WASHINGTON (CNS) — A Pew Research Center survey found that the main reason Americans attend worship services is to feel closer to God, but those who do not regularly attend worship services have a wider variety of motivations. Of those who attend religious services at least once or twice a month, 81 percent said becoming
KERMIT, W.Va. (CNS) — On a rainy July afternoon in Kermit, a local woman sifted through a table of donated apparel at Christian Help Inc.’s free clothing store. The outreach center was full that day and she was among many seeking help. “The economy is so poor here it’s hard for people to even clothe
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — On the 40th anniversary of the death of Blessed Paul VI, Pope Francis went into the grotto under St. Peter’s Basilica to pray at his predecessor’s simple tomb. The pope who oversaw the last sessions of the Second Vatican Council and began implementing its teachings died Aug. 6, 1978, at Castel
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — With more and more people planning their vacations online and sharing their experiences digitally, the tourism industry and tourists themselves should pay more attention to using online forums to encourage respect for the locales visited and for the communities that live there, the Vatican said. In a message for the Sept.
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Doing God’s will means first of all believing in Jesus and allowing love for him to translate into love for one’s neighbors, Pope Francis said. The Gospel story of the multiplication of loaves demonstrates the concern Jesus showed for people’s daily physical needs, the pope said, but the passages that follow
NEW ORLEANS (CNS) — Reynold Verret, president of Xavier University of Louisiana, announced July 31 that the university and its Institute for Black Catholic Studies will become the new hub for the advancement of sainthood causes of African-American Catholics. Verret made the announcement in the university’s St. Katharine Drexel chapel. Privy to this historic announcement
WASHINGTON (CNS) — Marcelo Perdomo didn’t think an earthly brush with holiness would take place in his native El Salvador next to the parish priest. As a young man in the early 1960s, Perdomo worked in his native city of San Miguel, El Salvador, organizing the sacristy and decorating the altar among his duties as
WASHINGTON (CNS) — Joining other Catholic death penalty opponents, the chairman of the U.S. bishops’ domestic policy committee praised the Aug. 2 announcement that Pope Francis had ordered a revision of the Catechism of the Catholic Church calling the death penalty “inadmissible.” Bishop Frank J. Dewane of Venice, Florida, chairman of the U.S. Conference of
BALTIMORE (CNS) — A little more than two decades after they met at an ice cream social on the second day of class at Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio, Ryan and Elizabeth Young head the Knights of Columbus International Family of the Year. With five of their seven children in tow, the parishioners of
COLUMBIA, S.C. (CNS) — Vashti Jackson Woodson does not hesitate when asked how she feels about her 100 years of life. “I’m happy about everything!” she said. “My life has always been happy from the beginning up until the present. I’ve had a wonderful life!” Her words are accompanied by a radiant smile that lights
