Hawaii Catholic Herald

Newspaper of the Diocese of Honolulu

Pope leads Way of the Cross in empty, torch-lit St. Peter’s Square

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By Junno Arocho Esteves Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY — For the first time in his papacy, Pope Francis led the Way of the Cross from St. Peter’s Square rather than Rome’s Colosseum, where it has been held annually for more than five decades. Two rows of torches lit the pathway from the stage set […]

Father Kenneth Doyle: Sacrament by intention (during the coronavirus) and genuflecting or bowing

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QUESTION CORNER Q: I am a recent (fervent) convert to the Catholic Church. I am also a registered nurse and have held many patients as they passed on to eternity. I am concerned over the issue of priests being “barred” from hospitals during the current coronavirus epidemic; I have heard many Catholics bemoan the fact […]

Father Richard G. Malloy, SJ: What do we mean by ‘spiritual Communion’?

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COMMENTARY “Sacraments are those signs that achieve in human hearts and lives what they signify to human minds,” University of Notre Dame theologian Jesuit Father Brian Daley once said. At this time of the coronavirus pandemic, most are unable to receive physically the Eucharist, the sacrament of holy Communion at Mass. Some want to know […]

Vatican approves special ‘Mass in the Time of Pandemic’

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By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY — The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments has approved a special “Mass in the Time of Pandemic” to plead for God’s mercy and gift of strength in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic. The Mass opens with a prayer that God would “look with compassion […]

Across Europe, churches offer empty facilities

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By Jonathan Luxmoore Catholic News Service OXFORD, England (CNS) — Catholic dioceses and religious orders across Europe are offering to turn church facilities into spaces needed for health care or housing during the COVID-19 pandemic. Church leaders throughout Europe have been struggling to maintain Catholic religious devotions during enforced national lockdowns against the coronavirus, but […]

‘Why are you afraid? Have you no faith?’

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Here is the text of the Pope Francis’ extraordinary “Urbi et Orbi” (“To the City and the World”) address delivered Friday, March 27, at St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City. “When evening had come.” The Gospel passage we have just heard begins like this. For weeks now it has been evening. Thick darkness has gathered over […]

COVID-19 is not God’s judgment, but a call to live differently, pope says

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By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The worldwide coronavirus pandemic is not God’s judgment on humanity, but God’s call on people to judge what is most important to them and resolve to act accordingly from now on, Pope Francis said. Addressing God, the pope said that “it is not the time […]

Pope announces extraordinary ‘urbi et orbi’ blessing March 27

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By Cindy Wooden, Catholic News Service VATICAN CITY (CNS) — In response to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, Pope Francis said he will give an extraordinary blessing “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world) at 6 p.m. Rome time March 27. The formal blessing — usually given only immediately after a new pope’s election […]

CORONAVIRUS: No Mass, no offertory: Parish, diocesan, national collections take a hit

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By Mark Pattison, Catholic News Service WASHINGTON (CNS) — One byproduct of canceled Masses is no offertory collection. And a byproduct of no offertory collection is puncture wounds in the budgets of parishes, dioceses and national collections. “It’s a big hit, and it’s gonna hurt,” said Patrick Markey, executive director of the Diocesan Fiscal Management […]