Despite empty pews, Catholic schools booming (The Economist) this autumn dioceses all over the country are seeing increases in enrolments. The National Catholic Educational Association is still collecting and analysing the latest pupil data, but its preliminary numbers show increases in most dioceses…
Italy holds first National Day of Prayer for Abuse Victims (CNA) The Catholic Church in Italy held its first national day of prayer for victims and survivors of sexual abuse on Thursday. Archbishop Lorenzo Ghizzoni of Ravenna-Cervia, president of the Italian bishops’ commission for the protection of minors, said that the day was an invitation “to prayer, to support the paths of human and spiritual recovery of victims and survivors, by whomever they have been injured, so severely, inside or outside the Church, for families and communities affected by grief for their loved ones…”
U.S. bishops assign feast day for Mother Teresa (CNS) The U.S. bishops have assigned a feast date to St. Teresa of Calcutta. The date would be Sept. 5, the death date in 1997 for the founder of the Missionaries of Charity. It will be an optional memorial on the U.S. calendar…
“De-baptism” grows in popularity in Italy (RNS) Every year in Italy, more and more people choose to go through the simple process, which became available two decades ago at the behest of the Union of Rationalist Atheists and Agnostics, abbreviated in Italian as UAAR. Combining this partial data with activity on a website UAAR recently launched where people can register their de-baptisms, Roberto Grendene, national secretary of the UAAR, said the organization estimates that more than 100,000 people have been de-baptized in Italy. The church does quibble with the word “de-baptism” — sbattezzo in Italian. Legally and theologically, experts say, this isn’t an accurate term…
