Parish roundup: Welcoming refugees; praying for earthquake victims

Syrian refugee Baraa Haj Khalaf and her daughter, 1-year-old Shams, wave after arriving Feb. 7 at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. (CNS/Kamil Krzaczynski, Reuters)

by Peter Feuerherd

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Is the cup half-empty or half-full? Those of us who go to Sunday Mass like our parishes, but we are among fewer and fewer regular Sunday worshipers. 

This guy obviously likes his parish: World's "oldest altar boy" is honored with papal blessing in San Francisco.

Think it's tough going through a parish merger? Not nearly as difficult as it was in South Philly in 1933

Catholic parishes have led the way in resettling refugees. Parish leaders are now pushing back on Trump administration policies that would drastically cut the numbers of refugees welcome in the U.S.  In the Diocese of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana, parishes join in a Pope Francis-inspired effort to welcome refugees.

Catholics and Lutherans in western Massachusetts mark the anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. Unlike the original event, this time they will gather in peace.

The Pope's Choir sings at a Detroit parish.

Padre Pio relic comes to Utica, New York. And to Chicago.

Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio of the Diocese of Brooklyn, New York, celebrated Mass for the victims of the Mexican earthquake Sept. 29 at St. Joseph Co-Cathedral in Brooklyn. The event gathered together Mexicans living in Brooklyn and Queens concerned about their friends and relatives back home.

Catholic education goes 3D. Here is a catechetical look at Good Shepherd Church in the Bronx, New York, an all-purpose explanation of the church building from a theological perspective. 

[Peter Feuerherd is a correspondent for NCR's Field Hospital series on parish life and is a professor of journalism at St. John's University, New York.]

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