Iraqis hope papal visit can help unify country's diverse communities
- Mar 2, 2021
In a “monumental shift” in church funding, parishes across the United States have started using Faith Direct, an e-giving service that allows parishioners to contribute to their church through offertory gifts online. In June the company celebrated the transaction of a total of $1 billion in donations since its founding.
In a small town in Nebraska, two Catholic parishes, one traditionally Czech and the other German, were traditionally rivals, but today they’re thriving in part because they’ve learned to cooperate. “People just had to get along,” a parishioner said. “There wasn’t a whole lot they could do about it. So we did.”
A tornado on April 29 destroyed the parish church of St. John the Evangelist in Emory, Texas. The next day, they held Mass in the parish parking lot with 200 people attending. They offered it in thanksgiving that nobody in the parish was seriously injured.
A young widow in Bombay, Corinne Rodrigues, did not let the hardships of life overtake her. Through her faith, grace and strength Rodrigues built a wide scale movement for widows, administered to the needy and faced an earthquake…all while raising three boys.
In his first visit to a Roman parish since posters went up around town on Feb. 4 charging that the pontiff lacks mercy, Pope Francis on Sunday insisted that pursuing a vendetta and talking behind people’s backs “is not Christian,” urging believers to pray for people who don’t like them.
A pastor in northwestern Italy asked his parish to vote on taking in a migrant family, and the result was an overwhelming “no.” The local bishop slammed the decision, saying, “These Christians go to Mass, but they don’t know anything about Jesus Christ.”