Gregorious III Laham has been patriarch of the Melkite Catholic Church since 2000. A native of Syria, his official title is Patriarch of Antioch and All the East, of Alexandria and of Jerusalem.

In opening the annual synod of the Melkite Church taking place in Lebanon the week of June 20, the Patriarch called for prayer and fasting on the feast of Corpus Christi, June 23, for the situation in Syria, especially for Syria’s Christians. A champion of dialogue, the Patriarch also called for the organization of a national conference bringing together political and religious leaders in Lebanon.

He spoke with Doreen Abi Raad from the patriarchal residence in Rabweh, Lebanon.

Shortly after...READ MORE

For Archishop Fulton Sheen’s Thoughts on Vatican II - Frank Weathers, Why I Am Catholic

How the Sea Can Help You Pray - Peter Kreeft

Feast of Corpus Christi - Kate Edwards, Australia Incognita

Optimism in Egypt Over Building Churches - Catholic Lane

. . .CNA: Egypt could lift burdens on building new Churches. . .

Introducing the 2011 Novitiate Class of Dominicans! - Father Benedict Croell O.P., Ordo Fratrum Prædicatorum

On Blogs & the Meaning of Marriage - Father Robert John Araujo S.J., Mirror of Justice

Ten Events I Would Like to See in the Catholic Church - Richard Collins, Linen on the Hedgerow

Moral Sense and Unequal Exchange - DarwinCatholic

Generic Story About the Growing...READ MORE

ROME (CNA/EWTN News) — Cardinal Raymond Burke spoke with CNA about the inspiration he draws from the life and work of St. Thomas More, the patron of lawyers, whose feast day is June 22.

“I’ve always found him a font of courage,” said Cardinal Burke, prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura in Rome, the Vatican’s highest court.

“Oftentimes as a Christian — and especially as a priest or bishop — one is tempted by pressures to conform to society’s expectations instead of modeling oneself on the expectations of Our Lord.

“So St. Thomas More is really the example of how we need to — if we really want to do what is good and right — act according to Our Lord’s way and not...READ MORE

Bloggers & Church Should Learn from Each Other - Diane M. Korzeniewski O.C.D.S., Te Deum Laudumas!

Your Online Guide to Understanding the New Roman Missal Translation - Carl Olson, Ignatius Insight Scoop

. . .free copy of Saint Therese of Lisieux book for your e-reader. . .

. . .Jeff Miller: how about Liturgical Wars?. . .

The Enduring Importance of Centesimus Annus - George Weigel, Crisis Magazine

When Keith Olbermann Say Silly Things About the Church - Father John Zuhlsdorf, What Does The Prayer Really Say?

French Revolution: Guillotined Sister Beatified, Refused to Deny Her Faith - Zenit

Social Contracts, Human Flourishing, and the Economy - Samuel Gregg, Public Discourse

In...READ MORE

NEW YORK (CNA) — State Department officials say the United Nation’s first-ever resolution on “sexual orientation and gender identity” represents an international victory for the Obama administration’s policy agenda.

“This is really a paradigmatic example of using the U.N. system to advance one of President Obama’s top policy priorities,” said Suzanne Nossel, deputy assistant secretary of state for international organization affairs, after the resolution’s passage on June 17. “We’ve been able to deliver on broad international support behind an agenda that we have set as a key goal for this administration.”

During the media briefing, the deputy assistant secretary of state for democracy,...READ MORE

WASHINGTON — Last year, a Rutgers University student committed suicide after “friends” live-streamed his sexual encounter with another man. His death prompted a slew of media headlines and surveys charting a rise in “gay bashing,” a trend that homosexual-rights activists blamed, in part, on political and religious opposition to “marriage equality.”

More recently, the “bully” label was applied to the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), after the homosexual-rights group successfully lobbied a top law firm to drop its commitment to defend the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). A Washington Post editorial asserted that HRC “sullies itself and its cause by resorting to bullying tactics,” challenging a...READ MORE

VATICAN CITY (EWTN News/CNA) — The Book of Psalms can teach people how to pray and is the “prayer book ‘par excellence,’” Pope Benedict XVI said in his June 22 audience with pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square.

“These inspired songs teach us how to speak to God, expressing ourselves and the whole range of our human experience with words that God himself has given us,” he said.

The Book of Psalms consists of 150 prayers traditionally ascribed to the authorship of King David.

The Pope explained that a whole range of human emotions are found in the Psalms, ranging from “joy and suffering” to the “fullness of life to fear of dying.”

“In these prayers, the Psalms are manifestations of the soul...READ MORE

The following is Archbishop Chaput’s June 21 address to the Catholic Social Workers Association.

We’re here today — or anyway, we should be here today — because we believe in Jesus Christ. Everything in Catholic social ministry begins and ends with Jesus Christ. If it doesn’t, it isn’t Catholic. And if our social work isn’t deeply, confidently and explicitly Catholic in its identity, then we should stop using the word “Catholic.” It’s that simple.

Faith in Jesus Christ — not as the world likes to imagine him, but the true Son of God as the Catholic Church knows and preaches him — is the only enduring basis for human hope. Real hope has nothing to do with empty political slogans. It has...READ MORE