Health care reform that funds abortion is not ‘common ground’: Chaput Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver pictured in 2008. During an October 17, 2008 speech he called then-Democratic Senator Barack Obama the “most committed abortion rights” candidate to lead a major party’s presidential ticket since the US Supreme Court’s Roe v Wade decision in 1973. ...

Scottish priest who visited bomber in jail glad Megrahi was released.   Lockerbie bomber Abdel Basset al-Megrahi walks towards a waiting plane at Glasgow airport after being released from a Scotland prison on August 20. Photo: CNS/Danny Lawson pool via Reuters.   By Simon Caldwell LONDON (CNS) - A Scottish priest who served at Lockerbie, Scotlan...

St John Eudes. New evangelisation must be more than just a slogan, Pope says.   CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (CNS) - Without well-prepared priests, “the new evangelisation” of society will be just a slogan, Pope Benedict XVI said. “Today we see a need for each priest to be a witness of the infinite mercy of God with a life completely conquered by Christ an...

Iraqi bishops express concern for people after blasts target Baghdad. A resident walks past a destroyed vehicle after a bomb attack outside the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Baghdad on August 19. Two Catholic bishops in Baghdad expressed shock and concern for their people following a series of targeted blasts that killed 95 people and wounded more than 500. Photo: CNS/Bassim Shati...

The tour of an icon that the late Pope John Paul II entrusted to the university students of the world wound up at the University of Western Australia this week.   Fr Armando Carandang, chaplain at the University of WA, with the Seat of Wisdom Icon during public veneration with ECU Joondalup’s Catholic community. Students, staff and friends of the chaplaincy celebrated...

A RECENTLY-formed youth movement that challenges modern standards on sexual integrity has called on the Federal Government to tighten advertising laws and install values-based sex education in schools.   The RISE (restoring integrity and sexual ethics) executive team, Mattew Restall, Jessica Langrell, Daniel Treacy, Judi Limbers, Anthony Goodwin, Bridget Spinks. &n...

Young Sydney woman, Jessica Langrell, a trailblazer for youth purity movement.   Jessica Langrell. Photo: Giovanni Portelli   By Anthony Barich   JESSICA Langrell is a confident, happy student who loves to go surfing. She is also the new face of a youth initiative that is standing up for things that are fast slipping from public consciousness...

Perth bishop expects widespread acceptance.   Above: Priests in the Archdiocese of Perth and Diocese of Bunbury gathered at the Vietnamese Catholic Community Centre in Westminster on August 21 to hear US priest Fr Paul Turner from ICEL talk about the newly translated Missal. Photo: Anthony Barich.   By Anthony Barich   Bishop Donald Sprox...

The next World Youth Day will be an event to remember. Here’s what you need to know to plan your trip, because let’s face it, you really need to be there. Start learning Spanish. Above, top: Pilgrims from Spain cheer at Royal Randwick, Sydney as Pope Benedict XVI names Madrid as the host city of World Youth Day 2011. He made the announcement at the close of World Youth Day in...

Melbourne bioethicist Fr Kevin McGovern is uncertain how he would handle being in Christian Rossiter’s place, but a comparable predicament experienced by his own father helps focus his thoughts. The case of Christian Rossiter reveals the difference between secular ethics which allows people to refuse tube feeding, and Catholic ethics which holds as a general rule that we have ...