Hawaii Catholic Herald

Newspaper of the Diocese of Honolulu

2014 Vatican news highlights: from family issues to Middle East strife

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Israeli President Shimon Peres, Pope Francis and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas attend an invocation for peace in the Vatican Gardens June 8. (CNS photo/Paul Haring)   VATICAN CITY — Controversy over family issues and the ongoing search for peace in the Middle East dominated Vatican news in 2014. Here are the highlights at a glance: […]

Year in review: 2014 brought a chance at change for millions of immigrants

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A boy waves the American flag Nov. 20 at CASA de Maryland’s Multicultural Center in Hyattsville, Md., after hearing President Barack Obama’s national address on immigration. The year 2014 brought potentially significant changes for millions of people who are in the United States illegally and either arrived here as minors or who have U.S. citizen […]

Pope Francis: Do not be complicit, indifferent to tragedy of exploitation

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VATICAN CITY — When shopping and when interacting with people on city streets, everyone can help fight the evil of modern-day slavery, Pope Francis said in his annual message for the World Day of Peace Jan. 1. “Together with the social responsibility of businesses, there is also the social responsibility of consumers,” the pope said. […]

Pope calls for more ‘integration’ of divorced Catholics, gays

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VATICAN CITY — Pope Francis said that the Catholic Church must consider various ways to integrate the divorced and civilly remarried in the life of the church — not merely allowing them to receive Communion, but letting them serve as eucharistic ministers and godparents — and to make it easier for Catholic families to accept […]

Father Kenneth Doyle: I’ve been asked to scatter ashes

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I’ve been asked to scatter ashes Q: I understand that, as Catholics, if we choose to be cremated our cremains are to be treated with dignity and must be buried or entombed. My husband and I have two family members who have asked us to arrange to have their ashes “scattered.” One is a Catholic, […]

Father William J. Byron, SJ: A father for those who need one

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About 40 years ago I was able to offer pastoral assistance to a young woman who lost her husband, a former student of mine, in a fatal car crash. She was left with a 5-year-old daughter and relatively few friends in Pennsylvania, far from her native Midwestern home. I celebrated the funeral Mass, took care […]

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