http://www.thebostonpilot.comOfficial newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston LAHORE, Pakistan (CNS) -- Prayers for peace were offered at a Mass and at prayer services in Lahore March 14, two days after a series of deadly bombings left 60 people dead and 100 injured. Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:00 ESThttp://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11571http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11571 WASHINGTON (CNS) -- "Despite the good" that proposed health reform legislation "intends or might achieve," concerns about the abortion wording in the Senate-passed bill compel the U.S. bishops to "regretfully hold that it must be opposed until these serious moral problems are addressed," Cardinal Francis E. George of Chicago said March 15. Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:00 ESThttp://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11570http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11570 MARQUETTE, Mich. (CNS) -- Nearly 60 years after his cause for canonization began and more than 140 years after his death, an alleged miracle attributed to the intercession of Bishop Frederic Baraga is under investigation. Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:00 ESThttp://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11569http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11569 VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Amid new disclosures of priestly sex abuse cases in Europe, including one in the German archdiocese formerly headed by Pope Benedict XVI, the Vatican strongly defended the church's response to the crisis and said the pope has led the effort to root out "filth" in the church. Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:00 ESThttp://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11568http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11568VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Youthful rebellion against God can be dangerous, but it also can be a sign that a person is maturing and needs to find God for himself or herself, Pope Benedict XVI said. Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:00 ESThttp://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11567http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11567VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- As the Year for Priests moves into its final phase, a chorus of Vatican officials and experts has defended priestly celibacy and rejected the idea that celibacy has anything to do with sexual abuse by priests. Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:00 ESThttp://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11566http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11566 ROME (CNS) -- Human sinfulness has fractured the unity that should mark the Christian community, so Christians have a responsibility to work and pray to heal their divisions, Pope Benedict XVI said during a visit to a German Lutheran church in Rome. Mon, 15 Mar 2010 00:00 ESThttp://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11565http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11565BRAINTREE -- Last weekend the Archdiocese of Boston launched its principle annual fundraiser with the goal of matching last year's success. Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00 ESThttp://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11549http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11549SOUTH END -- It was a way for Haitian-Americans from across the Archdiocese of Boston to mourn the loss of the many victims of the January earthquake and show a spirit of solidarity with one another. Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00 ESThttp://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11552http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11552BRAINTREE -- Motorists may speed by it, but a new banner hanging from the archdiocese's Pastoral Center encourages Catholics to make a stop at their local parish on Wednesdays this Lent. Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00 ESThttp://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11547http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11547Cardinal Seán P. O'Malley, OFM Cap. has announced that effective June 28, 2010, Father William T. Kremmell will be granted senior priest/retirement status and will end his assignment as pastor of St. Athanasius Parish in Reading. Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00 ESThttp://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11550http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11550St. Martha Parish in Plainville was given a new pastor effective Feb. 20, 2010 with the appointment of Father Thomas J. Stanton. Cardinal O'Malley announced the appointment in a letter to Father Stanton who had up until now been the administrator of the parish, following the untimely death of Father J. Garret Thomson in early January. Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00 ESThttp://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11551http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11551LITTLETON -- A diagnosis of cancer could try anyone's faith. Now imagine hearing that news three times. Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00 ESThttp://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11553http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11553WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Although John F. Kennedy's famous speech in Houston nearly 50 years ago could be seen as "a passionate appeal for tolerance," the candidate's remarks about how his Catholicism would affect his presidency "profoundly undermined the place ... of all religious believers in America's public life," said Archbishop Charles J. Chaput of Denver. Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00 ESThttp://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11546http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11546WASHINGTON (CNS) -- When San Francisco passed an ordinance more than 13 years ago requiring agencies that contract with the city to provide spousal benefits to employees' domestic partners, then-Archbishop William J. Levada asked for a religious exemption, arguing that it imposed "an unconstitutional condition" on religiously affiliated organizations like Catholic Charities. Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00 ESThttp://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11542http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11542KINGSTON, Ontario (CNS) -- Groups of Anglicans entering into communion with the Catholic Church will not absorbed the way "a teaspoon of sugar would be lost in a gallon of coffee," said Cardinal William Levada, prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00 ESThttp://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11557http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11557 ORLANDO, Fla. (CNS) -- About 100 traditionalist Anglican parishes in the United States have decided to join the Catholic Church as a group. Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00 ESThttp://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11544http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11544PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (CNS) -- Colonb Mitsuka was on a playground at Louverture Cleary School when the massive magnitude 7 earthquake shook Haiti Jan. 12, causing a cinder block to fall on her, significantly injuring her face. Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00 ESThttp://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11545http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11545 VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- The Second Vatican Council's renewal of the Catholic Church was a sign of progress, not a sign of repudiating the past, Pope Benedict XVI said. Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00 ESThttp://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11558http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11558 VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Exceptions to celibacy for priests in the Roman Catholic Church can be puzzling, including for young priests enthusiastic about their vocation. Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00 ESThttp://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11559http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11559 VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI will make a two-day trip to Spain in November, visiting the pilgrimage city of Santiago de Compostela and Barcelona, the Vatican announced March 3. Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00 ESThttp://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11560http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11560 VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Homilies should be no longer than eight minutes -- a listener's average attention span, said the head of the synod office. Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00 ESThttp://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11561http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11561Christ calls. We respond. Through the gift of human freedom, God has given each of us the choice to accept or reject his loving invitation to love and to serve his mission. We decide whether to accept his call and if so, how generously to embrace it. Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00 ESThttp://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11554http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11554In spite of vocal opposition, the Church continues, to defend the definition of marriage as the union of one man and one woman against those who demand recognition of same-sex relationships as "marriages." The word marriage has a sacred and a secular meaning. For Christians, marriage is a sign of God's love for his Church, the great mystery, a covenant relationship that is designed to faithful, permanent, and fruitful. For a Christian, marriage between a man and a woman should reflect that reality, and also be faithful, permanent, and open to new life. In the secular realm, marriage also requires fidelity, the commingling of assets, special rights of spouses, and the recognition of children conceived by the wife as children of the husband. Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00 ESThttp://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11555http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11555In late February, Professor Marjorie Garber of Harvard came to the University of Notre Dame as the Provost's Distinguished Lecturer for 2009-2010. Among other engagements, she spoke to a class on "Breaking the Code: Transvestism and Gay Identity," the subject of chapter six of her book, ‘‘Vested Interests: Transvestism and Cultural Anxiety.'' Ralph McInerny, an Olympic-class punster who taught at Notre Dame for 54 years before his death on Jan. 29, might have appreciated the sly title of Professor Garber's book; he almost certainly would have regarded her topic as an example of everything that had gone wrong at the university to which he had dedicated his professional life. Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00 ESThttp://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11556http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11556It wasn't exactly an epiphany but suddenly late on a Sunday early in the unforgiving month of March it became stunningly clear that the winter here in balmy New England was just about over. At least in terms of our eternal sporting aspirations, that is. Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00 ESThttp://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11548http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11548NEW YORK (CNS) -- The early stages of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and the ultimately fruitless search for the Saddam regime's weapons of mass destruction, provide the context for "Green Zone" (Universal), an idealistic but raw combat drama. Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00 ESThttp://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11563http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11563 NEW YORK (CNS) -- Catholic imagery pervades director Antoine Fuqua's seamy New York police drama "Brooklyn's Finest" (Overture). Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:00 ESThttp://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11562http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11562 WARSAW, Poland (CNS) -- The brother of Pope Benedict XVI apologized to child victims of sexual abuse at his former school even though he said he was unaware of the alleged incidents. Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:00 ESThttp://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11543http://www.thebostonpilot.com/article.asp?ID=11543