- Catholic Standard

The COVID-19 pandemic overshadowed much of the college experience for this year's graduating class, but nursing school graduates may have felt this more acutely. The pandemic forced them to initially learn procedures online that are very much hands-on, and it also constantly reminded them about […]

For Walter Heiser, a graduating senior at St. Anselm’s Abbey School in Washington, D.C., a recent trip to the Democratic Republic of the Congo gave him the opportunity to live out his faith and practice what he has learned at his school. The visit to the Central African nation to work with a […]

Readings for The Ascension of the Lord:Acts 1:1-11 Psalm 47: 2-3, 6-9 Ephesians 1:17-23 or Hebrews 9:24-38; 10:19-23 John 24:46-53Making, keeping, or breaking promises are part of daily human interactions. We promise to be on time for meetings and we promise children rewards for good […]

Q. Every summer, my husband and I go on a cruise. Only one cruise line continues to have a priest on board to say Mass. When we travel on other cruise lines, frequently we have missed Sunday Mass because there was no priest on board and we could not get to a Catholic Church if we happened to be in […]

When news broke of the May 24 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, San Antonio Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller was in a meeting with about 150 archdiocesan priests.The meeting was rescheduled and several priests left right away to be with people in the Texas town about 100 miles west […]

The Academy of Holy Cross students’ voices rang out from the Lang Hall auditorium as they sang a diverse selection of songs, ranging from Christmas standards to the Lizzie McGuire soundtrack, to an audience of senior citizens at The Village at Rockville, a continuing care retirement community […]

Seeing all the violence and injustice in the world, people easily grow disillusioned and wonder about the meaning of life, but Christians must fight the temptation of weariness with faith and a passion for justice, Pope Francis said.Progress in science and technology and knowledge in general […]

There is no telling when the iconic blue and white gingham dress worn by Judy Garland as Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz” will find a “place like home.”A federal judge May 23 prevented The Catholic University of America from selling the iconic costume from the 1939 movie the […]

Some U.S. bishops spoke out against the easy accessibility to guns in the country following a May 24 rampage that left at least 19 children and two of their elementary school teachers dead in Uvalde, Texas.“Don’t tell me that guns aren’t the problem, people are. I’m sick of […]

In his 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’: On Care for Our Common Home, Pope Francis said the faithful must “realize that their responsibility within creation, and their duty towards nature and the Creator, are an essential part of their faith.”For St. Mary’s Ryken High […]

Kow Simpson, a member of the class of 2022 at Bishop McNamara High School in Forestville, Maryland, will be attending Harvard University this fall.  Heather Nadolny, the director of development and communications at Bishop McNamara, and Herman Frazier, Simpson's counselor at the school, […]

VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Saying his heart was broken at the news of at least 19 children and two adults being shot and killed at a Texas elementary school, Pope Francis said it was time to say “Enough!” and enact stricter laws on gun sales. At the end of his weekly general audience May […]

The Maryland Catholic Conference (MCC) has created a website that provides access to resources and other helpful information for pregnant women, parenting women in need and those who seek to assist them.Titled “Helping Hope Bloom,” the website – www.mdcatholic.org/hopeblooms […]

Despite the rainy weather on April 7, Stone Ridge School of the Sacred Heart in Bethesda, Maryland hosted an enthusiastic school-wide giving day to benefit the relief efforts for the people of Ukraine being carried out by World Central Kitchen, an organization founded by renowned Spanish Chef […]

As musicians in the Advanced Percussion Ensemble of DeMatha Catholic High School gathered on stage for a recent concert at their Hyattsville, Maryland school, one of the performers – a new student there – didn’t have time to get a tux like the other student musicians were wearing, […]

In 2021, St. Vincent Pallotti High School in Laurel, Maryland marked the 100th anniversary of its founding as the first coeducational Catholic high school in The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington. Originally established as St. Mildred’s Academy, it opened in 1921 and was later renamed […]

Wielding a stick, Betty Boatwright has starred in three sports for Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School, as a captain for the Cubs’ field hockey, lacrosse and ice hockey teams. The member of Visitation’s class of 2022 has also been a leader off the playing fields and ice rinks, […]

Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory celebrated a Mass on May 17 at the Saint John Paul II National Shrine to honor 15 priests of The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington who are marking milestone anniversaries in 2022. After the May 17 Mass at the Saint John Paul II National Shrine honoring […]

As days were winding down before their graduation from Don Bosco Cristo Rey High School in Takoma Park, Maryland, two members of the class of 2022 there reflected on how that school community’s support helped them weather the COVID-19 pandemic and also personal challenges they faced as […]

Keyvar Smith-Herold of the class of 2022 at DeMatha Catholic High School smiled as he explained the inspiration for his name, noting that his father Vincent Smith works as a locksmith.“That’s why ‘Key’ is in our names,” he said, shedding light on the origin of his […]

Cloudy skies did not dampen the enthusiasm of the nearly 1,500 graduates of The Catholic University of America and their families and friends who filled the university lawn on May 14, for the first commencement held on the Washington campus since 2019. “I am so grateful that everyone gets to […]

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- San Francisco's archbishop declared May 20 that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is not "to be admitted" to Communion unless and until she publicly repudiates "support for abortion 'rights'" and goes to Confession and receives absolution "for her cooperation in this evil." […]

Ukrainians “have made the Bible come alive for the world,” Archbishop Borys Gudziak, head of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia, told graduates of the University of Notre Dame May 15.“David withstands Goliath, the Way of the Cross has stations in Bucha and […]

How to make sense of Americans’ attitudes toward abortion? It isn’t easy.In polls, many respondents will give answers that contradict each other.A Gallup poll in 2019 – Gallup has polled regularly on abortion since 1975 – found that 92 percent of Americans believed that […]

We have a wonderful opportunity to draw closer to the Lord in four spectacular liturgies that we are about to celebrate in consecutive weeks. I have said before that Advent and Lent can be like retreats for us if we make an effort. I see these four upcoming liturgies the same way. They are a chance […]

Readings for the Sixth Sunday of Easter:Acts 15:1-2, 22-29 Psalm 67:2-3, 5-6, 8 Revelation 21:10-14, 22-23 John 14:23-29Our second reading, from the end of the last book of the Bible, gives us a picture of the end of all things – indeed, of what follows the end. But what kind of picture […]

Several U.S. Catholic bishops expressed sorrow and called out racism and gun violence after reports of a May 14 mass shooting in Buffalo, New York, that left at least three injured and 10 dead – a crime authorities categorized as likely motivated by hatred for Black people.In a separate […]

Q. A non-Catholic friend of mine asked me recently to find out if the parish I was raised in would baptize her new baby. The priest at my parish said that he could not baptize the baby because the parents were not Catholic. I was disappointed that the Catholic Church would turn away anyone seeking […]

Christians must be ready to respond with love and charity to those in need, especially the victims of today’s throwaway culture, Pope Francis said.Meeting with members of the Order of the Ministers of the Sick, commonly known as the Camillians, the pope said that the prevalence of […]

I had the blessing of attending the Mass in Rome with Pope Francis for the opening of the 16th Synod of Bishops on the theme: “For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation and Mission.”As we have begun the diocesan phase of the process, I continue to reflect on the Holy Father’s […]

Facing the trauma of conflict requires love and hope, and Caritas has been hard at work sharing this “medicine” with everyone, said the director of Caritas-Spes.The war will not end with just a peace agreement, said Pallottine Father Vyacheslav Grynevych, director of the charitable arm […]

The last of four Regional Synod Listening Sessions May 14 concluded the local public process for the 2021-2023 Synod with echoes of concerns raised elsewhere in The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington. Repeated themes included the need for a welcoming Church, with parishioners who better […]

A nationwide shortage of baby formula is hitting home at a number of food pantries, including those operated by the Catholic Social Services in the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, said administrators.“We are in short supply everywhere, and in some places there is no supply,” said Amy […]

The lives of the saints prove that holiness is not an unreachable goal accomplished by a select few but comes from acknowledging and sharing God’s love, Pope Francis said.“Our Christian lives begin not with doctrine and good works, but with the amazement born of realizing that we are […]

