News - August 2018 RSS Feed

WASHINGTON—In his 2018 Labor Day statement, Bishop Frank J. Dewane of Venice, Florida, chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Domestic Justice and Human Development, calls for all persons to work together for just wages, which are necessary for families to flourish.

By Catholic News Service HOUSTON (CNS) — Despite the nearly 100-degree temperatures, Jaime Reyna found purpose in his four-hour drive from Corpus Christi to Houston. With five teens from the Diocese of Corpus Christi, where Reyna serves as diocesan youth ministry director, he made a pilgrimage to the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Houston, which hosted the World Youth Day Cross and Marian icon Aug. 23.

By Cindy Wooden Catholic News Service ABOARD THE PAPAL FLIGHT FROM DUBLIN (CNS) — Pope Francis said Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano’s long document calling on him to resign is written in a way that people should be able to draw their own conclusions.

“The heart-wrenching pain of these victims, which cries out to heaven, was long ignored, kept quiet or silenced. But their outcry was more powerful than all the measures meant to silence it, or sought even to resolve it by decisions that increased its gravity by falling into complicity.

Prayer requests were placed at the altar of St. Anthony Cathedral Basilica during the Bishop’s Faith Appeal Intentions Mass on Aug.23. The cards will be brought to the chapel located in the home of Bishop Curtis Guillory, SVD, so that he may continue to pray for the intentions of the faithful.

Parishioners from across the Diocese of Beaumont gathered Aug. 23 for the Bishop’s Faith Appeal Intentions Mass celebrated by Bishop Curtis Guillory, SVD, at St. Anthony Cathedral Basilica in Beaumont.

By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — “No effort must be spared” to prevent future cases of clerical sexual abuse and “to prevent the possibility of their being covered up,” Pope Francis said in a letter addressed “to the people of God.” “I acknowledge once more the suffering endured by many minors due to sexual abuse, the abuse of power and the abuse of conscience perpetrated by a significant number of clerics and consecrated persons,” the pope wrote in the letter dated and released Aug. 20.

Bishop Curtis Guillory, SVD, received first class relics of St. Pope John Paul II and St. Pope John XXIII at the Pontifical Mass Aug. 19 at St. Anthony Cathedral Basilica in Beaumont. “All of this is part of our faith,” Bishop Guillory said about the relics.

“People desire God. And they’re made in the image and likeness of God. Sometimes, in a sense, we lose sight of that,” said Bishop Brendan Cahill in his keynote address at the Convocation of Catholic Leaders on Aug. 18 in Beaumont Bishop Cahill, Bishop of the Diocese of Victoria, said the Church has to continue to take care of people who feel they are on the outside of society, including the homeless, new immigrants, the incarcerated and others.

By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Mary’s assumption into heaven was a special sign of God’s favor, but it also indicates God’s desire to save all people, body and soul, Pope Francis said.

By Rhina Guidos, Catholic News Service WASHINGTON (CNS) – A Pennsylvania grand jury report issued Aug. 14 paints a picture of a Catholic Church in six of the state’s dioceses that for decades handled claims of sex abuse of minors under its care by hiding the allegations and brushing aside its victims.

The Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a holy day of obligation that will be celebrated on Aug. 15. Join Catholics around the world who will gather for Mass and celebrate the life and assumption of the Virgin Mary into heaven.

Bishop Curtis Guillory, SVD, sent teachers into the beginning of a new Catholic school year with prayers and praise as he celebrated the Convocation Mass Aug. 9 at St. Anthony Cathedral Basilica in Beaumont.

Youth and young adults enjoyed faith-based activities and fellowship as they celebrated Local World Youth Day in downtown Beaumont Aug. 4. The celebration kicked off with a pilgrimage walk and included a day filled with worship, music, inspirational speakers and entertainment.

The tents came early and the tables are going up as diocesan staff and seminarians prepare for Local World Youth Day on Aug. 4 at the Diocese of Beaumont Pastoral Center, 710 Archie St. in Beaumont. “Let’s figure out where we’re going to put the vendors’ tables,” said Melanie Ehrlich, Director of the Office of Youth Ministry, as she guided staff helping plan the event.

By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Building on the development of Catholic Church teaching against capital punishment, Pope Francis has ordered a revision of the Catechism of the Catholic Church to assert “the death penalty is inadmissible because it is an attack on the inviolability and dignity of the person” and to commit the church to working toward its abolition worldwide.

The first day of school for students at St. Mary Catholic School in Orange isn’t until Aug. 13. But that hasn’t stopped some of its students from helping second grade teacher Suzy Wimberley get her classroom ready.