In honor of Mother’s Day, donations of baby items such as diapers and clothes may be dropped off in the vestibule of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Soldotna. On Mother’s Day, the donations will be delivered to ABC Crisis Pregnancy which helps expectant moms and their babies in need.
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May 9th, 2012 | Category: Alaska News, Family, Parenting, Pro-life issues, Social Justice/Charity, Upcoming Events
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 CNS photo By FR. ROBERT BARRON The cover story for “Newsweek” magazine during Holy Week, penned by political and cultural commentator Andrew Sullivan, concerns the “crisis” that is supposedly gripping Christianity. Weighed down by its preoccupation with doctrines and supernatural claims, which are incredible to contemporary audiences, compromised by the corruption of its leadership, co-opted for base political ends, Christianity is verging, he argues, on the brink of collapse. The solution Sullivan proposes is a repristinizing of Christianity, a return to its roots and essential teachings. And here he invokes, as a sort of patron saint, Thomas Jefferson, who as a young man literally took a straight razor to the pages of the New Testament and cut out any passages dealing with the miraculous, the supernatural, or the Resurrection and divinity of Jesus. The result of this Jeffersonian surgery is Jesus the enlightened sage, the teacher of timeless moral truths concerning love, forgiveness and non-violence. Both Jefferson and Sullivan urge that this Christ, freed from churchly distortions, can still speak in a liberating way to an intelligent and non-superstitious audience. more…  Haylee Shields Director grateful for Catholic supportersBy HAYLEE SHIELDS The pro-life prayer campaign known as 40 Days for Life, came to a close in Anchorage on Sunday, April 1 with a prayer and praise gathering outside the local Planned Parenthood abortion facility, followed by a candlelight vigil. The campaign, which has been conducted in Anchorage since 2008, has drawn people from many denominations and church backgrounds. It is a beautiful way to unite people from various faith traditions under a common purpose: to pray to end abortion. Indeed, prayer is the integral focus of 40 Days for Life, making up the first of three components of the campaign. The second component is peaceful vigil, where the pro-life presence is taken directly to where innocent lives are abruptly and unjustly ended — here in Anchorage, at Planned Parenthood on Lake Otis. more… May 9th, 2012 | Category: Alaska News, Civic life, Ecumenical, Pro-life issues
Email a letter to the editorAbove is a short excerpt from the upcoming “Catholicism” movie (Episode 6) which will show in Anchorage tonight, Wednesday, May 9, at the Wilda Marston Theater in the Lousacc Library. For more information click here. May 9th, 2012 | Category: Alaska News, Fr. Robert Barron, Upcoming Events, Videos, World/Nation News
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 From left, Marika Khitarishvili of the nation of Georgia and Selene Viens of Alaska hang out in a dorm room this past winter at the International Theological Institute in Trumau, Austria. — Submitted photo By SHELLEY FINKLER Selene Viens, 26, is the lone Alaskan attending the International Theological Institute in Austria, where she is finishing a master’s degree in sacred theology. The school was founded upon a request from the late Blessed Pope John Paul II to function as a bridge between Eastern Orthodox and the Catholic Church. The institute focuses on marriage and family — enabling graduates to form critical judgments regarding these issues in order to evangelize the culture. Viens learned of the unique institute during her sophomore year at the College of St. Mary Magdalen in Warner, N.H., and she determined to attend the institute after graduation. Growing up in Eagle River, the third of eight children, Viens was home-schooled in an environment where Catholic faith was an integral part of daily life. In college the church’s teaching on marriage and the family strongly appealed to her. more…
 Father Peruschitz DENVER, Colo. — Three Catholic priests, including one hailed by Pope Saint Pius X as a martyr for the faith, were among the victims of the Titanic disaster remembered during its 100th anniversary last month. All three of the European-born priests – Father Juozas Montvila of Lithuania, Father Josef Peruschitz, O.S.B. of Bavaria, and English rector Father Thomas Byles – are said to have declined lifeboats in order to offer spiritual aid to travelers who perished in the shipwreck, which claimed 1,503 lives. An eyewitness account of the 1912 sinking, published in the Jesuit journal “America,” described how “all the Catholics on board desired the assistance of priests with the greatest fervor.” more… VATICAN CITY (CNA/EWTN News) — Chiara, a young mother from Rome suffering from terminal cancer, deeply touched Pope Benedict with her story of opting to protect her third child by forgoing treatment. The 28-year-old greeted the pope at the conclusion of his Wednesday General Audience on May 2, together with her 33-year-old husband Enrico. more… May 7th, 2012 | Category: End of Life, Family, Marriage, Parenting, Pro-life issues, World/Nation News
Email a letter to the editor U.S. Ambassador to China Gary Locke, right, holds the hand of blind activist Chen Guangcheng as they talk in Beijing May 2. Chen has focused attention to the country's forced abortion and sterilization practices, leading to a crackdown by the government on his movement and prohibitions on contact with foreigners and the media. — CNS photo WASHINGTON D.C. (CNA) — Amid news of a possible opportunity for pro-life activist Chen Guangcheng to leave China and come to the U.S., concerns are being raised about the welfare of his friends and extended family. The U.S. State Department announced on the morning of May 4 that “Chen has been offered a fellowship from an American university, where he can be accompanied by his wife and two children.” The Chinese government stated that Chen has the same right to travel as any other citizen and can apply to study at a foreign college. more… May 7th, 2012 | Category: Pro-life issues, Religious freedom, Social Justice/Charity, World/Nation News
Email a letter to the editor Josh Berry feeds an orphaned child in Kingston Jamaica on March 11. — Submitted photo Anchorage youth find it more blessed to giveBy JAMES DECRANE Nineteen youth from St. Benedict Church in Anchorage flew to balmy Jamaica during their recent spring break. But it wasn’t the warm weather and sandy beaches that drew the Alaska teens. They were on a mission to work for a Catholic outreach known as Mustard Seed. The group coordinates missionary volunteers from the United States to work in Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Zimbabwe. The Alaskans traveled to Jamaica, since it is an English speaking country, where they “could connect with the youth,” said Oriele Jones, one of the adults who helped lead the trip. more… May 6th, 2012 | Category: Alaska News, Evangelization, Social Justice/Charity, Young Catholics
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