The Catholic church in which the Victorian mystic Teresa Higginson was said to have received rapturous visions of the Crucifixion is threatened with closure after the archdiocese withdrew its support for the provision of the Latin Mass there. The Archdiocese of Liverpool has announced that either St Mary’s, Wigan, or nearby St John’s Church will The post EXCLUSIVE: Church where mystic received ecstasies threatened with closure after Latin Masses halted appeared first on Catholic Herald ..read more

As this year’s summer Olympic games open in Paris, the Vatican’s athletic department is calling for a cessation of all global conflicts and wars for the duration of the event and is urging participants to promote inclusion and fraternity. In an open letter to Olympic athletes dated and published July 24, Athletica Vaticana, the Vatican’s The post Vatican proposes global truce in fighting for duration of Olympics appeared first on Catholic Herald ..read more

The start of the 1996 film Jerry Maguire begins with our hero, the same-named sports agent played by Tom Cruise, suddenly getting an attack of morals about the way the sports management business he is in conducts itself and treats its clients, often young, impressionable sports stars. During a long-night-of-the-soul episode, he pens a manifesto/mission The post JD Vance’s Catholic conversion inspired by St Augustine – and the wreckage of the modern age appeared first on Catholic Herald ..read more

Jerusalem’s Latin patriarch has urged Christians to remain in the Holy Land despite the current Gaza war nearing its one-year mark and with few credible prospects for peace in the short-term. Speaking in a video message to Catholic parishes in the Holy Land that was sent 22 July, Italian Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch of The post Jerusalem’s Latin Patriarch tells Christians to heed ‘call’ to live in Holy Land despite continual conflict appeared first on Catholic Herald ..read more

Seeing Christ in the poor and serving Christ in the poor has helped Helen O’Shea sustain her volunteering since she began with the St Vincent de Paul Society (SVP) as a local parish conference member 20 years ago. Her Christ-centred approach to volunteering has sustained a vocation that has led her to become chair of trustees for Depaul International – the parent charity of the Depaul Group, a network of charities that works across the world with a mission to end homelessness and change the lives of those affected by it – as well as a trustee of SVP too. When she first began with the SVP, she ..read more

The Philippines is the world’s only country without a divorce law – excluding the Vatican – since Malta legalised the dissolution of marriage in 2011. The House of Representatives of the Philippines in May approved House Bill 9349, which would legalise absolute divorce in the predominantly Catholic Asian country. This week, Auxiliary Bishop Midyphil Billones of Cebu said the fact the Philippines still outlaws divorce is a distinction of pride. “Instead of being insecure and ashamed, we should raise our heads as Christians, with respect to other religions that have their own beliefs, that in th ..read more

The Democratic Party appears to be coalescing around Kamala Harris to be the party’s presidential candidate for the November election in the wake of President Joe Biden pulling out of the race. It means we are all going to be hearing a lot more about abortion, known in Democrat parlance as “reproductive freedom” and of which Harris is held up as being a “champion” defender. “Kamala Harris’ campaign by the way is going to be abortion, abortion, abortion—she’s going to talk about very little else and the kind of threat that the Republican Party and a second Trump term poses to what they call ‘wo ..read more

A joint investigation by the Irish national broadcaster RTÉ and the Irish Mail on Sunday has revealed that the Vatican and Irish bishops did not notify the public that the reasons for the suspension from ministry of the late Bishop Eamonn Casey related to child sexual abuse allegations in both England and Ireland. The public have long believed that the bishop’s suspension related to his relationship with American divorcée Annie Murphy, mother to his son Peter. The bishop, who spent much of his early priesthood in English parishes, resigned as Bishop of Galway and Kilmacduagh and as Apostolic A ..read more

The Benedictines of Mary, Queen of the Apostles are one of the success stories in the contemporary Church. Going from strength to strength, they buck trends in mainstream Catholic women’s religious orders that have seen vocations dry up and schools, hospitals and orphanages run by sisters close all across the old Catholic heartlands. Not so with the US-based Benedictines of Mary. With an median age well under thirty, they are a departure from anything considered standard in the last six decades. They wear the habit that their foundress, Sister Wilhelmina Lancaster, OSB, fought vociferously to ..read more

Superheroes, evil aliens, trippy plotlines, comic disproportion, a farting planet. The new cartoon series God’s Gang has all the trappings of classic juvenile entertainment…except the fundamental premise. God’s Gang centres on the friendship of a group of superheroes from four major world religions: a Muslim – “Sumoslim”, a Hindu – “Taekwonhindu”, a Jew – “Ninjew”, and a Christian – “ChrisCross”. Aided by two of God’s sidekicks, a dog called “Ms Dogma” and a pigeon called “Le Dove”, the team drive around in a Scooby-Doo-style van defeating evil through the use of spiritual superpowers inspired ..read more