“Today our hearts are bursting, such is the gift of love.” Those are the words Jim and Carol Collier used to express their emotions at their son’s funeral. Sapper Brian Collier was killed last week in Afghanistan by an improvised explosive device. His funeral was held yesterday at Holy Martyrs of Japan parish in Bradford, ...read more

Earlier this year, Pope Benedict XVI encouraged priests to become familiar with new media as a possible tool for evangelization. In light of this, the United States Conference of Bishops have released guidelines for church-personnel on how to use social media-such as blogs and Facebook pages- as part of ministry. The document said that social ...read more

Did you know that the Roman Catacombs were not built to serve as secret churches? The Catacombs were truly just burial places. Just like today’s cemeteries which have chapels on-site, these early burial places also had built in chapels to perform the final blessing of a body before entombment. While Christians were persecuted at various ...read more

Bishop Don Bolen of Saskatoon was in Rome this week, introducing the priests of his diocese to his former home. In truth they were here for the International Meeting for Priests that wrapped up Thursday in St. Peter’s square. Alas, it’s a long flight from Saskatoon to Rome, so Bishop Bolen and his priests, along ...read more

Let me just say it: I did some traveling this past weekend. I went to Oberammergau, Germany after being invited to attend the premiere of the Passionspiele, the Passion Play that happens once every ten years. (You can find out more about our Salt + Light sponsored trip in August to see the Passion Play ...read more

Part of Salt + Light’s first upcoming Blessed Journeys Series is the famous Passion Play in the German village of Oberammergau. Ever had trouble sticking to a routine? Tried to do a daily exercise routine only to discover after a week that somehow it hasn’t gone too well? Or committed your self to a new ...read more

As Alessia Domanico reported on Perspectives on May 6th, the Swiss Guards are thirty stronger, having sworn in their new recruits. In an elaborate ceremony, the Swiss Guards corps officially installed their latest recruits. The ceremony takes place every year on the 6th of May, the anniversary of the Sack of Rome. On that day ...read more

The current economic crisis was caused by a series of failures, chief among them is a failure of ethics, according to the Pontifical Academy for Social Sciences. The president of the Vatican’s Social Sciences Academy, Mary Ann Glendon, said during the course of the Academy’s plenary session members heard from those working in various sectors ...read more

On April 19, 2005 when Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger was elected pope, the popular consensus was that this would be a papacy of continuity; he would ensure that his predecessor’s line of leadership and teaching would be safeguarded. What most people didn’t take into consideration was that Cardinal Ratzinger is a very different personality than Cardinal ...read more

Monday, April 26th, I was dispatched to Turin, Italy to do some preview work for our coverage of Holy Father’s upcoming trip, and to write an article or two for Catholic News Service. Let’s skip the part about missing the train by two seconds, and fast forward to when I actually got to Turin. It ...read more