priests

The Catholic Church, through its priests, deacons and lay experts, must do more to listen to, comfort and assist those who feel troubled, tempted, cursed or possessed, said an Italian exorcist.

Reparation, prayer, self-sacrifice, witness, Eucharist are among their suggestions for healing.

Amid controversy caused by a Vatican official’s assertions that priests “have no credibility” in marriage preparation, representatives from dioceses across the United States maintain that both priests and laity have integral roles in the process.

The apostolic nuncio to the United States challenged an audience of seminarians, faculty and staff at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary to see future priests not as functionaries of the sacred or managers of a business, but as compassionate pastors and missionaries who joyfully announce the Gospel.

Father Giulio Cirignano examines the possible reasons behind what he sees as a “disconcerting fact” — that a large part of the Catholic lay faithful have recognized the “kairos” or favorable occasion God is offering the church today while other Catholics, who are “closer to poorly enlightened pastors, are kept within an old horizon.”

With Pope Francis’ visitation to South Sudan on hold, which was meant to be next on the list for his travel to red-flag the disastrous effects facing millions of South Sundanese people, how does this tragedy get on the world’s radar now?

Imagine St. Paul, Isaiah or Jeremiah — any key prophetic figure — with a brother or close companion, one who could be a support and encouragement at times when life got rough. Whether or not you see Phil and Dan Berrigan, one who was a Josephite priest and later married and the other a Jesuit priest, as prophetic against the politics of war in the last half of the 20th century or not, watching their relationship and lives unfold through their letters to each other shows two men trying to be faithful to the Gospel and to each other.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (CNS) — Father Lukasz J. Willenberg was seen as an extraordinary priest by parishioners at St. Luke’s Catholic Church in Barrington, Rhode Island, and […]