catholicsentinel.org

Real Presence: What do Catholics believe and how the church can respond

Do Catholics believe that the Eucharist is truly the body and blood of Christ? A Pew Research Center survey released Aug. 5 found that nearly 70% of Catholics believe that the bread and wine used for Communion during Mass are "symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ," while about 30% believe that the bread and wine "actually become" Christ's body and blood.
Appeals court upholds Cardinal Pell conviction on abuse charges

MELBOURNE, Australia — An Australian appeals court upheld the conviction of Cardinal George Pell on five counts of sexually assaulting two choirboys more than two decades ago.
Myanmar fighting forces people to take shelter at churches, monasteries

MANDALAY, Myanmar — About 1,000 people fled their homes and took refuge at religious sites as renewed fighting erupted in Myanmar's Shan state.
Sustainable land use urged to ease growing threats to food, water

WASHINGTON — Leading five seminarians on an eight-week summer service program largely through Appalachia and South America, Conventual Franciscan Father Michael Lasky saw a new awareness rising in the young men's minds.
'You cannot be a Catholic and sit on the sidelines'

WASHINGTON — In a crowded bar, bustling with young adult Catholics from the Washington area for the monthly Theology on Tap, Archbishop Wilton D. Gregory shared his pain over what this archdiocese suffered in the past year due to priestly abuse scandals, and encouraged the young adults to turn to the Eucharist as a source of healing.
Yearlong 'window' in New York statute of limitations on abuse suits opens

ALBANY, N.Y. — New York state's yearlong "window" in the statute of limitations opened Aug. 14, allowing suits to be file by victims alleging abuse by priests, church workers and employees of public schools, hospitals and other institutions no matter how long ago the alleged abuse occurred.
Final public Mass, tears mark closing of Poor Clare monastery in Memphis

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Concealed behind tall brick walls and strong iron gates in a struggling Memphis neighborhood, nuns have been quietly praying for the city and its people since 1932.
Opinion on abortion's legality unchanged; some shifting within groups

WASHINGTON — While a survey of more than 54,000 Americans showed little change in their attitudes between 2014 and 2018 on the legality of abortion, researchers detected movement in many demographic groups, Catholics included.
El Paso priest: Faith there 'in darkest moments'

WASHINGTON — In upcoming days, Father Fabian Marquez plans to attend 17 funerals. He will officiate one and attend the other 16, including one in Chihuahua City in Mexico.
Catholic Extension announces aid for families of deported breadwinners

CHICAGO — Catholic Extension will be helping families left without their main financial supporter in Mississippi, where families lost their breadwinner after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement carried out massive raids Aug. 7.
Dayton Catholics see need to spur action from mass shooting

Nick Cardilino thought he understood solidarity and the human family. Then he woke up to the news Aug. 4 of the mass shooting at a bar in Dayton's Oregon District and remembered that his son had been a few blocks away, at a baseball game, the night before.
Mumbai Catholics open churches for thousands stranded by flooding

NEW DELHI — Catholic churches and institutions in flood-hit Mumbai opened their doors to accommodate thousands of people stranded in the city by heavy rain and flooded streets.
Pope Francis joins prayers for victims of bloody weekend in U.S.

WASHINGTON — Pope Francis joined Catholic Church leaders expressing sorrow after back-to-back mass shootings in the United States left at least 29 dead and dozens injured in Texas and Ohio on Aug. 3 and 4.
Apollo 11 flight director: Faith, family marked me

HOUSTON — Gene Kranz, NASA flight director during the 1969 landing of the first man on the moon, spoke about faith and family to more than 1,000 attending the Galveston Houston Archdiocesan Prayer Breakfast July 30.
Thousands of Philippine Catholics march to defend church leaders

MANILA, Philippines — Catholics in a northern Philippines archdiocese marched in support of church leaders accused of conspiring to overthrow President Rodrigo Duterte.
Hearts 'heavy with sadness' over shooting at festival, bishop says

GILROY, Calif. — Hundreds gathered late July 29 at St. Mary's Church for a bilingual prayer service, invited by Gilroy's Catholic community "to come together and pray for all those affected by the senseless tragedy."
Cuban Cardinal, longtime voice of Cuba's poor, dies at 82

