The start of the new school year is just around the corner. Soon over two million children will be going back to school at over 7,000 Catholic elementary and secondary schools throughout the United States.
The past year (2008-2009) saw a 3.5 percent decrease in enrollment in Catholic schools in our country, according to figures released by the National Catholic Educational Association (NCEA). There were 78,382 fewer students than the previous academic year.
If there would be a feastday for grandparents, it would probably be July 26. That is the feast of Sts. Joachim and Anne, the parents of our Blessed Mother.
As a new grandparent myself with two granddaughters born last year, I was happy to hear Pope Benedict XVI mention the importance of grandparents July 26 during his Sunday Angelus talk in the mountains of Italy, where he is vacationing.
Health care is a basic human right alongside food and shelter. All persons in the United States should be able to access good, affordable health care.
The injustice of millions of people in our country lacking access to health care must be remedied, says the Catholic Health Association (CHA) in its vision for Catholic health care reform.
Pope Benedict XVI has been writing an encyclical on charity for some time. But in releasing the encyclical Caritas in Veritate (“Charity in Truth”) on July 7, it looks as if the Holy Father is responding to our current world economic crisis.
His words are certainly prophetic and inspiring. In fact, they should be assigned reading for not only members of the Catholic Church, but also for leaders of every nation, business executives, workers . . . well, everybody!
Many of us celebrate the July 4th holiday with family picnics or other fun activities. I imagine few of us take time to reflect on the meaning of this holiday and its significance in our lives.
However, with news reports about the recent political upheaval in Iran, I began thinking how lucky we are to live in the United States of America. We owe our freedom and democratic system of government to the earliest Americans. They had to fight to establish this country — and we should fight (not necessarily in the physical sense) to preserve the freedoms they gained for us.
In my 35+ years on the staff of the Catholic Herald, I have had the privilege of getting to know many priests in the Diocese of Madison.
With the recent announcement of the closing of the Catholic Multicultural Center (CMC) in Madison, some people have been quoted in the media as questioning the Catholic Church’s concern for the poor. They are certainly misinformed if they think that the Church does not care for the poor.
Some seminarians have the chance to study in Rome, but many others do not have that opportunity. Now they do.
We’re finally enjoying some warmer weather in Wisconsin after a long winter.
As the temperatures rise, naturally people start dressing with lighter clothes. What does that mean for our choice of clothing for church?
Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the Holy Land has helped shine the spotlight on the situation of Christians in the homeland of Christ. The number of Christians has been steadily decreasing. Those remaining must often deal with conflict and economic challenges.
