NEWS

About 700 of the missionaries who were chosen by Pope Francis will be in Rome to receive their special mandate in person during an Ash Wednesday ceremony in St. Peter's Basilica Feb. 10.

It the kids would welcome a creative challenge, consider discussing a pair of art and writing contests with them. Deadlines: Feb. 1 and March 23.

In a world with more than 33,000 Christian denominations, it’s rare to see leaders of several of them gathered in one place to pray for unity. Yet that’s exactly what happened Jan. 20 at St. Apkar Armenian Apostolic Church in Scottsdale. Leaders of the Arizona Faith Network and members of local congregations gathered for a prayer service during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, an international Christian ecumenical event held annually since 1908.

Exactly one month into the calendar year marks the formal closing liturgy at the local level for the Year of Consecrated Life.

Let the Year of Mercy be the time to end all family feuds, to forgive each other and let bygones be bygones, Pope Francis said.

While both men and women are created in God’s image as children of God, they are uniquely different and complement each other. These complementary differences are a gift. But because of this, it’s also important that men and women take advantage of opportunities to seek spiritual fellowship within their genders. In the Diocese of Phoenix, there are two opportunities in February: the Catholic Men’s Conference Feb. 6 and the Catholic Women’s Conference Feb. 20. Both will be held at Xavier College Preparatory.

HOUSTON (CNA/EWTN News) — A Houston grand jury on Monday indicted the leaders behind the undercover videos which exposed Planned Parenthood’s role in offering fetal tissue for compensation. The grand jury had been investigating alleged misconduct by Planned Parenthood.

CEBU, Philippines (CNS) — Los Angeles Auxiliary Bishop Robert Barron said popular culture’s message of individuals being “infinitely right” is “repugnant to (Catholics’) Eucharistic faith.” But he also said Christianity is “running on fumes” as it tries to counter the trend of people leaving the Church or staying away from the Eucharist.

Patty Chesebrough gazes inside the darkened church and stares up at a portrait of the late Fr. John Hanley, the priest who showed her God’s mercy in her darkest hour. It was 1990 and Chesebrough’s husband was pressuring her to have an abortion. She called her parish, St. Theresa at the time, and asked to speak with a priest.

"We treated him with love throughout, even when he wasn’t loving back. That sticks. That is the breach and that is the way it works," Tony Rizzo said.