VATICAN CITY — A proud Cuban who pressed for greater freedom for his church and for an end to the U.S. embargo on his homeland, Cardinal Jaime Ortega Alamino, retired archbishop of Havana, died July 26 at the age of 82.
Puerto Rican bishops call for peace, harmony after governor's resignation

VATICAN CITY — In the wake of the historic resignation of Puerto Rican Governor Ricardo Rossello, the people of the Caribbean island must continue to maintain their unity to overcome the social ills that led to the crisis, the Puerto Rican bishops' conference said.
Catholic leaders object to reinstatement of federal death penalty

WASHINGTON — The July 25 announcement by the Justice Department that it is reinstating the federal death penalty for the first time in 16 years was unwelcome news for Catholic leaders who have advocated against capital punishment.
New cathedral hailed as important Catholic building

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. — Tim Strader believes Christ Cathedral of the Diocese of Orange "will become the most important Catholic cathedral in the United States, other than St. Patrick's" in New York.
Puerto Rican governor's actions set off 'time bomb,' bishop says

VATICAN CITY — The president of the Puerto Rican bishops' conference said the actions of Gov. Ricardo Rossello and his administration were the final straw for residents of the U.S. commonwealth who have suffered through years of financial mismanagement, corruption and the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Maria.
Faith is no trick up this magician's sleeve

WASHINGTON — For Giancarlo Bernini, a recent graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, things are not always as they appear and that's a good thing because it is how he plans to make a living.
Catholics put focus on immigrant children with rally, civil disobedience

WASHINGTON — A few hundred Catholic activists, including dozens of women religious, gathered outside at the foot of the U.S. Capitol July 18 urging politicians to stop its "inhumane treatment" of immigrant children at the border and reminding people of faith to take a stronger stand against current U.S. border policies.
Congolese church leaders urge international help to contain Ebola

OXFORD, England — Catholic representatives in Congo have urged international action to contain Ebola, after an epidemic in the country's eastern provinces was declared an emergency by the World Health Organization.
Philippine bishops call for 'ecological conversion' amid climate crisis

MANILA, Philippines — Catholic bishops in the Philippines criticized "the continuing destruction of our common home" and called for "ecological conversion" amid "climate emergency."
When Islamic State came, Iraqi monks had just finished hiding manuscripts

BEIRUT — The first time a band of Islamic State militants "visited" the monks, they presented the monks with a kind of suggestion, in a nonthreatening manner: "Why don't you become a Muslim?"
WATCH: In Amazon towns, church workers help indigenous keep languages alive

ST. IGNATIUS, Guyana — In an open-sided circular building beside the Catholic chapel in this Amerindian village, Scarboro Father Ron MacDonell was explaining how the tongue, the teeth and the vocal cords work together to produce sounds.
Plan to change how inflation is measured concerns advocates for poor

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is weighing a plan that uses a different definition of inflation to determine who lives in poverty and who does not. The plan, floated in the spring, has raised concerns among Catholic advocates for low-income and working families. They said that hundreds of thousands of people would no longer be eligible to receive assistance under federal programs if it is adopted.
Conference celebrates African American Catholics' gifts to liturgy, ministry

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — Just before the July 6 closing Mass for the Archbishop Lyke Conference that seeks to enrich liturgies and ministries and promote evangelization at parishes serving Black Catholics, Andrew Lyke reflected on the legacy of his late uncle for whom the conference was named.
Bishop calls for prayers after pair of quakes rattle Californians

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — Bishop Gerald R. Barnes of San Bernardino asked for prayers for those who were put in harm's way by a pair of earthquakes that struck California on consecutive days in early July.
Lavelle's Catholic alma mater cheers her goals, team's World Cup victory

WASHINGTON — Rose Lavelle skyrocketed from a star player, loping across the soccer fields at her Catholic girls high school in Cincinnati, to a superstar, scoring three goals for the U.S. women's team at the World Cup and winning the Bronze Ball as the third-best player in the tournament.
Mom says miracle in Sheen cause that saved her son a gift to whole church

PEORIA, Ill. — As Bonn