A Catholic radio station in Uganda has been integral in calling home hundreds of child soldiers, according to a local Catholic leader. Bishop Giuseppe Franzelli told international Catholic pastoral charity Aid to the Church in Need (ACN) that “Radio Wa” had encouraged more than 1500 child soldiers to flee and return home in the period […]
A local Catholic leader has warned about the weakening of the Christian presence in Palestine as a result of the construction of an Israeli security barrier. Auxiliary Bishop William Shomali, who is responsible for the Palestinian regions of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, made his comments while speaking to international Catholic pastoral charity Aid to […]
On a number of occasions I have written about the loneliness of disability. I suppose readers might be apt to think loneliness is not unique to people with severe disabilities, and they are right. Most lonely people are not disabled. You don’t even need to be alone to be lonely; a person can be lonely in a crowded […]
A Damascus bomb blast which killed a deacon in training shows that a Christian district of the city is in acute danger, according to a leading Catholic bishop. Benjamin Camil, 35, was on his way home on Tuesday morning, March 26th, after distributing food to destitute people, when he was killed instantly by the explosive. […]
A review of the Popes in the twentieth century find them fighting a fierce battle against the forces of secularism, atheism, and malevolance that have consumed Western Civilization. Collectively these forces, referred to as “Modernity,” are merely contemporary expressions of the evils that have collapsed empires and civilizations for thousands of years. The election of […]
The Church, by which I mean hierarchy, clergy, religious, and laity, must step up and face the challenge posed by the militant gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgendered, and queer activists — the GLBTQ coalition. It is simply not enough to defend marriage; we have to explain to the people in the pews, to our children, and […]
In January, Catholic Lane shared the story of two young men from Bismarck, ND visiting Kenya for the first time with their adopted AIDS orphan brother. It was a story that had come full-circle, of an AIDS orphan growing up and returning home to help other orphans. Here is part II. We wake up early […]
Last fall, Pope Benedict XVI announced a special set of indulgences for the Year of Faith, which ends on November 24, 2013. During that time, Catholics may obtain indulgences on the usual conditions if they perform one or more of several acts of faith and charity devoted to the Second Vatican Council, which the Year […]
As I write, the weather station says that it’s 1° F, but it feels like -17°F. With the wind chill, it’s expected to drop as low as -30°F tonight. Tomorrow will more of the same. Even with the furnace chugging away, the perimeters of the house are cold. Upon passing by the windows and doors, […]
When we first announced to friends and family our decision to move from Las Vegas to rural Alabama, you would have thought we said we were all growing bushy beards to live as hermits in a cave, way over in Mars, with Forrest Gump as our cult leader. But time has proven that: in the […]
2013 is a brand new year, but it also marks the 40th anniversary of the unjust U.S. Supreme Court decisions that imposed abortion on America. Let’s resolve to make this critical year a turning point in our unified efforts to end abortion! If you’ve ever felt called to lead a 40 Days for Life campaign in […]
Imagine a Kenyan AIDS orphan living in a mud hut with his two brothers and walking several miles to school on an empty stomach. After the devastating loss of both of his parents, facing daily grinding poverty, would he have any energy left to dream of a better future? This boy is not imaginary; his name […]
Each one lovely, unique, and irreproducible; wildflowers and people alike. Today the unthinkable happened, and as I sat only half-listening to the news as I worked, I couldn’t imagine the connection between a shooting somewhere in Connecticut and Sandy Hook across the bay from me in New Jersey. Then the sickening reality hit me that […]
In a surprise move, Pope Benedict XVI this morning issued a formal legislative document instructing Catholic charitable organisations that they must act in complete compliance with Catholic teaching. The Vatican rumour mill failed to predict the appearance today of the pope’s Motu Proprio, a special letter written and promulgated on Pope Benedict’s personal initiative, that lays out […]
It was a glorious day. Autumn was in the air. An armada of white, puffy clouds floated on a horizon painted deep, crystal blue. For our family of eight, it was one of those very rare, short breaths between frenetic summer and school activity. The only thing planned was church. Stepping outside the first time […]
The Washington Times reported the Obama administration waived sanctions that would prevent countries from receiving foreign aid for violating the Child-Soldier Prevention Act. Obama, who co-sponsored the legislation in 2008 as an Illinois senator, has now permitted aid to countries that have used children as young as 11 to fight under a “national interest” exclusion within […]
“For Egypt, the Christians are an indispensable force. They can contribute to opening up the country.” With these words, the Coptic Catholic Bishop of Assiut, Kyrillos William Samaan, affirmed the significance of Christians in the reshaping of Egypt. Since mid-February, Bishop Kyrillos has deputized for the seriously ill Patriarch of Alexandria (with headquarters in Cairo), […]
Metropolitan Hilarion, responsible for the external relations of the Russian Orthodox Church, pointed out the joint tasks of members of the Orthodox and Catholic Churches in a world characterized by materialism and consumerism at a meeting on Pentecost with the Executive President of the Pontifical Foundation Aid to the Church in Need (ACN). “We must […]
I am greatly saddened by the death of Chuck Colson this past weekend. I have always been grateful to Chuck for his kindness toward me. I was a part-time research fellow and a full-time mother when he began talking about my first book, “Love and Economics.” There was absolutely nothing for him to gain by […]
Half of Iraq’s indigenous Christians are gone due to the unleashed forces of jihad, many of them fleeing to nearby Syria; yet, as the Assad regime comes under attack by al-Qaeda and others, the jihad now seeps into Syria, where Christians are experiencing a level of persecution unprecedented in the nation’s modern history. Likewise, some […]
“Never, ever, ever give up.” Thus said Winston Churchill in October 1941, in the shortest of his speeches. As the WW II statesman applied this maxim famously to political life, so too might we apply the principle of perseverance to our personal lives when the warfare is spiritual in form. Perseverance works in tandem […]
A smooth shaved head, dark tear drop forever etched by her left eye, and Roxanne scrawled in ink across her neck, this young woman stood before me, arms over crutches to support her newly amputated leg and smiled. “I can’t believe I’m getting to meet you,” she said. “I finished your book today. You’ve been through so much,” she […]
Recently, I began corresponding with a young man who once walked down a dark, destructive path. Eric is sentenced to twenty years in a Jamestown, North Dokota prison for his third drug offense. He tracked me down through Ascension Press, the publisher of my co-authored Amazing Grace books. After reading Amazing Grace for Survivors and […]
The beginning of the New Year saw only an increase in the oppression of Christians under Islam, from Nigeria, where an all-out jihad has been declared in an effort to eradicate the Muslim north of all Christians, to Europe, where Muslim converts to Christianity are still hounded and attacked as apostates. According to the Chairman […]
