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News from Saint John and Beyond

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    News from Saint John and Beyond
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- Bishop Mitch Goes to “Rome” – Pope Taps Mass. Prelate For St Louis
  
  As the Vatican’s working year wends toward its close at month’s end, a cycle interrupted by a historic outbreak is making up for lost time, and wrapping up with more than one bang. Accordingly, Roman...
- "True Shepherds Don't Live For Themselves" – In Atlanta, "A Call To Action"
  
  Always slated to be American Catholicism's Main Event of 2020 – yet now, an even more poignant and notable one amid the pandemic that's robbed it of a congregation – from Atlanta's empty Cathedral of...
- Same "Mother"... Different Church
  
  Fifty days into a Stateside Church in lockdown, this first of May brings the latest edition of a ritual as old as American Catholicism itself. A practice employed both in hours of celebration and...
- On Easter Day, "This Is A Different 'Contagion'"
  
  Again, Buona Pasqua – Happy Easter – to one and all, especially those among us seeking its light, joy and hope all the more this year. A couple hundred feet, but really a world away from its usual...
- On A Unique Easter Night, "Be Strong, For With God Nothing Is Lost!"
  
  Surrexit Dominus Vere, Alleluia – Buona Pasqua a tutti! Happy Easter to all... yet even if the event and its message is the same, this time the feeling and the scene are all too different. Again from...
- For A Scattered Church, The "Supper" Awaits
  
  Even as the liturgical shutdown of most of the Western church approaches the one-month mark, in a particular way, this is the night when the hit really sinks in. With a disorienting Lent now...
- On Palm Sunday, "Life Is Of No Use If Not Used To Serve Others"
  
  It is a Palm Sunday – the beginning of a Week – like the Christian world has never seen: far from the usual teeming crowds, full choirs and vivid scenes, this time, the pandemic-induced lockdown of...

Catholic News Service
- Update: Lebanon's Catholic leaders seek help; here's where you can donate
  
  IMAGE: CNS photo/Aziz Taher, Reuters By BEIRUT (CNS) -- As Lebanon's Catholic leaders appealed for help for their country, international and U.S. organizations appealed for donations for Beirut...
- Priest's 100-mile bike ride raises COVID-19 aid for parish -- and hope
  
  IMAGE: CNS photo/courtesy Diocese of Brooklyn By Ian Alvano WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Father Christopher Heanue started his morning July 27 by celebrating Mass at 5 a.m. and then took off on a 100-mile...
- Weapons must be set aside for peace to flourish, pope says
  
  IMAGE: CNS photo/Yuriko Nakao, Reuters By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- For peace to flourish, weapons of war must be set aside, especially nuclear weapons that can obliterate entire cities and...
- Vatican says baptisms that used a modified formula are not valid
  
  IMAGE: CNS photo/Vatican Media By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Changing the words of the formula for baptism render the sacrament invalid, said the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith...
- Update: John Hume, who helped bring peace to Northern Ireland, dies at 83
  
  IMAGE: CNS photo/Paul McErlane, Reuters By Michael Kelly DUBLIN (CNS) -- Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh, Northern Ireland, has hailed political leader John Hume as a "paragon of peace"...
- Update: Catholic leaders call for prayers, help after massive Beirut blasts
  
  IMAGE: CNS photo/Mohamed Azakir, Reuters By Dale Gavlak AMMAN, Jordan (CNS) -- Lebanese were reeling after a massive explosion at Beirut's port destroyed homes, businesses and livelihoods across the...
- Pope calls for prayers for Lebanon after deadly explosion in Beirut
  
  IMAGE: CNS photo/Mohamed Azakir, Reuters By Carol Glatz VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- After a massive fire triggered a deadly explosion in Beirut, Pope Francis called for prayers and a united effort to help...
National Catholic Register
- US Sanctions Hong Kong Chief Executive Over National Security Law
  
  By Catholic News Agency | WASHINGTON — The United States announced sanctions against Carrie Lam, the leader of the government of Hong Kong, as well as other officials in China on Friday, August..
- US Bishops Tell Congress: Help Catholic Schools to Help At-Risk Families
  
  By Catholic News Agency | WASHINGTON — Several leading U.S. Catholic cardinals and bishops urged congressional leaders to provide emergency private school tuition aid to low-middle income...
- State Dept. Commission Cites Religious Freedom as ‘Foremost’ Among Rights
  
  By Lauretta Brown | WASHINGTON — The Commission on Unalienable Rights, an advisory committee formed last year to provide the U.S. State Department with advice that grounds an understanding of human...
- The Presence That Casts Out Fear
  
  By Sister Mary Madeline Todd | Sunday, Aug. 9, is the 19th Sunday in Ordinary Time. Mass readings: 1 Kings 19:9, 11-13; Psalm 85: 9, 10, 11-14; Romans 9: 1-5; Matthew 14:22-33. What is worse...
- Cancel, Conform, Control: Survivors of Communism Discuss US Culture
  
  By Susan Klemond | The destruction and removal of statues around the country this summer isn’t new to Carlos Eire, who as a 10-year-old, watched members of the Castro regime use sledgehammers to...
- Joe Biden Talks Catholic Faith After President Trump Says Former VP is ‘Against God’
  
  By Catholic News Agency | WASHINGTON — Vice President Joe Biden on Thursday spoke about his Catholic faith, in response to comments from President Donald Trump that a Biden presidency would “hurt...
- Cardinal Pell to Speak at Virtual Napa Institute Conference
  
  By Catholic News Agency | WASHINGTON — The Napa Institute has announced an online schedule for its annual conference in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The program includes remarks from...
News from the Vatican
- New appointees to Francis’s financial powerhouse signal progress of women
  
  The recent appointment of six women to the Vatican's chief financial body has been praised as a significant stride in Pope Francis's consistent insistence that more women are needed in leadership...
- Pope on Hiroshima: Possession of nuclear weapons ‘immoral’
  
  Pope Francis on Thursday marked the 75th anniversary of the nuclear attack on Hiroshima by calling for peace and repeating that not only the use of atomic weapons but their mere possession is immoral.
- Vatican says baptisms done with plural pronouns are invalid
  
  On Thursday the Vatican issued a response to a question about the validity of baptisms using a modified formula, insisting that any baptisms celebrated with a formula other than the one approved and...
- In light of pandemic, pope will begin new series on social doctrine
  
  In light of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and social and environmental crises worldwide, Pope Francis announced he would begin a new series of general audience talks aimed at helping build "the...
- Pope prays for Lebanon after massive explosion in Beirut
  
  One day after a massive explosion ravaged the port of Beirut, covering the surrounding area in clouds of smoke, Pope Francis offered prayers for the victims and their families, and asked the...