frequency? Jesus talked about tribulation at the end of time and the signs that will accompany it. Through these signs, we’ll know
