I have just completed one of the most extraordinary weeks of my life.

For the past eight days, I participated in World Youth Day in Madrid, a gathering of some 1.5 million Catholic young people with Pope Benedict XVI.  I met enthusiastic teen and 20-something Catholics from the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Netherlands, Sweden, Nigeria, England, Australia, New Zealand, China, the Philippines, India, Denmark and many other countries.

The universality of the Church has never been, for me anyway, on fuller and more thrilling display. My Word on Fire team and I were especially encouraged to see so concretely the outreach that the Internet and the new media provide. To hear, over and...READ MORE

WASHINGTON (CNA) — Churches in the Archdioceses of Baltimore and Washington suffered some damage in the Aug. 23 earthquake that shook the northeastern United States. The oldest church in the Archdiocese of Baltimore will be closed for repairs for at least several weeks.

St. Patrick Catholic Church in Baltimore’s Fells Point neighborhood has been deemed unsafe. Its steeple was badly damaged. Several concrete parts of it fell, and one piece gouged the sidewalk.

Archbishop Edwin O’Brien of Baltimore visited the church on the morning of Aug. 24 and reviewed the damage with parish administrator Father Robert Wojtek.

“We thank the Lord that no one was injured,” Archbishop O’Brien told The...READ MORE

CASTEL GANDOLFO, Italy (EWTN News/CNA) — Pope Benedict XVI has unveiled the theme for the next international World Youth Day to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 2013.

“The motto will be the command of Jesus: ‘Go and make disciples of all peoples.’ Even now I entrust to the prayers of all the preparation of these very important appointments,” said the Pope in his Aug. 24 general audience at the papal summer residence of Castel Gandolfo.

The theme is drawn from the resurrected Christ’s commission to his disciples, as chronicled in the Gospel of Matthew.

The Pope also unveiled the theme for next year’s World Youth Day, which will be held locally in the individual dioceses across the...READ MORE

Do the lives of the Church’s saints still make an impression on teens?

According to Eddie Cotter Jr., founder of the Dead Theologian Society, the answer is an emphatic “Yes.”

“I believe that young people are interested in the lives of the saints now more than ever. Partly because most are so unfamiliar to them, and it’s an entirely new discovery. It is literally like they have just discovered a gold mine,” says Cotter.

Cotter should know. Since 1997, he has witnessed thousands of high-school lives changed through the Dead Theologian Society’s (DTS) program. At the heart of this parish-based youth ministry is a mission to inspire the youth of today to become the saints of tomorrow.

“Our young...READ MORE

The Pope’s Five Essential Keys to Youth Ministry - Amy Welborn, Headline Bistro

Book Review: “Catholicism: A Journey To The Heart Of The Faith” by Fr. Robert Barron - Brandon Vogt, The Thin Veil

Fertility Monitoring Software is Natural Family Planning’s New Face - Kevin J. Jones, Catholic News Agency

After Madrid, How Benedict Has Improved World Youth Day - Sandro Magister, Chiesa

. . . Thomas Peters: WYD Pumped Over $230,000,000 into Spain’s Economy . . .

. . . Fr. Dwight Longenecker: Richard Dawkins’ Rage at World Youth Day . . .

The Spanish Civil War: Sadly, Still Relevant - Donald R. McClarey, The American Catholic

Freedom! - Andrew & Cristina, VirtuousPla.net

Among the...READ MORE

Navigating the Teen Years - Celeste Behe, Integrated Catholic Life™

The Most Important Thing I will ever Write on this Blog - Fr. John Zuhlsdorf, What Does The Prayer Really Say?

On the Friendship and Fellowship of Women - Sarah, Fumbling Toward Grace

The Changing Forms of Music Delivery - Jeffrey A. Tucker, The Chant Café

Why Did Jesus Build His Own Church & Reflections on Mt. 16 - Joe Heschmeyer, Shameless Popery

Thinking in Church and with the Church - Randall Smith, The Catholic Thing

The Significance of Sidereus Nuncius: Part I, Part II - Stacy Trasancos PhD, Accepting Abundance

In Defense of my Mother - Brett Adams, Ship of St. Peter

Distributism as a Way of Life - Brian...READ MORE

Linda Couri of Libertyville, Ill., 42, is a Catholic wife and mother who works hard to maintain a deep prayer life, and strongly supports the Church’s teachings on the gospel of life. She serves as the director of lay ministry for the Archdiocese of Chicago.

It’s hard to believe that, just a decade ago, Couri was agnostic and contemptuous of Catholicism — and was a staunch advocate of legalized abortion who worked as a volunteer and employee for Planned Parenthood. In fact, she herself once had an abortion.

“I’ve come a long way,” Couri acknowledged. “And God has supported me through this process.”

Couri was born in Chicago and attended Catholic schools. She stopped going to Mass when...READ MORE

WASHINGTON (CNA) — A leading human-rights advocate in the U.S. House of Representatives says Vice President Joe Biden betrayed Chinese women and children by saying he “fully understood” the country’s one-child policy and was not “second guessing” it.

“The one child-per-couple policy is cruel, inhumane and the most egregious systematic attack on women ever,” said Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., on Aug. 23. “For the vice president to publicly state that he fully understands the one-child policy is unconscionable.”

“He and all of us should be defending the women of China from this state-sponsored cruelty of forced abortion and forced sterilization, not supporting and enabling it.”

Biden made the...READ MORE