Hawaii Catholic Herald

Newspaper of the Diocese of Honolulu

Lithuanian archbishop, murdered by Soviet police, beatified in Vilnius

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By Catholic News Service VILNIUS, Lithuania — A Catholic archbishop who was murdered by Soviet police to prevent him attending the Second Vatican Council became the first communist-era martyr beatified in Lithuania. “Long, hard years of prison, labor camp and house arrest may have gradually impoverished this strong, courageous witness of the Gospel, but persecution […]

Philippine religious superiors call for end to martial law in Mindanao

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By Catholic News Service MANILA, Philippines — The Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines called for an end to martial law in Mindanao, saying that it is “not the proper response to terrorist attacks in just one city on a vast island.” “The declaration of martial law is an extreme measure, and based […]

Sainthood cause for Vietnam War chaplain proceeds

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By Catholic News Service WASHINGTON — A tribunal of the U.S. Archdiocese for the Military Services has wrapped up its nearly four-year inquiry into whether the life of Father Vincent R. Capodanno, a Vietnam War hero and U.S. Navy chaplain, merits consideration for sainthood. Archbishop Timothy P. Broglio, who heads the Washington-based military archdiocese, announced […]

Father Kenneth Doyle: May someone with dementia receive Communion?

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QUESTION CORNER Q: My father is 86 years old and was raised in the Catholic Church. He was considered an intellectual and earned his Ph.D. in philosophy. He became a nonpracticing Catholic and in fact rejected the church, although he had a thirst for justice and continued to treasure the church’s teachings on human rights. […]

Greg Erlandson: What does persecution look like?

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AMID THE FRAY In Terry Gilliam’s 1985 dystopian film “Brazil,” there is a scene where diners at a restaurant casually continue eating their meals while a terrorist bomb explodes nearby, taking out another table of diners. The scene has often come back to me as I look at what our society increasingly accepts as normal. […]

Theologians ask if Luther split had to be a ‘church-dividing’ event

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By Mark Pattison Catholic News Service WASHINGTON — Did the split between Martin Luther and the Catholic Church in 1521 have to be what theologians call a “church-dividing” event? That is the question some theologians and historians are asking in 2017, the 500th anniversary of Luther’s posting of his 95 theses on a church door […]

Bill Dodds: Staying prepared for ‘grief pockets’

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YOUR FAMILY Looking back over the past four years, I can’t pinpoint when or where the scale tipped. When my days became more “not-grieving” than grieving. It wasn’t like the changing of the seasons, knowing that by May the harshness of January would be long gone. There was no predictability. No schedule. No deadline. There […]

Thousands of pilgrims trek to Ugandan shrine to recall 22 martyrs

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By Godfrey Olukya Catholic News Service NAMUGONGO, Uganda — Walking more than 250 miles to keep a religious commitment is the least anyone can expect of Anna Aciro. Aciro, 62, has walked the entire distance from Aru, a village in Congo, to the Uganda Martyrs Basilica and Shrine in Namugongo to honor the memory of […]

Attack on Christians in southern Egypt leaves at least 26 dead

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By Catholic News Service CAIRO — Masked assailants attacked a bus carrying Coptic Orthodox Christians on the way to St. Samuel Monastery in southern Egypt, killing at least 26 people, many of them children, according to the country’s Interior Ministry. “It is too early to say who is behind it, but certainly terrorists, and the […]