Fact or fiction? Nine popular myths about Our Lady of Guadalupe

In the 500 years since Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared, the image of Our Lady has become the subject of several popular myths and legends, especially in Mexico, where she appeared.
Students kept safe in N.J. Catholic school during nearby gun battle

JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Sacred Heart Catholic School in Jersey City remained closed Dec. 11, the day after gun battle involving two men around a kosher supermarket across the street from the school.
Bringing parishioners together

SPRINGFIELD — For years the first item on every pastoral council meeting at St. Alice Parish was unity. “We’re in danger of being two parishes in one building,” longtime council member Mike Whitney remembers hearing time and again. The concern was mirrored across both the English-speaking and the Spanish-speaking communities of parishioners.
DC basilica attack leaves 'Mary's Shrine' shaken, and at prayer

WASHINGTON — A violent attack at “Mary’s Shrine” in the nation’s capital Dec. 10 shook the community and prompted prayer and solidarity among staff and regular attendees.
Court won't take case on law requiring ultrasound before abortion

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Supreme Court Dec. 9 declined to take up a challenge to a Kentucky ultrasound law that requires a physician or qualified technician to perform an ultrasound on a woman seeking an abortion and show the screen images to her.

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Local

WATCH: Archbishop tells Vincentians: ‘Be the face of Christ’

TIGARD — Earlier in the day, Cyndi Kelly of St. Henry Parish in Gresham had paid a hotel bill for a woman just out of surgery. That evening, Kelly was one of about 300 members of the St. Vincent de Paul Society who gathered for Mass and dinner at St. Anthony Parish here to mark the society’s 150 years in Portland.

That’s life in St. Vincent de Paul — mercy, prayer and community.

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Six fall championships for Catholic schools

Oregon Catholic high schools earned a half dozen state titles in fall sports, from the gridiron to the volleyball court to muddy cross country trails.
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Parish and School

New church gets new windows

GRANTS PASS — The new church building at St. Anne Parish here was dedicated and blessed but the community is still working hard to beautify the house of worship.

Pope Francis and Vatican

Go to confession, let yourself be consoled, pope says

VATICAN CITY — Anyone who wants to experience the consolation and tenderness of God simply needs to go to confession, Pope Francis said at his morning Mass.

Living Faith

Grand hopes for Guadalupe

María Del Carmen Tapia remembers Dec. 11 during her childhood in Veracruz, Mexico. Late on the eve of the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, she and her family would go to church and stay into the wee hours praying and singing enthusiastically to their beloved virgin.

Nation and World

Fact or fiction? Nine popular myths about Our Lady of Guadalupe

In the 500 years since Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared, the image of Our Lady has become the subject of several popular myths and legends, especially in Mexico, where she appeared.

Arts and Entertainment

Love and Mercy: Faustina

NEW YORK (CNS) — During Advent, Catholics are invited to look for ways to prepare spiritually for the coming of Christ at Christmas. Experiencing the gentleness of God through learning more about St. Faustina and the devotion to the Divine Mercy might just be the perfect way to do so.

Viewpoints

Finding reason to hope amid the pessimism

My father-in-law, Joseph, was a wonderful guy. An immigrant who passionately loved America, he was hardworking, honest and thrifty. He had a laborer’s hands but a poet’s mind. Joseph had seen enough of life, however, to make him a bit jaundiced about human nature.

Archbishop tells Vincentians: ‘Be the face of Christ’

TIGARD — Earlier in the day, Cyndi Kelly of St. Henry Parish in Gresham had paid a hotel bill for a woman just out of surgery.

Oregon woman shares her journey from spiritual crisis to consecrated virginity

In one of the oldest rites of the church, Miriam Marston will be consecrated to God — “mystically espoused to Christ and dedicated to the service of the church,” according to the Code of Canon Law.

Friday night at the monastery

Monthly young adult evening retreats at Mount Angel Abbey include prayer, monastic hospitality, learning about faith and sips of Benedictine brew

Music on the hilltop

ST. BENEDICT — In Damian Hall at the seminary here, Myrna Keough leads Deacon Raymond Philip Napuli through a practice of a Gregorian chant, Ave Verum Corpus. Keough sits at her piano tapping out the notes and reassessing the key in which the chant should be sung at the upcoming Mass of candidacy. Napuli stands behind her, gripping the sides of his music stand, gently following along with the music. He will chant the music with the rest of the seminary choir in a few short weeks.

Archbishop Sample ordains three men to the diaconate

‘For the service of the word of God, for the service of the altar and for the service of charity’

Archbishop Sample's Column

What is ‘evangelization’?

Most Rev. Alexander Sample

We hear a lot these days in the Church about evangelization. Pope St. John Paul II first introduced us to the idea that we need a “new evangelization” in our time, but many don’t know that Pope St. Paul VI had himself already spoken much about evangelization, especially in his Apostolic Exhortation, “Evangelii Nuntiandi” (1975). And of course Pope Francis speaks forcefully about the need for evangelization, emphasizing the call for each of us to become “missionary disciples.”