MILAN, Italy -- The late Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini was a "generous and faithful pastor of the church," who not only studied the Bible, "but loved it intensely and made it the light of his life," Pope Benedict XVI said.
The Church is "200 years out of date" and in need of a "radical transformation," Italian Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini said in an interview two weeks before his death.
The progressive cardinal died Aug. 31 at the age of 85.
VATICAN CITY -- Italian Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini, a renowned biblical scholar and former archbishop of Milan, died Friday at the age of 85 after a long battle with Parkinson's disease.
Pope Benedict XVI met privately with the cardinal during a visit to Milan in June, and was informed of his ailing health Thursday, the Vatican press office said.
Fifty years ago, Raymond Hunthausen, a popular Montana priest who was barely 41 and widely known to all his friends and colleagues as "Dutch," was ordained sixth bishop of Helena, Mont.
Less than six weeks later, Oct. 11, 1962, he went to Rome as the youngest U.S. bishop at the opening of the Second Vatican Council.
WASHINGTON -- Nuclear weapons posed such a grave danger to all life on earth in the eyes of Sacred Heart Sr. Anne Montgomery that she devoted more than 30 years of years of her life to protest their stockpiling by the world's governments.
WASHINGTON -- In response to criticism of its affiliation with a Phoenix hospital whose Catholic identity was revoked by the local bishop, Creighton University's School of Medicine remains "confident we can maintain the Catholic and Jesuit values" that have marked the school since its founding in 1892, the school's dean said Tuesday.
Dr. Rowen K. Zetterman told Catholic News Service that the opening of the Phoenix regional campus of the Catholic medical school based in Omaha, Neb., had been in the works since before he became dean three and a half years ago.
He said St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix, which had been taking Creighton medical students for one-month rotations since 2005, approached Creighton about the possibility of a closer affiliation that would bring "full-time, faith-based medical students" to Phoenix for two years of their training.
The first class of 42 third-year medical students started in Phoenix on June 28, while another 110 third-year students remain at the Omaha campus.
This morning I did a little work on the global fight against HIV/AIDS. Then I joined an environmental protest against genetically modified food and another one supporting undocumented workers. And, of course, a little feminist consciousness-raising.
Man, are my fingers tired.
WASHINGTON -- Although Catholic home-schooled students do not necessarily start the school year with new friends, teachers or schedules, they often have their own ways of bringing in the new school year.
The Leone family in Madison, Wis., celebrates with a Mass and picnic organized by a support group of Catholic home educators in the Diocese of Madison.
New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan defended his invitation of President Barack Obama to the annual Al Smith Dinner in October, saying he is trying to encourage civility and dialogue amid a bitter battle with the White House over abortion rights and access to contraception.
Appreciation
WILMINGTON, N.C. -- St. Mary is a majestic, historic parish church, on its 100th anniversary designated a basilica, and for this funeral Mass on a weekday in late June, every pew was filled. Mourners stood in the aisles, at the rear, spilling over into the vestibule. A beloved pastor, a saintly nun, a community leader -- who had commanded this outpouring of respect, the largest funeral Mass at St. Mary that even the oldest parishioners among us could remember?
No, it was Clifton.
In parish life that many of us knew, Clifton Lively would have been called the janitor; custodian might have been a more dignified title. In Catholic folklore the custodian was a shadowy figure, never to be found when you needed him, a set of keys jangling at his belt, wearing dingy trousers, his breath with the sour smell of last night's beverage, or sweeter, after a needed quick nip throughout the working day.
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