News - April 2017 RSS Feed

REGENSBURG, Germany – Amid rising social unrest and an influx of Mideast migrants, German authorities – including Catholic Church officials – are facing criticism from ordinary people who believe their concerns are being ignored.

FREMONT – Almost a year ago, Pope Francis was asked if he would establish an official commission to study the question of whether women could be admitted to the diaconate.

My guess is that Gabrielle O’Neil is someone you’d be glad to have in charge of any ministry and none better than youth ministry. Gabrielle, an attorney and graduate of St. Robert School, San Bruno and Notre Dame High School. Belmont, has been junior high and high school youth minister at St. Dunstan Parish, Millbrae since 2015.

The April 5 Catholic San Francisco included a front-page article suggesting church leadership is a joint effort (“Church leadership a joint effort”).

What a shock and disappointment to see Jerry Heckert’s letter (“Shocking photo,” March 23).

Thank you for including my letter asking about the plans for the seminary in the issue for April 6. I worked many years there in the archives and the library, and because of the recent turbulence, I am concerned about its future.

Henry Louis (H.L.) Mencken was a popular American writer and critic during the first half of the 20th century. Born and raised in Baltimore in a prosperous German family, Mencken began his career as a journalist in the Baltimore newspaper but gained national prominence as an author, book reviewer, magazine editor, and as a critic of American life and democracy, amazingly so because he was largely self-educated.

In recent decades the forced movement of refugees and internally displaced persons has been rising markedly, reaching 67 million displaced people today. This is higher than at any time since World War II.

Helping those who have broken away from the Catholic Church come back into full communion is a noble endeavor. But such reconciliations cannot be conducted as if they were the ecclesiastical equivalent of labor negotiations: You give a bit here, we’ll give a bit there.

Patients who face serious illnesses are sometimes attracted to alternative medicines, also referred to as “holistic” or “new age” medicines. These can include treatments like homeopathy, hypnosis, “energy therapies” like Reiki, acupuncture, and herbal remedies, to name just a few.

The heart has its reasons, says Pascal, and sometimes those reasons have a long history.

St. Raymond School will be highlighted in a national video by Autodesk for its use of a professional level computer-aided design software – because it is the first elementary school in the nation to tackle the high-level software.

Joan McGrath, University of San Francisco MA ’69, and her husband Robert have donated $10 million to USF to expand scholarships for Catholic school teaching programs at USF’s School of Education, create a new multidisciplinary student leadership institute and endow scholarships for undergraduate students to enroll in international immersion opportunities, USF announced April 13.

Sandra Jimenez, a teacher at St. Peter Catholic School in San Francisco’s Mission District, will serve as the school’s next principal starting in August, the school announced April 12.

The Easter Vigil is the turning point of the Triduum, the Passover of the new covenant, which marks Christ’s passage from death to life.

Career-minded young Catholic men and women in San Francisco who want to live Gospel values at work and share them with others will soon find support for both their professional and spiritual aspirations through an organization called Young Catholic Professionals.

The Sisters of the Good Shepherd, an international order with a legacy of offering healing support to women and girls who have been abused or exploited, is celebrating 85 years in San Francisco this year.

Dominican Sister Mary of the Compassion celebrated her 100th birthday April 20 with her community of cloistered Dominican Sisters of Corpus Christi Monastery, Menlo Park.

Her writing experience was limited to a lifetime of scribbles on classroom blackboards as a Catholic elementary school teacher. But that didn’t stop retired San Rafael Dominican Sister Gloria Montanez from authoring her first book this year at the age of 79.