Hawaii Catholic Herald

Newspaper of the Diocese of Honolulu

Kidnapped Nigerian students freed in time for Christmas

by

By Fredrick Nzwili OSV News Catholics in northwestern Nigeria celebrated just days before Christmas, as the last group of students kidnapped from St. Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri were freed by their captors. Church officials confirmed that the remaining 130 students were released Dec. 21, ending a monthlong ordeal that began when more than 300 […]

Austin bishop is named leader of subcommittee focused on racial justice

by

By Gina Christian OSV News The U.S. bishops have named Bishop Daniel E. Garcia of Austin, Texas, as the first chairman of their Subcommittee for the Promotion of Racial Justice and Reconciliation. The news was announced by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in a Nov. 20 media release. Bishop Garcia was appointed by Archbishop […]

Federal policy shift targets funding for housing programs

by

By Kurt Jensen OSV News WASHINGTON — The Trump administration has issued plans for a complete turnaround in homelessness policy, which involves a two-thirds reduction in current funding used to place people experiencing homelessness in permanent dwellings. Nationally, it could make as many as 170,000 people — all either disabled, suffering from drug addiction, mental […]

Bishops approve pastoral message on immigration

by

OSV News BALTIMORE — The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops approved a “special pastoral message on immigration” Nov. 12, voicing “our concern here for immigrants” at their annual fall plenary assembly in Baltimore. The statement came as a growing number of bishops have acknowledged that some of the Trump administration’s immigration policies risk presenting the […]

Advent reflections from the women doctors of the church

by

By Michelle JonesOSV News We radiate the life of Jesus to the world to the extent that we live with the conviction that we are divinely loved. Advent calls us beyond the false security of the merely virtuous person and into the daring surrender to God’s love of the saint. But our feelings and the […]

Love must anchor mental health care, Phoenix bishop says

by

By Gina ChristianOSV News “When the Church speaks tenderly about mental health, people listen,” said Bishop John P. Dolan of Phoenix, whose mental health advocacy draws on his lived experience of losing several family members to suicide. Bishop Dolan delivered two addresses at the “Ministry of Hope Conference,” a global Catholic forum on mental health […]

Young Catholics’ engagement with church is mixed, survey shows

by

By Gina ChristianOSV News A new survey shows young adult Catholics are the most engaged in the Latin Church in the U.S. — but the “strong” dynamic is also “fragile,” and questions of leaving the church persist. The data also indicate the nation’s Roman Catholics, as Catholics in the Latin Church are commonly known, reflect […]

Volunteer helps migrant workers confront injustice

by

By Paul JeffreyOSV News When Charles Niece graduated from Seton Hall University, he considered pursuing further studies. But first he wanted a change of scenery. “My knowledge of Christian mission was confined to a classroom, formed by reading scholarly journals and writing research papers. I needed a year off with exposure to the real world,” […]

Church must not disregard the poor, Pope Leo says in exhortation

by

A woman and child attended Pope Francis’ Mass for the World Day of the Poor Nov. 17 in St. Peter’s Basilica. (Vatican Media / CNS / 2024) By Gina ChristianOSV News In his first apostolic exhortation, Pope Leo XIV has taken up the call of Pope Francis for Christians to see in the poor the […]