When the small, wiry priest with white hair and glasses walked the sidewalks and alleyways near St. Aloysius Church in Washington, D.C., the residents there knew his name: Father Horace McKenna. The Jesuit priest was known for giving the money in his pockets to the poor people he met, and visiting […]

Pope Francis will meet members of Canada’s Indigenous communities in late July, visiting the cities of Edmonton, Quebec and Iqaluit in Nunavut, the country’s most northern region.“Accepting the invitation of the civil and ecclesiastical authorities and the Indigenous […]

Cardinal Joseph Zen, retired bishop of Hong Kong, reassured Catholics he is fine after being detained and held by national security police for his support of anti-government protesters.“I have spoken with Cardinal Zen,” Hong Kong Bishop Stephen Chow Sau-yan wrote on his […]

Hundreds of Asian and Pacific Island Catholics celebrated a prayerful, solemn afternoon during their 19th annual Marian Pilgrimage to the Basilica of the National Shrine of Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C. on May 7, 2022. Catholic communities from Bangladesh, Burma, Cambodia, Chamorro, […]

After the U.S. Senate failed May 11 to advance a “radical” abortion bill, the chairmen of two U.S. bishops’ committees urged Congress “to stop pushing abortion as the solution to needs of women and young girls” and “embrace” public policy initiatives that […]

Readings for the Fifth Sunday of EasterActs 14:21-27 Psalm 145: 8-13 Revelation 21:1-5 John 13:31-35The award-winning movie, “The Mission,” tells the compelling story of two Jesuit missionaries, Rodrigo Mendoza, a former slave trader, and Father Gabriel, who live with the […]

Q. I grew up in a Protestant Church but converted to Catholicism. Sometimes it seems to me that Catholics give a lot less money to their Churches than Protestants do. On the other hand, Catholics do seem to give a lot to charities overall. Just in our own town, there is a Catholic hospital, several […]

Our Holy Father Pope Francis has given great emphasis to the importance of listening during the synodal process underway in the universal Church. He teaches that to be an effective teaching Church (“ecclesia docens”) we must also be a learning Church (“ecclesia discens”); […]

Pope Francis said he is convinced God is calling his peers – older Catholics – to become “artisans of the revolution of tenderness.”Through their gifts, wisdom, relationships and power of prayer, “together we can set the world free from the specter of loneliness and […]

After a long pandemic pause, Pope Francis is scheduled to celebrate a Mass May 15 for the canonization of 10 men and women: five from Italy, three from France, one from India and one from the Netherlands.The last canonization ceremony was celebrated Oct. 13, 2019, and included St. John Henry […]

Dr. Gianna Emanuela Molla, a pediatrician and daughter of Italian St. Gianna Beretta Molla, plans to open an international pilgrimage site and center in Springfield, Illinois to help spread knowledge of and devotion to her parents and promote marriage and family life.“I learned from my saint […]

Biden administration officials issued a statement against violence May 9 following protests outside the homes of two Supreme Court justices in the Washington area as well as a spate of vandalism and disruptions targeting locales of groups that oppose abortion. Some of them include Catholic […]

After the Supreme Court ruled that Boston violated the free speech rights of a Christian group to fly its flag at City Hall, another group, The Satanic Temple, has requested permission to fly a flag outside the city building.The mayor’s office of the Boston has not commented on the […]

Cardinal Gregory led pupils at Mary of Nazareth School in Darnestown, Maryland in a May 6 First Friday Mass and crowning of Mary of Nazareth. To honor Jesus's mother, students and staff at the school sang Marian hymns with the choir, including "Immaculate Mary" and "Be Joyful, Mary."The Mass, which […]

Pope Francis’s secretary of state reaffirmed the pope’s offer to go to Moscow personally to try to convince President Vladimir Putin to stop his war on Ukraine but said the Kremlin had yet to respond.Cardinal Pietro Parolin, secretary of state, told reporters late May 4, “There […]

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops announced to staff May 4 a dramatic reorganization of its communications department, including the closure of the Washington and New York offices of Catholic News Service.In meetings with newsroom staff, James Rogers, the chief communications officer of the […]