Paul Sefranek is a lifelong Roman Catholic and a long-serving volunteer in the Boy Scouts of America — two parts of his identity that have always been in harmony.
Until now.
As the BSA decides this month whether to allow openly gay boys into its program, Sefranek is among those who say the controversial move would cause him to quit the venerable Scouting program.
The head of the Vatican office promoting new evangelization said while he does not like the terms "Francis effect" or "Francis bump," it is true that "Pope Francis has touched the hearts and minds of many people."
Archbishop Rino Fisichella, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting New Evangelization, said he does not care for the term "Francis effect," since Pope Francis has not changed church teaching.
Behind all the musical prowess of Carlos Ibay is a young man whose strong connection to the heart of Jesus can be recognized through the many outlets of his ingenuity.
It's evident in his life, his voice and his song.
On a recent Sunday, seated high above the congregation in the choir loft of St. Michael Church in Annandale, the self-taught organist glides his fingers across the keys of an organ as he sings memorized hymn after hymn in an unforgettable voice.
For 25 years, St. Louis University has been led by Fr. Lawrence Biondi. For nearly two centuries, it has been led by the Jesuits. Soon, it may be led by neither.
The North American Forum on the Catechumenate, which has offered workshops and resources for more than three decades, will close June 30.
Bishop Robert J. McManus was arrested Saturday in Narragansett, R.I., after allegedly being involved in a collision and driving away from the scene.
Pope Francis has named Auxiliary Bishop Mark Seitz of Dallas as bishop of El Paso, Texas.
The appointment was announced Monday in Washington by Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, apostolic nuncio to the United States.
Seitz, 59, succeeds Bishop Armando Ochoa, who was named bishop of Fresno, Calif., in December 2011.
Seitz was born in Milwaukee in 1954. He earned a bachelor of arts degree in philosophy and master's degrees in theology and divinity from the University of Dallas.
He was ordained a priest for the Dallas diocese in 1980.
Press Release from US Bishops' conference this morning:
Eight-year-old Erin Day's father was going to be in the hospital for her first Communion, so the church brought the celebration to him.
A March decision to decline official club status to a Knights of Columbus college council at Gonzaga University because the group was all male and exclusively Catholic has been reversed by Gonzaga president Thayne McCulloh.
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