Millions could benefit from Obama’s new immigration policies
The meeting room in the middle of Maryland's most immigrant-dense ZIP code Nov. 20 was full of people who epitomize the problems President Barack Obama is trying to address with executive action.
As Obama unveils program, other efforts aim to help Central Americans
As millions of immigrants celebrate the possibility of protection from deportation under a new Obama administration plan, among those who cannot take advantage of it will be the 68,445 families and 68,541 unaccompanied minors who were apprehended at the border in the last fiscal year.
‘Year of Consecrated Life’ focuses on religious
The global Church will ring in a new year on the first Sunday of Advent by dedicating it to the faithful whose vows of poverty, chastity and obedience serve to illuminate heaven on earth.
Religious leaders call for calm at holy site in Jerusalem
Attachments to holy places should not be a cause of bloodshed, hatred or violence, said the Council of Religious Institutions of the Holy Land.
Farmers learn welding to boost incomes a year after devastating typhoon
On the eve of the one-year anniversary of the most powerful tropical cyclone to slam the central Philippines, signs of hope are emerging among some of the people who lost their only means of earning a living.
Woman’s suicide called tragedy, symbol of ‘culture of death’ in U.S.
Brittany Maynard, a young California woman who was suffering from terminal brain cancer and gained national attention for her plan to use Oregon's assisted suicide law, ended her life Nov. 1. She was 29 years old.
Cardinal says mergers tough to take, but address shifts in population
In a long-awaited but nonetheless stunning announcement, the Archdiocese of New York said Nov. 2 it would merge 112 of its 368 parishes into 55, effectively shuttering at least 31 churches by Aug. 1, 2015.
Praying for the dead, pope asks special prayers for victims of war
The early November feasts of All Saints and All Souls call Catholics to contemplate their ultimate destiny, hope in the eternal happiness of their beloved dead and remember the thousands of innocent people dying each day because of human evil and selfishness.
Praise God, proclaim salvation, pray for the persecuted, pope says
Prayer and mission are the very breath of the Christian life, Pope Francis said.
Official says Catholic cemeteries have ‘huge opportunity to evangelize’
RYE, N.Y. (CNS) — Beyond their traditional roles as predictably quiet and often-beautiful places, "cemeteries have a huge opportunity to evangelize and a responsibility to stand for what the church represents," said Andrew Schafer, executive director for Archdiocese of Newark Catholic Cemeteries in New Jersey.
People who come to a committal service in a cemetery may be encountering Catholic funeral tradition for the first time, or for the first time in many years.