Articles by Kevin J. Jones
With joy and hope, growing Norbertine abbey to launch new community in Illinois
Mar 9, 2022 / 10:35 amThe Norbertines’ St. Michael’s Abbey in Orange County, California, has seen major growth in recent years, and that growth will continue in Illinois. Plans are underway to establish a new community in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois that will include a new center for Catholic spirituality and the formation of teachers of Catholic religion.
Despite new law allowing hospital clergy visits, some Arizona patients can still face difficulties
Mar 4, 2022 / 16:00 pmA new Arizona law strengthened the ability of hospital patients to receive clergy visitors, but reports that some patients still face problems accessing clergy have prompted action from the legislator who sponsored the law.
Give Ukrainians temporary immigration protections, senators ask Biden
Mar 1, 2022 / 17:00 pmThe Russian invasion of Ukraine means that Ukrainians in the United States deserve temporary protected status under federal immigration law, 39 U.S. senators said in a Monday letter to President Joe Biden.
El Salvador ex-president and others face charges for 1989 murders of Jesuits
Mar 1, 2022 / 10:17 amFormer El Salvador president Alfredo Cristiani and a dozen others, including former military officers, now face charges related to the 1989 massacre of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper, and her daughter at the Central American University in San Salvador, prosecutors announced Friday.
Vandalism, arson hits Catholic churches, cemeteries, and schools across US
Feb 25, 2022 / 18:00 pmRecent weeks witnessed acts of vandalism at Catholic churches and cemeteries across the U.S. While some of the alleged perpetrators were young boys or possibly mentally ill men, police are still investigating several cases of serious damage, including arson at a Catholic school in Ohio.
Black Catholic journalist Daniel Rudd was born a slave. He left a legacy.
Feb 25, 2022 / 16:00 pmIn the wake of the American Civil War, the former slave Daniel Rudd launched a newspaper that sought to inform his readers, advance racial equality, and convert the world to his Catholic faith.
England temporarily extends at-home medical abortion pandemic policy
Feb 25, 2022 / 15:00 pmPro-life critics voiced disappointment after England’s health authority gave a six-month extension to a temporary policy that allows women to self-administer both doses of abortion drugs at home, without visiting a medical clinic.
Pope Francis joins college students of the Americas to talk about migration
Feb 25, 2022 / 11:00 amPope Francis spoke with college students from the Americas on Thursday, listening to their thoughts on migration and the situation of migrants and emphasizing the need for everyone to build bridges between the global north and south.
This Catholic doctor lost everything in the Nagasaki bombing. Except faith, hope, and love.
Feb 22, 2022 / 15:18 pmDr. Takashi Nagai’s work to help survivors of the Nagasaki atomic bombing and to console his devastated Japanese Catholic community is an unusual example of life-giving love and faith amid desolation and death, various speakers said at the New York Encounter on Sunday.
Why turn the other cheek? To defeat hatred and evil, Pope Francis says
Feb 20, 2022 / 08:22 am“Turning the other cheek is not the loser’s fallback, but the action of those who have greater inner strength...”
Embezzlement from children's non-profit means prison time for ex-CEO
Feb 17, 2022 / 14:27 pmA former executive of a historically Catholic Michigan non-profit that serves neglected children and young adults has been sentenced to prison and must pay restitution after pleading guilty on a charge related to his embezzlement of almost $250,000 in funds.
Invalid baptisms: A Catholic explainer about the facts and the fears
Feb 11, 2022 / 17:19 pmBaptism involves a simple formula: “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and too he Holy Spirit.” The celebrant pours water on the head of the baptized, or immerses them in water. Usually, Catholic clergy are responsible for baptisms. But anybody can baptize in an emergency, as in cases where a prospective Christian, even an infant, is in imminent danger of death.
Biden rule funding clinics that refer for abortion can continue, federal court says
Feb 9, 2022 / 16:00 pmThough 12 states have filed a legal challenge to a Biden administration rule that allows clinics that refer for abortions to receive federal family planning funds, a federal court has said the rule can stay in place pending the outcome of the lawsuit.
Fired nurse practitioner charges CVS Pharmacy with religious discrimination
Feb 8, 2022 / 17:20 pmA Christian nurse practitioner formerly employed at a CVS Pharmacy in Texas has filed a discrimination complaint, saying that the company illegally discriminated against her on the basis of her religious beliefs against contraception and pressured her to change her beliefs.
Phoenix priest who botched baptisms for decades apologizes, seeks to make amends
Feb 7, 2022 / 17:22 pmA Catholic priest in Phoenix has apologized, asked forgiveness, and resigned as parish pastor after a determination that he had failed to baptize validly over his two decades of priestly service in Brazil, the Diocese of San Diego, and the Diocese of Phoenix.
Retired Anglican bishop Peter Forster becomes Catholic, news report confirms
Feb 4, 2022 / 17:00 pmPeter Forster, a former Anglican Bishop of Chester, was received into the Catholic Church in Scotland last year, a Church of England news site has reported. He is the third leading Church of England clergyman to become Catholic in the last year.
What did Pope Francis say about sinners, baptism and the communion of saints?
Feb 3, 2022 / 17:20 pmAny talk about apostates and former Catholics who persecute the Church is bound to grab attention, and Pope Francis’ Wednesday audience drew a reaction from some who wondered whether he had intentionally included the damned in the communion of saints.
Never lose amazement at God's wonders, Pope Francis tells consecrated religious
Feb 2, 2022 / 16:41 pmThe amazed joy of Simeon and Anna at encountering and embracing Christ at the Temple is a virtue that consecrated religious should remember and imitate, the pope said in a homily addressed to religious brothers and sisters.
Questions in community: New York Encounter seeks truth in a changing world
Feb 2, 2022 / 13:00 pmThe search for truth in a polarized, pandemic-struck world will be the focus of myriad conversation and artistic events at this year’s New York Encounter, held later this month in New York City.
Bloody Sunday anniversary a time to remember, and forgive, Derry bishop says
Jan 28, 2022 / 17:00 pmFifty years ago, the Bloody Sunday massacre resulted in many reactions: lies, anger, and a misplaced desire to forget the past, Bishop Donal McKeown of Derry said Friday. But only truth, remembrance, compassion, and forgiveness, through the grace of God, can overcome the legacy of the atrocity and other traumas in Northern Ireland.