ARCHDIOCESE OF WASHINGTON

Your Catholic Online News Magazine

Tuesday, March 03, 2015

Catholics bring light of Christ to D.C. streets at first Light the City event

On a dark winter evening, the Light the City banner fastened to the doors of the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington displayed a verse from John 1:5: “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.” Inside the cathedral at the vigil Mass on Saturday Feb. 28, young adults sang the words, “Christ be our light, shine in our hearts, shine through the darkness.” They then went out into the city carrying votive candles bearing the image of Christ and saints like Pope John Paul II, and asked strangers to escape the cold of the night, if only for a moment, to light a candle for peace inside the cathedral. “The [concept] reminds me of the theology behind Christmas,” said young adult Andrea Ulrich, “Of introducing light in the darkness.”
Cardinal Wuerl encourages Catholic Terps to strengthen their faith during Lent

Even an hour before Wednesday evening Mass on Feb. 25, the Catholic Student Center (CSC) at the University of Maryland in College Park was teeming with activity. In the Great Hall students as well as volunteers from St. Philip the Apostle Parish in Camp Springs prepared for the pasta and chili dinner. The smell wafted into the chapel, where a dozen or so students wrote in journals and knelt before the tabernacle.
Cardinal Wuerl presides at liturgy for people entering Church at Easter

Presiding over the first of two annual Rite of Election and Call to Continuing Conversion liturgies, Cardinal Donald Wuerl told those preparing to enter the Catholic Church at Easter that their decision to become Catholic “is one of the most powerful and inspiring manifestations of the Holy Spirit alive and well in our community.”

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News

Father Theodore Hesburgh, higher education leader, diplomat, dies at 97

Holy Cross Father Theodore M. Hesburgh, who led the University of Notre Dame through a period of dramatic growth during his 35 years as president and held sway with political and civil rights leaders, died Feb. 26 at the age of 97.
Editorial: Congress should block two D.C. laws that undermine religious freedom

From before the time that Washington, D.C., became our nation’s capital, Catholic institutions in what is now the District of Columbia have served the common good through educational and charitable outreach.
The dangers of legalizing pot

WASHINGTON — Opposition to the legalization of marijuana is on "the side of science and the side of fact," said William J. Bennett, a former U.S. secretary of education and former federal "drug czar."

Parish News

CUA composers join efforts to create musical meditations on the Stations of the Cross

A 14-movement musical interpretation of the Stations of the Cross, composed by 14 different Catholic University of America alumni, students, faculty and staff, premiered recently at the Church of the Little Flower in Bethesda. Performed by two violins, viola and cello, each movement was played as a musical meditation after Msgr. Peter Vaghi, pastor of the parish, prayed the station the music was composed to represent.
St. Faustina drama to be presented at Olney parish

A one-woman performance about St. Faustina will be presented Sunday, March 8 at 2 p.m. at St. Peter Church in Olney.
Cathedral of St. Matthew kicks off 175th anniversary with prayer service

The Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, which was founded in 1840, kicked off its 175th anniversary celebration with a Jan. 25 Ecumenical Choral Vespers held during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.

Pope Francis

Return with tears to God’s loving embrace during Lent, pope says

Lent is a journey of purification and penance, a movement that should bring one tearfully back to the loving arms of the merciful Father, Pope Francis said at an Ash Wednesday Mass that began with a procession on Rome’s Aventine Hill.

Cardinal Wuerl

Living the Commandments in our Heart

Actions often speak louder than words. Even as youngsters we knew that we would often be judged by what we actually did rather than by what we said we would do. In the New Testament, Jesus raises the question about who really did the will of the father, the son who said he would and didn’t or the son who said he wouldn’t and did (cf. Matthew 21:28-31).

Schools

‘Teaching Together’

Anna Allen is a young Marylander with sandy brown hair and a passion for her faith. On Sundays she teaches kindergartners and first graders catechism at Ascension Catholic Church in Bowie. During the week, she enjoys playing video games and taking care of her two birds, three gerbils and a cat named Tigger.

Families

Oscar’s got nothing on us: The real best movies, family films of 2014

The year just past saw the release of a number of films whose celebrated cinematic quality was not matched by moral merit.